Spink

Thanks Alan! It's nice to know what I'm growing in my own tanks! Hope the photos prove useful for the upgrade too - does anyone have any update on how it has been going and when it might be up and running?

I guess those of us keen on mollies need to try and breed good lines that live well and produce nice offspring. I know I had hit and miss with my first batch of mollies - people who bought them from me have had a 50/50 hit and miss with them. Some of mine have thrived and done fantastically, others have completely karked it very quickly, others seem to be doing ok but are very slow growing. Just looking at my mollies in my tank (brackish) now they all look really good bar one. My babies downstairs look pretty good too, and they are freshwater with salt added. Looks like they'll be two more batches some time soon, need to catch my mummies and put them in traps, feed 'em up and see what pops out. All i can recommend is to try salt, medicate properly with the right medications, and hope for the best. Good luck to you all, and hope your fishies recover!

I would try the double dose of Flourish Excell, and see if that helps - I had an algae problem in my main tank, double dosed very second day for a week, and it all cleared up. The plants benefit form it too. If you start to see any sign of deterioration in the plants, stop the dosing and just do a water change. That my be when you need to buy an SAE. Hope that helps!

Oh Tracey that sucks! I'm starting to wonder if we have weak strains of mollies in New Zealand - someone once said to me a good molly is hard to find, and I think they may be right! I have to admit, my mollies have always done much much better with plenty of salt in the water, but other than that, i don't know what you can do...

Jeez Cam, did breeding your fighters not put you off! Good on you for your continued enthusiasm, and good luck - I am STILL only able to breed livebearers at this stage, but we'll see....

So here's a pic of the tank thus far.....not sure what some of the plants are - some i had in my tank already, and some are bits i got given; others are plants I purchased from a particular store in which the retail staff could not tell me what they were called :roll:

Double or triple dose with Florish Excell usually does the trick, or buy an SAE Also depends on the type of plants as well, sometimes the excell dose can kill the plant off, like Val What sort of plants are you having trouble with in relation to the algae?

Here are some more i have taken today: Java Fern - Microsorum pteropus Java Fern 'Windelov' - Microsorum pteropus 'Windelov' Straight Val - Vallisneria spiralis These ones i am definately not 100% certain about exactly what they are, so I''l name them as what I know them by, and if anyone has the right info, please post a reply: Baby Tears - possibly Micranthemum umbrosum or Lysmachia nummularia some type of Bacopa.. Polysperma or Star grass... Blue Hygrophila Christmas Moss 'Ozelot' sword plant another variety of sword plant... a variety of cryptocoryne... the rest of these i have no idea what so ever.... Hope that helps the cause!

I wanted to make sure i had a place to stay as soon as I heard about it, so I got typing! Now I just enjoy finding out about something new, and lending Caryl a hand at the same time, although now I will be working, i don't know where I will find the time! I think it was a great idea to have people write an article to book a bed too - it gets people involved, and makes it easier for those on a lesser income. I'm really looking forward to my first Conference!

Hey seen as how I've written so many articles, can i auction off my extra beds I earnt by doing them? I could make a mint selling space on the floor! :lol: Just kidding! I must be overdue to write something on Marines again, just to cover all my bases.

Seems to have taken me forever to get to this point, but here are some of my plant pictures: (if the names are wrong PLEASE correct me, I'm just going by what I know! :oops: ) Hair grass - Eleocharis acicularis Pennywort? - Hydrocotlye vert. (sold to me as this via TM) Tiger Lotus - Nymphaea lotus Lilaeopsis mauritanicus Corkscrew Val - Vallisneria asiatica I have some more but seem to have lost the whereabouts of the photos after the last computer crash we had - might have to try again! Hope this helps people!

Thanks Caryl! I'm planning to have from the Thursday right through to Tuesday, so I want to make a good weekend of it and have a nice break. Pagani may have something for you Caryl, you never know! Some of it isn't even to my taste, but there are things I do like, and things I would buy for my Mum as well. I will take each day as it comes and see how I go. And as for articles: I wrote another one about the Livebearer Show from my perspective, but just need to put some finishing touches on it before sending it through.I suppose you're already halfway through the next one :roll:

Hi Stella, Yes, I did get a job! I've been a little slow to announce it, but I did make sure I let Caryl down gently I am going to be the new Store Manager for Pagani in Queensgate - for those that don't know it's a womans clothing store. I told them straight up that I have a holiday planned for Queens Birthday, and now I just need to confirm the dates to them :bounce:

Can anyone confirm the dates for the Rings Beach 2009 Conference for me? I need to book my leave in advance, and I'm not sure of the dates yet. Queens Birthday weekend (usually when it's held?) is observed Monday 1st June next year, so one would assume conference over that weekend, starting Saturday 30th May??? Please correct me if I'm wrong! Cheers!

I have a bit of wood I could put in, and I have peat as well, but doesn't peat make water changes a little more complicated an time consuming? I read you have to soak peat in the new clean water for a while before putting the water in the tank to replace what you took out. That would mean I have to be uber organised for tank cleaning!

Anyway smarty pants, any tips on how to lower the pH in a natural sort of way? I'm not keen on going out to buy pH down unless i absolutely have to

Certainly do!!! I'm going to line breed my show fish, and breed your males to my blonde female to get something new and exciting for me to look at. You can faff me round the ear'ole any time you like - just be warned you have fair competition for the stirrers spoon!!! :lol:

Here's a photo of my boy: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: The photo really doesn't do him justice!

did you faff about while making your mind up about that? (he he he) I bought one of Kevin's - I thin #36 white bodied male with a greyish blue tail

Hey all! I've just been convinced to try line breeding a beautiful guppy I bought from the Livebearer show. I've set up a brand new tank, with the idea of growing plants in it as well as breeding the guppies. I have set the tank up from scratch - new clean water (no old aquarium water added) new filter etc to try and avoid any snails i already have. I have the guppies in another tank, and tonight i tested the pH of both the guppy tank and the new guppy/plant tank. Guppies at 6.6/6.8 and plants at about 7.8. What would be the ideal pH for both the guppies and the plants to thrive in harmony? I've had a nosey round the internet but seem to get conflicting info about pH levels, although the common theme seems to be consistency more than anything. Can anyone give me any advice, suggestions or help? Cheers! :bounce:

well, after a long think, a bit of decision making and LONG talks with other people, I have decided to go ahead and set up a tank to grow plants in, but as part of my breeding scheme as well. I have THE most gorgeous guppy which I am going to breed, and him and his girlfriends are going to live in the tank to breed while I grow the plants. The down side is I have to shut down my goby breeding tank, partly because of the cost and partly because the BBG just won't breed for me yet. Could they possibly go in the new plant tank as well as a bottom fish? They'd all have their own space and caves with plenty of room. Any thoughts?

I think once most of us have had at least 24 hours to recover, we might get some pics up! But seen as how my husbands computer is bust and my laptop won't take my camera card....could be a while!!!!!

I would like to take the time to thank all of those who have made the weekend especially fun and worthwhile for us all. Thank you to the members of the committee who made all the arrangements and got us up and running... Thank you to all those people who came and helped up set up, bench fish, sell raffle tickets, talk to the public and promote the club and the hobby..... Thank you to all the people who may not have been there but were supportive of us in other ways...sent baking, hosted judges, provided food, entertainment and company, went out to grab us lunch and coffee supplies, and made sure we all survived the weekend.... Thank you to the judges and judges aids for actually judging the fish - without you it would just be a show and not nearly half as much fun...... Thank you to all the club members who supported the event by either helping or entering fish... Thank you to those people who supported the auction, either by buying items themselves, buying on behalf of members of the public, and for encouraging people outside of the club to come along and grab some top quality fish...... Thank you to all those members and their kids who came along this afternoon to help with the most tedious job in the world, washing and drying 200 tanks!..... have I missed anyone? Lastly, one more person to thank... THANK GOD that it's all over!!!!!!! We had a great weekend and I personally really enjoyed myself, and I know many more of you feel the same - WELL DONE!!!!!

This was my post and it has moved a little astray, but the original idea behind it was to find out about fish that provide a specific 'duty' in the tank. Like, skunk loaches are a good natural way for getting rid of snails, Siamese algae eaters munch on the algae in the tank, as do plecos. I know ALL fish have a use somewhere along the line, but I wanted to gather some info on PARTICULAR fish that if you have a problem, you could go and buy (if compatible with what you already have) rather than using a chemical solution. Case in point: I have a tank that has a lot of Val in it, but also had a lot of algae appearing through the tank. I can't use the extra dose of Flourish Excel as it will kill off all the Val. So, I researched and went out and bought a pair of SAE to much away on it and keep my val looking nice and healthy. That is the point of this post. So, if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions, I'd welcome the info.

Can anyone remind me which fish out there at duckweed? I think some cichlids do, but aren't there Barbs like Tiger barbs or something that will eat it too?