David R

Parts of it at least, its not all like that.. It is a stunning place though, I went down there when I was about 12 for scouts, it seemed like a completely different country to the top half of the North Island that I was used to seeing. Walking the Milford Track is on my "must do" list.

There are different levels of application, depending on the risk of the organism. To get a new species of cichlid or bichir added that is already similar to species already allowed usually only requires a "rapid assessment" which costs about $500. For things involving CITES, potentially harmful species (snakeheads?) etc you would probably be required to do the more thorough and expensive application. When I get some spare time I might modify my two posts about the geophagus, link it to a few references and see if they can answer my question of "what is a new species"....

Best option IMO, if I won lotto I'd be off tomorrow, snowboard all winter, mountain bike all summer, large tanks full of awesome fish. How aboot it eh?

I'd try Greg/Tanks2U or Hollywood, the couple of times I've had ToughTanks quote for large tanks they have been rather expensive because they use (or at least quote for) new glass, where as the others use offcuts. There are contact details in the for sale forum.

The question is, when is a new species a new species? Are Geophagus abalios, dicrozoster, and winemilleri new species? They were all described by López-Fernández & Taphorn in 2004, but prior to that would have been considered part of the "surinamensis" complex and therefore able to be imported. So Now that they're a "new" species, we're expected to just through hoops and produce papers that haven't yet been written so we can legally import a fish that was already able to be imported, simply because the authorities don't want to admit that they have set themselves an impossible task of keeping the list of allowable imports current and valid. People [hobbyists and bureaucrats alike] seem to think that the classification of organisms is black and white, when in reality it is anything but. The effort it would require to keep a list of names such as the "allowed list" up to date would be huge, which, I guess, is why they don't bother.

When the only reason they are not allowed in is because of the silly system that the authorities have put in place? Many of the fish that are regularly imported technically shouldn't be as they are no longer on the list because of taxanomic revision. Geophagus surinamensis is on the allowed list, Geophagus altifrons isn't. Years ago the name G. surinamensis covered a huge number of eartheaters from all over south america, over the years it has undergone much revision and G. surinamensis only refers to one fish from Suranime, and the others that were once considered part of the G. surinamensis complex have been reclassified as different species. The true G. surinamensis is almost never seen in the hobby (certainly isn't available from the kind of places our wholesalers source their fish, if they are available they are usually wild caught for specialist sellers in Europe and the US), the fish we get are most likely a variant of G. altifrons and are most likely the very same fish that has been imported for years, just with a different name. The reality is that G. surinamensis, abalios, brachybranchus, dicrozoster, winemilleri, and all the altifrons varieties and similar unidentified species are all very similar and one doesn't pose any more risk than the other. There are many examples of this, if they want to maintain a list of names the very least they can do is keep it up to date and relevant. Saves plenty of effort, both for hobbyists and bureaucrats. As mentioned with the example above, there are many genera where the defining features can be assessed so it can be determined weather or not there is likely to be any risk of potential new species. With genera like Corydoras or Geophagus, you will never discover a new species that fits the criteria for that genus, thrives in cold water, grows to 4' and eats people. Its impossible, the characteristics that define that genus make it obvious that one species is not going to pose more risk than another. Obviously with a diverse genus like Barbus where the fish vary in size and the distribution covers a large area including temperate regions there is a much higher chance of finding something with pest potential. The fact is that any new species of Corydoras or Geophagus could almost certainly be sent here under a name that is on the allowed list and no one would be any the wiser, the system is a joke in that regard.

The difference is that dog owners can be charged or fined if their dogs cause trouble or are found off their property, unfortunately it seems perfectly acceptable to let cats roam where ever they like...

Its not expensive, its about $500 for a simple application or whatever they call it, and you can put any number of species on there. I have a sample application from the Palm and Cycad Society I can show you Rob, PM me with your email address if you want to see what is involved. I think one of the big things is that there has been a lot of research done on Encephalartos (the genus they were adding more species to on the allowed list) so they had plenty of reference material to quote, might be a different case with many fish, especially new varieties.

Yes, a generic dispensation isn't always appropriate, but with genera like Corydoras or Polypterus (and countless others) it would be fine.

I think Rob is right about them being not allowed in because of the potential risk to people (even though it would only be to people keeping them in aquariums as there is no chance of them surviving outside). There are countless other species that could and should be allowed in. Henward and I looked at getting the rest of the genus Polypterus added and the hardest part is finding the peer reviewed scientific papers to prove they aren't a threat, which is pretty ridiculous given that 4 species of the genus are already allowed in. IMO they should be able to grant generic dispensations.

Try to bargain and/or look elsewhere? I seems like bs to me that they take away your no claims bonus when you aren't in the wrong and are only making a claim because the other party did a runner. Were there any witnesses? Get the number plate?

That is how cats should be kept IMO, they shouldn't be left out unattended to roam, fight other cats, crap in peoples gardens, spray on doorsteps, kill native wildlife etc.

If the amount of money is worth arguing about I'd suggest contacting a lawyer rather than getting info of random people on the internet, best to get the story straight first time, especially if there is a court case coming up...

Define "nasty". They can be picky, and harass other fish [and each other], but then again what cichlid doesnt, however no severum will be nasty in comparison to something like a female festae with her period.....

Full grown (like a good solid 20cm) severums are a massive fish, 120L is nowhere near big enough. IMO anything smaller than about 4x2x2' is too small.

I'll bring the glass cutter and some sandpaper on Thursday.......

As Alan said, you don't actually get rid of chlorine by standing the water, you simply convert it to chloramines which are equally as toxic. No, I don't even check the pH, but I also don't do 95% water changes on tanks full of delicate fry. I change up to 50% at a time and I treat the bulk of it with prime to remove any nasties. Perhaps a continuous drip system with a filtration system to remove the chlorine/chloramine would be a much better system than doing 95% changes, and probably less work.

HFF usually look after members of this forum, get a price from them and see if anyone else can beat it. Or decide who to give your dollar to based on who you feel best supports you as a fish keeper and the hobby in general, rather than shopping based solely on price....

This has been discussed a hundred times, and you aren't actually getting rid of anything by letting the water stand around. Also, how big a water change did you do? Even if you did a 50% water change with water that had 2ppm ammonia that would dilute to 1ppm and although it wouldn't be good for the fish surely if you had adequate filtration it would be taken care of quickly enough? IMO the message isn't "don't trust your water", more like "don't risk hundreds of dollars worth of delicate fish for the sake of saving $30 on a bottle of prime".

Watched it last night.. Special effects: 7 Guy getting crushed by big gears: 8 Russians: 6 Over all: 2 :roll:

Sounds like a plan, just normal countersunk surefix wood screws will be fine, get them about 30mm longer than the thickness of the poly you want to use. If you go to somewhere like carters or placemakers you might be able to scrounge the fillets [little thin flat pieces of timber they use between layers of the big packs of timber], they would be ideal and cheap/free. See ya thursday!

Its 9 minutes long but worth watching, amazing to see what some people can do with skill, patience and loads of spare time...

Would hot glue work? Or would the heat cause the poly to melt?

Will be interested to see how these go as I'm still undecided about how to light the 1400L. With a 2400x970 footprint its going to take more than a couple of 4' fluros to get even distribution of light across the whole tank.

And at $345 they're about $50 cheaper than I expected!!!