ChrisMack

Jeez...its been an age since I've been on here and and an age since this post was added too..... Looking at the piccy (and it's hard to tell fully) It kinda looks like you may have two females there, so breeding will pretty much impossible.... Generally with halfbeaks the male is about half the size of the female and has a modified anal fin.....which is almost an extension of the body itself - how can I say this - males tend to be "squarer" towards the rear, where-as the female body rolls back up towards the tail (more traditional FISH shape) If you were lucky enough to have a "pair" adding a little floating "shelter" to the tank wouldnt hurt - breeding should pretty much take care of itself - back in the day when I had mine one of the three females was always "carrying" - but as said in my post way back when - once they are dropped, thats when the real challenge starts - protecting them from being the next feed - the above mentioned shelter helps a little in protecting them..but its really hit and miss....and I more often "missed" Sadly I dont have halfbeaks anymore - actually I dont have a lot now, a certain 6.3 put paid to that... :fshi: Cool cool fish Chris

Are you getting a "rattling" sound at all....MY 805 started that a while back and would stop pumping water, removing the motor showed that it was "dry pumping" and the impellor was not submersed at all...meaning the magnet got hot - the result was a dodgey (but not destroyed) impellor that needs replacing. Only just recieved news that a replacement impellor has been found (hoping that is the issue) yet to pick it up and find out if that is the issue... Luckily I had an old internal filter sitting spare that I could use as a temporary in the mean-time......seems no-one in chch stocks much in the way of impellors! Chrismack

As of Two weekends ago....Redwood Aquatics here in Christchurch had some in stock (the brackish variety I think).....Dont think they were overly cheap though @ $16.00! I had some breeding stock a while back until the females decided that the ONLY male I had looked tasty and attacked him to the point of not being able to save him (happened while I was at work...came home to a shallow breathing- tailess male :-() Pretty easy to keep...nearly always swim near the top of the water...prefer live foods over dried/flake etc.....I feed mine on the summer influx of house flies and enjoyed wacting them stalk their prey and leap to catch it.....as with most livebearers Breeding "just happens" and the fry tend to look like whitebait.........Had little success with keeping any fry alive as they seem to be rather picky eaters...and do need to be seperated from just about everything in a tank (cannibalism seems to run rife with these fish) I bought the ones that were listed in Trademe and unfortunatley they were both females...so I cant try breeding again at this stage...and also these ones seem really picky as far as feeding goes (they dont really seem to want to eat anything......survival for one is looking very slim at this stage.... They are sometimes known as Wrestling halfbeaks too....and if you get two females in fighting mode youll know why, as they lock beaks and spiral downward rolling over and over......... Pretty cool fish if you can find them, and even cooler if you can stop em jumping out of your tank (lost a couple this way) Females are generally about twice the size of the male, and males also have the modified anal fin as well which contains their sexual organs. Breeding consists of a courtship where the male will line up below the belly of the female and "gitter" his beak....spawning??? takes place soon after with the male "flicking" himself past the female in a quick motion. The mother holds the young for around 3-4 weeks (from memory) and then the little wrigglers set themselves free usually in the early morning or late evening. Youll need to be quick here coz the parents wont hesitate to make their brood their supper as well...... Would like to get back into trying to breed these guys/gals again sometime.... Hope this helps, Chrismack

Now this could be interesting...maybe its time to start a listing of "101 ways to kill a fish" heres some Ive had.... #1: The Suicide - I think everyone has (or will) suffer from this one at some stage....My first loss was a Clown Loach who thought he was a Clown Parrot, and went flying (through the tiniest of gapss too!) Sadly I didnt find him till several days later - shrivelled Clown Loach anyone? #2: The diss-appearing act #1 - can go hand in hand with the above listing, but Im talking more about the "Fish-Eat-Fish" scenario. Had this happen and only knew where the missing fish went due to the larger fish sitting on the bottom of the tank looking innocent, but being caught red-finned!!! (The tail of his victim was still hanging out of the corner of his mouth....) and now to add to the list..... #73: Death From Above: As described by "herefishiefishie" Alien forces attack from above by dropping lethal weighty objects onto the un-suspecting fish - generally gets followed up by some panic and choice words (I'm Guessing) after the Alien form discovers what has happened! Note: This is intended to be a light-hearted post, I do sympatise with anyone who loses a fish (in any way) I too have felt the suffering! Chrismack

Hmmm.....yup I just noticed the same behaviour too! One of the two I have seems to like nipping at the tigerbarbs tails, the other just seems to be happy chasing the other Skunk around......Seriously concidering finding new owners for them though after reading that things might only get worse.... Chrismack

Hey guys...been an absolute age since I've been on this board,good to see many new names around here...anyway In the past ive never taken interest in the Betta's....that was until the other week when one of them caught my eye....after a bit of Ummming and arrring (deciding if I really wanted a fighter or not) I decided to throw a few dollars away and buy him...... and well here he is: He's currently in a tank with only an L129 Plec for company and seems to be pretty keen on showing off his finage all the time (I think he see's his own reflection in the glass!!!) I may look to breed in the future - nice females seem to be somewhat scarse here in Chch at the moment... Cheers, Chrismack

Hi guys, long time and no posting from me...... Just wondering if anyone has, or Knows were could obtain some of the above cichlids........Im especially after a female or 2, and would prefer somewhere in the Canty area..... Also keen to track down some geophagus jurupari (not easy to get now I hear) as i currently have one very lonely dude in a tank after it's pal passed away a while back..... Any help would be appreciated Chris

Going from past experiences with puffers...I would not concider placing them in a tank with other "longfinned" (or in some cases ANY) fish.....I used to have some Dwarf freshwater puffers, and although listed as peaceful they totally de-finned my rosy barbs, and my (at the time) small hoplo cats.....(all made a full recovery after being moved to other tanks) Bare in mind that youll probably need a supply of "Meaty" foods including prawns, Bloodworms, as opposed to flake, which they will just ignore, youll also need to occasionally supply them with some snails to keep their "beaks" ground down, or else over time they will become unable to eat ( I have heard that coral can be used, but never had any notable success with this) Once a puffer such as a brizilian puts on some size.....anything will be "fish fodder" (my term for live food) Puffers are really cool fish to keep, and some soon become accustomed to their owners.... Sadly I dont currently have any Puffers, and I havent seen any in Christchurch for ages.......One day I will get some more.... Hope this helps you, Chris

well the news isnt good.....I really dont know what happened, or where things went wrong, but sadly the young ones have all passed away......everythings seemed fine, and they were definately eating... Good news is that I now have some more fry...hopefully I will have more success with this lot....... Im Peaved to say the least...as all seemed well. ChrisMack

Hi tropheus, Sorry about the long time replying.......I think I was in one of those "Right time right places" situations when I bought the above plec........I paid $60 for the cute little fella (fella-ess) and made the purchase at Critter Kingdom, Stanmore Rd....and Sorry I dont believe they have got anymore. ChrisMack

Well it's taken a while,but here goes...a far better look at the plec that was sold to me as a "Clown Plec" (penanque macca) I'm certainly convinced that it's not the before mentioned fish.....any ideas? (L129 has been thrown at me a couple of times..... ) Thanks, ChrisMack

I know there is another post about these cool fish but, Kim (or someone) can you give us a run-down of the process involved in breeding/raising them,I know of someone who has a breeding pair, but they dont seem to get any, or many fry that survive......are they a bit trickier than common bristlenose plecs to breed/care for? Thanks for any help on this issue.... ChrisMack

It seems that there has been some mis-information about these livebearers...I read somewhere that the fry take 8-10 weeks before being born.....Well Bugger me!!! Two of the females have just dropped another brood each today!!! (roughly a month after the last) and the third is lookin chubby, and may drop soon also........ As for the first broods, all is going well, and I hadnt actually realised how much they had grown, until I saw them next to the new-borns! Sadly I have lost a few of the first broods, but numbers are looking good...Jeez at this rate Ill need a bigger grow out tank....... ChrisMack

The little ones are going fine, they are starting to put on a bit of size now, seems to be a little bit of bickering between them now and then (sibling rivalry?) they seem rather content feeding on very fine flake food at this stage.......and the good news is ALL have survived so far............ As for pics......My digital camera is not a good one, and is not capable of taking a picture that would actually show anything well enough to even attempt to take some shots........ ChrisMack

hi, just an update.....so afr all is going well, the fry seem to be happy enough munching away on very finely ground flakefood......the total now after 3 females has given birth is somewhere around 25! Livebearer_breeder, Im not thinking of selling any just at the moment (unless the offer is right ) but may concider it a bit later on , im going to try and get my numbers up first....and im not to sure about sending them to Wellington.... they are a rather skittish fish, and may not survive the trip. (and just how to send them is another issue) i'll keep you posted on if I decide to sell any, ChrisMack

Good News, another of the females has just dropped her young, taking the total of fry to around 20! They are rather largish fry, around the 1-1.5 cm lenght as stated, I hope to get some pictures up soon...hopefully my digi cam will be able to take photos good enough to post. The fry actually look something like "whitebait" with no "beak" at all, just a rather stub-nosed head area......so far all seem to be doing well ChrisMack

Well finally, My Strange Livebearers have decided to play ball, and today I got home from work to discover several little halfbeaks swimmin around!!!!! Hopefully the young will survive, as I have heard they are quite hard to raise...BUT getting live young is the most challenging part, as usually the young are stillborn......... Im hoping that the other two females also produce some young over the next few days to keep my stocks up.....halfbeaks only produce between 5-10 young per brood... Fingers crossed....... ChrisMack

Opps...in the words of Homer Simspon Doh! Cheers for that Bill ChrisMack

Hi All, Being from "Down South" and not being able to afford the time away to make the trip for the National Fish Show, I was wondering if anyone out there would be able to post some photo's from the show (fish would be better to look at than club members!!! :lol: ) Looking forward to seeing what was on display..... Thanks, ChrisMack

Ok well, firstly.....I wouldnt put any other type of fish in with Puffers, they are notorious fin-nippers...plus a tank with just puffers looks so damn cool! Also pays to note that most puffers get more aggresive with age (and it has been known for these guys to take the od nip at their owners too!) As for the water params, If you are talking about Freshwater puffers, then thats simply it...they are Freshwater, and dont require salt at all, however if you are talking about Brackish Puffers,you will need salt (although they will survive ok without any salt inthe water too) Best conditions for puffers are generally Neutral to Alkaline Hard water, and in the case of Brackish the salt added should be around 1 teaspoon full per 4.5-5 litres of water...also note that temperatures vary between species too! They are intregueing fish to keep, and if you take up the challenge I'm sure you'll get many hours of pleasure just watching them! P.S. theres info on the Dwarf Freshwater Puffers on my site (listed below) hopefully soon I'll be adding other types of puffers too! ChrisMack

Welcome "Thegreenboy" Welcome to the world of Fishkeeping (Im sure there's a better name for it than that) once the bug hits you.....say goodbye to your pennies, one (or two even) tanks are never enough with all the variety of different fish out there...... If it's advice you want you've found the right place....The guys (and gals) on here are more than helpful, and some probably have more years experience that they would like to admit to I know they sure helped me in various ways when I first started in this fasinating hobby......... keeps us all posted on how things are going ChrisMack

seems my little friend has a very big case of "camera shyness" and seems very unwilling to "come out and play" at the moment....i have concidered catching it...but with all those hidey holes I've suplied for the plecs....that could be a real challenge.......Hopefully over the next few days I'll "Attempt" to catch and photograph it (well I cant say him or her yet...I dunno which it is!!! :roll: ChrisMack

Wonder if MAF will be willing to pay out compensation here???? If they stop bloodworms from being imported, Ive got a few "VERY" fussy eaters here that will simply DIE! :evil: (they wont even look at other foods)...I didnt pay out good money to have some stupid Importing law take away my pets! What grounds are they looking at?.....Bloodworms are dead (well unless the have mastered cryogenics!!! "Spelling ???") what direct threat to they impose on our waterways, environment? ChrisMack

Hi Doodle, can you give us an update on how the puffer is going now? Is he/she still eating, and has that plump little belly of theirs returned? The dark colouring generally means they are stressed (or not well)...... I wouldnt worry too much about them being skinny for a while,I read somewhere that these guys can go for about two weeks without feeding (but I wouldnt even think about not feeding them) I WOULD however have issues with loss of appetite........ Maybe your not aware of it, but Puffers need some form of "hard" foods for keeping their "beaks" filed down...for dwarf puffers- small snails do the trick.....if the beaks grow too much they will not be able to eat at all, which could lead to what you would think is a loss of appetite, and also the stress colouration....and eventually probably the death of the fish! It is recommended that the puffers get this "hard" food once a week.....oh yeah,and it's fun to watch them circle around a snail like a pack of vultures!!! ChrisMack

Hi Breakaway, If you are still interested in a 25watt heater for this tank, there is currently one up for auction on that (now) Famous, and well used trader site "Trademe" go here If you are still keen... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Lifestyle/Pets-animals/Fish/Pumps-filters/auction-15606179.htm ChrisMack