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Nah, I bought the barnacles from someone via the forum - it's not what you know it's who you know! Thanks for the comments guy, I'm absolutely wrapped with how that tank came out!

There may be a small African tank on the way, but not before some of the others are gone. I completely agree with Sandysme - the power company loves us, but my pay packet doesn't quite cover the cost of running any more thanks than I have, especially not with Winter on the way!

It currently has 11 gobies in it, and it seems to be a nice balance - this morning they were all out, very active hopping around the tank! It is only partly brackish, I do use salt but not as much as I should, so the plants should adapt ok. Some came out from their original tank too so they are used to it already. I have another brackish tank, but I can't put them in that one as the Mono Angels are likely to think they are a tasty snack!

I used to re-landscape my tank once a month or so, but I have finally got it to a stage that I really like, and the plants are doing well and it looks good, so luckily I don't have that problem anymore! I wish I had an endless supply of tanks to be able to have 4-5 projects on the go at once! I have the opposite problem - lots of things i want to breed but not enough room to do it! And with work and kids it can be a bit much trying to get everything done. I really don't know how Paul can do it - all those tanks, all those water changes, all the meetings you go to AND all the stuff you have to do for the FNZAS.....and you have a job too! Once the Lotto winnings kick in then I'll be able to have a dedicated fish room and all the time in the world to breed and raise fish......not long now........

Sorry guys but i have an inexplicable fear of big fish - it's small fish all the way for me!!!! A friend has a red devil cichlid and my husband likes the fact it has some personality and spunk, so he wants something along those lines. So a 3 foot small cichlid tank is on the cards, but that's meant to be his thing not mine. I guess I'll just have to bide my time until the right inspiration comes along to keep me occupied. I usually write articles for Caryl when I get bored or research fish for my little fish geek library, but it doesn't fix the fish problem. My latest project is my photographic tank - I have the tank, just need to get the perspex backgrounds, travel case, and oh, A CAMERA!!!!

Though I'd love to do marines, it will have to wait for a few weeks until I claim my $7.5 million lotto prize! I'm definitely moving on my guppies, possibly my reject platties and the left over mollies in the community tank. Then I still have the honey gourami to sort, the barbs and the albino cories I wanted to breed. I told my husband that it would be easier for him to shift his two kids in to the same room so I had my own office to put all my fish tanks in - that way I could see them all the time, keep myself busy and not have to worry about going down to the garage in the deep cold of Winter.........he didn't really like that idea.....

I'm running out of places with power points to put tanks!

ha ha - I own 16 tanks now and have most of them up and running, and I just set up another pond outside as well! :roll: I made a decision on my main community tank - I've decided I want Panda Tetras, Hengel's Rasboras and veiltailed Red Serpae Tetras as well as a big school of the Pygmy cory's I've just bred, but I have to wait for some of them to come up on the list before I can order them in and buy them. Part of my problem is I have too many different types of fish, and I think that's why I get bored with some of them, because some of them I don't even see in my tanks anymore! I've tried to make decisions on what I want to keep and breed, but then nothing happens and I run out of room, and then i get all confused and muddled again! Then i decide to get rid of something, have a conversation with someone about them and get all inspired to try and breed them again! Sometimes I just can't win!

I'm just wondering if there are other people out there like me who just get bored of some of the fish they have from time to time? I'm not talking a complete tank strip and change, like from guppies to cichlids, but sometimes you just go 'I don't like that barb anymore' or 'I've had enough of these guppies'. I've had a lot of fish since I got back in to fish keeping, and I'm not one to casually flick them off because I don't like them anymore, or if I've bred them and now want to go with something else, but at the moment i just feel bored. Does anyone else get like this? I usually get inspired after club meetings, but then I try and do something or breed a fish and get nowhere, and it kinda bums me out. Anyone got any tips on getting out of the rutt?

No lamp/light at this stage, it gets lots of natural indirect light from the very large window on the other side of the office. They're more likely to need ear muffs anyway with the volume my hubby watches his movies in there! I've been trying to breed these guys for probably over 6 months with no luck, so until I get out my Secret Breeding Weapon, I'm just going to leave them to establish their territory and get comfy

After a lot of planning and organising, I FINALLY got my new Bumble Bee Goby species tank set up and running yesterday! I planned for it to go in my husbands office (unbeknownst to him!) and carefully took the measurements for it to go on the shelf. I then went and had the tank made at Port Nic, picked it up last weekend and just had to wait for it to finish curing and water test it. here's the shelf before the tank arrived: And here's the finished product: It has sand substrate, barnacles and shells for hidy-holes and decorations, plants include Ambulia, crypt, Tiger Lotus, Hygrophila, Java Fern and Val; a touch of wood and a few lime stones, and of course, my gorgeous little Bumble Bee Gobies! Here's a few bad close up's of the fish: Yay! I'm so excited! The only change to be made is a slightly different filter as hubby find the sponge filter a bit loud and annoying, and I think it needs another bit of wood on the right hand side to balance it out a bit, but other than that I'm stoked!!!! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Well, I'm glad the leopards are going well in the pond, although I can't say I'm not disappointed that they weren't mountain minnows. BUT, I'm off to Otaki over the weekend to pick up one large plastic pond and one small one, so I'm hoping i can chuck a whole bunch of oxy weed and the minnows from off the kitchen bench and wait for babies! I think I may have to put my little leopard friend back out in the pond with the rest of his litter, he seems lonely.

Thanks Guys! I thought they might have been but every so often I thought I saw some colour on the fins, but then there's one small black spot that I can see. Nice to know that the Leopards are doing well outside!

Here's a pic, excuse the poor quality So, what do you think?

OK, so I have a pond outside with a few goldfish, some white cloud's and maybe two Leopard fish i threw in there as they weren't doing so well inside. Last weekend i went to clean the fountain, and while it was turned off I sat in the sun to watch the fish and try and catch a few WCMM (I have another pond coming soon so wanted to breed them in the new one!) While I was watching, I saw a few little fish - not quite fry as they were bigger then that, but definitely juvenile size. I caught the White Clouds and 8 of these fry I could see, and now I have one in a tank on my kitchen bench. I have been trying to decide if it is a white cloud or a Leopard fish. Can anyone tell me how big and what size a white cloud would be before it's adult colouration came through? I'm trying to work out if it's a white cloud that hasn't coloured up yet, or a Leopard fish that has no spots. Will try and get a pic but my camera's not great so it may not help. BTW - my Leopards are doing great outside, I couldn't believe the size of it knowing how big it was when I put it out there!

How are you going with your Mollies and BBG's Darkfur? I would definitely recommend salt in with both these species - in my experience with breeding mollies, they do much better with the addition of salt. I have some lyretail mollies but I'm just about on the verge of giving up with them, had enough really. Same with my guppies. BBG's are great! I just had a tank made to set up as a species tank for them. I've been trying to breed them for ages now and got no where so far, but they are pretty cool to have. I originally had them in my brackish tank, but now that I have Mono angels in there, the BBG's would just be a tasty snack for them! In terms of amounts of salt, I'm old fashioned in that area - depending on how much water, I chuck a splash in here or a handful there. What sort of salt are you using? The container I have recommends 1g/L or one rounded tablespoon per 20 litres of water, although i think this might be a bit much and tend just to put in whatever I feel is right. Once the balance is right you just have to add the salt in when you do the water changes which is easier to monitor.

from my understanding..(if someone else knows more please feel free to correct me) some of the Val species are prohibited to be sold in some areas. Some of the local councils have a ban and a huge fine if anyone is caught selling it as it is considered a pest species. Some LFS have put a complete ban on selling Val as sometimes there is confusion over which type is being supplied and sold. E.g. Giant Val can look like normal val when it is very new and small. I think it depends on what the local council stance is on Val as to whether you'll see it around in the LFS or not. Hope that helps!

I've got a Tiger Lotus that has flowered once and just has the second ever flower spike now. It's still very small and as soon as I see the spike I don't touch my plant. Last time I even stopped cutting the leaves off until the flowering was over. My flower went nuts - it just kept growing and growing! I had to leave the feeding lids off my tank and put glad wrap over the open bits to keep the flower out of the tank and the fish in the tank - didn't want to risk any jumpers! I don't do anything special with my tank, I have the JBL balls as well here and there, and occasionally put some Excel in there, but nothing else special and it seems to love it. My lighting is the 2 standard lights that came in the hood, and I changed out the third for a PowerGlo T8 (I think) and it seems to work well. Watching the growth of the lotus and the flower spikes is awesome! I just wish I had a camera that could do the plant some justice :roll:

here's an update: I haven't had any more eggs but most of the ones I did see have hatched, and I've only sucked up few dead fry. Here's a pic of some of my bigger fry: I cant wait for them to be 30 days to register them, and for them to be big enough to go in my other tanks! YAY!

OK, so I just got out of bed - lazy I know! :roll: - and went to do my usual rounds of turning all the lights on on all my tanks. I flicked the lights on the pygmy tank on, and low-and-behold, they were spawning! I actually got to see the behavior and watch them get together and make babies! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: I thought I had one female and three males in with a few juveniles and the fry, but it turns out there are two males and two females - they seem to have paired up! I watched the pairs go off and do there thing, no T bar spawning like other cories but more quivering next to each other, and then the male would try and fight off the other male before the female laid the egg. It was SO cool to watch, and I counted about 16 eggs this morning too. Not bad for two females and considering they are only tiny fish! Got a feeling they've given up for the day though, who likes being watched while they do that! So count down begins again for three days before the eggs hatch - maybe this time I'll get lucky with that too and be able to watch my new fry hatch! YAY!!!

Hey Barrie! I don't know what happened (like you, too busy with work to check every thread!) but like I said, please don't feel you have let me down - I was grateful you even offered to help in the first place knowing how busy you were with work. When I was younger I used to have text fights with my boyfriends because they way things were written were taken out of context. Sometimes it's easier to write something than to say it to someones face. Like you and many others, I enjoy a good rum on a bad day, and I'm still really looking forward to meeting you some time, picking your brain and just having a good chat. There are many people on the forum I haven't met, and some I would rather not, but don't let it get you down. Chin up, bottoms up to a few more Merlots, and go spend some time with your fish - they'll remind you of why you come to this forum and do your darndest to help others. Love and hugs

I just did my normal scum siphon and sucked up some fry - they are so small it's hard not to! Here's some pics: the latest eggs on the front glass... and believe it or not, there are 12 fry in this little container!!!!

Have I named my fish egg? What sort of a person do you think i am Caryl?!......... I named it stripes coz they come out all stripey like a bumble bee.... I'm a geek...

I am still very excited, although there have still been quite a few eggs that have fungused. There's one little egg on the side of the tank that I have been following it's progress - I have a feeling it will hatch today or tomorrow, and I'm hoping I'll be home to see it!!! There are probably more fry in that tank than I thought, as I siphoned up a really small guy last night, and there are eggs all through the moss as well. Time will tell!!!! :bounce:

FINALLY!!!! It has taken me forever, and I have bred livebearers to death, and I have finally bred an egg layer. Story goes like this: Have been trying to breed pygmy cories for probably over 6 months now with no luck. Had a tank breakage, borrowed a divided one from a good friend. Decided it's about time to give the tank back so started making progress getting rid of or moving the fish around. Pygmy's were in one section, and I decided they weren't doing anything so I'd just chuck them in to another tank as a clean up crew for a while. Siphon siphon siphon, nothing, siphon siphon, oh dear there's a baby fish. Oh my gosh, there are some tiny fish! Tank that had been set up upstairs for swordtails then became a nursery and breeding tank for pygmy's. Didn't hold my breath but was hoping for the best, twice daily very small water change and micro worm feedings. Then we get to today: big family drama with step kids and ex wife blah blah, so decided to clean something furiously which is what I do when mad or stressed. Took a set of draws out from one of the kids bedrooms and decided to move the pygmy tank to on top of it to get more light. Good thing I did - the tank had lots of little eggs in it!!!! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Some of the eggs have fungused, so I carried on with the water change I was doing (had to empty half of it to be able to move the tank) and have put in some meth blue to help the eggs that are left. But I FINALLY did it! Now I just have to see if I can actually see 10 babies once they've hatched and get them all to 30 days for a certificate!!! YAY!!!! I'm so stoked :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Just wanted to share