Lesta3474

Thanks for the Silvia-15 (btw Nissan - S15 is a rocking car!! Was gona get myself one of those but no garage to keep it in so will have to hold off that for awhile ). Do you keep the shell on the market shrimp or peel it off before feeding?

Hi guys, I'll be getting either young Siamese Tiger or Indo Tiger in the next few weeks. :bounce: Can anyone give me some pointers on how to care for it? I have a 3 ft tank for the fish. Got a fantastic piece of driftwood... (might post some pics... will have to figure out how first though :oops:) Preping and cleaning the wood now. I'm hoping tank should be big enough. Or at least for the next few years before I have to think of upgrading again. Tank will start its cycling process this week and will run for about for about 2 weeks. (Using water and also part of the filter media from another cycled tank) Will be running a 205 fluval canister filter. During this period I'll be introducing Java ferns on the driftwood... An Anubias plant and probably one algae eating fish.. Bristlenose ok? I'm afraid hillstream loaches will be too small and might become dinner... I need help with... 1) Choosing the fish. What should I look out for? I was thinking of getting a young one... like 6 to 8 cm in length. 2) How can I tell its age? 3) The most important part! Feeding. How do I wean of livefood? Market prawns - Shell on or shell off? Fish meat etc? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! kind regards, Lester

Darn. Well, I don want to give the new babies a miserable start to life by cramming them all in one tank. I guess I'll have to be content with something else. Maybe one borneo tiger in the 4 feet tank or several male fighters. Thanks Ron.

Ack no! not my plants.. I had that Java Fern for a about a year.. and its had its ups and downs... (yes i didn have much experience with plants i almost killed a Java Fern which is unheard of) but now its growing so well.. It has sentimental value... hehe! I guess no large snails for me... Should have mentioned that I have a surface skimmer attached to my FLUVAL 105 filter. I heard that surface skimmers actually increase oxygen in the water and release CO2 like how an airstone would? Is this true? I guess this defeats the purpose of putting Flourish Excel? Lester

Err... dunno if snails would work.. I actually had a snail problem in my tank but not anymore once i got the cons... They tore them apart... Although they weren't that big.. about the size of a 10 cent coin... I could even here them chewing on snail babies in the middle of the nite. :roll: Will large snails destroy my plants?

Its filamentous Algae.. I would assume its too much lighting.. And nutrients... Tried using Flourish Excel to bump up the growth of the plants.. Should I increase the dosage? Not too keen on doing a CO2 system.

Tank is 4 feet long by 1.5 feet tall so I would say shallow long tank. Lester

But not sure if a 150 L 4 feet tank will have enough space to even attempt to breed siamese fighters. Is it? Lester

Yes you're correct. However I am not gona use a stand. Its just gona sit on a tanalised Plywood on the floor. Plywood to protect the carpet... Room is too small to have a stand... and also this will reduce the weight. So there will be quite a sufficent amount of floor supporting the tank. Lester

Ahh... true true... Cool. Thanks! :bounce:

Yeah? Hmm... might consider a younger Bristle nose then.. I read up that Chinese Algae Eaters are notorious for munching on the slime coat of other fishes? Esp as they get older. Are they safe? Kind regards, Lester

Really? I was told by an friend whos an engineer that the max load on the floor is 150kg/m^2 or (1.5 KPA I think). Which is why i decided to keep the load below 150kg. 1L = 1 kg so about 150 L should be fine. But then again I could be wrong and mayb the support beam will be strong enough to hold the tank. Thanks for the info. Anyone else knows about the general load capacity of a NZ home?

How young of a bristlenose can i get? Convicts are about 9 cm (male) and 7 cm (female). I see some Bristlenose for sale but they are 2cm. Probably too small and I need a more mature fish?

Hi There, I have a pair of Convict cichlids. No babies for the moment. They've attempted to breed 2 twice and have gotten pretty aggressive during these periods... They are in a planted tank, Java Fern, Java Moss and Water sprites (floating fern?). So far, they've not messed up the plants. Problem is that the lighting is causing green algae to grow near the water surface and on the driftwood. Plants are fine though. Strong light is doing well especially for the Water Sprite. I also use Flourish Excel and the odd dose of Leafzone. Is there a algae eating fish that I can get that can stand up against the aggressive convicts? FYI: I have a couple of otocinclus but they are always hiding in between the rocks and caves as the convicts are very aggressive. Might have to sell or rehome them. (or get another tank if there is space!) Thanks. Kind regards, Lester

Hi everyone, Let me know your thoughts? At the moment I'm limited in space... I'm living with my uncle and unfortunately he has no spare room for me to convert into a fish room. (Used to be an international student, finish Uni last year and found a pretty good job… been working a year++ now. Pretty good to not have to pay rent and it’s plus good to be with family as mum and dad are back home in Malaysia. I know some of you would be thinking… ‘Move out of the house!’) :roll: Anyway, I have to be happy keeping my fish tank in my room, which is a bit small. I can only afford to have one 4 feet 200 L tank in my room. (I have another tank which is a 70L 2 feet tank holding my breeding pair of convict cichlids) Also, I'm on the upper floor so 200L tank would weigh quite a bit. I presume this is too heavy for the flooring? I was thinking of getting a few nice and young Betta Splendens (hopefully I can find nice halfmoon or crowntails!!) and condition them for breeding in the summer. Will partition the tank up so that there will be a living space for the male/males, female/females (thinking about having 2 of each) and one more space for the fry. Once fry are old enough, I'll be partitioning the tank up even more to make compartments for each male fry thats getting aggressive. Should be fine to keep the females together? Also, since breeding requires low water level, I was thinking of filling up the tank half way to 3 quarters... So it’s only about 120 - 150 L... which weight wise should be ok for the floor? The partitioning walls will be build using plastic canvas which is easily obtained from Spotlight. Tank will be semi planted I guess… Driftwood with java moss and java fern in the spawning section… and probably some water sprites (called floating fern I think??) for the male and female sections… Don’t worry I’ve not attempted to do anything as yet. :oops: So what are your thoughts? Should I go through with it or definitely not? Maybe an improvement in the plans? Thanks. :bounce: Kind regards, Lester

Awesome! Thanks for the info and invite!

Should have stated what I was trying to import. Betta Splendens... Halfmoons and Crowntails! kind regards, Lester _____________ Truly addicted to fish...

Hi Everyone, Just joined today. A bit about my fish story: I was introduced to this hobby by my girlfriend. She wanted goldfish... And after numerous visits to the pet store, I'm hooked! So far, I've had about 1 & 1/2 year experience in keeping tropical fresh water fish and still have a lot to learn. Fish that I've kept and traded during passed the year & a half, Betta Splendens (1 Veiltail & 1 Crowntail), HillStream Loach (called a Borneo Sucker at Animates.) Bronze Corydoras, Flying Fox, Dwarf Gouramis, Honey Gourami, Silver Shark (this was a mistake. Was tols by one of the sales person that my tank would be of suitable size but after further research.. it was definitely not... Had to give them back. This has spurred me to always do my research now), Lionhead Cichlids, Otocinclus and Convict Cichlids. Currently, the fish that are in my tank are two otocinclus and a breeding pair of Convict Cichlids. Might post some photos later. Plans for the near future, going to try import (hopefully with some help from an importer ) from my hometown in Malaysia. Parents are back home and they have located some good breeders for me. I'm looking forward to meet new people, make new friends and learn from everyone! :bounce: kind regards, Lester _____________ Truly addicted to fish...