David R

In an aquarium? I hate to be sceptical but surely by now there would be some pics somewhere online confirming it, I've heard countless stories of wild caught loaches between 12 and 24" but I've never seen a single pic of anything over 12". In fact I haven't even seen a pic of a 12" one, there are a couple on loaches.com that are close though.

Just going to pick out a couple of points here Stock form, yeah they're sluggish, but with the breathing freed up (intake and exhaust) they're a completely different beast. It will take a bit of getting used to driving any high-reving NA motor, I went from a turbo 4wd with loads of power in the mid range, usually shifting at around 6500rpm, to the civic with a b16a where things didn't start getting exciting until 6000rpm. Once used to keeping the revs above about 5500rpm it was great fun. To be fair, no I haven't driven that model car, but [without wanting to sound like an arse] 15.7 is pretty slow. even before the b18cr swap, my civic was about 1.3 seconds quicker, which doesn't sound like much but when you see it side by its a big gap (about 50 metres at 140kmh). Not that drag racing is the be-all and end-all of motorsport, tbh I find it a little boring... Obviously a torqueless motor that needs to scream to get everywhere isn't everyones cup of tea, but in comparison to a 4age powered levin (AE86 excluded of course!), other than "I just like them betterer" I can't really think of a logical reason to pick one over a honda for a 'play car'. At least the honda motors eventually do something exciting, unlike every 20v levin I've been in which seem to just rev with out making any power....

Continuous drip system fed from the mains [if you don't mind the chlorine]. Just need an overflow in the tank and a line running in with fresh water with a tap so you can set it to trickle in the desired amount of water.

Who ever told you that is yanking your chain. 12" is generally accepted as the maximum size. There are a few claims of bigger wild caught ones but I'm yet to see a pic with anything showing scale. Anything even close to 12" in aquaria is massive, my largest is only about 7-8".

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4307 I've kept them before, 12-15cm is about right.

What about clown loaches? Or some other medium sized loaches?

Satanoperca leucosticta (aka Geophagus jurupari) won't get too big (20cm tops) and will spend all day sifting your substrate for crums. You could get more altifrons/surinamensis but they'll get bigger and be more aggressive. Its a damn shame we don't get the red/orange heads here as they're smaller and more colourful and would suit your purpose perfectly. What about some hypancistrus? Not algae eaters like most plecs, mine are quite active during the day looking for left over colour bits etc. A group of L46 would look great in your tank...

Sorry, I should have said "stock 4age with basic bolt-ons". I know they can make good power, 240hp NA forumla atlantic engines are highly tuned 4age's and I've got a friend who had a turbo 4agze levin making close to 200kw at the wheels, I was thinking more around the OP's budget though. As for the GTO, if the OP wants a weekend play car then an old GTO could fit the bill if he wants a classic for cruising the country roads on the weekends. They're quite a cool little car, and with the 2L astron motor they go alright for their age.

Power aint everything P44, the GTO's are big cars, not to mention expensive to maintain (has you brother ever priced up a gearbox?). They can be made quick, but there is a good reason they aren't as popular with big power tuners/racers in Japan as the likes of the GTR, supra, rx7 etc. Not bad, but anything you can do... http://www.performancecar.co.nz/article ... -civic-127 Performance: Dyno Power – 306kW @ wheels (8000rpm, 20psi boost), 0-400m 11.9 @ 121mph, 1.19 Manfeild, 1.55 full Taupo track. I didn't see any actual times for the Toyota, is it just a show pony? I know Hayden through the honda club (and I think his mum is on this forum actually!) and I've seen that car going round the track many times, and it is bloody quick! Comparing extensively modified cars like those two is a bit pointless really, I could post an article about a sohc vtec honda shuttle making around 700hp in the US, you can get big power out of almost anything with the right engineering and money, and its not necessarily a reflection of how good the base motor/car is.

That is 118kw at the wheels, measured by a dyno, in real life. A a claim by a manufacturer is hardly relevant to a 10+ year old engine with 100,000kms+ wear and tear. I don't think I've ever seen a stock 4ag make over 100kw at the wheels on a dyno. Factory figures for the b16; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_B_engine#B16 JDM B16a1 118kw @ 7600rpm JDM B16a2 125kw @ 7800rpm JDM B16b (type R) 136kw @ 8200rpm

I'm not sure about in absolutely bog standard condition, but with light mods a b16a will kill a 4age any day. Stock a b16a2 and 20v black top 4age both make 160hp, but if you look at 1/4 mile times and dyno figures its no great secret which one responds better to modifications. When I first bought my civic I took it to the nightwars with a friend who had a 20v levin, both had intake/exhaust done, both on street tyres, both full interior, and mine was consistently half a second faster. I've seen b16a's with no internal modifications make 110-118kw at the wheels on the dyno, never seen a modified 4age make anywhere near that. Perhaps you could post up some times and/or figures from your levin? My eg6 with a b16a with an intake, header and a ghetto exhaust with a stock civic type r muffler (quiet but restrictive) ran a 14.4 on street tyres. A friends EG with similar mods (but a decent exhaust) ran a 13.7 on slicks and has lapped pukekohe in 1.11. As for the steering lock thing, the EG6 civic has a terrible lock and its considerably less than even other EG's for some unknown reason. TBH, in the 5 years I owned one I never had a problem with it, and having driven countless other hondas (DB8R, NZDM DC2R, orthia, EK4, EK9) I've never noticed them to be worse than average. But hey, if you want to trade what are widely considered to be the best factory built naturally aspirated engines (by pretty much anyone other than one-eyed toyota fans) for a better steering lock and [arguably] slightly better fuel economy thats your choice.

What do you mean by "play car"? If you want something quick and reliable to take to club track days, hill climbs etc (entry level motorsport sorta thing) then for the kind of budget you're on you'd be hard pressed to go past an early-mid 90's honda civic or integra. The dohc vtec engines are about as good as it gets for factory non-turbo motors (sorry ryan, but a 4age has got nothing on a b16a!), the EG and DC chassis both handle well with the right modifications, there are loads of cheap parts,and if you keep your eye out you may even find one with a few mods to make it more track-ready (suspension, intake/exhaust etc). For $5k if you look around you could pick up a real bargain if you're patient, I've seen a few "unfinished project" cars going for around that price, including an eg civic with a b18cr type R integra motor in it! Honestly, if you have a drive of a few tweaked hondas you'll forget all about the levin, and the diamante will feel like a slow heavy tank. Try the Vehicle Exchange on NZHondas.com http://nzhondas.com/forum/vehicle-exchange/

Are you talking about clown loaches or clown knife fish?????? OP; a 180L (not sure of dimensions but it doesn't really matter) isn't really big enough for anything but a temporary home for clown loaches. Ideally they wouldn't be kept in anything smaller than a 4' long tank from the get go, and moved into something 5-6'+ in length by the time they hit 10-12cm to avoid stunting them. You could keep them in a smaller tank for longer with out any adverse effects to their health, other than slow growth and probably never reaching close to their potential size. They may be slow growing but they are a large active fish that requires a lot of swimming space.

Sounds like a plan then. If you've got the space IMO you might as well have the 3 4x2x2's in a row rather than stacked vertically, low tanks and high tanks are a real PITA to work on. BTW the word "species" is both plural and singular, there is no such thing as "specie". [pet hate, sorry for being a picky bugger!]

Could run a bank of 6 tanks, with the top three 4x2x2' for the breeders and then 3 4x2x1.5' on the bottom for fry grow out?

I can imagine having 3 2' high tanks stacked vertically would be a right PITA, even with the bottom of the tank on the ground the top of the top tank is going to be about 8' high, and that will only give you around 20cm to get into the lower tanks if you're using 100x50 timber for the framing. Is there any reason you need the extra height? Could you get away with a 4x2' footprint and 15" or 18" height? IMO going for 18" height and only stacking them two-high would be the way to go. Bending over and climbing ladders to do water changes will get pretty tiresome pretty quickly.

4-5g of silkworm isn't going to fill your aro up, even though its had its daily intake of protein. I think balance and variety is the key, there's a lot more to it than protein levels. I feed my carnivores spirulina and my herbivores carnivore sticks, in moderation of course. A predatory fish in the wild will eat herbivorous fish with a stomach full of plant matter, and fish that graze on algae will eat countless tiny animals that live on the algae.

Had great experiences with both of those guys. There is also someone called "goldfishman" who sells on trademe, never tried him though. Greg is fast, flexible and cheap. I gave him some nightmare plans for the sump for my 1400L and it turned out almost exactly as I had envisaged.

Meh, I had a 5x2x2' with a big sump on an open 4x2 stand in my bedroom when I was young, the sound of running water is quite soothing.... :lol:

I'll let you know, my 5 will be going in the 1400L with the aro, along with several other smaller plecos (not going to risk the corys though!). There will also be plenty of tangled driftwood for them to take cover in, I'm picking they will mostly go unnoticed...

Must be too big for all those users with 33.6k modems still out there, they are a whopping 100-120kb EACH!!! :lol:

Have a look around for second hand pallet racking, I've seen that used before.

I'd say so, but then again I might be biased. You certainly won't see many real group dynamics with only 4, ideally 10 would be a minimum. I'd suggest more loaches and more hiding spots, they'll be much more active when they feel secure.

Looking good, why are the plants in pots and not in the substrate?

We do, its called clay. Over summer it wouldn't be a problem, but over winter the back lawn is a bog anyway.