Captain Conkout

I guess if you have ungodly flow dacron would be perfectly alright. It bricks quickly but gets the water nice and clear. More of a water polisher on the way out of the filter in my opinion. The fine Jebo and Aqua One pads have more resistance to bricking and provide a similar polishing/high surface area filtration, they can usually get a few uses after being cleared out and when they clog they don't usually brick and shrink letting water around them. Better all round....

Regarding pumping in. This would stop fish waste from settling in the gravel so much - in which case : where is it supposed to go? I understand pumping it out for greater flow rate, specially with thinner gravel which will get hotspots of flow. But pumping in would only be useful in my mind to add addition filtration following a cannister or sumps' prefiltering of solid wastes... in which case it adds a level of water polishing and just keeps the gravel aerobic. Given a chance bacteria will eat solids. I'm sure the math is possible to calculate surface area, flow rates and media quantity to give a stable aquarium requiring little or no vacuuming (using an undergravel). Personally I've found undergravels too tricky for reliable filtration on their own. If I get the chance and can have the depth I use one just to keep everything aerobic and healthy. Whatever fish waste gets stuck under rocks etc, as it invariably does, will get eaten by something eventually - where it is or when it eventually goes back into the water system and gets eaten by something else... Yeah it just goes on top, sending the water out. so you get more movement and airation and more pull...

Just re:java. I have had it in my large tank since conception which was a couple of years ago. It's always survived and grown but it's a messy plant and seems to add a lot to the filter requirement (by it's nature). I would have thought in a such small tanks without much (policed) physical filtration imbalances would happen fairly quickly...

If you want value for money then getting a bare tank and/or 2nd hand would probably be best value. Factoring throwing some sealant in and the cost of getting it shifted to your house. The real cost for most large tanks is the filtration and lighting (I've found). But if you are going oscars you won't care about the lights' specific spectrums... so you can use 2+ T8 old style fittings and who-knows-what bulbs which shouldn't cost more than $40-50 2nd hand all up. Or free if you scrounge... My 6ft hood I made out of wood and I'm no handyman (I'm shocking infact) but it looks black and professional and supports two T5 lights ($200+) and 2 floods ($15ea), if you don't need specific spectrums you could just go floods - I'm using 2x80watt which is a little more than 2 T5s but they look much cooler (not as bright though). Cause you won't be having a lot of plants adding to your filter loads you just need enough for whatever fish are going in. Cheapest way to filter a large tank could be a sump or generous daily water changes (or combination..). If the tank is big enough you could divide the tank into a sump section and just pump the water in and let it travel through the media and spill back in over the divider... Getting a big tank plumbed and hooked up to some cheap 2-3 foot tank with a decent pond pump (nows the time to pick them up on tm) would be good too if you don't want the filtration in the tank... I'm totally off canisters btw, I have 2 - they cost a small fortune and need too much upkeep. 2nd hand BIG tank, cheap T8's or just floods, wood for hood + some nails and glue, big load of pummice for the filter or a whole heap of plastic mesh/whatever. I reckon doable for around $800. Don't trust a large new Jebo for around $800 to give you enough filtration to be worry free. Even with the noodles replaced they're not up to it. In my humble opinion.

Yeah just held worms, one and many, infront of his nozzle, above his nozzle and even let a few fall near him - for about 2 min, did last night too. He just doesn't get it. My old eel wouldn't ever stop eating them and gobbled shrimp far to large for his stomach. He has grabbed a bend piece of plumbers tube my old eel enjoyed and made it his lair and is behaving like an eel should but I'm seeing no eating... Will continue to wait and see. Re:aggressive fish. The green tiger is recovering from a nipped tail and in no condition to cause trouble, the golden barb has had a good wound on his side and is nearly recovered but isn't any trouble either. The only other fish in there are khulis and they are busy but haven't shown any aggression (can they?), they just swim around him, ignoring him completely. He could have been traumatised by being in the tank he was I suppose. I don't want a repeat of the first eel I had about 2 years ago where it never ate and just starved himself to death in very un-eel-like behaviour..!

I wonder what it does to the ph... I've been told some use hydrogen peroxide (the cleaning/airation version) to produce air and burn out or otherwise breakdown some unwanted chemicals... I'd be assuming something is reacting to either the presence of water or the difference in acid to produce the CO2. Budding scientists come forth and correct my ignorance and enlighten us...!

Hi all, Any ideas about encouraging this shy eel to eat? I've put in granulated food which I assume is closed to the pet shops cichlid food but he doesn't seem interested. I've tried blood worm and little bits of frozen shrimp which my last eel desired very much but he isn't taking any. He isn't overly shy and hangs about when I come near to his nozzle with the worms but doesn't take any. He seems active and most nights we'll see him tear about but he doesn't appear to be foraging... I contacted Animates, Melling where I got it and was told he had been in for at least a month, was kept in the tank with various cichlids and hadn't been fed anything specific during his stay - he was basically fending for hisself... Apparently he had grown during his time there which was reassuring (otherwise I'd have every reason to think he hadn't eaten anything) but he doesn't have the nice cigar belly like my old eel or my foxes get when they are well fed...

for the win or alternately Mod=Warren: Implied Swearing removed - warning sent the world. All a matter of context... Online gamer nerd speak either way. Pumice (I would imagine) would either lower,or at least neutralise the PH... depending on existing PH. And whatever the PH of pumice is... Go figure. But I'd go pumice after comparing it's PH with your fishes tolerances... Or alternately:- Lots of pebbles Course - fine foam padding Driveway gravel Plastic based pot scrubbers Artificial moustaches (at least 50) Many, many plastic pegs Eheim Substrat Pro 2 Any ceramic noodle that *didn't* come with a Jebo product All these would perform admirably.

Lizards are crazy tough. That's why no one messes with em cept ice ages.

My local petshop gets frogs in for around $15 each. I remember catching them about 20 years ago and loath to pay the shop for something I enjoyed doing I went a-catching last week... Unfortunately, after 20 years of abandonment my spot has not become overgrown with gorse and the swamp itself is just a mess of leafy weed. There is water but it isn't the murky frog-loving place I remember. So can anyone share places they have seen frogs in any abundance recently. I know frog spots are best kept secret so just send me a msg if you like and I'll keep your spot on the low-low and not over exploit it! I had a look in a few culverts and stock pools on the way down from New Plymouth this weekend and found places rife with dragonfly, guppies and waternymph but no sign of tadpoles or frogs... I have wheels and this Thursday off so if anyone knows of a spot anywhere from Wairarapa-Wellington-Otaki let me know. No 4WD so nothing stupidly remote...! I used to have the big green bell frogs and I think they are the only types we get here in Wellington.

I think the confusion was my refering to *bullies* as *guppies*. I'd be suprised if 12 degrees which is about as warm as it gets here presents any kind of challenge to their physiology.

I had similar feelings about my balas/silver sharks. They are pretty much the cows of the tank. Shy and kinda dumb. You really need a pack of them. They behave much like my rainbows. The largest is cetainly the boss and chases the rest about the place - but it is clearly a more of a game with the sharks because the smaller ones appear to know what's up and egg him on... When they were much younger I had 5-6 and they schooled about wheeling up the glass and were awesome to watch. As they got older they settled down some but they are pretty much a racey fish that plays amongst themselves. Have 3-4+ together so you can watch them play or move him on. They aren't a personality fish. good fun if you have the space, a number of them and you give them a little weed cover to hide in when they play chasing/hide and seek.

Last i checked water temp was about 11 degrees. Guppies seem comfortable and have been eating shaved shrimp readily. The water temp of the Hutt River is probably around 5-6. They came from the Waiwhetu entrance to the Lower Hutt River, one council site mentioned this as being one of the most polluted and altered habitats in Wellington. (I only mention this if we are questioning the viablity of housing them in an aquarium instead of their 'natural' environment..) Do you want to elaborate on these thoughts? Is there reason to suggest guppies do not cope with room temperature water?

I had an adult whitebait that I believe was a smelt but the eel seems to have gobbled him. No visible interest in the guppies in there so far. I have checked all over the tank lid and down the back to make sure it didn't jump. So I think he was the culprit - reading the whitebait book says eel love smelt. Plus the guilty eel hid for about 24hrs to there is little doubt where it went. I'm not feeling terribly guilty as we had concerns about the condition and mental/physical state of the eel after many years in captivity and being seriously undergrown. So his gobbling a fish and behaving like a healthy predator is only encouragement at this point! I'm determined to aquire a giant kokupu or two for the tank. Some people may diapprove but given at least 5% of the whitebait caught after November 15th is listed as a threatened species (shortjaw/banded/giant kokupu) I think there are bigger culprits......

It isn't really a game but if you want to try something take a whole kiwifruit (golden seems favoured) and dig a couple of small holes in the side (about 1-2cm). Drop the whole thing in and let them work out what it's all about. Balas/loaches love it and I have seen the pleco munching once he can fit his snout in. Typically a couple of kiwi last about 12-16 hours before just the skin is left. I'm always looking for ways to save on fish food. Kiwis and supermarket whole frozen shrimp (shaved or just broken up for the eel) has saved me a fortune and is much more engaging for the fish. I still drop flake and tablet food though as the bulk of their diet. (i should mention kiwis sink which is much better than apples!

I have about 5 clowns quite small largest is about 3-4" for a bit of fun drop in some hard shrimp tablets. They cost a bit for a small sized packet but they hold together and make the clowns scrap for it. Not aggressive but just top dog stuff, fun to watch. My biggest chases off the clowns and nips at the balas noses when they come near and the skunks and clowns nip in while he is off only to get chased away again. Even the little ones have worked out how to pick them up and run off with them now.

When the cichlids grow you think they'll just play happy tank mates??? Plus the sharks are only juveniles...

Apparently everyone just gets along fine... 4 veil tale angels (150 - 250mm) 3 wild type angels 1 white angel 4 smaller angels 2 silver sharks (100mm) 4 tiger barbs 1 red tail shark 1 black shark 1 albino shark 4 female kirbis 1 male albino kirbis 7 black neons 1 neon 3 red neons 6 random tetras 10 lampeyes 3 ghost fish 3 golden bristlenose 3 brown bristlenose 1 plec 1 clown loach (100mm) 1 stripey loach 6 electric yellow chiclds 2 afra chiclids 4 convict chiclids 1 dwarf gourami 2 birhards 2 catfish 1 orange gourami 4 random neaons 15 snails http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 149871.htm

Romanticism might work on people that haven't planned or considered moving the tank but once it's moved it'll be start all over again time. The other poster is right tho a well planted tank LOOKS impressive and creates interest. Whether this translates into genuine bidders can only be guaged when the auction is run. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =163913644" Would be an example of a tank you would be unlikely to recoup your costs on by selling the unit and community complete.

.. hmm my comp or this site causing multiple replies YEHAWWW

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Lol, you remember the diver?! nah he is still bubbling in my tropical one:- We have retired the action figure deep sea diver to the unused ornaments box but the kitch blue one is still in there bubbling and trying to disturb the poor lilly pads...

Temperate (cold at least) seems to place a lot less stress on the fish than over heating. And when the power goes its most likely going to be the oxygen drop that kills them off first. I'm trying to find battery powered cut in air pumps compatible with our NZ power sources. Lots of cheap US ones for 10-20$US but none for 220v yet...

I'm curious if anyone has ever come across well made or competition fake planted tanks..? (or sites that showcase them) I'm using fakes for my native tank - not overly fussed with keeping it authentic I'd just like to provide lots of cover for smaller species and maybe look nice. My main tank is planted and generates a LOT of bio waste from the plants. Atm I have a bunch of taller plastic weed behind the feature log. I am interested in either keeping it simple and just laying down grass/weed mats in front or going a bit more rock garden and employing a variety of carpet plants and bushes with 6-8" fakes towards the sides to create a more "natural" "wild" aethsetic.

I use a tetramin product that is red granules. They sink fast and I also use flake. The tank has a lot of active feeders liek silver shark and barbs. Throwing flake in at one end and then dumping the granules at the other works for me. You can always put the food the bottom by hand too this usually scares the fast movers away for a few seconds for my pictus to snag a few mouths fulls before the greedy ass sharks and barbs get back..,,