paul_r

thats about as humane as you can get really, they die instantly. Imagine the pain & suffering they would go through sitting in a freezer until the water is cold enough to kill them.

hold fish by tail and whack head against...well anything

cheers for that guys....now i have another reason to get a bigger tank Lets say i did get a bigger tank (which i will once the car is how i want it) what would make some good tank mates? i dont mind spending good money on some good fish

Hey guys i have just got hold of 8 jewel cichlids, they are only young at the moment and 1-2 cm long. They are in a small tank at the moment - 450Lx200Wx300H with a sandy bottom with a few rocks. When they are bigger i will move them into a 600x300x300 tank, again with sand and rocks on the bottom. By then i will hopefully have two pairs and will give the rest to friends. They have been raised in tap water, no special ph or anything, what im wondering is what would go well with these fish? and also would my 600x300x300 tank be big enough for 2 pairs as well as a few other smaller compatible fish cheers

if it was me.....id give them some good live food, add a spawning mop (the bigger the better) and try to not use any lighting. the darker the tank the better although i have had success with just the tank sitting in the lounge. possibly crank the temp down to around 23, from what i have heard around 22-23 degrees is optimum Would also pay to remove any plants...so the killies only lay in the mops. If you has a look in your java moss chances are you may already have some eggs. thats about it really you will learn as you go. they are very easy to breed.

judging by their behaviour - i introduced a female and the males were attacking her eyes and fins etc and were definatly not trying to have sex with her like my male guppies (i then killed the female incase there was a chance she had been inpregnated) Plus where i got them from the females body shapes look very much like gambusia, had a bit of a look up on them last night.

didnt have a thermometer, however was very warm, at a guess around the 30s.

they look almost exactly like this - with a little bit more colour

i just had a little test while doing the dishes, i took a cup, half filled with water and put upside down (in the water), air went to the bottom of glass (the top because it is upside down), Air is lighter than water, air stays at top, no more water comes in. (no water pump is required to keep water in the glass) It looks like there is an airtight compartment at the top of the tank which has an air pump which is feeding air to the airstone, bubbles are riseing to top of compartment and being reused. I have seen similar with a tank which has feeding holes in the side of the tank, the only way it works is because the tank is packed with water and no air, therefore causeing a vacume and does not let air in or water escape

if you google a pic of "male mosquito fish" you will find a colorful one

i dont think there is any water pump, looks to me as if the air pump is reuseing the same air over and over. pretty simple really, the only thing to make sure of is that the upper compartment is completely leakproof, perhaps have some sort of hose attachemnt at the top for the initial fill

i will look up the local DOC office tommorrow and let them know. I went for a wander with my net in a stream and caught some very colourful fish, just googled gambusia and realised these were the damn fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IS there anything that should be done when an every day person like you and me find mosquitofish in a waterway in NZ? Should DOC be notified, can/will they do anything about it etc Thanks very much

that doesnt look too tricky to build, logically it looks as though the bottom (pond) part would need to hold more more water than the actual tank. The top of the tank would need to be fully air tight, looks to me as if there is an air pump at the top of cabinet (inside sealed section) and is is re-useing the same oxygen over and over. otherwise eventually there would be too much air in the tank part which would force the water out. I think that would be relativly easy to make, think of playing in the bath as a kid, used to fill a jug with water put it upside down and then lift it out of the water, the water would rise with the jug until part of the jug breached the surface of the water and all the water came gushing out.

Jees the last couple days have been hectic, my killies have been spitting out eggs faster than i can collect them, there are platty fry all over the place, the guppies are spitting fry out like....well guppies. anyone else experiencing the good luck?

close enough to allow heat to dispurse between levels, yet far enough away not to become a fire hazard, i would say 2 inches at a guess. I done a bit of trial and error on distance, i did notice some of the poly being melted so moved lights away from the poly. Seems to be all good now and has been up and running for 3 days

after checking the air pump before i went to bed i noticed it was quite hot, i then decided to have it running outside the cupboard, would rather be safe than sorry. Other than that it is running fine, some of the killies are a bit freaked by the light so i will blacken the back and bottom of the tanks to make life a bit easier for them

hey guys its been a while since ive done any work on the cupboard, but i gave up a weekend on the turps with the boys and got most of it done. Havnt got doors on the front yet but a sleeping bag does a great job of keeping the heat in. Testing time with a few tanks heres more or less what it looks like, i only have the top half in use. This is what is heating and supplying all the air to the tanks, pretty simple huh. has kept the tanks at around 24 degrees, im still fine tuneing the thermostat. Let me know what you think, i am going to paint the polystyrene black, as well as make covers to block out the light from the lights/heaters

i second on the killies!!!!

keep the tanks, you can never have too many, , one fish will spawn and you will need one for growing fry etc Also welcome, what part of the bay are you in? im from whakatane

Alan also got me into Killies, helped me out many times and always had the time to share some of his knowledge with me. Always looked on the bright side and always had a joke to tell. All the best to his family, Alan you will be missed greatly

yea i saw them on trademe aswell and they looked neat, however i have been asking a few questions and he doesnt have any sexable females for sale yet, did say however that i could take a pick and with luck id get a pair. however im not all that keen on taking that risk and thanks for the info, has been a great help

I have had fish in water troughs when i lived on the farm. They were in the trough in the horses paddock which didnt get any checmicals added which all the other troughs on the farm did for the cows. Assumeing that there are no chemicals added for animal health it will be fine. If you did put fish and plants in the troughs around your property would you be able to enjoy them? I found i soon lost interest as i never saw the fish and the water soon goes a yucky green colour. I felt kinda silly showing mates my fish trough and they couldnt even see the fish.

I have just found out about this fish and i would like to get some and breed them. can anyone who breeds them give me their thoughts and experiences with these fish? also their requirements etc cheers

I am after some white sand, not the usual grey stuff found most beaches. If there is none around the Bay Of Plenty area would someone please kindly post an ice cream container or 2 to me, i will cover all courier costs. Secondly does useing sand have an effect on the tank water? e.g make it salty etc (after giveing it a good wash first)? kinda a stupid question but i am not sure :-? Would the "grit" which is found at some beaches - i think it is just small ground up shells be suitable for a tank, after a wash of course. Was just thinking the grit would be easier to clean Cheers