Rob

I've edited the list to include the common names that I know. I've accumulated them over a number of years just through shops (the C.nanus was the only one that I got from a breeder - that was during a club trip - unfortunately the breeder had to leave the hobby due to poor health). The ones that I have a particular liking for are the Flagtail cory and also Sterba's cory a.k.a golden leopard.

Cories that I have in my tanks: C. barbatus (Bearded cory - since the males develop stubble) C. pygmaeus (Pygmy cory) C. melini (Diagonal stripe cory) C. nanus C. napoensis (Rio Napo cory?) C. elegans (Elegant cory) C. robinae (Flagtail cory) C. trilineatus (3-lined cory, most fish sold as julii are actually this species) C. sterbai (gets sold as Golden leopard) C. sodalis (network cory) C. melanistius C. burgessi (Burgess' cory) C. schwartzi (schwartz's cory) C. axelrodi (Axelrod's cory) C. caudimaculatus (Tail spot cory) Others that I know are available or have been available in NZ: C. panda (Panda cory) C. aeneus (Bronze cory, albino cory is usually this species as well) C. paleatus (Peppered cory) C. hastutus (Dwarf cory) C. reticulatus (Reticulated cory) C. adolphi C. rabauti C. davidsandi (David Sand's cory) C. metae (Bandit cory) C. arcuatus (Skunk cory) (list edited to include common names)

From going through a seahorse 'factory' one problem with raising the ponies is if they feed from the surface and get a gulp of air - they can't get rid of the air and die. This meant that the raising tanks were set up so that they didn't have much overhead light (BBS will head to the light accumulating at the surface making it much more likely that the seaponies will get a gulp of air when feeding.

:-? Caryl - any ideas of what species the electric blues you're refering to are? as I refer to S. ahli as an electric blue.

No one's registered them before, but I know the fish have been imported into NZ before so someone out there may have bred them. It's hard to tell how many fry there are at the moment but I'd say about 40 (so not huge numbers but enough for me to be happy with).

Well, my copy of this book arrived a couple of days ago now and I'm very happy with it. Beautifully presented, with each species having its own colour photo. Each plant has info (in the form of symbols) about the prefered conditions and difficulty also most entries have a written description giving extra info. It's nice to have a book that is so comprehensive in the species it covers. Now if only I can find some of these plants in the shops.

I came across these fish one trip up to Auckland - from what I could gather they were a contaminant amoung the normal congos so I hunted around various Jansen branches and got 6 pairs of them. Initially I just put them in the display tank, but one day I noticed that they were spawning in there (not just going through the motions but actually throwing some eggs). Put two females in a breeding tank (subdued lighting but sun in the morning, java moss) and conditioned them for two weeks on live mosquito larvae, then added a couple of males and left them for 2 or 3 days. Removed all the adults and then waited. At first I thought it had all been fruitless as I didn't see any sign of fry, but 5 days after I removed the adults the first free swimming fry were spotted. Water conditions at breeding time were pH = 6.8, 70ppm general hardness and temperature was 26-27 celcius. The fry are happily eating baby brineshrimp and microworms. This is an idea of what the adults look like: Image curtesy of Randy's Aquaria Though the ones I've bred from have more of a violet sheen over the top half of the body (but the difference could just be the lighting).

Those are the colours that the dominant male takes on - so perfectly normal. Females are usually pale tan with a darker brown stripe running from nose to tail.

I've also got some butterfly fish (a pair) - it's my opinion that the definitely need live food to thrive but mine will also take flake (though no where near as enthusiastically as live food) - they are strict surface feeders though - once it's started sinking they totally ignore it. I can get my two to eat more flake if I sprinkle it on their head - they'll actually jump a little to get it. I've also got live mealworms to ensure a life food supply for them.

The only reason I can think of for daphnia turning up out of the blue is the presence of eggs/live ones in the water supply or eggs on the containers. From memory I think daphnia have two possible methods of reproduction - asexual live birth when the times are good and then sexual reproduction via eggs when times are getting lean. These eggs are pretty robust, capable of surviving dry periods (like when their pond has dried up and everythings waiting for the next rain).

You'll need to seed the tub with some live daphnia from some other source as daphnia do not have a flying form.

Depends on what dwarf cichlids you're interested in. Generally males are more colourful, also the dorsal and anal fins of the males will be more elongated, often coming to points, while the females fins may be more rounded.

As Caserole's mentioned there's definitely a difference in appearance between bloodworms and tubifex worms. Also tubifex are not the larvae of a flying insect - and therefore are not going to turn up in tub of water you left outside to grow daphnia or mozzie larvae in.

Things are now a little clearer. Leopard fish are livebearers, and can be kept in unheated conditions. Generally not demanding to keep but somepeople have experienced mass die-offs for no clear reason. Another common name for them is Caudo, scientific name is Phalloceros caudimaculatus. If you google the scientific name you should get some hits. They are definitely not the same as the mosquito fish that is a pest in NZ.

I'm not aware of anyone selling live blood worm - they just turn up in buckets/baths/containers/troughs of water left outside. In cattle troughs they're often hidden away in the sediment that accumlates at the bottom or on the sides (often in a little tube of sediment). As Matt has said they're the larvae of a non-biting midge.

You'd have to make sure you got the concentration right - I wouldn't want to overdose a tank with it.

can't recall off hand what the brand name was, I think there is only the one available. Making sure the active ingredient is simazine is the important thing. I found that it worked well, though I didn't have a heavy outbreak, but it wasn't an overnight thing, it didn't seem to make much difference against the other types of algae I had though.

You could also just get the little green algae destroyer tablets (active ingredient is simazine) I used them to get rid of the blue-green algae from my tank recently.

Original thread was titled "Leopard Danio" (in Livebearer forum). No, leopard danios aren't really like guppies. Guppies give birth to live young while danios are egglayers. Also they prefer different water conditions (guppies prefer alkaline water, danios prefer acidic) but they're reasonably adaptable. While some shops will sell them as 'coldwater' fish (please, let's not get into that issue here) they need to be in a heated tank (or at least an unheated tank in a heated room).

I'm definitely interested too.

I'm all up for healthy debate - please don't interpret this reply as antagonism. I agree that mayflies have 3 tails (as do damselfly larvae) but I wasn't suggesting that Caryl's critter was a mayfly larvae (I only mentioned damselflies since many people mistakenly call them dragonflies and there had been suggestions that the larvae was a dragonfly larvae). I also agree that stoneflies have 2 'tails' - but so do the diving beetle larvae - 2 'tails' does not automatically make it a stonefly larvae (just like two legs does not automatically make me a chicken :lol: ). The book that I'm working from (not a text book, just a little field guide) has the characteristics of stonefly larvae as 2 tails and LONG antennae, characteristics of diving beetle larvae - 2 tails and SHORT antennae. Here's an image of a stonefly larvae: Image curtesy of Waitakere City Council Here's an image of a diving beetle larvae (a larger overseas species, not the same species I suspect Caryl's is): Image courtesy of Missouri Botanical Gardens

All synos will swim upside at times and many shops will label any type of syno as 'upside-down' for this reason. A true upside down cat should look like this: Photo curtesy of Scotcat

How long have you had the fish and what size is it? It doesn't have the colouring I'd expect of a true upside-down cat (Synodonits nigriventris). It looks more like a juvenile featherfin syno (S. eupterus) - they start of with a black and white squiggle pattern and has they grow get a dark spot on lighter background pattern with fin extensions from the dorsal fin rays. If it is a featherfin it should get to about 20cm long.

The larvae in Caryl's pics are definitely NOT dragonfly or damselfly larvae. The image is of the larvae of a diving beetle, most likely the Cosmopolitan diving beetle (Rhantus suturalis). A dragonfly larvae would be twice the size and have the large side mounted eyes that adult dragonflies have. Also dragonfly larvae do not have any 'tails'. Damselfly larvae are about the same size as Caryl's critter but again would have the large side mounted eyes that the adults have and would have 3 'tails' rather than two. Regarding the suggestion of a stonefly - though they do also have 2 'tails' they have long antenae, not the short ones Caryl's critter has. The diving beetle and it's larvae are both predators so you'd still want to get rid of them.

Well the BBQ went off OK - weather while not sunny was still nice and mild, the steak was good and the fish behaved themselves. Fishroom members present were: Luke*, Doodle, Alan, Dave, Polgara and myself and then there were some Waikato club members and hangers on taking the numbers to 15.