Naz_Nomad

I would add, in the 'related' part of the list... WTB - Want To Buy... FS - For Sale... LF - looking for... For ease of use of the Sale & Exchange sections

Mr Bunnings is fine, but try the Warehouse, where everyone gets a bargain. They have some nice digital ones with up to ten programmes on them for about eight bucks, which are the ones I use.

Better yet, just post a how-to with pics for us all. Caryl should get no special treatment!

The 'Disease' section would have been better for this question, and a picture is better than a thousand words, but here's my 2c quack diagnosis from my little fishy health book... It is possible that your loach has a tumour. Tumours can be caused by viral infections, pollution of the tank or as a result of physical damage. It is a good idea to segregate the fish if possible, though tumours are rarely infectious, but until you're sure the disease is a tumour and non-infectious, suspect infections are best kept out of the community set-up and the fish's condition will need to be monitored. There is, unfortunately, no effective treatment for tumours regardless of cause. That's the lump. As for the darker patches on his skin, that may be the disease spreading or affecting the internal organs. Alternatively, I might be entirely wrong about the whole tumour thing anyway. An alternative might be infection with mycobacterium, which will cause lumps but not unnecessarily dark patches. Again, it is important to segregate the fish. You'll have to ask your vet about which drug to treat it with though. HTH

Rams are territorial and two males will be busy defending their territory from the other bloke. There will be chasing and head butting and the occasional nip but unless there is damage occurring, don't worry about it. It might help if you get yourself a nice chunky piece of driftwood to lay down the middle of the tank to very clearly define territorial boundaries. That way, chances are that apart from feeding time each male will sit on opposite sides of the driftwood with just an occasional check over the top to make sure the other guy doesn't have a better territory.

White water is, as Caryl said, caused by a bacterial bloom. That means your bacteria that are there all the time converting nasty nitrogen based stuff into nice nitrogen based stuff has had a bit of a population explosion. Over feeding is one possible cause, but it happens occasionally even with a strict feeding regime. Leave it alone, your tank will sort itself out. Keep an eye on the water parameters though, which you're probably doing anyway. Green water is different. This is free floating micro-algae. It can be killed off relatively easily. Blacking out the tank for a few days totally should kill it off, though I have never had any success with this method, even using the wife's best towels to black out the tank. Personally, I recommend using a UV filter in the tank which kills off the floaty algae bits which cause the water to turn green. In theory, a UV filter might also help with the white water as it kills off the free floating bacteria causing the water to appear cloudy, but you have to consider whether you want to kill off bacteria in that way. Of course, there should be a population of bacteria in your filter and substrate anyway to work the nitrogen cycle. UV filters cost anything from $80 upwards. Don't make the mistake of confusing them with UV sterilisers and Clarifiers designed for pond use, there are specific products scaled for aquarium use.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... icle_id=55 Hope that helps. A search of the Planet Catfish site for the family name Bagrichthys gives more species of the family if that isn't the fish you're looking for. Also, a search for silver there comes up with some monster catfish. I think you're confusing yourself as Silver and Mystus don't seem to sit well together in my search efforts.

See, all three of you are just crying out for Keyholes. Even Cichlid7 who hasn't lost any rams. Still needs Keyholes. I'm not biased at all honest.

Surely natives would be considered cold water? So up to 22ish would be best for them.

Though an aquascaped aquarium may not exactly match a fish's environment perfectly, at least they can learn to thrive in there. Fish are naturally shy animals and a planted and decorated aquarium privides hiding places for them. They like to have territories and the markers in the tank provide that for them, be it plants or rocks or wood. Caves and rocks and empty substrate provide a number of possible spawning places for various species, again all found in an aquarium. Though an aquarium will never be as perfect for the fish as living in the wild, I do believe that a nicely decorated and planted tank provides a space for them that they can be happy in. A bare tank provides no cover, no markers and little by the way of spawning sites, though not all fish live with these three things, they live alongside them in the wild. We'll never be able to provide an absolutely perfect environment for them, but if we try our best and make the fish happy enough to breed and continue eating and show no signs of stress, then we are responsible pet owners and the fish will thrive. Don't forget also that a lot of fish have never seen the wild, the aquarium is where they were born and brought up over many generations. Behaviours adapt to this environment.

You could also crush flake food and put it under the water so it sinks quickly and some reaches the bottom before your other fish trough it all. Either is good, but microworms & shrimp are probably best.

Thanks for the advice, off to pick up a pair this morning

Keyholes are fairly compatible with most peaceful fish, don't grow over large and tolerate a reasonable range of water parameters. I like them, they aren't the most colourful of fish but have great personalities and are easy to keep. Great fish for a community tank.

Apistogramma Eunotus being sold on Trade Me. Has anyone ever kept these before? Are they difficult? Any special needs? The seller claims they'll live happily with other South American species. Cheers guys.

Have you tried Keyholes SBD? They are tough as old boots.

Am I the only one who read the writing down the side of the avatar then?

Just sent the form in and paid the cash over. Just awaiting the interminably slow banking system to actually move it anywhere other than out of my account and I will finally be a member of a club. Now looking for small breeding tanks.... trademe here I come. Again.

Guppies and WCMM both breed readily so either is good for feeder supplies. WCMM are also relatively cheap, but not as cheap as your guppies will be.

I was told by my darling wife that I wasn't allowed any more tanks until we buy a bigger house. Hence an offer goes in tomorrow to upgrade the house and soon afterwards, the tanks. (Will $545,000 count as the most expensive aquarium investment in New Zealand?) After that, I will be starting on killies... probably :lol:

I'd disagree with that. I dose once a week during water changes and use undersoil fertilisers and get some outrageous plant growth. Works out a lot cheaper than daily doses of Excel and a sight less fiddly than CO2

First of all, welcome to the forum. As for your photo's and stuff, try having a read of this... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/postin ... t2406.html HTH

Consider a six foot tank or so with a couple of young Oscars in it... Would Keyhole Cichlids or Angelfish survive in there with the Oscars? What non-aggresive fish ARE suitable tank-mates for Oscars?

Hey Henward, The products you are thinking of are called Cycle and TLC. I recommend the TLC one personally.

LFS = local fish shop. Yeah, prune dying leaves. Rotting leaves add to the pollution in the tank anyway, they aren't adding anything to the plant and aren't going to be eaten, so get rid. Bristlenose are fantastic fish. They'll never stop eating the algae. Make sure there's a lump of wood in the tank for them as they need to rasp on that to keep their digestion motoring along properly.

Jezza, Have you tried asking in your lfs if they will sell you a snail eating fish? My lfs (Pupuke) is happy to sell Clown Loach and then trade them in for smaller ones when they outgrow a tank because other fish keepers want larger fish than are usually available. Clowns eat snails, as do Skunk Loach. Just a thought. Obviously you want to get your tank cycled and running properly before adding too many fish. I wouldn't give up entirely on any plant the snails are eating off. If you see snails, stick your hand in the tank and remove them for the time being. Plants recover well from being eaten, it's what happens in the wild and it's how they're designed. Obviously there will eventually come a point where they are unviable, but that should be fairly obvious as the brown/rotting parts will outweigh the healthy green parts and spread through the non-growing plant. If your plants are starting to go brown and not grow, trim the brown leaves off and add a small amount of Flourish Excel to encourage their growth and they will make a miraculous recovery.