Rob

I'll be there. Really looking foward to it - provided I don't have to share with a snorer .

In addition to the features you mentioned, in female blue rams the blue spangling (spots) along their upper side should go over that black splotch they have, in the males the spangles don't go over the black splotch. The pale fish may be a stressed/non-dominant male. I definetly wouldn't say that female rams a plain janes perhaps a little less colourful yes.

Hey there and welcome Ben. Yep some of us keep loaches. Currently I have regular Kuhli's, cinnamon Kuhli's (a solid brown colour and more out going than the regular ones), Zebra loaches (Botia striata), Golden eel loaches (not 100% sure on the scientific name some sort of Pangio, possibly shelfordi) and Pakistani loaches (Botia lohachata or whatever it's been changed to). I think I may have a pair of Pakistani loaches - one of them is definitely a female and the other may be a male. I tried them in a breeding tank once with no results - doesn't necessarily mean I haven't got a pair just that I lack patience or didn't hit on the right trigger for them. I used to keep clown loaches but ended up selling them as I got tired of the horse shoe shaped holes they kept putting in the sword plant leaves. As for where do we get our fish from? I buy most of mine from the local shop (here in Hamilton) he's pretty well always up with the play, is happy to order things in for you (most of the time - depends on how much one particular wholesaler has pissed him off, problem is that that they often have stuff that no one else does). Trading in the club is limited usually only the results from people breeding fish. There is some swapping of fish so that the 2 people can end up with a pair rather than 2 of the same sex.

Hi there - went and checked on what Ben mentioned about SAE's being prohibited (I couldn't think of a reason why they should be - but then sometimes MAF don't need a reason). Check out the following link: http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/imports/animals/standards/fisornic.all.htm#appendix1 Crossocheilus siamensis Siamese algae eater is on the allowed list I also checked on the dissallowed list to make sure it's not one of those that appears on both (I know of one species where this is the case, but no I'm not going to tell) and it's not listed under disallowed. Don't know why they don't import them as SAEs.

Welcome GoldieGirl, though you may not have entered the hobby in an ideal way (ie spur of the moment) I'm pleased to hear that you're still with it despite initial losses and that you're probably a better hobbyist for it (why did my godfish die? = read a number of books, visit a number of sites but still use you're own observations and common sense to verify the information you're getting). When I got into the hobby (I knew I was getting a tank for christmas so had some time to prepare) I read a number of books and lurked about on the newsgroups. In the news groups I particulary paid attention to the answers to the 'newbie' questions, which steered by away from most of the potential disasters (not saying that there weren't some minor ones though).

I'm straying a bit far from familiar territory here Eden, I'll have to rummage through my non-fiction section at home before I can even attempt to answer your questions. (I seem to recall an old TFH magazine article about how most people think the common clown is one species when most likely it's another - I'll see if I can dig it out). Anyone out there have actual experience with common/Percular clowns, I've only drooled over them in tanks ('gee isn't cool how they live with the anenonmy') and a bit of reading about them (me being a bookwormish sort of person - getting a box lot of old TFH magazines helped).

Are you an Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus)?

Hi there and welcome to NZ fishroom Fatfish. I can't provide a definite answer for you, Jansens Northshore had some last time I was up there and I would have thought that Hollywoods (Mt Roskill) and Jansens (3 Kings) would have had some. I suspect that there is confusion over the naming (on the retailers part). I very rarely (actually can't even recall once) see them being sold as Saimese algae eaters, the most common name they are sold by is Blackline Flying Foxes. Hope this bit of info helps in your hunt.

I'm pleased to hear that the gold spot otos are still out there. I'm waiting for Derek to rebreed them as I have to admit that the four I got slowly declined to zero :oops: The article on planet catfish about their breeding was written by a member of the NZ fishroom, Derek - he also happens to be a member of the Upper Hutt aquarium soc. (A little trumpet blowing here on my part :lol: ) There is also another article (that I know of) written by an NZ fishroom member on Planet Catfish - About a chance spawning of Bulldog/rubber lipped plecos (Chaetostoma cf thomsoni) since the time I wrote the article I've had them spawn again with a much better success.

To the best of my knowledge about the only ones are sea horses and common clown fish (I'm alittle uncertain if fry were raised for the clowns - definitely spawned).

Hi there Eden - is this your first marine tank? If it is then my comments on pH and cycling may be helpful, otherwise I may be telling you stuff that you already know. The pH for a saltwater tank should be around 8, you will need to get a wide range test kit to measure up this high as the standard test kit (used by freshwater aquarists) max's out below these values. Have you also been testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. While I haven't set up a marine tank myself a couple of members of the local club have and I've paid careful attention to their trials and tribulations (as sometime in the future I'd like to set up a mini-reef tank). The thing that has been drummed into them by they're supplier is careful monitoring of the cycling process. They were doing this by a 'fish free' method. They put a fresh mussel (that had had a knife put through it so that it was dead) into the tank to decay and then proceeded to take regularly (daily/every two days?) measurements of ammonia, nitrite and ammonia (and kept records of the measurements so that they could see the changes in the different things as time progressed). Once ammonia and nitrite are zero then the tank will have cycled, you'd probably have to do a water change to get the nitrate level down though. They also found the intial filter system they'd got with the tank was inadeqate as the tank never completed cycling (even after a couple of months). Having just re-read your initial post this cycling process may not apply as it sounds you've got your hands on an already cycled system - I would still be inclined to test the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels - with the price of marine fish you don't want to be putting them into a toxic tank.

Warren, have you investigated using compact fluorescents for your tank. I'm not talking about the energy saver type used to replace domestic light bulbs, more the strip type (look like a very narrow elongate 'U'). I see them advertised in TFH magazines and saw some when nosing around one of the local MaserTrade shops. In stock they only seemed to have 86's, not sure what other numbers are available. They're definitely more expensive than standard fluoro's, not sure how they compare to metal halides. They're supposed to have a higher light output/watt than standard fluoro's. If you were using metal halides would that mean you'd have an open top tank?

How big are they - one thing I've never been sure of is how big do they have to be before they are sexually mature (considering that the can get to 1 foot long).

Joey - you mention that the clowns keep laying. You're talking about the clown loaches? If you are - getting them to spawn (from what I've read) is quite a feat - as my understanding is that pretty well all clown loaches are wild caught (ie not even breed in ponds in Asia). If it is clown loaches we're talking about can you give more details? Just an update on my fish breeding efforts: I now have baby whiptail plecs, baby Rubber lipped plecs and baby flag cichlids all swimming around/stuck around their respective tanks.

Again this is in response to comments by Pegasus about his curiosity about what other peoples aquarium and fish keeping habits are. I know this post is about breeding fish and some may consider it better placed in the Breeding forum, however I would prefer to see the breeding forum as a place where people can ask specific questions about breeding a species not general reminiscing about breedings. First off, I think saying that 'I have breed a fish' is a misnoma. As really the requirements of you are to provide a suitable environment for the fish, where they feel inclined to breed - so it's more 'I provided the right conditions for the fish and they rewarded me by breeding'. The tricky parts are getting the conditions right (this can be a case of semi-educated trial and error, particularly where you haven't got a magazine, book or internet article about someone else breeding the fish) and secondly, successfully raising the fry to adulthood. Technically the first fish that I got to breed were guppies, however I don't really consider it my first breeding as I think most people find it hard to STOP guppies (and many of the other livebearers) from breeding. So it's more what was the first egg layer you got to breed? In my case it was Glass Bloodfin Tetras (Prionobrama friligera)- totally by accident. I was really trying to get a pair of Blue Rams to breed (a fish I have a love/hate relationship with: I love the way they look and behave / I hate that I can't seem to keep them alive for any great length of time). The Rams were alone in a 2' tank with a selection of caves and rocks for spawning sites and a reasonable amount of plant material for cover. The Rams were very timid so I thought I would add the bloodfins as a dither fish. After about a month/6 weeks with no activity from the Rams I pulled all of the fish out of there. The breeding tank got left for about a week while I tried to decide what I would breed next. There was a fair amount of sediment in the bottom of the tank (from the apple snail I had in there as a 'cleanup crew') so I decided to do a water change on the tank and siphon out the sediment. I siphon out a bucket full and dump it onto the front lawn as I usually do, sit back down infront of the tank and notice some minute 'thing' swim across the front of the tank. Closer inspection showed it to be a baby fish - not a ram therefore must be a bloodfin. "wow, I've got baby tetras....oh crap how many of them have I just murdered on the front lawn?" So now I have learnt to very carefully sift through the accumulated sediment in breeding tanks (particularly where there are no obvious fry). And you know what? - this did pay off - after no apparent action from Pygmy corydoras I removed the adults and then following my NEW routine inspected the first lot of sediment I siphoned out - just as well as there were baby cory's there - eventually I ended up with about 50 baby Pygmy corydoras. So of the things that I've breed so far what am I most chuffed about? Pygmy corys (because I know other people who have tried and failed) and Dwarf rasboras (because raising fry from a fish that has an adult size of 1.5-2cm can be a bit challenging). If you're interested in what other people in the NZ federation have been breeding the information can be found at: http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/kpr/ A list of my breedings is included in the Waikato Aquarium Society listings of the above page. ps The interesting thing about glass bloodfin fry is that they are totally clear but with red 'demon' eyes, as they grow the colour of the eye disappears and they develop the red in their tail. [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-03-27 17:12 ]

Hi all, this thread is prompted by comments from Pegasus about lack of site activity and that there are people out there that are interested in our tanks, fish, first spawning etc. I feel compelled to preface this message with something along the lines of "Hi, my name's Rob and I'm a fish-a-holic". The obsession began for me when I was helping my sister shift (about 7 or 8 years ago). One of her flatmates had a small 18" tank crammed with guppies. I gave my sister (one of these competent DIY'ers) some sheet glass that I had lying around and said "Make me a fish tank for Christmas". Since then the number of tanks has grown, initially because there wasn't enough room in one tank for all the fish I wanted to keep and also one tank ment I was restricted to one set of water conditions. The second round of expansion was when I became more interested in breeding and raising fish (partly for the challenge, partly for monetary gain). Flatmates saying 'get more tanks Rob' didn't assist in trying to curb the addiction. I currently have 12 tanks, ranging in size from 4' long down to 1' long. There is also an attempt at a White Cloud breeding scheme in a series of plastic bins out on the veranda. There are four, what I call, display tanks: 4' Catfish and Rainbow tank (has an assortment of catfish - synos, clown plecos, pictus cats, porthole cats and a couple of types of talking cats; the rainbows include Boesmani, Lacustris, Madagascan, Lake Tabera and a couple of others that I'm not 100% sure on the ID). 3' Discus tank (it has 2 discus in it so I call it the discus tank but there are other things in there too: a few tetras - Cochu blue, Black phantom and yellow congo, Neon dwarf rainbows, Marbled hatchets, a pair of Golden eye dwarf cichlids and a hodge-podge of cory's) 3' Dwarf tank (well, the tank itself isn't dwarf but the fish in there are all of smaller types, the largest fish in there are Honey gouramis and dwarf flag cichlids, there are also Dwarf rasboras, Emerald Eye rasboras, pygmy cory's, silver hatchets, indian hatchets, Hara hara cats and spotted scooters) 2.5' Livebearer tank (mainly guppies, with some Berlin swordtails, hawaiian variatus platys, blue maculatus platys - I don't generally like Orange or bright red fish so hence none of the common sword tail or platy types make it into the tank; there are also some Celebes rainbows and Caudimaculatus cory's in that tank as well). As for the breeding side of things, I like to try and breed the fish that I like to have in my display tanks, yes a feel a sense of achievment when I say that I've officially breed 17 different species, but I'm not going to run out and buy a pair of convict cichlids just to get another breeding point - there are still far too many fish already swimming around in my tanks that I want to breed. At the moment I have 2 tanks that I am trying to breed fish in, one has a pair of Flag cichlids (which I've only had a week and they are already guarding a patch of eggs on one of the rocks) and a trio of whiptail catfish (the male is sitting on a clutch of eggs in one of the bamboo tubes in the tank - I'll have to remove the flag cichlid parents before the whiptails hatch). The other breeding tank has a pair of Rubber lipped plecos that I'm trying to encourage to do their thing - they spawned in the community tank but I failed to raise any fry (yes the eggs were fertile, just my poor management ment that the fry died). For those who have been keeping track of the number of tanks, the total is only up to six so far what about the other 6 to take me up to my total of 12? Two are permanently used for growing on the fry from the live bearer display tank and also breeding and raising ancistrus (since the livebearers don't bother the ancistrus and vice-versa), one tank currently for growing on the Corydoras sterbai fry I have, one partitioned tank for trying to get Cory's to breed (currently stocked with C.sterbai, C.nanus and C.melini), one small tank currently being used to condition some female Mosquito Rasbora and finally a tank currently used for growing on some Golden eye dwarf cichlids, fattening up some Corydoras trilineatus and also growing on some plants (mainly Aponogetons from the seed set in the discus display tank). I'm keen on growing aquatic plants providing it doesn't require too much effort on my part - so three of the four display tanks have either laterite or potting mix/commercial compost below the gravel substrate, I haven't gone to the expense/effort of setting up a CO2 system, yes I do use liquid fertiliser but not as often as I really should, occasionally fertiliser tabs are inserted near the roots of some the sword plants (mainly when it looks like they're slowing down a bit). I haven't gone overboard with lighting (mainly because I don't want the powerbill to be too high) just your standard fluoros, twin tube fittings for 3 of the 4 display tanks (Livebearers only have a single, but the crypts are doing well since they don't require too high a light level). Overall I'm happy with how most of the display tanks look (plantwise), look reasonably lush, I am making some money by selling plant bits and pieces but am not having to trim back the triphids on a 3 daily basis. Still have a battle with black algae in one tank but hopefully a combination of removing the worst affected leaves and more siamese algae eaters will get it under control. I am also keen on raising live food for my fish, I keep cultures of: microworms, grindal worms, white worms, earth worms, confused flour beetles, daphnia, and brine shrimp (this is not just hatching the eggs, but growing them on to adulthood). Unfortunately my wingless fruitfly culture died out so I'll have to order another. I also occasionally collect live food for the fish: mainly aphids and water boatmen, occasionally tubifex and blood worms. At the moment my living situation and employment future doesn't allow me to have more tanks. At some stage I would really like to set up a large (5-6') mini-reef system ($$$ :eek: ) and also just generally have larger display tanks - we shall have to wait and see what happens. Brief personal stuff about me? Currently 28, just finished my PhD (still have to have the nasty oral exam for it though and no it wasn't anything fish related) and now employed (temporarily) at the University of Waikato. [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-03-24 18:02 ] [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-03-24 18:08 ] I really should have proof read the message before I posted it. These 'edited by' messages seem to be multiplying [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-03-24 18:26 ]

Dwarf flags??? Are we talking about Laetacara curviceps! :eek: If we are talking about the same fish, contact me off-list and we can discuss you getting me some. I'm in Hamilton so not too far away.

If you want to look at it from a purely fishy point of view: Napier has the National Aquarium. As far as purchasing tropical fish, it seems that Auckland is the place to be (unfortunately). Why unfortunately you ask - because no-one in their right mind wants to live in Auckland (too full of Aucklanders). Yes other places have the same access to the fish available, it's just that the Auckland shops, catering to a larger market get more of any one type of fish (when you're trying to find a pair of something a bit more pricey this is an advantage - the smaller shops may get only one or two in which makes finding a pair more difficult).

Apart from the NZ Aquarium World Caryl mentioned we only seem to get Tropical Fish Hobbyist. After a year spent in England I developed a preference for the PFK you mentioned, OK not as glossy as TFH but (in my opinion) more meat and less gravy, as they say , compared to TFH. I have recently enquired about getting PFK, one issue is on order for me at a local book shop and then I'll see what the exchange rate is like for getting a subscription.

The price I was quoted was 25 $AUS, the poster set (4 of them, 600mm x 420mm, of Trifaciata rainbow forms; Splendida rainbow forms; small rainbows and hardyheads; blue-eyes and glass perches) was 40 $AUS. For these two I was told about 10 $AUS for postage. The prices mentioned are 'members prices', I'm not sure if they have a non-members price or if they really care one way or the other.

The most common way I am aware of is set the tank up with all the decorations, plants etc, leave it a couple of days to 'settle in' ie water up to correct temperature etc. add a couple of cheap fish (to minimise the painful pocket syndrome if the worst does happen) and maintain the tank as per normal (ie feed (sparingly), regular water changes etc) and gradually over the course of weeks/months increase the stocking level. People will also help the process along with either water from an established tank or filter mulm/media from a filter on an estabilished tank. Some may buy products such as Cycle (live bacteria) to speed the whole process along. I would tentativley say that the majority of freshwater hobbyists don't tend to monitor the ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels during the cycling period. This doesn't seem to be the case with the Marine hobbyists, they seem to shove a dead mussel in the tank, religously monitor ammonia, nitrite or nitrate and only when the tank has clearly cycled (based on their graph of the different chemicals) add a hardy fish and go from there. [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-03-07 15:25 ]

Yep, there definitely are other rainbowfish fans around. I have: Pair of Melanotaenia lacustris (Lake Katubu Rainbows), 4 Melanotaenia boesmani (Boesman's Rainbows) 5 Bedotia gaeyi (Madagascan Rainbows) 3 Melanotaenia praecox (Neon dwarf rainbows) 3 Melanotaenia hebertaxelrodi (Lake Tabera Rainbows) Pair of Melanotaenia splendida australis? (sold as Australian rainbows) 3 Adult Telmatherina ladigesi (Celebes Rainbows) 3 Juvenile Iriatherina werneri (Feather-fin rainbows) I also had the little Spotted Blue-eye rainbow (Pseudomugil gertrudae) - which I unfortunately lost, but one of the other local club members has some fry that I hope to get once they're grown. I've recently joined the Australia New Guinea Fishes Association, ANGFA, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of some of the merchandise they have available - A set of four posters of different rainbowfish varieties, and a reference CD-ROM, that is supposed to be an excellent reference. Their web address is: http://www.angfa.org.au/ I couldn't find the CD-ROM mentioned on the current website (I'd seen it ages ago on a previous version) but when I enquired via email they still had some available at, what I considered, a very reasonable price.

The daphnia hopefully should have sorted any constipation problems and also any possible bloating from dry flake food. Perhaps it is some swim-bladder disorder that has developed from old age then.

Supposedly live daphnia can have a laxative effect on fish, has the added advantage of being tempting for a fish that is off their food. Of course if there are tankmates they are likely to get the daphnia before the poorly angel.