Aftaburn

Hi All.. I have just set up forums & notice boards for the Queenstown area.. included are a wide range of topics including "Fishkeepers Queenstown". For more information please visit: http://www.clickbelow.co.nz

I have just set up Queenstown area notice boards & forums.. this includes Fishkeepers Queenstown.. & may become the beginnings of a Queenstown club of sorts. For more information please visit: http://www.clickbelow.co.nz

You're probably right about the cost I have glass cutting & edging tools & could build a tank but the problem is I have nowhere to put it.. I already had to put my queen sized bed 2 foot from the ceiling with desk beneath and there is barely walkway left there. The lounge/kitchen is just about as busy. I'd love to have more tanks here there is simply nowhere to put them I have no choice but to work with what I've got. The crays which were in a 2 x 1 x 1 foot are gone today.. that tank is the maximum size for the space already. I have somewhere to move the rainbows out to. I have 2 options as I see it for now.. either move the Discus to the 740mm x 460mm x 320deepmm tank where the Guppies are currently or leave them where they are and move the smaller fishes around leaving less threatening species with the Discus hopefully getting it down to Corydoras & Whiptails only still in the main tank (heavily planted & wooded). I appreciate the comment re they're attracted to the dark colour of the parents could be why they went from the tube to the wood the only fix I have for that is to shift the Discus. Unfortunately I've gotta work with what I've got which includes other fish.. I may have the loan of another tank coming which I can loan to someone else (2 foot.. no room for it here) who can take some more fish out of these systems for a bit. I think the fry are gone now probably the rainbows. Re pump intakes.. I have 2 canister filters on the main tank.. I should be able to rig some sort of sponge gauze over the inlets. I probably need to leave here on holiday by Friday afternoon.. Thursday I have for rearranging fish.. Friday morning for some maybe.. supposed to be somewhere else Friday evening.. should've been Thursday but that was less important. So with what I have what would you figure is the best option for a not ideal situation?

They've reappeared. The fry are on the wood beside where they were, dunno where they went but I know where they are.. am working on ideas for clearing the tank of other fishes & have in a couple of days somewhere for at least the larger fish to go & am working on the others. I have a Black Ghost Knife fish for sale if anyones interested.

Yeah lovely blues, the parents are different from one another but not massively.. I have a photo showing both parents on this page.. about half way down.. this was taken a few months ago they've both put on noticeable size since then. http://www.clickbelow.co.nz/newhome.htm I cant see a glass divider happening.. nice idea though. When I arrived home tonight no sign of the babies so probably another batch down the tubes although I'll leave the lamp on again just in case. So far as them getting picked off I dont know if thats why I cant find them now but had figured it'd be very likely to happen except by the corys & whiptails.. my problem too many fish.. not enough tanks & nowhere to put more I'm at my limit of 5 (supposed to be 4 I already cheated). I'll look at options in future though.. what I might consider is emptying out the other 4 foot completely and reducing the community size then just having discus in the main tank (perhaps catfish also & maybe something like kuhuli loaches if I can get away with it). Is 100 litres of a size to do a single spawn in?? I've a tank of guppies that could possibly go much easier than anything else.. also in the photos its the top tank of the double.. dimensions 740mm x 460 x 320mm.. might be too tight. Currently its got a heap of not terribly impressive guppies & 3 large Ansistris females (haven't got a male). Not sure what to do with what tanks exactly maybe its time for a major change around but they're all pretty cool.. I've 2 tanks that are easier to free up but that leaves me with odd things I don't know what to do with & I still need to find somewhere for the fishes in them to go. White Clouds.. easy to breed.. great give away fish for beginners but thats about it for what I'm doing with them. Guppies.. nothing impressive there but breeding toward improvement in lyretail snakeskin slowly could do with an injection of a wow snakeskin male. Knife fish.. hes very cool but getting bigger.. angels.. they eat things but are great company.. same with the keyholes.

They're too hard to get to to move & I don't want to freak everything out by dismantling the main tank.. even if I could free up a 2 foot x1 x1 tank which is a bit small anyway. At this stage I've found someone with a 3 footer who is happy to sit fish which might help a bit but he cant handle everything from the other 4 footer which gets too much traffic close for the discus. I need to prioritize what comes out of the main tank to give them room seems the most likely plan at this stage which would keep them with the parents and provide by far the most space its approx 1200x550dx650h. A likely idea seems move half the rainbows and half the keyholes to the sitters tank & put the remaining rainbows in with 5 keyholes, 2 angels & knife fish (which would be better finding a new home he/she is about 25-30cm and going to be a problem). If I do this it leaves: Discus, white clouds, zebra danio, black neon, corydoras, whiptails, guppies, rummy nose, raspbora in the main tank.. I cant remove them all not the space but I can probably remove one species maybe 2 depending on numbers which would you expect to be the biggest problem (hopefully not rummynose or corydoras which are the 2 largest groups).

I had thought that. Take a look http://www.clickbelow.co.nz/discus.htm Mum & babies.. not sure if all fry were in the photo but most.. more than I thought there were I counted 38 or 39. Next issue.. food.. I have heard they feed off the slime coating on the parent.. any idea how far away before I need to worry about food specifically for them and any idea at what stage could they be removed to a small tank of their own (minus parents).. this does assume they can be caught of course.. they're pretty well inaccessable at the moment. I may be able to clear a small tank but its not big enough for mum & dad too. I have brine shrimp.. larger variety but they're not up and running at the moment. Going on holiday in less than a week too.. but have a well trained person looking after them for me who I can school up on artemia.

Good point although I've bred some Africans in the past I never did this.. thanks it seems to have helped the discus.

Thanks.. survival!! They survived the first night.. small lamp on that end of the tank worked.. the parents have moved them up a foot further away from the intake. I'd love to put them in a tank of their own with sponge filters if I had a spare tank and somewhere to put it. http://www.clickbelow.co.nz/newhome.htm The link shows what space I have available there is another tank now on the bookshelf where the dragon is.. leaves just enough room for the dragon on the end. If it weren't for 2 angels 10 keyhole cichlids & a black ghost knife fish I'd transfer something (probably the rainbows) across to the other 4 foot tank.. for a fair price & pick up I'd consider selling those.. I also have 5 or 6 surplus boesemani rainbows.

400 litre community tank 2 Discus, 11 Boesemani, 10 Rummynose, White Clouds, Guppies, Raspbora, Black Neon, Danio, Corydoras School, 3 Whiptail cats. Pump throughput approx 3000 litres 1 at 2200. Heavily planted tank with fair volume of wood. The Discus are laying eggs very regularly which seem to be mostly viable about 4 cm up from the main filter intake.. they hatch then disappear very quickly.. the most I've seen is 12 hatched at one time. I suspect one of 2 things is happening.. when the lights go out the newly hatched fry drop down a bit and get sucked in by the filter or the parents are eating them possibly due to a fairly busy tank. Any thoughts?? I am considering options for moving some of the other fishes out of the tank however have not really anywhere for them to go without dropping fish somewhere along the line.. and I've too many Rainbows (mostly female). Since they started spawning a few months ago the Discus have been going hard.. each time a batch of eggs disappear the next batch is in the same place in a matter of days.

How many folks are there here from the Queenstown area? I'd like to arrange a meeting of Queenstown fishy folks. If you are from Queenstown please reply to this post and let us know how many aquariums you have and how long you have lived in Queenstown. Is there anyone else here who would be interested in setting up some sort of Queenstown Fish Club or similar? I am trying to gauge roughly how many of us there would be interested in the idea. I've been in Queenstown for 9 years currently have 5 tanks running and have had tanks for over 20 years. Even if we dont get some sort of club officially off the ground I would still be interested in arranging a social "meet the fish nuts" gathering.

It is with great sadness I read this thread. Alan although I never met him in person we spoke by phone a few times was (& in my mind still is) one of the truely great fathers to the hobby. He was so positive always helpful and will be very sadly missed.. I had been intending to touch base with him again just for a catchup and regret I'll no longer be able to do so and that it took so long for me to learn of this. My deepest condolences to Rose and family Alan will live on in our hearts & memories for many years to come.

Looking at setting up a club or society or some sort of group for fish keepers in Queenstown myself and need to hook up with others. I have currently 5 aquariums. One of the things I want to address is having qualified persons to be able to fish sit when people are on holiday and the all too common "we had fish once gee they dont live very long do they" syndrome. Can anyone in Queenstown who has tropical (or anything that lives in water for that matter) fish please contact me and we will see if we can get something going. I hadn't wanted to get too bogged down with officialdom but will look at it if there are a bunch of us to share the load. I can provide some webspace for such a project. I'm due to go on holiday about mid November and are having issues finding suitable people to look after my fishes.. may have it covered but I have reservations about (with a complex setup) using anyone who's inexperienced & potentially unreliable. If you live in Queenstown and have fish I can be contacted via email [email protected] I have Friday/Saturday this week free so would love to arrange a meeting of those of us able to establish contact that quickly. BTW I've had up to 23 tanks running here and have lived here for 9 years. I would also like to establish contact with "Bernard" whom I've heard of but not met.

I've water blasted houses prior to painting years ago. A couple of things they might use & not think of as chemicals.. sugar soap.. probably however chlorine and are thinking it breaks down quickly with sunlight so therefore not counting it as chemical treatment. Chlorine is used to prevent or remove mould.. whenever I've waterbasted houses its been just water nothing else but I suspect that could be one possible answer. Another could be if the building has been previously sprayed with pyrethrum for spider control or if the neighbours house has been sprayed with overspray drifting into the pond.. from what I've heard it can be lethal to fish at a little as 1 part per billion. Chlorine can also be something sprayed on afterward once again to control mould usually.

how long was your pantadon??? ive got one in a community tank & am wondering if its full size

just wondering including fins how big will my pantadon get... the book says about 10cm (axelrod) but is that supposed to include fins? mine loves launching at food & jumps best for artemia when dribbled in concentrated from syringe... not so hot on flake & likes salmon pellet crumble.

seriously thinking of adding larger bristlenose into the bgk, keyhole cichlid, algae eater & angel tank. bgk although pretty peaceful is incredibly quick for food. as to pics... i'd love to be able to get some that work but my camera isn't fast enough or the light is too low or both i suspect. up to 4 community tanks now... (trying to make more room for white clouds coming through).

Re: plumbing through floor... I have similar issues... what I did was run (cable tied out of the way) my plumbing down the stairs using 19mm hose so the flowrate is ample. If you've got somewhere high enough & strong enough to put a sump you have to be able to get to it... plumbing therefore should also be possible just perhaps not particularly pretty.

Good point... I'll be adding a new one myself to run in paralell for a while still to decide whether to leave 750L/hr + new 2200 L/hr both on tank together long term... for around 400 litre all up its fairly heavily stocked.

BGK & Keyhole cichlids so far much more awesome than I'd imagined... 'lil dudes'. Neither even seems to notice the other... not sure what the best diets gonna be.

Not so sure about the guppies... I had BGK, Pantadon butterfly, Chinese algae eater, I suspected the BGK to be taking young guppies at night however they were there for the Pantadon. New fish tomorrow.. :bounce: 2 young Discus, 12 Keyholes, etc... the idea was to try discus + large rainbow + angelfish + 20 corys + pantadon + white clouds + bristlenose together & put the keyhole cichlids in with the BGK. Might put 5cm whiptails in the first tank or does anyone know if they're particularly fond of current?

I've been wondering myself what to put in with Black Ghost Knifefish... reading about various forums some of the species most suggested are: Oscar, Tyre Track Eel, Arowana, Pantodon Butterfly. IMHO... & from my observation of Pantodon & BGK... I noticed a fair bit of splashing after the lights went out. They were fine for a while then the Pantodon started hiding at feeding time suggesting the BGK was hassling more often (both fishes similar size) so I've removed the BGK to his own 4 foot tank where he now plays invisible fishie (think he likes it, its bigger & has more hidey holes). So far as any of the other mentioned species... I'd figure they'd need to start together young for the best results... I know someone whos been keeping BGK with Arowana, Oscar, Pacu, Gold Saum, Large Pleco & a handfull of others as a community... so far as I know he hasn't had any problems with disputes. The Gold Saum was one I'd had for a number of years & pretty agressive, hence partly why I parted with him... the tank I'm refering to is run by a relative newbie who seems to be doing ok with what I reacon is an unusual mix... (he didn't know how big Arowana get tho) in a 6x2x2 tank. I suspect my BGK killed bristlenose in his tank he is still with a chinese algae eater & ignores it. I'm wondering about how he'd go with Keyhole Cichlids which I had in a very mixed community years back. I'd love to mix Gold Saum back in but they're too destructive for this tank & very unpeaceful. The tank with BGK is approx 1200x400x400mm... hopefully well big enough for a while... has 2000 litres per hour out at one end in at other so theres a fair amount of current... I had no idea just how fast BGK can be untill recently, pretty quick. I wont keep him with guppies as when he was with the Pantodon I added guppies & I reacon they got about half each. One thing I did notice mentioned a lot about Knifefish generally was as they mature they can be aggressive toward each other & it was often suggested that one is better than several for this reason (plus I guess the size issue when mature). Does anyone know how quick they mature to full size? I'm just after a rough idea. At this stage I'll probably keep considering BGK & Keyhole Cichlids unless someone can suggest something better (had thought also Large Boesmani Rainbows might be ok for a while with him but they're better where they are really). Suggestions for BGK tankmates... I'd rather not end up with species that are too destructive / get too big. My BGK is very friendly (when not playing invisible fishie) & hand feeds, lets me rub his nose etc... he prefers low lighting & is out more when only a small light is on at one end of the tank, being very active helps with the hiding as he gets around a lot... I hadn't planned getting anything that gets so big but wouldn't want to part with BGK now I've got one... hes way too cool for that. You'll see him from time to time if the'res lots of cover, but he will hide a lot, don't let that put you off... they're pretty awesome. I'm figuring the best path could be to keep him with species that wont compete for hiding places, mine is about 6 inch currently.

There are potential disadvantages yeah... such as the cold incident or if someone doesnt treat water that needs treatment... anything automatic could potentially fail & you definately want to try to ensure against this. Sump contamination is another possible issue. My sump has a treated not treated flip card on it (hardly used by me but my flatmate finds it handy as a reminder). What is a supersump???? thats simple... in this case a big one (I know most of you think of sumps as things to do with filtration so let me clarify "this one isn't a filter" its a holding tank). So far as a picture of a supersump... yeah something big & plastic that holds water. How to set this up... You will need: Something that holds sufficient water to do a waterchange (dont bother with anything not big enough to completely refill whatever tank/set of tanks you are servicing). I managed to get a big plastic drum which is about as big as I've space for but I would like something about 5x the size. Why bigger is better... its faster, its less mucking around... fill it up, get the water to the correct specifications & that part of the job is done & you can concentrate on tank cleaning instead of mucking around with refill water. Somewhere you can get head from (gravity fed system) ie height. 1. Get big plasic drum 2. Get food grade plastic hose (depending on how much height you have you may need to consider pressure issues so trust me on this one get stronger hose than you think you need (could even consider pressure pipe if a permanant installation). 3. Consider if you need to be able to dismantle it for cleaning/servicing & make that possible (I have a couple of disconnectable sections I can run a pullthrough through if needed). 4. Get good quality taps/gate valves. 5. Probably get or have a drill & hole saw. 6. Get a stainless seated ballcock if you want water to cut off to prevent spillage. 7. Get hansen fittings to go through your drum (some drums might not need these). Meathod: Find somewhere higher than your tanks for the sump to live (remember this thing could be seriously heavy). Drill hole near bottom of drum & install hansen fitting. Drill hole near top & install ballcock You dont have to use a water purifier for water coming in but I prefer it... I have run mine off the kitchen sink which has a mixing tap set... this meant I had to completely redesign how I get water out for the sink to make it work. I also found it an advantage to modify the water purifier inlet outlet arrangement to allow for less bottlenecking. My plumbing arrangement isn't exactly anything you'll normally see so expect to have to be able to design something to get around awkward tap arrangements. The website photo of the sink... Left pipe to sump The rest look at the plumbing it should be fairly simple to see whats going on. If you cant work it out from this then I would suggest consultation with someone whos vaguely plumberish. Overflow system... better to syphon tanks. The bottom pic show water out from sump I have 2 outlets so I have water in 2 places when needed. The ballcock I havent photographed but shouldnt need to. http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~aftaburn/sump.htm Hope thats useful.

Still more dribble... yeah I know I could've individually valved the input lines to ensure even distribution of water (even have the valves) but still is overflow & when I'd built it originally I was certain the octopus I came up with was fail proof (still think it was pretty good as all the outlets were 1 foot long going into larger sheaths which directed to the tanks without adding any pressure issues to the octopus). At the end of the day... the system currently in use works pretty well. One thing I did find useful was on a rotational water change system plotting which tanks were done when, helps you keep track & keep on schedule.

Yeah I did reach a verdict... gave up on auto. Couple of reasons... Firstly if you add 20% on the overflow system the effective change is less than 20%. Then due to differing heights using 4mm input hose & 19mm overflow I found some tanks got more water than others (even though I thought I had gotten round that, part of the issue could've been the overflows are all connected for 3 tiers of tanks). Some of the overflows struggled with the capacity (input was 19mm split 12 ways). Output was 19mm drain... too small, if you use 4mm inputs like this go for at least 25mm output drains with anti clog devices (I have for 19mm but they clog fast). Water Treatment... all the dosing pumps I looked at were unable to dose at a low enough dose rate. Plumbing... couldn't plumb the drain permanantly or plumb the input water & automate (most of this was the landlord wasn't keen). Detritis buildup... with a trickle overflow system you still need to vaccum the tank bottoms anyway. I did hear of auto systems which would handle the job but the base control unit was around $2000 & would've needed further money spent on extra bits. Final system currently in use. I have a 240 litre plastic sump upstairs. 19mm feeder hose to downstairs tanks. 15mm (after mixing tap set & water filters) hose inputs to sump with ballcock emergency cutoff valve... I was unable to plumb a 2nd emergency sump overflow (same deal as toilet cistern) due to plumbing constraints although this would be adviseable... as a result I have to watch very closely when sump filling. Meathod: Fill sump via tap arrangement. Treat water in sump manually. Manually syphon tanks with hose long enough to go outside or to other drainage. Fill from preheated sump. Bottom line... takes a while to fill the sump (25 mins) so if changing over 500 litres at a go is time consuming. Hot water cylinder can only heat a limited number of sumps plus showers. Water temperature during sump filling needs careful monitoring (no biggie gotta be handy to watch water level anyway). Syphoning tanks individually is much better than overflow. 19mm feeder hose takes 17 mins to drain sump fully. Running up to 20 tanks with this at a capacity not exceeding 2500 litres overall you can do it like this at home... if you doubled capacity it would start to pressure this system & at 50 tanks & over 5000 litre capacity I would suggest you really might want a more serious system... one thing I do like the idea of is if you have 5000 litres of tanks having a sump that is minimally 1000 if not 2000 litres would be nice... also at this plumb the input water & put a heater in the sump along with a circulating pump & automate refill. Still using a manual filling system at this level would be fine although I would look into 25mm refill hose with a diffuser on the end to prevent tank destruction due to excessive flow rate. Also its worth noting to spend more money on taps / valves rather than buying cheapos cause you'll get leaks eventually with a pressurised system. I have 3 taps between sump & end of fill hose... 1 at sump (serious valve) 1 at midway down the stairs (disconnection point for cleaning) & 1 on the end of the hose which would be better if it was a squeeze type than the gardina turny irrigation type that it is (leaks very slowly). With 2 of the 3 valves closed I have a solid safe cutoff but I prefer 3 in case of one being played with or bumped accidentally. When not in use I drain the sump to reduce pressure on hoses which also works as another failsafe against accidental overfill & valve failure. Plumbing down the front of tanks is accessable but ugly. I never lift water by hand. This system isn't 100% perfect but it is relatively cheaply built (don't skimp on hose quality I use strong foodgrade clear hose, garden hose doesn't cut the mustard). Do not pre fertilize your sump as any nutrient will encourage problems growing in it & your plumbing (had issues after treating with peat). For now... I'll go with the current system it still beats using buckets by 10,000%. If I ever set up more permanantly & larger I will be going for the supersump. supersump. :roll: Anyways hope thats vaguely useful.