Ira

I must have some really tough cichlids then. I'd have to do 50% daily water changes to keep my nitrates under 10 PPM. By the end of the week they're usually at about 80 PPM when I do a 50% change. Anyway, your nitrates are fine, But I agree that your ammonia and nitrites are too high. If you're using ammo block the your test kit probably is giving you false readings on the ammonia. If it were really that high...Well...All your fish would be dead. Above about 1.5 PPM it starts burning off fishes fins. Been there, done that. I might suggest doing big water changes. A bunch of small water changes isn't nearly as good for clearing up the water as one big water change. A 50% would get the levels down a lot better than two 25% changes.

I don't think I've ever heard of someone using a vacuum with a bag or anything to clean up their tank. As far as I know, Vaccuming=using a big tube attached to a hose usually labeled a gravel vacuum or something like that at fish stores. To suck up water and gravel(Or at least suck water THROUGH the gravel) to suck up any garbage and water into a bucket. I suppose you could get a powerhead, attach it to the vacuum and put a fine net on the outlet then use that to vacuum around the tank. Never heard of anyone doing that though.

Hmmm...What do you mean by "if aquarists get into the habit of SIPHONING the rubbish from their tanks instead of VACUUMING"? I always vacuum up all the rubbish when I do water changes.

Ok...Ummm...Why chocolate factory? Chicken and tuna isn't meat? News to me.

I'm sorry. In the future I will refrain from giving my opinion.

Man, I hope that website is just a beta test, cause I would never buy or put much faith into a website with that many spelling errors.

Most people seem to recommend replacing them every year or two. I don't think I would that often, they're pretty expensive. But I wouldn't want to go too long, too much at risk if they do fail and stick on.

Where is Wet Pets?

I've been looking for Endler's guppies/livebearers and been noticing that there are quite a few male guppies around that seem to have coloring like endlers. As far as I know, pure guppies are pretty much a solid body color. Endlers are more patches and spots. I've been seeing a lot like that around. Today at Animates I found a couple that had Endlerish coloring and long swordtail like tails, one is an upper and lower and two are lower sword tails. Dunno if they're actually part endler or just a strain of guppy...I'm not an expert on either. But, I bought them, still looking for something that's definitely an endler, but since there are apparently no pure endlers anywhere...Well, anyway, they're pretty little fish and I've never seen swordtail guppies before.

When I went to Christchurch the time before last I had a look around at fish stores. I wasn't really that impressed. Of course, I could have missed the good ones. I just picked at random out of the yellow pages. There were 1 or 2 good ones though that had a relatively big selection. But still didn't seem to have anything better than the slightly less than basics. THe last trip I DID find a great place near...Ummm...Willowbanks? I was really upset I couldn't bring anything there home, and the wife rushed me through because my parents were waiting in the car.

I was thinking today at work...Fish stores in the US usually have the rooms with the fish dark. I assume it makes the fish a little less stressed and makes them look a bit more colorful and healthy? But here in NZ they have them in usually brightly lit rooms. I think the US LFS's also more frequently have full grown or at least older fish than here in nz(And a better selection). All I ever see here are basically fish not much older than fry and the occasional display tank or something like a big oscar someone wanted to get rid of. Ok, maybe not a really informative post, but I thought I'd mention it. Anyone else notice any differences between NZ and non NZ fish stores? If anyone's been to both.

I've got two of them. Hmmm...I think mine are somewhere around 4" I've had them for over a year and they seem to have pretty much stopped growing. So, I'd guess 4" is about full grown. Definitely not juvenile anyway. No ideas on sexing them. Here's a link for some info. http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/cichlids/jurupari.asp Looks like they get up to about 9 inches. I'm horrible at estimating fish sizes, maybe I should grab one of mine out of the tank and hold a ruler against him. Hope he's bigger than 4 inches if 9 is their potential size, otherwise I'd wonder if he's being stunted.

Jurapari Eartheaters sounds like a trade name for Geophagus Jurapari. Nice fish, glittery with a punk hairdo.

Ah, K, didn't notice you were in the US. There are places in the US that sell them. You're lucky. Here's a faq that has some places to get them. Don't know prices or anything. http://www.aquariumhobbyist.com/endlerslivebearer/page3.htm

Here's the link to what fish can and can't be imported. http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/imports/animals/standards/fisornic.all.htm

What's on the schedule for June? I might not go to May's. Not interested in bowling.

Gold giant gourami? Those the ones that get big enough to eat small children? The pet store in Lower Hutt has a giant Gourami on display. He's enormous! Oh...Ummm...No, no real answer, but guesstimating from what I've heard of large cichlids growth rates I'd say he'd grow about an inch a month or more.

Anyone ever seen these fish in New Zealand? I'd love to get some. From looking at MAF's website they should be legal to import, they're related to guppies. Would make a great alternative to guppies. Probably one of the many species of fish I'd like to get but never will be able to here.

Disneyworld, sounds like he might be a mystus. Is it like this? I've got one. Very nice fish, when he's around. What I've read says they're supposed to be active...Yeah, right. But it also says they should be kept in groups, so maybe more would help.

I'd suggest cardinals instead of neons if you can get them. They're a bit more expensive but they're bigger and a lot more colorful. I think they might be a bit tougher too.

Hmmm...NO2 is nitrate, right? What do you mean by a really high nitrate level? What PPM? As long as it's under 100 PPM I wouldn't worry hugely, as long as the fish are pretty tough. If it's 50 or under I wouldn't worry. I do up to 50% water changes and the fish don't seem to mind, but I've got pretty nice water.

Oh, great, who let the Canadian in? Hehehe, I'm from Alaska...Everyone always thinks I'm Canadian. "Alaska, that's part of Canada, right?"

A fish that you can pat, take for a walk and chase around the yard? You shoulda won, not been disqualified! You were robbed!

What kinda catfish? Might have to grab my nets and come for a visit since you're in wellington.

I just use the water straight out of the tap, not treatment or anything. My house is on tank water though, so I've got heaps of water that is pretty much as perfect as you can get. Well, for the fish anyway...Not too bad for people as long as you ignore the slight green tinge when taking a bath. hehehe.