David R

Hmm, maybe I don't want to use pumice in my sump then. I was going to use pumice below the water level and bioballs above. Any other suggestions??

+1

I posted this last time, but I'll post it again anyway... MFK - Glass Vs. Acrylic 27 pages of discussion of the pros and cons. I think if we could get commercially made acrylic tanks here I'd be inclined to go for it with anything much over 4' or 500L. Glass is just so damn heavy, and unforgiving with the way it breaks [barry my tank is finally full and looking good, did plumbing last night!]. One exception would be if I was keeping something like a large male jag who was going to dig and constantly move stuff around, then the acrylic would be more likely to get scratched.

Lucky it wasn't winter eh!

It would only be a name-and-shame if they were doing something wrong. If they believe its ethical and safe to be selling 1 week old beardies to the general unassuming public (and marketing themselves as the experts) then they should have done their homework and be confident in what they are doing. I saw the tiny lizard and asked for peoples thoughts on the subject, as I knew the breeder we got ours from (Edit Wok) would not sell them until they were at least 6 weeks old and up to a certain size. If you re-read my original post you'll see I was very careful with how it was worded, I have not criticised or slandered them (other than on their range of fish, which I make no apology for), I have only stated my feelings on the topic in general and asked for other peoples opinions.

I wasn't trying to name-and-shame (otherwise I would have mentioned the breeders name too), but saw no reason not to mention the name of the store either. There was a price tag on the cage, and when I was talking to a staff member and the manager of the store neither said anything about it not being for sale yet, despite my mildly-concerned comments regarding its size and age.

Tropheus, I'm sure you've already got a list the length of your arm, but if/when you do produce some I'd be very interested. They're one of the few african cichlids I really like.

It doesn't show the jag as well as I thought it did. Thats the only pic I have of my black aro, had it for over two years and never managed to get a good shot of it...

I also had similar thoughts, but what can you do really? I'm sure people would be pretty upset if a store/breeder was selling tiny new-born kittens, but I doubt the SPCA would do anything as they don't seem interested unless its got four legs and fur...

Could do, do you get frosts down there? What sorta temperature does it drop down to?

Yeah some of the highland ones will do fine outdoors here. I was just at Bunnings Botany and they have some small ones.

$699

There are a few people selling Nepenthes on TradeMe, also through the NZ Carnivorous society. We have some at work, but aren't ready to start selling them yet. There are two different types of Nepenthes; highland and lowland. The lowland ones need constant warmth and humidity to stay healthy, the highland ones are a bit easier to grow. If anyone wants some small ones PM me and I'll see what I can do.

Just been to check out the new LFS (EDIT WOK) on Lunn Ave (seems how its 5 minutes round the corner from me), and aside from a dismal selection of fish they had a 1 week old beardie for sale. I'm just wondering what people think of this as I know there's a few breeders here and many clued up people. I was under the impression that at that size they're still pretty fragile and in need of regular feedings and stable conditions to survive, and they aren't really ready for sale until they're about 6 weeks old. Here's a crappy cell phone pic, you can see how tiny it is compared to the Biosuppliers container of fruit flys... I know there's not much you can do about it, I'm just wondering what people think of the store selling them this young, and the breeder supplying them at that size...

It made it onto Breakfast this morning, apparently he's had over 600 applications and people from as far away as the UK asking about work visas etc. All from one ad in the shop window...

I'd say get rid of everything but the electric yellows, build it up with rock work and have a species tank full of electric yellows.

Even then they'd still try, IMO its one of their best traits. My old jag (~7") would dig out a pit about a foot in diameter between two large rocks, and right down to the glass with about 3" of gravel, piling it up to around 6-8" high in front. Every week I'd fill it in doing a gravel siphon, and he'd have a bit of a go at the siphon in protest, and as soon as I'd finished he would be digging it out again. I found he wasn't too aggressive other than when something else came near his pit, but I suppose at 7" he was only half grown. I might even have a pic somewhere...

I was going to do this with my new 630L, but lucky I didn't or there would have been 6 months of updates on how thick the layer of dust in the bottom is. Its now half full of water, hopefully doing plumbing this weekend... Looks good though, cant wait to see it full of fish!

Moving the stones or being aggressive towards other fish? The only way to stop it moving gravel would be to glue it down. And if you want it to stop being aggressive towards other fish you'll need to give it a big enough tank to have its own territory. Think 1000L +

At $3k per baby tortoise how could it be hard to justify breeding them?!

Cichlid gold is awesome stuff, it was a staple diet for my black aro and all my loaches love it. Seems to make them grow fast too. Oh yeah my cichlids also love it... :lol:

Good stuff!!!!!!!!!

Yeah only Altolamprologus compressiceps is on the list, not that anyone at MAF would be able to tell the difference, and its not like A. calvus pose a any greater threat to the natives than A. compressiceps....

Yeah we can get them here, just like we can get black arowanas and pike cichlids...