oneeyedfrog

I was just about to ask this question as DD wants to breed from a female guppy that has prev had fry by a different male. Does the female retains the sperm from the prev mating or will she use fresher stuff from a new mating. Or can they use both? How long after a 1st mating can you try with a new male and be pretty sure the new male is the father?

KP I hope all your tanks are ok . It's a worry all right. I've been putting off water changes but you have to do it in the end. Carlos- Nah out here by the rain goes around us. We can see it raining across the harbour and in the hills but nothing out here. We were doing ok til the bore dried up then slight panic. Take it for granted till its gone eh. We can go without washing as much etc but its the stock that's the worry. I really feel for some of the farmers around. The sun's back out again but the grounds still wet so might get some green grass this week.

Well our prayers have finally been answered and we got some rain last night! :bounce: :bounce: We haven't had any since Oct/Nov. Our tank was almost empty and the bore is dry so here's hoping there is more to come . Then I can fill my new tank! :lol: Next week we will probably be complaining coz we're flooded and the road is washed out LOL

Did you ever dream you would actually be paying someone for some flies!!! :lol: I certainly didn't. I used to have a fly box when I had 8 frogs - my mates called me the maggot lady :-? We've all got pretty good at fly catching now. Been thinking about one of those traps - good to know they work well.

oops better go tape down the lid then. I put some cut hose pipe along the edge of the tank to fill the 6mm gap but methinks it may not be enough. Thanks for all the info. Will get everyone to sign the petition. I didn't realise that the shortfin were in trouble too. One was hardly moving when she got it. So not sure if it will survive. One is about 12 cm and the other 17cm. She put quite afew in the pond the other day and is now concerned how many more are out there slowly dying. How long can they live for in the mud? I guess not only do they dry out but starve too. The top 30cm or so has dried out and cracked and she has been lifting the "blocks" out to find them in the mud underneath. I let her keep these two for a couple of days so she could ID them and learn more about them. They look like shortfin. She's gone to bed with a blue light so she can check them out to see if they move about at night.:lol: Once the cat brought one in one rainy night. We put it in a bucket in the laundry sink so we could let it go in the morning. In the morning it was gone! We were sure it was too big to fit down the plug hole but I took the trap off to check and there it was. Took it down the creek and off it swam. Pretty tough.

Had a go with a belt sander today. I thought I might end up taking too much but it was ok. Got hubby to help put the tank on and I can slip a bit of paper under some bits. Should be ok as it's less than 1mm.

AAAAWWWWWW what a sweetie. My girls think she is lovely- they want! Might get something like that for next dog -will make less mess than Bull mastiffs or Great Danes!

DD 2 ( 7 yrs) has been down in the dry creek bed rescuing eels from the last bit of mud and putting them in the pond around the old well. That's the last body of water left with this drought -even the bore has dried up! She found quite afew dead ones which sparked this rather messy rescue! She wants to keep a couple of little ones in a tank for a few days to observe them. So we want to know what they would like in the tank and what to feed them. Also she wants to know how to sex them. Thanks

Hubby sez it could possibly get too hot. He watched a fishing show on Sat ( either gone fishing or ITM) and they smoked some trout on the BBQ on the boat. They put a tray with the sawdust on the BBQ then stuck a rack on the top of that. Then stuck a glass bowl over the fish. So the smoke filled the bowl but excess smoke and heat came out.

We built a timber stand for my 4'x 2'x 2'. Coz I had to have it where I wanted it :lol: - along the joists that have the biggest span in the house -we had get our engineer friend in to advise. We had to reinforce the floor and build the tank stand so it sat perfectly along two joists . For some reason the joists there were closer together than elsewhere so the bottom of the tank is about 4cms wider than the stand. So we built a top of 2x6 laid flat. Problem is it's not perfectly flat. The base of the stand is level its just uneveness between each plank of 2x6. Any ideas on how to best remedy this? I think trying to sand or plane it would be harder than it sounds. Could I just put a layer of ply on top? How thick would it have to be? I have read that putting a layer of liquid nails then a sheet of ply on top and then putting the tank on top will level it out. Anyone done this? Thanks

You can get reflective film - I think its called mylar from switched on gardener. Jenniferh- I was thinking the same. I have seen pics where the whole lid can lift up out of the way and has stays to hold it up as well as a hinged piece that you can lift for feeding etc. This guys has all these holes/fans for ventilation which shouldnt be needed with standard lights

Thanks guys . That's what I thought they must be. Cool glad they will fit in ok . Phoenix- Wow that's one beautiful fish.

Last week I couldn't help myself and bought a couple of fish coz I thought they were cute :oops: Was told they are Apistogramma borelli and that they are peaceful and should be ok in a community tank. Browsing thru the forums it seems unlikely they are borelli. Could someone ID please. I am setting up a planted 4'x 2' x2' with tetras, GBA, cory's , guppy will they be ok in there after QT or will I have to set up another tank for them? Thanks

There are some really lovely male guppies around. I have had a couple of people tell me they got silvertips only to find they nipped their other fish so they got rid of them. I really liked the look of them but that put me off. It may depend on what they are with but I would ask around.

Thanks for your help guys –Smidey thanks for taking the time to find the heater ratings. Looks like it’s a 250 W. The tank is in the middle of the lounge- sticking out from the wall – viewed on 3 sides so won’t be having insulation. We are home most of the time so the fire goes pretty much constantly thru winter so hopefully it shouldn’t get too cold. DD has a Jagar 50W on her 100L ( came 2nd hand with the tank) in her bedroom and it has been really good. I guess it could be different if we lived in the cold south! It’s so beautiful down south - would love to live there but I just can’t handle the cold- big wuss I am :lol: We have Jebo, heto , aqua one heaters on the other tanks and I find they don't seem to keep constant temps - I'm paranoid that the fish will be cooked so good to know the Jagar will turn off.

Yey almost ready to set up my new 4'x2'x2'-finally. Got floor reinforced and stand nearly finished. After trolling the forums decided Jagar heaters are the way to go would you go for 1 or 2 and what size? Also poly under the tank how thick does it have to be? Stand is level and I thought it was just incase of little bits of grit etc so didn't have to be too thick but have read that some people use 2.5 cm stuff.

Love your tank. Dont rely on all the guppy fry being eaten to keep your guppy population under control. They are resourceful little beggers and you may find yourself overrun with them. They are not called millions fish for nothing. :lol:

I teach our two at home so I never get a holiday..or is that I'm always on holiday? :lol: Depends on the type of day we are having

We got 8 tadpoles 2 years ago and when they morphed we had 4 with one eye, 3 with 2 eyes and one with no eyes. We guessed it was from pollution. We still have 2 oneeyed ones and they catch flies ok. The main problem they have is that they have a limited range of vision so if the prey isn't on the right side they cant see it. Often there is a fly sitting right next to them and they don't know. They get them eventually but I don't think they would last in the wild coz they couldn't see the predators coming either.

Once a watched a tug of war between one of our small frogs and a large worm. The frog had almost swallowed all the worm but it managed to get its other end into the soil and then slowly pulled itself out of the frogs mouth and escaped. It was both gross and fasinating

Yes- if I had the money- meaning I had enough left to do this after doing/buying all the other things I want - so if I was rich!

Hi, I had this problem with my 250l goldfish tank. It gets quite alot of afternoon sun but then so does the tank next to it. . For a couple of months I tried everything -large water changes( 50- 80%), small ones , none. Filter wool , differents lights , more plants, curtains drawn to stop sun , a black out. It just kept coming back and getting worse. In the end I did a 100% water change which worked and it hasn't come back. So still not sure of the reason for it- an imbalance of ??? The tank still gets sun but no more green water. I feed the same foods but I do have more fish in there now. The nitrate was reading 0 so that could be part of it . Now I think it was 10 last time I checked. Good luck in clearing it- let us know what happens . I found it really really annoying too.

Hi, DD2 is breeding guppies, DD1 would like to try breeding tetras, and I would like my cory's to breed. We have bristlenose and GBA breeding too. So we need to get afew more tanks to condition, breed , grow out etc. What sizes do you guys use? Also would guppys ( male) eat cory eggs? Thanks

Hi, I first noticed baby GBA mid Jan. Since then we have had two more broods. ( only small broods-) I noticed the 3rd lot coming out last night. I have only seen the male a couple of times since the beginning of the year. He is holed up in his cave looking after the kids. I saw him last night and he looked a little skinny. I try to leave some food outside his cave and hope he comes out a night to eat it. Will he be eating the eggs and that's why we only have small broods? How long can he keep this up? Will he just give up when he has had enough or should remove him and give him a rest? There is only one adult female in with him. What is the best ratio of male/female to keep in one tank? Thanks Sally

I agree Caryl This is a fish forum not an English lesson. I found that easier to read than the texts/emails written in textspeak- I find that really hard to decipher- perhaps I'm too old LOL :lol: