Joe

Thanks peet. Do you know where I'd be able to find some OptiWhite in Blenheim, Nelson or Christchurch?

Here's the link phoenix44. Just have a wee browse through it and you should see most of the plants (the reason I say "most" is that it doesn't have Christmas moss on the list, but it IS availible). http://www.fnzas.org.nz/index.php?PG=plant

I looked on the plant list on the FNZAS homepage and apparently they're all here. Or have some become extinct in NZ and we're not allowed to import more? What ones aren't here then?

Noooooooooooooooooo that was one of the best NZ tanks I've ever seen! How could you dismantle it? It was so cool!

Anubias barteri looks nicer than nana, and is only a little bit bigger, but the leaves look nicer. Anyway, all these plants are availible in NZ and grow on wood: Anubias barteri Anubias barteri var. nana Anubias barteri var. nana "Petite" Anubias congensis (Congo Anubias) Anubias lanceolata Anubias minima Bolbitis heudelotii (Congo Fern, African Fern) Fontinalis antipyretica (Willow Moss) Microsorum pteropus (Java Fern) Microsorum pteropus "Narrow leaf" (Narrow-leaf Java Fern, Needle-leaf Java Fern) Microsorum pteropus "Philippine" (Philippine Java Fern) Microsorum pteropus "Windelov" (Lace Fern) Vesicularia dubyana (Singapore moss) Vesicularia montagnei (Christmas Moss) So as you see, there's HEAPS to choose from. They are all easy to grow, except Bolbitis heudelotii prefers a current and CO2 injection. Hope that helps. Joe

I still think that your tank looks great. I've decided to go for a rimless setup with metal halide lighting instead of my other plan. I'll just have lots of ferns, moss, anubias ect. So that also means I'll be needing a lot of bogwood. I don't really care what fish I stock the tank with - I'm just more interested in the plants at the moment. I'll also eventually get pressurised CO2. Having all the bogwood means I don't need to worry about hiding filter pipes, because there will be plenty of places to hide them. Most importantly, I'll need a surface skimmer or an overflow if I'm going to have a rimless tank, so I don't have a build up of dust and scum on the surface.

Thanks peet. So do you mean the name Ultra Clear + has replaced the other names, or is it a slightly different version or something?

Beach sand looks nice, and it has little bits of ground-up shell that would make the water slightly alkaline, and that would be ideal for a Malawi tank. Black sand would look out of place, and in a Malawi tank it would look quite tacky too. Beach sand is darkish - like a dark silvery grey colour - but not too dark though, so it will look good in a Malawi setup, and being a bit darker than silica sand, it will help bring out the colour of the fish. Gosh, that would be a dream come true!

I'm allergic to bowfronts and any tanks with curved corners too! They just look aweful, especially the fact that when you look at them the fish/plants look all distorted. I am actually thinking of getting a bigger tank now, because of the lighting. I am thinking of getting an Arcadia 110 Twin 150watt Slimline Pendant. So the tank will be about 112-115cm long, and about 60cm wide, and 55cm high. I don't like having tanks too high, but it might have to be 55cm high or else it might look weird. How thick should the glass be for this size? I was thinking about 1cm. At the moment I'm focusing on getting the lightinghood. Once I've got that, the tank will be next on the list, and then I'll try and get a custom-made ADA-type stand so I can suspend the lighting. Mum isn't keen on having in suspended on the ceiling or wall brackets! I don't really have a budget! If I want something that's really expensive, I just save my money until I can afford it.

I don't know too much about killies either, but if I was keeping them I'd set up a small biotope tank with lots of plants (especially moss) and yes, I'd use peat for the substrate too.

Cool. Just out of pure interest, what depth would I start needing 250watt?

I had a talk to mum, and she is thinking about letting me have a tank 112x50x50cm, so I can use an Arcadia 110cm 2x 150watt Slimline Pendant. I just wondered, should I use the 250watt unit if she agrees to let me have a bigger tank, since the tank will be higher? I'm also thinking about using glosso too, so would 250watt be neccessary?

I've been thinking, and I'll still get the Arcadia one, because the other one will have to be shipped from overseas and that will cost heaps, and I can get the Arcadia one from Hollywoods. Also I will be saving my money for ages for that other one, but it should only tank about a year to save up for the Arcadia one. But I still think the other one is sooooo cool!

Righty ho. That is... interesting. A bit confusing though. I'm not sure if mum would want me hammering bits of wood onto the wall! I just really like those suspended lightinghoods, especially that really expensive one that I want, because I like T5/metal halide combo. Also I can do that artificial sunlight thing that I read about on the ADA site, where I have the T5s on for most of the day and have the metal halide on for about 8hrs. Also I think that hood looks REALLY COOL too!

Wow that's quite cheap (I'm not joking either). I thought it would be about double that price. I don't mind paying shipping costs. How much would shipping costs be? I think this lightinghood is like 20x better than the Arcadia one. How would you rate it? I still want metal halide, and about the best I can get is the Arcadia one, which only has one metal halide bulb, and 2 55cm T5HO tubes. This other one is incredible!

Just wondered, will it burn xmas moss too?

evil_elmo, what do you think of this? It's 90cm long and has 2x metal halide lights, plus 4x T5 tubes and moonlights. AWESOME! http://aquaria.co.za/shop/index.php?mai ... 820b3afe90

Here's a hint on how to get a proper pair of flags. Male flags are slightly more elongated than females, and ususally have longer dorsal, anal and pelvic fins. Females tend to be shorter, and slightly smaller. They sometimes have a black spot on the dorsal fin.

Remove the airpump and try CO2 injection.

I've never shipped fish before either, so I don't know anything about it. Maybe if you know someone in Auckland coming down here that could bring the fish back?

Yeah they'll be fine with other fish. I still have lots of flags for sale if you want to buy some. They're $5.00 each.

Yeah you don't have to get them all at once. Just start with a few, and work your way up. Good idea.

If you want, you can add about 2 more pairs of rams and flags, and a couple of pairs of other apisto species. It's basically like stocking an African cichlid tank, except your using dwarf cichlids. These species will coexist happily, but make sure the tank is REALLY densly planted and that they have lots of retreats in the form of bogwood and rocks ect. But keep in mind the plants will need there space too, so choose carefully where you place retreats. The retreats must be spread out through the tank too, not all in one corner. The rams don't need retreats, and will enjoy the really lush plant growth. Use JBL Aquabasis underneath your main substrate (which should be fine or coarse sand, or fine gravel. The fish prefer dark colours too). Have the substrate about 10cm high or more (about 3-5cm Aquabasis, and 5-7cm sand/fine gravel). Dose the tank with liquid fertilisers too, because the plants will benifit from it. Use Flourish Excel and Comprehensive. If you don't want to use Aquabasis, use JBL Root Balls instead.

Oh really, that's sad . You can keep Kribs, rams, apistos and flags together without problems. Just make sure that you don't put too many males together of the apistos because apparently they fight. For your sized tank you could put in a pair of kribs, a couple of pairs of flags, a group of rams, and maybe 2 or 3 trios of different sorts of apistos. Or you could ditch the others and fill you tank up with diffeent apisto species! Just make sure that the species aren't similar to each other (colour, shape, size etc.) or they could interbreed. Like for example tris and agassizis are diffeent, so they'd be fine, but if you put steel blues and borellis together they might interbreed. In fact, steel blues are a mutation, and borellis were used to make them.

Maybe have the pH lower - about 5. If your after some Dwarf Cichlids, I've got some Laetacara curviceps (Dwarf Flag) for sale. They're $5.00 each. They are a stunning fish and get on well in a community tank. You can even keep them in small groups. They like densly-planted tanks, and I've found they also enjoy oak leaves on the substrate (most dwarfs do). They are amazingly hardy, very colourful, and they have a wonderful parental instinct when it comes to breeding. I've found Dwarf Cichlids like a temperature of about 26-28c. The cardinal tetras will also enjoy all this, as the are naturally found in the same area as a lot of dwarf cichlids. Other dwarfs that will go well in your tank that are hardy and pretty are: Various rams Apisto. agassizi Apisto. trifasciata Apisto. bitaeniata Apisto. 'Steel Blue' Apisto. eunotus Laetacara curviceps Nannacara anomala Hemihaplochromis multicolor Different species of Kribensis (I highly recommend wild kribs. They're sooooo pretty) Hope that helps.