mj

yeah David R - the ram is the odd one out - going to another tank when I get back (well the 3 empresses and yellows are moving into a new tank) thank for the offer dave+amy I live on cuba st, michael fowler centre end .. I might take you up on the offer if I cannot get something sorted by next week only reason I am really worried is after my last trip away - came back and everything bar a few snails was dead .. if it was only the comets (currently having a ball in 250 litres all to themselves) I wouldn't be so worried

I am off to aussie again for 10 days and am struggling to get anyone to commit to looking after my fishies 10 days I will be gone and want to know how you usually cope with this. I have a few of those 7 day pyramid feeders and 3 days feeders, are these any good? I have 3 juvenile red empress, 3 juvenile yellow electrics and a bolivian ram. My worst case scenario is to take one of my tanks to my parents place, get it up and running and then move them into that. Ideally I would like to get a house sitter but as it is over xmas/new years most people are busy and/or going away themselves. I have 2 comets in a tank which I could feel comfortable with using the pyramid feeders on but the cichlids are my concern as they like to eat a small amount on a regular basis any suggestions?

yeah got the front sponges in ... thanks to all the helpful info (gets confusing with all the options!) will take your advice on the filter ryan and yeah I'm looking at getting the aragonite seeing as getting white polished pebbles isn't exactly working at the moment

ah cheers... well i got some pre filter in the bottom tray (got enough to do the second if needed, got wool in the second now and wondering whether to do 2 trays of bio at the top, or 2 trays of wool in the middle ... as in the pebble thread this is for a malawi cichlids tank actually I saw that ehime substrate, might grab some of that

I just got one of these with no media - what is the best media for me to put in this? 4 trays do I alternate between bio , prefilter and carbon and is there a specific order that these should be placed?

if yo won ... guessing you wouldn't want to part with that piece of driftwood? :lol:

STARED TO SPWAN!!! lol sorry, me and my mates like to joke about typos ... anyway apart from that (my own amusement after a bottle of merlot) great video

yeah lots of questions relating to these ... make it easier for new people (like myself) to not annoy the old schoolers :lol:

off topic (sorry) but koura seems to be the sort of topic that justifies its own forum in the specialists corner just a thought

ah that makes sense .... mmm maybe I need to hold out on getting 2 tanks and look at getting one 4ft and one 6ftish - then having a bunch of dems, yellows the the reds in the one big tank the reason I mentioned the angels etc is I am looking at buying a tank that has them in already - tank for my bedroom and it looks like they are already overstocked in that tank (in my opinion) - so was thinking of 'rescuing' them and working out what to do after oddly enough the bolivians and reds do seem to be getting along, the 'hermit' male though seems to stay in caves most of the time, comes out and chases his girls around .. he doesn't seem to like people, not sure if that is a male red thing or if he is still getting used to my tank/place

would the bolivians be ok with angels and silver dollars? leaving the red empresses with electric yellows ..not sure about the dems, as nice as they look they do seem to be the type that would definitely fight with the reds - well especially in a tank as small as 4ft [edit] yeah I was reading up on the dems ryan and that was the understanding I got, they do not colour up if they are being dominated - so lots of room required ... although the idea of a tank with just dems and electric yellows would certainly look nice money isn't an issue - I just want the fish to be happy

wow those demasonis certainly look pretty, thanks for your replies .. I'm looking at getting 2 x 4ft(min) tanks - not intending on having heaps of fish in them though would like a bit of colour. Thinking now an african only tank and then a nice community tank that the rams can go in

right so I should look at getting them out as soon as poss ... so then what would make a good tank mate for the red empresses? I assumed that as they were cichlids too it would be ok

for ... 3 juvenile red empresses - one male and 2 females (I assume at the moment they are both female) 2 bolivian butterfly rams - thanks to teeny eenie weenine tiny kitty kat 2 bristlenoses (unsure of exact species as they are very small) I believe the 2 rams are males judging by the dorsal fins male red empress definitely appears to have a domination complex I'm thinking a pair of electric yellows would be nice, but unsure as all I read with cichlids is that they do not like other aggressive fish current fishtank they are in is definitely too small for future growth but I am in the process of purchasing a couple larger tanks - one to keep them in and another in case of breeding any suggestions greatly appreciated

I also went to a spot on the weekend that is usually loaded with fish (first place I went looking for koura) but alas not a fish to be found ...

nice looking koura I just lost both of mine went to aussie for 3 weeks, filter crapped out and my entire tank died - had the flatmate "looking after" them, but she did not know what to do and unfortunately it was way to late by the time she contacted me gutted

not at all .. but cheers for validating my post

in response to Dave R I myself google all day every day for all sorts of things and understand what you are saying, though there is a slight trend here by some to flame first, give advice later .. I'm not implying that you have done this - just it can be a tad frustrating the lack of consistency on this site ... prime example my first ever post here where I was asking what I had done to kill my koura/borneos and someone got snotty about over me stocking - then a couple days later I saw the same person telling somoene else to overstock their much smaller tank with no problem at all Personally I come here (like the original question asker) for advice from people in the know as I wish to minimize fatality - as you can find all sorts of assumptions/opinions out there .. this is how I ended up with koura, borneo suckers, goldfish and the idea i could acclimatise lower end tropicals in my tank .. some of the members that have been here a long time need to go easy on us - some of us aren't as stupid as you assume we are ... we just want to learn (this is not targeted at you in anyway at all Dave R as I feel you were gracious in your critique)

would minnows be ok to add? and if so what is the min amount? (remembering I do not want to overstock) I've read around and from what I have found they are a good match for borneos?

ah yup I was just in irc and jude suggested bullies - I've learn't a painful lesson previously through lack of experience hence why i was asking in here eventually I want to build a nice large tank (and get everything right the first time - ) and shift this tank into my room As i said earlier my plan was to move the goldfish to another tank, smaller, yet a tank the three of them lived in for at least a year (and their combined length is maybe 13cm) - I was going to use the other tank as a plant temp storage in m bedroom but though might as well put a couple fish in it. I will stay clear of any ideas to add tropicals to this tank Anyone know of any good fish shops in welly? I only know of the two animates and the one at Kaiwharawhara seems a little dodgy - was just there a couple days ago and almost every tank had dead or dying fish in it

ever since I got this I had no idea what to do with it - thought about saltwater, thought about tropical ... now that I have the koura I like having it as a cold freshwater ... so far this winter the temperature has not dropped below 16 degrees and in summer it goes to around 22-24 degrees. My question is do you think that next summer when it is at its highest temperature could I put some tropicals in it and let them slowly acclimatise to the lowest winter temp? Also if yes, what kind of fish could I get - I don't want many, just a couple of "interesting" fish currently 2 koura, 4 mussels, 3 red ramhorns and some big black snail, 2 tiny borneo suckers and 3 small gold fish (which I would possibly move to another tank) ... the tank is 75 litres (so yes I do not want to over stock) eheim filter and i do regular 20% water changes (once every few weeks)

something bizarre with my 2 - for the last 2 days I had not seen my little one anywhere and was getting worried he'd been eaten by the big one or had escaped. I have had 2 escape in the past - one I caught the next morning (no idea how I did not stand on him outside the bathroom door first thing in the morning - got him back in the tank) ... the other I found about a day to late, transformed into a statue Anyway I started searching under my couches and behind all large cabinets etc and a few hours later saw him come waltzing out of the big ones caves guess they can learn to get a long? or maybe the small one is a young lass coming of age?

the weed thing makes sense to me ... I thought it was my snails, every few days there is another piece of plant floating on the top of my tank (much to my depair)

it was bizarre when I first found one - me and a mate spent hours trolling through creeks in "no mans land" trying to find them, a spot where he used to see them as a kid, to no avail - all we would ever find was a little brown fish - I'm assuming baby trout? as I know they are a natural predator to koura ... then we head into the middle of suburbia and hit the jackpot under the second rock we turned

werner there are heaps of koura in the little creek at Khandallah (behind the swimming pool) .. just go at night with a torch and they are literally everywhere I have 2 in my tank, both with their own separate caves systems (collected rocks from where I found the koura) .. they are definitely territorial, I never see them both out