Joe

I did get some photos of the new fish but they are rubbish, so I will have to keep trying. Meanwhile here are some tank photos

Inhabitants arrived. Will post pics after they have acclimatised.

Thanks! I used the intake from my Eheim Classic 2211 to raise the outlet. Also I have the pin clips but I haven't got round to dealing with that cable yet... The water is crystal clear this morning

The water is a bit cloudy because the filter wasn't cleaned but it will be fine by tomorrow

Remove the bottle on the bottom and the airstone from the airline and it will make a brilliant brine shrimp hatchery :thup: But otherwise yeah looks great. It does look a bit small for white clouds as they need a bit of space to dart around, but how about leopard fish? A bit smaller and much slower, and they don't really need much space at all.

They are suggestions, which are based on personal opinions. It would be hard to make suggestions without any opinions at all. +1

Remove the ornament - it looks hideous and detracts from the whole layout. Otherwise brilliant setup :thup: A group of Celestial Pearl Danios (Danio margaritatus) or Chilli Rasboras (Boraras brigittae) would look great in there Also remove that waffle leaf plant that's just behind the rock on the right hand side. It isn't a true aquatic plant (it's actually a bog plant and likes to grow out of water) and it will start to rot submersed. Replace it with some Echinodorus parviflorus which looks very similar and is a true aquatic plant. And some Windelov fern would look really nice growing on the wood

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php/32354-Breeding-tank-for-my-Apistogramma-cacatuoides Looks just like a male but the guy said that it's a proven female This has just made sexing them a lot harder for me now... Maybe the ones I have that I think are sleeper males (but have developed caudal extentions) could actually be females? I'm so confused lol.

I had a blank spot where I wasn't sure what to do and kind of just left it. Once I have finished the blackwater project and bred the trifasciata and macmasteri, if I can find a female cacatuoides then I'll breed those. They don't need blackwater so I'll just take everything out bar the gravel and put a nice big piece of wood in the middle of the tank and grow Windelov fern all over it

Placemakers didn't have any sand, but I checked Centaland and the guy there gave me a sample. I haven't tested it yet to see if it is cloudy or not, and probably won't as I've decided sand is too much of a hassle, especially for a breeding tank like this, and that gravel will be more practicle. So I just put in some standard dark pea gravel which looks really nice and doesn't cloud the water at all. Mum prefers it to the sand too. I haven't been able to get hold of any wood, but in three weeks time I will be going to Christchurch for a couple of days and I will probably get some from Redwood Aquatics as Mum said she doesn't want to go to any beaches or rivers as she isn't familier with Christchurch. She said that she wants to go to places that are easy to get to, so we are going to Organism and Redwood Aquatics and possibly a couple of other places. Redwoods has a great selection of dry wood and Mum and I can pick out some nice bits there I have a trio of Apistogramma trifasciata arriving on Tuesday from Danval so I will probably breed those first, and then the macmasteri. And I will probably swap my Orange Flash cacatuoides for the Super Reds as I have decided I like the SRs more than the OFs. I know that most shops state that they only have male SRs, but I am sure there are some females out there somewhere and hopefully I will find some. I will take some photos of the tank with the new substrate tomorrow :thup:

Which one is for me? !drool:

Sounds like you had fun :thup: I have just done the dishes and my hands are all wrinkled, and I am going to cook tea soon. Mum and dad have gone to Christchurch for the weekend so my sister and I are stuck at home. She has been horse riding in the Wairau valley for pretty much the whole day, and has now gone to tend to her own horse. I seriously don't understand it - she can look after a horse, but she can't care for her bunny properly :facepalm: I haven't really been doing much today, and I would like to continue with my blackwater biotope for my Apistos but I can't seem to get hold of any decent bogwood at all :dunno: In the holidays Mum and I will hopefully be going down to Christchurch and I can get some wood there (I remember reading a thread here were someone daid there were a couple of good spots for it in Chirstchurch) and I am also thinking of swaping my Orange Flash cacatuoides for Super Reds. Although most shops have only males, there has to be females out there somewhere...

Yep good idea :thup: Make it as big as possible

Looks too small IMO. I know a guy who has really nice walk-in enclosures with trees growing, and ferns, moss and grasses and lots of rocks on the ground. It looks exactly like their natural habitat. I love watching the skinks basking on the rocks.

Yay :happy1:

+1, exactly what I was thinking

Cool thanks LA So basically once his tank is more mature and he has more live rock he will be able to add more livestock?

Overloading? I know marine tanks do require lower stocking levels, but 6 small fish in a 270L isn't really that much, surely? :dunno: And as MF4L said, the dragon wrasse will be removed when it gets too big. Explain more though as I'm no expert on marines, and I'm really eager to learn I love learning stuff about marine tanks, it's so fascinating. This guy's tank is 200L and he has way more fish and they all look really healthy. I know that the tangs get bigger and will need to be removed, but they could be replaced with anthias or something else small. Here's his channel for more vids - http://www.youtube.com/user/whatafather/videos

I wonder what zombies taste like...? Did anyone watch Terra Nove on Saturday? I really enjoyed it. What I liked most about it is that it got straight into the action and there were no boring bits

The wider the tank, the more surface area and more space you have to grow corals, and also the stonger the tank will be as the weight is spread out more. Basically if the height is the same as the width or less, the tank will be really strong. If you want the height to be greater than the width, then depending on the situation you may need stronger glass or bracing. For example, I could build a tank with the dimesions of 120x60x45cm which would hold 320L, and I would need 10mm glass and it would have a safety factor of 6 which is really good. I could make the same tank, except swap the height and the width around (so 120x45x60cm) and I would need 12mm glass and it would have a safety factor of 4. But it still holds 320L like the first one.

From what I've read apparently Red Sea make some really good starter kits. I'd give the Red Sea tank a go. IMO Aqua One tanks aren't really that good - the stock lighting isn't bright enough for most corals, and also on all the tanks I've seen the lighting is a couple of inches at the most above the water, and isn't shielded so salt splash can easily get onto the tubes. The tubes on the Aqua One display tank at the local shop here are completely covered in salt splash! When it comes to marines, it's better to pay more for quality products rather than to buy cheaper products and stuff up and possible end up leaving the hobby from frustration.

This has to be the best tank I've ever seen !drool: Only thing that I think really lets it down is the colour of the gravel - he should have used pale sand instead. You can see more photos here - http://www.pbase.com/plantella/750_liter_layout_by_oliver_knott

So does that mean it's under your name but they just have to sign it, or it's under your parent's names?

Also you need to be 16 or over to be eligible to apply for a permit to keep native reptiles - I checked your profile and you're 13, so you'll have to wait another three years unfortunately

Wow lovely setup !drool: Love the sump. Very neat and tidy :thup: What is the glass thickness of the main tank?