Ira

Koi are banned, so I doubt it would have been a koi, and anyway, they really look nothing like a goldfish.

Good luck finding a vet that will have anything to do with fish. Vets won't have anything to do with your pet unless it's a cat, dog or maybe if you're lucky a rabbit.

I had a thought while looking around at a pet store today. Instead of paying $50 for enough salt for 120 liters, what would be the problem buying a couple large bins, heading to the ocean and getting a few hundred liters of seawater once a month? I was thinking for me heading out to Kapiti somewhere and getting about 200 liters would be good for about a month worth of water changes if I turned my 200 liter tank into a marine tank. And, that would save about $100 per month in salt.

What's a "KalkWeisser stirer/reactor"?

How big is the pond? I'd go more with the actual flow rating of the pump than the power. Probably you'd want to aim for at least twice the pond volume per hour, sounds like you'd lose a lot of flow pumping it that 15 meters so it might cut it down to 1-1.5times per hour which should be ok for a pond.

When I left one of my filters off without cleaning it out, I filled the sink up with water and bleach and left the filter filtering the sink water for about 15 minutes, then fresh water for a while and then took everything out and let it dry outside. Seemed to get rid of most of the smell.

But, for the price difference you can replace the impeller about 10 times.

Oh well. Time for a new impeller, I guess. Did you find out before your filter went all black and nasty?

Ah, this is great! Egg.......4 weeks Larva....10 weeks Pupa......3 weeks Adult.....4 weeks Hmmm...It suggests covering with burlap and spraying it with water. I was wondering if mine might be a bit too dry. I think I'll try giving it a little spray of water every once in a while just onto the bran instead of burlap.

Wierd...Did something get into the impeller?

The two pumps I mentioned before were both the same brand, just different models, and it definitely looked like the smaller pump was much more efficient. Put out about twice the flow per watt. So, I'd guess that most pumps would be more efficient when smaller. At least as far as aquarium pumps go.

Anyone know how long a mealworm life cycle is? I just set up a new bigger box for my mealworms to breed in, a 12ish liter plastic box from pak&save filled with two bags worth of oat bran. The fish seem to love them, but I don't have enough yet to feed them regularly. Maybe in a while. I transfered as many beetles and Pupae? as I could find in my original culture to the new one. I noticed at least half of the beetles seem to be deformed, their wing cases are messed up. Wifey thinks I'm nuts for trying to grow mealworms for the fish. Oh, any tips other than throwing an occasional potato in for moisture? There also seem to be a lot of tiny little mites or something, can't really see them.

Another thing to think about is that the bigger pump probably uses a LOT more power. I looked at a couple pumps a few days ago and the one rated at 2000 liters/hour was rated at about 90 watts and the 4000 liter one was about 250 watts. That's a difference of about $10 per month in electricity for the larger pump. Just something you might want to consider.

I wouldn't be surprised if the dosages are similar...Except, for the danio you have to add heaps extra to the tank water to get a similar dosage actually going into the fish. Maybe it'd be a good to get a really tiny little needle and inject it with a teeny little bit of medicine...

I did the rounds on saturday. I want a saltwater tank! GIMMEGIMMEGIMME!!!!! I only saw about $300 of tropical fish I want, but somewhere around $1000 of marine.

Philodendrons apparently grow great in tanks. I've been meaning to grab one and try it.

I haven't found them to be particularly helpful either. They're too small to hold the plant in if anything bigger than a tetra is yanking on it, and just shoving the plant into the gravel usually holds it well enough until it grows some roots when it's not being dug up. They do at least keep the plant from floating on the surface when it gets yanked up. I've tried cable tying the plants to 1-2" pebbles or rubber banding them and my cichlids still managed to uproot them.

I watched a plumber installing some piping in my brother in laws house not long ago...All gray pipes, none were black.

Try adding some kind of anti-fungal medicine or some salt to the tank? Couldn't hurt, at least.

Just reading them, have to add Critter Kingdom to the list of shops to look at today when I go around to the Christchurch pet shops.

Hmmm, mine only did similar swings to that when I tested the water directly in the tank while the heater was on and the lights were on. Very sensitive to stray currents. Either turning everything off or testing in a glass outside of the tank fixed that.

The one I've got, which I assume is the same as the cheap one you're talking about, only bounces up and down in the .01PH range, which is far more precise than matters. Doesn't the floating one only measure to .1ph so you wouldn't see its measurement bouncing around in the hundredths anyway.

Yeah, you should change it to the PalmErston North aquarIum Society, that way people wouldn't have to use their imagination.

Honest, officer, that's a bottle of borneo wine. It's like tequila except it has a live fish in the bottom insteadof a dead worm!

Nah, gram positive and negative refers to whether or not a certain stain stains the bacteria making it easier to see through a microscope, not static charges.