Rob

Went to the local fishshop, enquired about catfish availability and found that some of my previous comments are incorrect. Chocolate stripe catfish (Platydoras costatus) are currently available, should be retailing for about $50. I'm unsure if my comment about Farlowellas is correct, they may be a recent import, but currently available are Rhineloricaria filimentosa (spelling??). As both of these types are on the more pricey side you may have to request them specifically - also may depend on what wholesalers your local shop deals with. Corydoras julii (though it's almost certainly C.trilineatus) are definitely available at the moment though more expensive (and possibly a little smaller) than previously. Rob [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-01-14 17:15 ]

Welcome to NZ, I would guess your first port of call for fish and equipment would be Wet Pets in Palmy (Palmerston North), 729 Tremaine Ave, 0-6-357 8177. I've called in there a couple of times on my travels and they seemed to a have a good range of fish, can't really comment on the equipment side of things. I assume there is also some sort of Trade and Exchange magazine for the area if you're not adverse to second hand setups. I know here in Hamilton the weekly Loot magazine has aquariums for sale every week it's just a matter of waiting until something suitable comes along. If you are travelling further a field the best shop here in Hamilton (my opinion) is the Goldfish Bowl (966 Heaphy Terrace, 0-7-855 2176), for equipment you may also want to check out Pet City (787 Te Rapa Rd, 0-7-849 8434). Regarding the fish you're interested in, we seem to be having a bit of a drought as far as interesting (but reasonably priced)imports are concerned - again my opinion (I'm mainly interested in small to medium catfish, tiny fish and rainbowfish). Working through your list of fish (based on what I've observed here in Hamilton and my odd trip up to auckland): 1)Kribs are pretty common, Bolivian and German Blue rams are available on a semi regular basis (more so the Bolivians), other dwarf cichlids seem to be in short supply. Locally we have people breeding small amounts of blue rams and also the Golden Eye dwarf cichlid (Nannacara anomala). 2)One type of ancistrus commonly available (with perhaps? another type being breed out there somewhere - I also came across an expensive, $160, ancistrus up in auckland - beyond my budget and only the one of them). The synodontis' you are most likely to come across are the Upside Down (S. nigriventis) and also the Featherfin (S. eupterus), with the occasional solitary specimens of the more expensive ones. Talking cats/Platydoras, I wouldn't get my hopes up, there have been no recent imports (to my knowledge), Chocolate stripes (Platydoras costatus) were the last ones - about two years ago?, you may get lucky and find one that has been sold back to a fish shop. Even further back there were Spotted talking cats (Agamyxis pectinifrons), again I think you would only get them through private sale or if they have been sold back to a fish shop). Farlowella's, I think these are currently available, retailing for $60-70? At this price some retailers may not be stocking them and you would have to ask specifically. Corydoras, there is a range available (not necessarily a huge range): bronze (C.aenus), albino (C.aenus), peppered (C.paleatus), Tail spot/many spotted (C.caudimaculatus), Panda (C.panda), Emerald (Brochis splendens), bondi (C.bondi bondi), ?pygmy (C.pygmaeus - has been imported before and I think it may be available at the moment), ?julii (more likely to be C.trilineatus, haven't seen them for a little while). Then there are probably some types that are regionalised due to them being locally bred (were C.sterbai available in Wellington/Hutt Valley) Pimlids - the only one you commonly see is the Pictus cat. 3)Loaches You should be able to find Kuhli loaches, a range of Botia loaches, Horse faced loaches at the moment, perhaps a couple of types of Hillstream loaches, and golden eel loaches if you're really lucky (ie they haven't been sold because they're buried up to their eyes in the gravel). 4)Discus, I'm not heavily into discus and tend to favour the blues anyway but there has been a greater variety of reasonably priced ($70-120) ones imported recently. Hope this is of assistance (if you happen to have an hour to kill in Hamilton let me know, you'd be welcome to come peer into the tanks I have). Rob [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-01-13 23:44 ]

I would favour either the attract and remove or loach control options. Ignoring the possibility of harming the fish with a chemical/electrochemical treatment there is still the issue of a lot a rotting snail carcasses in you tanks. I guess the problem with the attract and remove option is that you're never going to get all of them. The loach option I've used before with good results, though I wouldn't use it in a livebearer tank where you were wanting young'uns to survive (unless perhaps you were using the small Dwarf or Chain loach - Botia sidthimunki).

Sounds like it may be black algae/black brush algae. Some may say that this doesn't get very long, though I have successfully (but unintentionally) got it to grow to 4-5cm in length. The most effective way I have controlled it is by adding Siamese algae eaters (also called black line flying foxes) to the tank. Of course this will depend on whether they suit your tanks current inhabitants. Results wont be instant but they do eat it. As for the stripping down the tank and sterilising, this would probably work....until next time the algae establishes itself. [ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2001-10-26 21:41 ]

I generally use rolled oats. I place the dry oats in the bottom of the container add boiling water so they swell and go porridgy (but without having excess water on the surface). Once the oats have cooled I sprinkle on some bakers yeast and put in the microworm starter culture. You may need to mist with a little water at this stage if the mix is a little on dry side. As Bruce metioned it varies as to how long the culture lasts - I find that if production starts slowing down adding more yeast, more water (if it has started drying out) or both can get things moving again. If this doesn't work then it is time to start a new culture - providing there is still some movement in the old culture you can use a dollop from that to seed the new one.

Within the last 2 or 3 weeks the local shop has started stocking JBL Artemia cysts (I would assume a new JBL product line in NZ). They are significantly cheaper than what had been stocked previously - though this varies shop to shop, I came across one that was apparently charging what the market would bear rather than their standard mark up. Initial reports indicate a good hatch rate.