Goldie

It was with sadness I read of Dr Fish dying. I bought my first discus from him at great cost.............however the joy of keeping them and the pleasure has been great and I have always been thankful for his selling me the best. Sympathy to his family and I am sure they will keep the stores going for their knowledge is great too. A man who definitely love fish.

Did you rinse the noodles before setting up your filter?? Did you rinse the stones/gravel before putting it in the tank?? Is this the same tank you have been losing fish from?? How long exactly has the tank been set up?? What percentage do you do of water changes?? How often do you do water changes?? Have you PH, Nitrate & Nitrite test kits - what are their readings?? Do you have ammonia test kits - what is the reading?? Doc I have all the test kits if you are stuck and you are welcome to borrow them. How big is the tank and what sort of fish/plants are in it?? Your answers to these questions will help us to offer suggestions for your problem. Are you on the Ashburton town supply for your water or are you on well water??

Ditto to "Caryl's post. However I have found that I know each fish, even the clown loaches have slight variations in their markings etc.

What a really good omen for you and yours. When are you hoping to get the tank up and running again?? Look forward to progress reports. :lol:

Well I am now free to head North and have twisted the arms of some local fish nuts. Passing through Christchurch we will pick up another fish nut. Blenheim are you ready for us Seriously though this is the one club event I look forward to all year. Wahoooooooo

about 10cm would be enough I think for the tank is not that wide. In fact it is 38 cm wide. However I do wish to hide heater, filter etc and to carve out some caves etc. thanks Caryl

for our Christmas parade float we used polystyrene begged from white wear stores. The Mitre 10 chain sell it too. Caryl could I put an order in for some 89 cm long and 54 deep??? I really am inspired to sculpt a background for my rouge tank.

:-? Oh no how sad for you Better luck next time.

http://shell.world-net.co.nz/~jenniefield/ have a look at this site. I was so thrilled to have been lead there and polystyrene is the main ingrediant. The finished result is awesome. What do you all think??

LOL so you have been in fish keeping where I am sort of heading At the moment I am considering getting some lace gouramis for my tank with the angels in. Also maybe for the discus tank as a couple of gouramis seem to give the discus confidence to hang out the front more. Lovely fish. Aha wood turning. I have a dear wood turning g/f in Waipara and you probably know of her for she annually travels to timaru for the woodturning thing. A small world indeed.

How is it going for you????? I was so frustrated when I first set up a tank for the wise wise shop keeper simply would not sell me any more fish until the tank had cycled..........................it was only a year later that I appreciated her sound advice...........even though still frustrated at watching two guppies for six weeks LOL. So how are you coping now......fingers crossed here that your losses are kept to minimum. happy water c hanging.........I find that the syphon method is easiest.

welcome I am so curious as to what sort of tropicals do you have in the tanks at the moment>?????? Geee now I get to sleep while you are working. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Welcome to the New Zealand fishy forum jerrygarry. re your losing your fish - tank cycling is not something we think of when beginning is it? So glad that you realised and that your fish are now ok. Sounds like you will sure fit in here fine. Welcome

Hi there ej.................What an excellent idea and that would enable the covering of many things. I have a java fern that attached to a piece of wood within two weeks - I do use plant fertilizer in the tank with water changes.

LOL Chris i sure wish.........however my house is so tiny and hubby and I do have to live somewhere........... Sue I am sure of it, the council has a lot to answer for :lol: :lol: I will be ringing around all the LFS between here and Caryls and maybe I can sell all the angels and b/n (that are large enough) to pay for the trip :roll: The angel fry will be just big enough to feed brine shrimp when I head up to Blenheim.............hubby who is not an addict re fish will be feeding them for the two days i am away..............no that has to be love doesn't it LOL.

I moved my 'babies' all fully grown now from the original tank and left just the parents there with a few bottom catfish. Here we are a week later and they have laid their eggs on the fluval outlet pipes and are doing a magnificant job of fanning and protecting (from shadows lol). Oh my I still have 11 golden and 3 marbelled from the last spawning. Anyone for angelfish???? This will be the second spawning from this pair as I had left the 'babies' with them which seemed to stop them spawning and they were good parents right up to when I removed their progeny.

so sorry to hear of your loss Fishnut.............I know how you love your fish. Some very sound advice given above and I can only agree. I had some discus from the same source as you, a few years ago, and sadly they went the same way........maybe we were sold them too small?? They were only the size of a 20cent piece. Sure hope to see you in chat soon. It is great place to go.

Well the Dunedin water can be pretty terrible so do check it out. There is a really nice bunch of fish keepers down that way with some awesome tanks. I suggest that you contact them and maybe get some seasoned water from them to start your tank off with. Otherwise it is the normal cycling sighhhhhhhhhhh. I used aqua plus with my tank and found it ok however I may have been ok without it too. I pour water into the buckets and let it sit. Justoverflowed one in the week end and the carpet is still drying out LOL.

OK after a lot of thought .......... ..................If you are a paid up member of the FNZAS the cost will simply be the cost of shipping/postage. If you are not a member of the FNZAS then $5 per Bristlenose now does that sound fair?????????????

OK Ira, Chris and TeeCee noted and I will keep you informed. There are at least 20 in the first hatching and I am still trying to count the second hatching (I keep getting cross-eyed) There are many many. Grant sure does take a good pic. Thanks Grant.

after some thought I think that making another club for those who don't want to join club is sort of pointless....................A good idea I think and I would be so very interested in seeing if anyone would take the opportunity to simply join FNZAS were it possible. you will never be able to please everybody (refer to aesops fable of the man, boy and donkey) :-? The FNZAS - even at my low low wage I manage to find the $15p.a. for my own club membership (which includes automatically includes membership to FNZAS). Some folk just do not wish to pay even a cent. Be it to belong to a fish organisation or anything else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such is their natures. To date I have only found fun and helpful pple. Because of my isolation I cannot attend any meetings and just manage to attend the annual tank parade which is a fun event and fun learning curve for me (by carefully planning and saving). It is so nice for me to be able to put faces to names and see their tanks and fish. I come home inspired enough for another year. Hopefully I impart a little enthusiasm to others at the same time. Our local 'club' is not a club that has subs or secretary. We gather monthly and meet at a home of a 'member'. Talk fish etc for a couple of hours, share problems and successes, again enthusiasm is generated. However I have noted that a lot of work is put in by the same few ppl (not me LOL ) - letting everyone know of meeting dates, circulating the e.mail letter of what has happened and what is happening To those ppl a huge vote of THANKS & APPRECIATION - I do ask at the same time if it is fair??????? For it seems that in all areas of life some do the graft, many benefit, a few are always too busy to input and horrors some just come to benefit and seemingly give nothing. Is this not true throughout all life??? Ok you may now tear me to shreds for being frank and open, just take good care of my fishies please LOL. Cheers to the FNZAS and the folk who give generously of their time and efforts to help those of us just beginning in this hobby. We may not like everyone we met or hold the same opinions.(we would be unnatural if we did) however we have one thing in common.............a LOVE for fish keeping and the fish. OK OK i will now put my soap box away and give Ira a big hug ...........see he does not like discus and I love love them .........we are still kindred spirits though and both like the hard working bristlenose catfish

another big welcome from mid canterbury I am a member of the Marlborough Aquarium Club and the benefits are many. One of the pleasures is assisting in my small way other fishy loving people and many a time they have been there for me in times of crisis. The magazines are wonderful and such good reading. I have not tapped anywhere near the resources.................however come the day that I retire................. The best thing in joining a club and ultimately the FNZAS is in helping unite the fish keepers in NZ

ok Ira I must say I am so nervous about shipping fish and have never done it before myself. However I am taking some of the Novembers' hatching up to Blenheim with me and hope to learn how to ship fish while I am there. Sure will keep you posted. Do you wish to adopt a boy or girl You realise that the twins cannot be separated of course

nice really really nice sue CONGRATULATIONS.

Thanks all. Yes I am thrilled with those little critters and since you are the paternal grandad, so to speak, Bruce the honour of naming them is all yours ROFL Everytime I change the water I have to check that no babies have been swept up. Same with cleaning the filter. They sure are growing fast though so I had better ring some LFS and see if I can arrange for most of them to find new homes.