Jezza

Two more Neons in the tank and they seem even more aggressive than before... They are actually running into each other now and chasing each other at high speed around the whole tank... :oops: Thoughts...?

Hmm, I'll get another two Neons this weekend... Thanks Adodge, looks like the Siamese Fighter will have to wait a month or so...

Relatively good cover I'm buying a bit more every time I go to the fish shop... I think I'll go in, in a few days and buy more plants, a test kit and two more Neons after doing a 20% water change... Hopefully that should sort them out a bit..?

Its 36L so just under 10 gallons... My tank has been running 3 1/2 weeks, 1 1/2 with fish... I forgot to get to get a test kit but I've been doing a 10% water change every 3 - 4 days, the fish look fine and have a healthy appetite... They just are darting at each other, I'll go get another 1 or 2 this weekend hopefully that will sort it out...

Hello all, My fish (Neon Tetras) have become quite aggressive toward each other over the last few days (I think from reading on the internet I have a male and female, not sure though) and dart at each other constantly... Is this something I need to worry about..? Will adding a few more fish over time reduce this..? I'm being careful to not overfeed but is it possible I'm underfeeding leading to aggression..?

Sorry, lf's..? That plant was struggling before the snails appeared, should I prune the dying leaves..? Feel free to come and grab the snails... In a week or so I'm going to get a bristlenose see how the tank is after that...

Two Neons into the tank today and two lots of grass... The fish seem to be happy and stick together very closely, are swimming fine and when I gave them a small feed they ate voraciously... Good sign..? One of the plants the snails are massacring, its got steadily worse ever since I've purchased it, when should I give up on it..? Thanks to all for the help again...

Thats the one..!

Hello iisfaq, I used to work for NZ Customs, in fact I used to work at the Auckland International Mail Centre (where if you sent your package from overseas I'm assuming it was stopped)... I was the firearms officer there so I only had a little bit to do with stopping of dutiable and uncustomed goods, I dealt more with the prohibited and forfeit goods, however... From talking with the other officers there and being in the same office, with the same bosses I can tell you one thing, NZ Customs there is a JOKE..! Thats why I left for another agency, I couldn't take it anymore... Heres how a typical package stop seemed to work there... Firstly most officers wouldn't stop a package with a declared value of under $400 dollars (the cutoff for a duty collection) unless they thought the items inside were prohibited (good officers unless they thought it was something serious or drugs), most would pick up something declared as fish food (or similar) off the x-ray belt and show the MAF officer (both are side by side), if they weren't interested, I wasn't interested... If it was under $400 and an officer stopped it and detained it under Customs legislation they were either; new or a jerk... Then generally officers would come back into the office and look each other and say, "I think I should stop this what am I doing it under", then they would; ask other officers who had no clue, ask older officer who didn't care or would make something up and then STICK TO IT NO MATTER WHAT..! You're right about the computer system, they were the first to move to a complete computer system in the early 90's..! And haven't improved it since..! Only adding more and more information to a crappy system, it is not user friendly (at all) and is practically useless for officers... My advice when importing something: read the legislation, e-mail a customer service person from Customs (keeping the e-mail), when/if its stopped talk to the officer, if they are playing games ask for their Cheif Customs Officer's e-mail address, e-mail through the research you did, the e-mail from the customer service officer and hope they think you're not worth the headache...

I am about to get my first fish... I have read a few books, websites and posted a few questions here... I've set up my tank carefully, I feel relatively prepared but I will in all likelihood lose a fish or two my first year no matter how much I read or how hard I try... As in all things in life there is no substitute for experience, my mistakes will teach me more than anything else and if I learn from them I will get better... With that in mind, all advice and research, while valuable will be an also ran to some simple silly mistake I'm bound to make which cost me, say, a $30 fish and will ensure I don't make it twice..!

Thanks... I think I'll remove some if they get too numerous... Any ideas how they got in there..? On the plants..?

Too late..! It all went in one go..! Oh well... The snails are tiny, with cone shaped shells...

Thank you to adodge for the cycled tank water... Did a 20% water change today (before adding the tank water) and moved all the plants to the rear of the tank and closer to the light one of the plants isn't going to make it I don't think... Also added the Nutrafin chemicals as instructed by the bottles... BUT amazingly (as I haven't put them in there), there are two tiny snails in my tank that are running along the glass, wow..! One week till fish now as I've added the healthy tank water...

Airstone..? Do you mean pumice..? Thanks again to all for the advice...

They look fairly similar, only smaller, lol..! Should I buy more plants to add when I add my first fish or do I want to keep everything as static as possible to help the fish stay healthy..?

Did you get my reply..?

Thanks to all... So if do say a 20% water change on Fri it should be OK to add a couple of small schooling fish on Sat..? Cheers again...

Thanks... I have noticed that there is some discolouration on the tank walls where the items I got from the beach are close to the wall... I also need to buy a glass and gravel cleaner and some testing kits, any suggestions..? Thanks for the species, I was thinking along those lines... How big will they grow, too big for my tank..?

My tank has a lid with a single 14W Sun-Glo lamp... The filter is an ELITE, Hush, power filter, with two filter pads... Not sure of W... The plants, I didn't ask, as the store "expert" said they should grow rapidly in the set up (I'm not too worried as there are a few sprouting parts in the lamp light) but I don't wanna have problems in the tank before the fish even... The three chemicals I added were all made by Nutrafin: Aqua Plus Waste Control Cycle I added them in the recommended doses for new set ups for my litrage... Cheers for the help...

Hello to all, I bought a 36L tank last saturday, my first, set it up carefully for a tropical freshwater set up (washed the gravel etc), went to the beach and gathered some rocks and driftwood (was I allowed tp do this?) soaking them in fresh water for a hour or so... I've added four plant cuttings, turned the filter and heater on and after adding three Nutrafin chemicals as advised I'm still having a few problems, namely: - Two of the plants (the ones with broader leaves in particular) seem to be dying and all the leaves show some signs of decay, is this because I brought them about three hours before I had my tank set up, the hot temperature at the moment? Or is it linked to my second problem... - I can't seem to get the tank temperature down, I have a 50W heater in a 36L tank, and have turned the "temp" (I think) gauge down on it from 26 to 22 and the tank has only dropped from 28 to 27 degrees (I'm assuming the middle reading on the Marina stick on thermo is the right one), any clues..? - Finally I want 1 algae eating fish for the bottom region of my tank (more if advisable?), a single "show" species for the middle of my tank, and 4 - 6 schooling surface feeding fish for the top of my tank. I live in Auckland and Jansens, Three Kings is my closest store, any suggestions on species..? I want to keep numbers low when first beginning, I plan on adding only a couple of the schooling fish and the algae fish this weekend then the others slowly but only if I can get the above problems sorted out first, so PLEASE help, I'm very excited about getting my first ever fish..!

Sorry is brumation like a moderate form of hibernation..?

Thanks Exotherman... I'll update the review with info you've provided... Cheers...

Ahh, well you learn something new everyday...

Brown and whitening (sad at 24..!) hair... It is a shame... You live in Auckland..? I'd like to see your collection...

Ha ha, noooo but I was in the first Gecko house on the "loop" at the same time as them me and my missus where down the other end when you first came in to prune the runs... I'm about 6'2, 100kg and was wearing a dark blue speights t-shirt with light blue shorts and glasses... My gf is about 6'0 and had a black singlet on with 3/4 pants...