editkid

Nom nom nom, boiled rock! I got heaps of rock yesterday. I took a hammer and chisel and knocked some nice thin slabs off, too, which might be nice to cover another structure - a coconut? - to make a cave and still keep everything lightweight. I'll boil a few different ones and test them in water for a week. And I'll try and take some photos of the process. Might be handy for a little tutorial, if I don't stuff up. Also, I might put silicone on the bottom, so that they don't scratch the bottom of the tank, should they sink to the bottom of the substrate.

Nice thread. I just got home from getting two types of rock from the beach around Red Rocks, Wellington. They're jagged with interesting minerals running through them in lines. I got many shapes: slabs large and small, big blocks, small blocks, ones with holes eroded into them... Now for some building outside of the tank I reckon. Trying to make something that will hold nicely without too much glue or drilling. We'll see (I mean it, I'll post pics ;-) )

Hmm interesting. I've been looking for a sturdy substructure for a rock cave. I might use coconut for a base cave and build rocks around it to make it look like a rock cave. Would be great to grow plants on top of with all the crack and holes and wood underneath. Thanks!

On the topic of rocks, I found this, which seems to make sense:

Oh, most definitely Caper :') I'm going to the South coast of Wellington tonight to look for nice rocks. Any tips for conditioning rocks so that I can safely use them in the aquarium? Any rocks I should avoid?

Yeah, that's one of the top tanks in the world, as voted by Practical Fishkeeping magazine last year I think. And yes, terra-cotta would definitely be an easy solution, although I don't know if I'd enjoy the smoothness of the terra-cotta very much. It might be a bit too clean... I'm thinking either driftwood or some sort of rock on some sort of chicken wire (???) or plastic frame (plastic, like the mesh sort that you get little potted plants in).

Thanks for the tips! This is sort of what I want to try and do, albeit on a smaller scale: Two hollow caves with moss on either side with a bright and open valley in the middle. Now how to make those caves... been waking up in the middle of the night with crazy ideas, but nothing workable yet.

Yeah... I hope he/she surfaces when I change over my tank in the next few weeks. It's the cutest fish!

Great advice, as always. Thanks Caryl!

Being a beginner I made some mistakes in my first tank. It's too dark, has snails, not the right gravel, etc. I'd like to redo my established tank with 12 fish in it. So I'm getting another tank, probably a little smaller, as a temporary home while I rejig my main tank. I have a bunch of questions about the move: a) Do I use water from my existing tank to fill up the temporary tank? b) Do I need to put gravel in the temporary tank? c) My filter - and media - will move from my main tank to the temporary tank and back, along with the fish? d) How do I best catch all my fish? Take half the water and my big piece of driftwood out before catching them? e) I don't need to condition the fish when introducing them into the temp tank if the water stays the same, right? And a bunch of questions about setting up a new tank: f) I'm thinking of using white sand, rocks, moss and possibly a few hardy plants. In all a much more transparent tank look. My current tank is a jungle of wood, dark gravel and lots of plants. Will this change of environment freak out my fish badly? Guess its just like being taken from the shop to a new tank? g) Anyone have any good leads for white sand or nice rocks? h) I'd like to hide the blue rubber tubes of my air bubbles. Any tips? Thanks for y'r help!

Ah right, yeah. My bristlenose has disappeared - haven't seen him/her for weeks. I think he might have died somewhere in a little nook or cranny... So I decided to get one Apple Snail, which I thought would take care of the algae. Shows what I know :lol: There are now four Apple Snails in the tank and the plants are all over the place, eaten to bits. And the algae are still there, although lessening.

Update: the little Honey Gourami are being kept tightly inside the bushy area on one side of the tank. The moment they come out, they get chased. I've managed to feed them with some spirulina tablets that I placed in between the plants. So yeah... ice cream container it is, I guess! Will get some bigger nets over the weekend, if the situation hasn't improved and separate out the big one for a few weeks.

Looks like it has little skinny lips actually. It's this orange one.

The striped one is blue with orange "tiger" stripes. This morning the blue one seemed to have been accepted, but the Honey ones were still being kept tightly inside the bush on one side of the tank, with the large bully - which is actually female I think - occasionally going in there to chase them out and back in. They didn't look very happy, sitting near the bottom, very quiet. I fed them this morning and the feeding was peaceful. I fed a lot, so everyone would have enough food. One of the Honey Gourami managed to eat one or two flakes. I put some spirulina tablet in the bush, too, so they can snack in there... Fingers crossed.

I introduced 2 small Honey Gourami and one striped (Opaline?) Gourami. There are heaps of plants and a big piece of driftwood for cover. The tank is 90cm long by 30cm deep by 45cm high. I'll keep an eye out over the next few days, hoping the behaviour will change.

Rearranging startled him for a little while, but he's back to his old antics already. I've offered my wife $250 if she manages to catch him so we can float him :lol:

Right-o, here goes...

True. Catching him is soooo tricky though. I only have this tiny blue net that came with the tank hah.

Just introduced 3 new Gourami into my tank, after there had been 2 Gourami already in there. One of the older and bigger ones is now relentlessly chasing all 3 new fish. To the point where I have been trying to catch the big one to send him swimming down the pipes! What can I do? I don't think these little ones will last more than a few days with that big bully biting them...

Oh yeah, that looks like it'll definitely do the trick. And I paid so much for all of this ha ha!!

Oh yeah, they look good at first sight. And cheap! http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5111

If you're up for a bit of DIY, check out this thread on the forum. Just made some, with parts from Jaycar, featuring a little dimmer control.

Oh and the dimmer is definitely a bonus. I've just set it to the lowest possible setting, and the fish are really relaxed, slowly checking out the tank. It's very hypnotic sitting in the dark with that pale blue light and slow moving fish.

With both lights on, full strength. Only blue LEDs, full strength. Doesn't really come across... In retrospect, I might have benefitted from mixing white with blue LEDs. This is quite blue. It's cool though, it a "thousands of miles below the sea" sort of way.

Yeah, works a treat, that Instructable. I ended up using and paying: - 10 x "12VDC Flexible Strip with 3 SM LEDs- Blue" at $7.50 each - 1 x "24MM POTENTIOMETER LOG SINGLE GANG (A)" at $2.70 - 2m of audio (speaker) cable at $0.30 - 1 x little plastic box to put the potentiometer in at $3.50 - 1 x 20VCD adaptor at $20 - 1 x timer for the mains plug at $4.00 - some glue from the glue gun, solder... TOTAL: $105.50 and about 4 hours of DIY geekdom For that price you can buy one in the shop, of course. I did have heaps of fun building it. I'll post a pic soon.