Ira

It's a bit small.

I realize that, Reef. Doesn't mean I have to like it. And Pies, if you're in the mood to be insulted, have fun. But that wasn't the intent of my post, even though I should have phrased it better.

That's one thing I don't like about most reefs. They just look like a pile of rubble with stuff growing on it. Well...Yeah, that's what it IS, I know. But most are just a wall of rock. I'm going to try to have a bit of artisticness or something in it.

That's not the price they gave me when I called them, though. That was the $141.

Yeah, they must like you, I dunno. Unless they had a huge jump in their rates recently, which doesn't seem likely, I don't know what's going on. Maybe Zeovitnz has some kind of company rate. BTW, you'll be glad to hear, I've taken care of that crab in my tank. He's now in his own little crab pot in the corner of my tank. Still need to make a few changes, though, I think.

If the PH is only 6.4-6.6 then that's not a problem, not ideal for all fish but nothing to worry about unless you've got africans which like really high PH, even most of them will survive at that PH, just won't be happy. If it's a new tank then I think you're most likely problem is ammonia or nitrite poisoning. Do you have test kits for those? If not take some water to your nearest pet store and see if they'll test it for you. I know animates does water tests if there's one near you.

Can't keep your PH DOWN from acidic? A high PH is alkaline, a low PH is acidic. What is the PH?

Let's see.... Depends how huge is huge? If it's so huge you have to climb in to get it then you either climb in and get it or you leave it. Or you use a pole or something, I guess. Yeah...But just keep an eye on it. Most fish people are likely to have wouldn't do much more than tickle if they attacked you. Some bigger fish like say a Midas would hurt, and could give you a pretty good scrape though. Maybe if you're stupid enough to have a pirhana you might get really hurt. They do collect them from the wild. Importing isn't cheap though. You can't just throw them in a box and put a few stamps on it. Where do you think most of the livestock in NZ comes from? Most are from the wild, except the obvious like goldfish and others. Discus aren't usually collected from the wild because I think they're generally easier to get nicer ones from breeders in asia. Bigger is better, even for beginners. But, you've also gotta keep a bit realistic about it. Someone who has never had fish would be better off with a 400+ gallon tank, would be more successful than with something like a 50 liter tank. But it'd be stupid to spend the money on that huge and expensive of a tank for a new hobby. May turn out you just don't like it as much as you expected or it's more work than you have time for.

Something like a greenhouse near the sea would be ideal, I'd think...

I tend to concentrate on the contents of the tank, not the backing paper. My largest tank doesn't even have any and I almost never notice...Unless I intentionally look at the couple streaks down the back and the cords and hoses, hehe. Otherwise, I just throw some solid blue backing paper on. I'm not too worried about getting it perfect.

Ok, just called them, it's $141 for 20Kg just from Auckland airport to Wellington airport through Pace, next flight.

Actually, it's even worse than just using a sad internet browser. I'm using a sad excuse for a computer(Some compaq terminal) that can't even display animated gifs. but, the browse I use at home is worse, doesn't seem to show ANY kind of broken image icon.

Yup, that's another red 4 legged starfish. Maybe when I get home I'll copy and paste it, too busy at the moment.

Mine do that occasionally, the fins clamped and resting on the bottom. They usually improve when i feed them more and do water changes more.

150 watt will be heaps, more than enough.

So it's "Next flight same day priority"? That the exact name? Ok, I'll give them a ring tomorrow. I did ask for price to Upper hutt, but I wouldn't imagine that's an extra $180 just from wellington to upper hutt.

Who ever said it was funny putting them in the freezer? Hypothermia is one of the nicest ways to go.

Whoever said don't feed them for two weeks is insane. FEED THEM! The fish need food. Just don't overfeed them.

Pies, I just called Pace. For $75 you'll get 2 kilos From Wellington to auckland. 20 kilos would cost $261. I'm on hold with courierpost now(Dunno why I'm typing that since I'm on dialup and calling them on that line) Ok, $61 for overnight.

hmm, Should be about $20 for 20 kilos for shipping, which is about all I have room for.

Yeah, but the adults have an advantage. If they go after one of the fry and miss they can try again. If a fry tries to escape and fails, it can't try again.

I've asked you several times to get me test kits. I've told you exactly which ones I want. I've asked at least twice if you have any idea when you can get them for me. I've given up and decided I'll get them from somewhere else. As for the rest, Thank you. I'll send NickS a PM and ask him about the skimmer. At the moment I need a HOB(No sump) so my current plan is to buy a new Deltec MCE600 from Reef, if the price hasn't changed significantly, as soon as I know if I'll be working after May. As for "The reason" I ended up with the skimmer I've got. BFD, I paid $120 for a secondhand pump that would cost me a bit more than that at cost and took a gamble on whether or not the skimmer would work for me. It didn't, but I've still got a perfectly good pump so, get over it, I have. I'm also thinking of using the PJ2000 for either a closed loop or to power a sump if I can find a good shelf. So, for now I'm ok for current, if I get to work on it. Something like a sea swirl would be nice if anyone wants to part with one. For lighting, I'm hoping to get a pair of 250s secondhand, I can always go new later if I can't find any used ones, we'll see. But lighting at the moment isn't a top priority. JetSkiSteve, how much do you want for the live rock? I'm a bit tentative about buying anything more than hardware until I've got at least a skimmer.

Doesn't help me much if I can't find any of these deals and noone bothers to let me know. I've got $600 cash just waiting for any good secondhand deals...

Don't even bother trying to import them. It's practically impossible. And, Red devils are very common, shouldn't be hard at all for somewhere to order them. I know of one near here with about a dozen and usually ahs more. I think i've seen trimacs before, but I'm not sure. Just had a look at the picture of the red devil you linked, they don't look anything like that. Not the red devils here. Anyway. They're a solid yellowish color.

Don't even bother trying to import them. It's practically impossible. And, Red devils are very common, shouldn't be hard at all for somewhere to order them. I know of one near here with about a dozen and usually ahs more. I think i've seen trimacs before, but I'm not sure.