diffgirl

Thanks for that, and yes the eels are doing well, but there is so much room that I think some thing should work, especially closer to the edges in the shallower parts of the pond where the eels like the deeper mid parts, however no go on the marine bit though, it is just a pond, no tidal flow here, but any other ideas would be good, I dont mind tank raising if I have to either but just what is native, where to get them and what doesnt need constant flowing water as I heard that is important too. any way thanks again, I am excited to see what ideas there are even just for the whole learning thing

Thanks for all your guys help, and yes yes yes to some ideas of natives because that is about all that would be legal and non detrimental to the system as due to the fact that yes it does all flow on in high rain seasons, but from the looks of things the eels are doing well, thankfully we have had no baby ducks this season for them to chow down on, I hate seeing that the fluffy little buggers are so cute, and getting lost to slimy ells, ewe yuck!! (I know I will prob get some stick for that last comment but those eels really do creep me out, fish I love but eels not so much :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :oops: :oops: :oops: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ) Anyway ideas on natives and where to get them from would be great!!!

thanks for all your info guys, I had a feeling it was not on the up and up and for me I keep tanks of tropicals so ponds are new to me though I had always thought you were not allowed to introduce non natives into the water ways, but now I know they are pests, that idea can get scrapped! If anyone has a good idea as to how to keep the mozzie population down, legaly with fish or other good pond ideas please let me know. Thanks everyone :oops:

I am looking for info on what may be termed a mosquito fish. My parents have just moved rural to a 2 1/2 acre property in pukekawa mercer, and on the property is a huge pond, largely populated with eels, but when the water is high it does have the option to flow into the next pond and the next as there is a whole line of them from property to property, so I know the likes of oranda and commets are not allowed, so what on earth would these guys be? As the name sugests they are to help keep the populaton of mozzies down to a less irratating level. Anyway any info is appreciated and if any one has some fish that would do the job and be ok to go into such a pond could you please let me know as we would love to get some and save our selfs from being dinner to our flying pestty neighbors!! thanks guys I look forward to hearing your ideas!!

Hey there, i noticed you mentioned that you are keeping him/her with goldfish, and I wondered if you have any river wood in the tank with them, because for plec's it is a very important part of their diet, it not only gives them the extra nutrients and vitimans and minerals they need for healthy digestion but the roughage is essential too, even if you just have a small piece for it to munch that would be enough, cause I tell ya that is what ours spend the most part of their day doing, munching the wood. Another thing ours love is shrimp pellets, they are sinkers and after a min or so they disolve a bit and scatter all over the bottom of the tank, the other fish all eat them too but what we do is fill the other fattys up on flake and all the other foods they like first and drop the pelets in at the end of feeding, then turn their lights off and the smell of them is so strong that our guys must smell it in the water and they come out to eat them pretty much straight away. The ones we use are the wardley ones, and the small tub lasts for ages. Hope this may help, all the best, Kristy

honestly I had a bunch of con bubs and had no where to put them so we decided to pop them in our warm minnows tank until we had another option and within a few days all gone, so if those little guys will eat them it is the simple matter of food chain and I have a good feeling if your jardini likes meat it will love cons even small juvis would be good too(up to a couple of cms, the cons grow quick, we have one survivor of lst clutch it is about 5 weeks old and already biger than some of our 3 1/2 month jag bubs about 1 1/2cm), our Jags just love them too! The funny thing about the minnows eating the con bubs is that the minnows are bread by us especially for food for the jags LOL but they got their revenge. So I would say yes cons make great food and they breed like no bodys business, they breed far beter than our feeder minnows and it is just so good for them to live feed, it is as natural as peas and carrots! Get a mature pair and in weeks you will be off and feeding them to your jardini, and I bet it becomes one fat jardini! Good luck!!

Cool, that sounds awesome! It will be good to catch up then, Im looking forward to re-meeting you then

Hey cool, that is easy!! we used to live in hain ave and I grew up in picton street so I know the area pretty well By the way have we ever met before? I worked at the shop from 1998 till 2003 when I left to have my girls and I have been back there for about a year now, plus I have always been in the hot rod and drag racing scene, usually driving one of dads cars, either the Val ute, the dodge truck or their 58 plymouth. Now I have my 62 chevy taxi and cam has his little black and silver flamed 23 ford T that dad got for him. Isnt it a small world though, yet every one seems to know dad to the point where it becomes a bit embarasing :oops: :oops: Thanks again for that and I will get hold of you soon as I just realised too that I have been looking at some of your fish on TM and would be keen to grab some sword tails and things so I wouldnt mind even having a look at what fish you have going too.

that would be awesome, thanks so much, we are not quite ready just yet but I will flick you a PM if that is cool when we are free to come over and have a squiz and we can hopefully get the main gist of it. Then major building here we come!! Thanks smcoleman!!!

Ops, well that means so do I cause I was going to do the same thing (magnify the pic that is) and post it but everyone beat me to it and the answer had been confirmed, but just so you know I got 149 too LOL

We have been toying with the idea of a sumping system to run one or all of our tanks off and it is a complete unknown to us, does anyone have some ideas, examples, do's and dont's. Any info incl pics would be great as we will need some where to start and also we need mainly to know the general outline on what you need and how you set it up. Thanks everyone, looking forward to seeing what to do and jumping into the project!

Dont worry livingart Im sure those of us who own 1 or more convict pairs, will gladly have your back and chuck you one or two of our spare buckets of convict fry, and I dont even think we'd notice any were missing!! LOL!!!

Thanks heaps, there is a bit of work to go to get the rest of the tannins out iof the water and get the plants more established, also there will be some gourami and platties and a cat being added soon as I want to use their tank to try some killies, so I will keep it all updated. It seems when I last looked I had one tank and then I got up this morning and we have 5 tanks LOL, but it keeps it all fun, though I have to move bodies round the tanks I have as I have been told Im not allowed more till we move house, which will be some ways off . Its all good fun!!!

on the first score I think you are right, and on the second yes it is a little yellow, unfortunatly the pics do it more than is actual, there are two reasons for it, one is the wall behind the tank is peach which shines through and reflects, but the wood too does leach tannins into the water which it may take a while to stop, the fish dont seem to mind though. It is just a time thing and the set up is pretty new, our other tank did the same thing, I found the only tank with wood in it that didnt do it is the cons tank and it is cause the wood came from a tank at jansens.

Thanks to Shaymis we were given the honor of giving Mr Bala Shark a new home as he out grew his house at shaymis's house so we asked if he could come here and live with our big black shark called Kristy, and now it is one big happy family! We love him so much I thought I would show everyone the pics, as we are just so proud of them!!

Yea that definatly does sound positive!! I hope it is just nothing!!! They really are such cute little buggers and people that dont keep fish think us keepers are mad as to how attached you can get but they really do become an important part of the family. Again good lick with him Im sure it will all be fine

I have no idea if this will be the same thing, but I was told it can happen to all fish, any way our jewel cichlid got a spot on the side of her head and for all purposes she was fine for a while, we looked for info and as a spot there was not much to explain what it was, however, she soon then after started to have the spot turned to a lump, and from there it all went down hill and she got sluggish stopped eat6ing and next thye lump blew out and you could see into her head. We tried all sorts to help her and she hung in there for quite some time, but eventually she died. All the way through we kept on looking for answers but it was not until after she passed on that we found out what it was, we were told it was called hole in the head disease and it is something all fish are born with but only seem to suffer from when some fish get under the weather or run down and there it goes. So best advise I can offer is just keep looking and there will be an answer there just keep at it. As I say I would not think this will be the same but keep up the investigation because if there is something you can do to fix it it is good to know. Good luck!! Let us know how you get on

Oh yes sorry I forgot to mention that bit, ours is a part time jumper and recently we had a major problem with her jumping into the lid of her tank, but I assure you she only does it when stressed, at the time she had been bitten badly by one of our jags and had a big wound, also due to that we moved her from tank to tank to find another home that would suit her and for the first day she would try to jump out of each, but with a little (Ireally mean alot) of help from some great members here we got her back to good health and now she is as happy as anything again. Basically her new tank has a full but soft mesh lid so if she jumps now she juwst gets a sore nose, no major damage, and this way if it does happen she doesnt get too wound up and keep doing it. I tell you though I think of all our fish she is my fav, she is just such a dag!!

I have to say for big Im with you there on the black shark option, our girl got really big really quick, I dont know if it was the large amount of food we threw at her or if it is actually a trait but she is about 1yr and has passed the 20cm mark, but as for nasty or mean I wouldnt so much say she is any of that, she is a major pain in her tank mates buts, but that is because she has a bad habit of finding the plecos and just quietly pushing them out of where they are so she can play, any chance to play chase around the tank with any one roughly her size and she is in fins and all! Also our plec's are big and just keep getting bigger, we have a 1 1/2 yr old and a 6 monther, and they are at the 15 and 23cm mark, but docile as hell, they just like to cruse and eat.

WOW guys, thank you so much for all the great info and help, it is definatley on the cards for the near future for the next venture!!~! I would also love to take up Barries offer to come and see everything first hand, I'm not too sure when but I can PM to work something out with him. Again everyone, thanks so much, It just never ceases to amaze me just how kind every one is here!

If you are into nasty we keep a pair of jaguar cichlids and they are plenty mean especially when they have babies!! They are a gorgeous fish to look at and have personality to boot! The only thing you may need to be prepared for is if they grow too big for that tank, and they are not community fish! But hey we like them and they are neat to watch grow. We keep ours in a rockey tank and they love to dig and move things around. Very cool and there is always a new layout when they are in the mood to rearrange.

Thanks so much for that, what great info!! They definatly sound like a contender for our next set up, as all our tanks that are communities, are too warm for them by the sounds, we keep ours at the 26-28deg mark. So for setting up their tank what sorts of environment do they like, eg: planted, non planted, rockeries, river wood etc, and what are good companion fish to keep with them as we try to have some sort of cleaners in each of our tanks, for example, we have pleco's in out big tank and cats in our smaller tank, so what would work for killies? Also if you have any idea on any other companion fish to create a community atmosphere. I am so very greatfull for your time and help, as I find research on the net good, but it doesnt always net you the exact answers to your questions and is never as good as personal experience. I am really looking forward to hopefully getting into keeping these guys, they sound like a blast! All the best KB. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :D

Wow, great picks and what neat little fish! I dont know much to just about anything about Killies but from what I have seen of pic's they have a show of such great colors, and are just right off the scale for how pretty they are, yours is just a prime example, and I would love to know more about them. If you dont mind me asking, from your experience, what are they like to keep? I see that the are all beautiful little critters, but what are they like personality wise, temperament and over all character? Also do they have any special need, eg are they a schooling fish or happy solo. Honestly just any info would be cool as they are a species I am seriously looking at for our next setup. As I say any info would be welcome about these little guys and definately more pics, so thanks for the chance to see a neat little example and I look forward to hearing/seeing more. All the best, KB

Thanks for all the compliments every one, we think it is pretty cool too :oops: as for Miss Kristy Shark, she is about a year old and I guess not full grown yet as they can get upto a foot in length and over and can live untill they are around 15 years reportedly in the wild so I'd say in captivity may be a little less, and she is only 8" or 20cms but who knows, this may be as big as she will get but we grew her out in a 3' tank and now she is in the 4' I hope she will get a bit bigger, then when we move hose in the next 6months or so I hope to be able to dedicate a room of the house to tanks and I'm gunning for a 5-6' tank each for the big babies, as we are growing out our jags too, who have taken over the 3' for just them at the moment. It is one of those things as the fish get bigger so do the tanks, and plans are always changing with their needs

Oh believe me I am, she is very special to me and it was so worrying there for a bit, but she is out of harms way mow having a blast, so yes it is awesome to see!! See for your self The tank Her big fat nose, she just loves the camera Swimming around like lady muck