Joe

I've been thinking of getting that book from Amazon.com. It looks really good!

Quick update - I did a huge waterchange today and cleaned the filter as well. I have read that this isn't a good idea, and that the filter should be cleaned at a different time to the waterchange, because a WC removes a lot of mature water and apparently cleaning the filter at the same time means it takes longer for the beneficial bacteria to build up again as a lot of mature water has been removed. I happened to remember this after I changed the water, but in my tank it doesn't matter becuase it is well understocked and I have lots of plants so they also help to remove nasties from the water. As Amano says, healthy plants = healthy fishes Excuse the hair algae - it should go away soon if I cut back the photoperiod. Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' Rotala rotundifolia Full-tank shot

Christmas is sooooo boring :roll: The only thing about it that I enjoy is the food :thup: I helped make a trifle today, and I made truffles a couple of days ago, and mum made fruit mince pies, fruit cake and walnut biscuits !drool: I find it very frustrating when I turn on the TV and there's nothing but stupid Christmas movies I'm looking forward to my new plants which are coming - Anubias barteri var. nana, Microsorum pteropus 'Philippine' and Microsorum pteropus 'Needle Leaf' (the proper stuff, not narrow leaf) :happy2:

I saw this tank and the aquascaper uses Callitriche stagnalis as a foreground plant - http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2011/show295.html

Just taken these pics now with the sun shining on the tank !drool: New plant - Callitriche stagnalis. I wonder how well this will do in heated water...

Wow that looks really cute Melanie, beautiful work !drool: It's a shame about it caving in though

Oh right I don't grow my crypts emersed so I don't know what the emersed growth of mine looks like. Might give it a go if we ever move to a new house so I have more room for tanks and stuff. Just been doing a bit of research on google, and apparently C. willisii is a huge complex of all different sorts of variations and hybrids, which makes identification very confusing So there is no definate name for anything in the willisii complex, which is why it is normally labled as 'Cryptocoryne x willisii', the x meaning it is a cross/hybrid between diffeent species. So their are many different types of willsii all with various differences. I'm now not exactly sure about what 'lucens' is... My 'willsii' has very long leaves and long leaf stalks, longer than photos of plants I've seen labled as 'lucens' or 'willisii x lucens'. It is still relitively small, although larger than plants labled as 'lucens'. Also the leaves have pointy ends and not roundish ends like plants labled as 'lucens'. It is also confined to a pot so it would probably grow much bigger if it was just planted in a bed of substrate and allowed to do whatever it wants. This thread is pretty interesting - http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plant-id/60818-crypt-parva-vs-crypt-x-willisii.html

Wow excellent work, you're doing very well !drool: Just wondered what willisii do you have, the proper one or the willisii lucens? It seems the lucens is pretty common and is the one that most people have. I'm pretty sure mine is the proper willisii, which is bigger than the lucens and has longer leaves. I can send you some if you want and you can see if there is much difference between the flowers :thup:

Wow I really enjoyed that, great work as usual Sophia :thup:

Nah I'll wait

Can you post some pics of the Asian Rummynoses please? :happy2:

They love greens and insects, easpecially chickweed, moths and worms. I was told by a breeder not to feed the babies poultry crumble for the first 30 days because it is very high in protein and it burns their crops. He said to feed them porridge oats, but to put them in the blender and the sieve them afterwards so it's a fine powder. And you don't add water to it either. I've been doing this as soon as I first bought my quail and I've had no problems and raised quite a few little fluffy bumblebees

Here's my inspiration - http://www.perthcichlid.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=30543 !drool: !drool: Edit: Just noticed that he uses a 10,000K on his tank. Maybe I'll just get both bulbs and see which one I prefer and sell the one that I don't want?

The reason for the metal halide is because of the shimmering, it's bright which = better photos, and it will be suspended which looks cooland allows me to have wood sticking out of the tank and for plants to grow about the surface Plus the fixture and ballast (brand new!) was only $160.00 including shipping off trademe so I had to get it! Also it works out at $20 NZD for the bulb and shipping

Yes that would be great. I'll PM you my address

Cool video How many CPDs and Darios have you got in there?

Wow that is brilliant, I really love it! :thup:

You can have one or three or more pairs of Chinese Painted Quail together. They get on well together. The only problem you'll have is if you have too many males to each female, or two pairs because the males will fight but if you have more pairs they don't really do anything to each other because there are too many males to focus on so they leave each other alone. With finchs you can have as many pairs as you like, they are fine together and don't fight at all. I used to have some and they would all cram into this little nesting basket at night and sleep together. They were so cute! One night during autumn we had a random cold snap at and they all died because they hadn't acclimatised to cold weather yet and the days were still quite hot.

Cool glad to know that I wasn't getting it wrong the whole time

Yay a sausage dog I love sausage dogs :happy2:

Cool thanks guys I'll get the 6,700K bulb

Hey everyone, I'm unsure of what coloured bulb to pick formy Amazon Blackwater biotope - 6,700K or 10,000K? Which one looks better? Which one is best for plant growth (there's going to be a big swordplant in the tank)? I'm going to get my bulb here - http://www.fish-street.com/rs7_type Thanks, Joe

I know this sounds mean, but any fish I have to kill I place them on the concrete and hit them with a brick. It's not actually that messy, and it's a very quick and humane way to kill them. They die instantly.

Have you though about keeping Bobwhite Quail? They're a wee bit smaller than the Californian Quail and have pretty cool patterns and colours and they're very placid and easy to look after. They are best kept in pairs though because the males attack each other.

Wow awesome video !drool: