Joe

Welcome It is great to have another person on the forums interested in Apistos :thup: Just a heads up if you're interested, A. cacatuoides 'Triple Red' and 'Super Red' have just been imported :bounce: If your local pet shop doesn't have any, you can ask them to order some in, or buy some from Hollywood Fish Farm. They ship nation wide

Welcome I don't have facebook so I can't view the photos

Wow they look cool !drool: BTW I love the lastest wood design. It looks great :thup:

Wow they stock Giesemann Infiniti fixtures !drool: Pretty flash

http://www.aquabotanic.com/?p=829 !drool: :thup: :happy1:

Most importantly, how are you going to fit it through the door?

350x120x80cm with 20mm thick glass :thup: If you are going to buy a tank that big and spend so much money on it, you might as well also get metal bracing around the edges too which will make it stronger Like this:

I don't actually like that last one at all. Personally, I think it would look cool if you did the right side in the first photo and the left side in the second photo :thup:

A bit of salt and baking soda in the water raises the hardness. That's what hardness is - dissolved salts and minerals in the water Saltwater has heaps of minerals and salts, whereas hard freshwater has a lot less. You won't be needing to increase the hardness for your Apistos of course. The water can be softened with peat, alder cones, oak leaves or indea almond leaves. You can buy indian almond leaves from trademe. The test kit is just to indicate what your water is like so you will have an idea of how much stuff to add to it to make it soft. The best way to get soft water is to just use rainwater and soak it with peat. Rainwater has no hardness. You can also use an RODI unit but they are really expensive.

Anubias and Java fern.

This is the sort of this you need. Only about $25.00 :thup: http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/detail/view/api-gh-kh-test-kit/m/970/

Depending on the species, soft water isn't really an issue. Mine don't have soft water and they're fine. It is necessary for most species to breed though. My macmasteri are very healthy and happy in the slightly hard water in my tank, and spawn heaps, but the eggs never hatch. Which is why I am setting up a blackwater biotope for them so hopefully I will get little baby Apistos

I wouldn't bother putting the harlequins in. I just think the mossie rasboras would look nice on their own. Also harlequins need a bit more space, especially if you are planning on having a group of them as well. And if you were to just put two or three in it makes the stocking look messy to the eye. I learnt the hard way - I got one or two of every fish I saw in the shop that I liked and spent heaps of money, and the final result looked aweful so I sold everything and started again. Also harlequins are a larger fish and won't really suit your small tank IMO. I think 15 mossie rasboras would be a good amount for your tank. Also don't worry about the surface area thing. If you have good circulation and the surface is agitated a bit then you'll be fine. And you'll still have room for your cories and a dario or two I saw a picture of an Amano tank in a book I am borrowing from Caryl, that was stocked with about 30 Paracheirodon simulans (which grow to about 2cm). The dimensions of the tank were 36x22x26cm, which is 19L He had lots of plants in there though and the fish looked in great condition. Happy plants = happy fishes as Amano says So I reckon you'll definately be fine with your stocking :thup:

And they will definately be fine with harlequins and Dario dario. The darios are only aggressive amoungst themselves

6 in a group isn't enough. They are a shoaling fish and prefer to be kept in larger numbers. A lot of people at pet shops say that if you are getting a shoaling fish e.g. neons to get a group of 6, however I disagree with this. You should keep at least 10-15 of them. Your 40L tank will be perfectly sufficient for this amount of fish If you watch the videos of Sophia's tank you will see she has about 12 of the similar species Boraras maculatus, which are slightly bigger, and the tank is only 22L. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=51335&start=150

:bounce:

I seriously recommend macmasteri. When I recieved mine I sort of thought that they were pretty boring and I wish I didn't get them. After a few months the male coloured up and was really stunning! Also, although they might not have colours as nice as other species, they have the most stunning fins! My male has filaments on his dorsal, anal and pelvic fins, and is starting to develope them on his caudal fin too. Also they have a great character, and they don't just sit there looking pretty like a lot of Apistos. They actually swim around and do stuff! Here's a pretty recent pic I took of him. Not the best but you can see what I mean, they really are stunning fish! I think a lot of the pictures on the net are of juvenile fish.

And you forgot about Apistogramma sp. 'Steel Blue' and A. nijsseni (I'm not sure how many people bought A. nijsseni and whether or not they will stay in the country). Both of these are really nice fish BTW I recommend that you start off with A. macmasteri as in my experience they are really hardy and pretty bullet-proof as far as water chemistry and diseases go. In my big tank I have a trio of these. I also bought two pairs of Apistogramma trifasciata, but slowly over the couple of months I had them they all died from random infections. $45 each plus shipping... for a beginner at Apistos like yourself that would be a very costly loss. I have made a mistake so you don't have to :thup: The macmasteri were the same price as the trifasciata, however the fact that they are very hardy makes them good value for that price IMO and the purchase was definately worth it

Point taken about the packaging - it wasn't his fault, it was the handling. As to the freebies - whether I am greatful for them or not is my personal choice. I just find it annoying because I feel bad chucking plants that I don't have the room for. It was a bit of a struggle just to squeeze that L. arcuata in. Basically, I just want to recieve what I ordered. And I feel bad for the guy that sent them because he's losing money giving stuff to someone who chucked it out. I wish he had asked me whether I wanted them or not, instead of just sending them on the off chance that I might want them. He could have made money out of those selling them to someone who was wanting to buy those particular plants. Anyway enough about this. I shouldn't have posted it in the first place and I didn't know people were going to get upset about it. I apologise for what I have said and if it has offended anyone. I should probably spend less time on the forums and maybe stuff like this wouldn't happen if I did.

I'm not having a dig at them or anything, it just seems silly to me to give people free stuff when you can keep it and sell it to a customer and make a bit of extra cash. I'm not wanting to start a word war or anything here, and I am impressed with the quality of the plants, although I just think the freebie thing is a bit silly and because of the poor packaging the plants could have been damaged.

Good on you for getting into Apistos :thup: In case you are interested, there are some new ones that have just been imported - A. cacatuoides 'Super Red' and 'Triple Red', and A. pertensis

I recieved my Lindernia rotundifolia today. The plant was perfectly fine, however the box was severely cracked and broken. Good example of why you should not send plants in plastic boxes unless it is made from good quality plastic. I was most displeased with this. Also, apart from the plant I ordered, I also got three other freebies which really annoyed me. I really don't see the point in giving people freebies unless you have asked them before sending the package. The reason being is, like in my situation, they might have no use for freebies or no room. So the seller has just wasted around $8 worth of good quality plants that he could have held on to and sold to someone else who wanted those particular plants. I ended up chucking two out and I kept one because I kind of felt it was a bit of a waste. The freebies were Ludwigia arcuata, gladulosa and repens. I already have repens, so I chucked that and the glandulosa and kept the arcuata.

Original looks way better :thup:

Nice setup :thup: Personally I dislike the artificial plants and I think you should use real ones because they look way better

The fish selection is actually pretty good here, it's the plant selection that stinks Also you can't get those cool crystal red shrimp here either