David R

*thinks of Deuce Bigalow and the fish shop girl catching snails* :lol: The height of the tank isn't the only thing to consider. 700 high is fine if its only 450 wide, but if its 700 high and 800 wide you will have a very hard time reaching the back unless you can get in behind it. Personally I prefer wide tanks, but I know they don't suit every situation, like a hallway...

Do you have a friend who could babysit the fish until you've got the tank set up? Unless you're really attached to the fish you could trade all/some in at the LFS and re-stock the tank when you get it down there?

Very normal. In fact if you don't see them resting on their sides then its not normal and you should make sure they aren't stressed or they haven't formed a P habit....

I must need a new monitor, I could hardly see anything because the video was so dark.

LOL! If I had a dollar for every time I'd heard "hey one of your fish looks dead/sick".... :lol:

Welcome to Auckland. Its not just spoken languages tho, there's parts of town where the shops have hardly a word of english on them...

Greg/Tanks2u. 021900727 When he did my 5' he used 12mm instead of 10mm as he could get it cheaper, so if he's still got some of that left you could probably go taller without any extra cost.

Find some old bits of wood that have been in a tank for long enough to leech out most of the tannins (not tannings). You could also run active carbon in the filter.

He's well on the way to that, how many dats have you got now?? Just need a monster clown knife... Keep a close eye on the gourami, it could harass the other fish continually.

Thanks for the clarification, its shocking how little effort some people to go keep/ensure that fish are correctly identified...

I think the royals were around $120. I was going to get a scarlet but I decided they got too big and aggressive.

What kind of eels? I've got a tyre track and a peacock, although technically they aren't eels, just very elongated fish.

You have my sympathy too Caryl. I live in a group of four new-ish houses with the one old original house on the roadfront. The old place has been broken into 3 times in the last 5 weeks. I wasn't too worried as it would be an easy target because of the old wooden joinery, but on Friday the people next to us in one of the new houses got broken into. Its not a nice feeling wondering when/if we'll be hit...

I'm seriously thinking of setting these guys up in their own tank, I'll put your name down for some fry Evil.

How many LPH should the pump be doing with the head height you have on it?

Look at the large spine below the eye. I'm pretty sure yoyo loaches have a similar spine. I got pricked thru the net while transferring one of my new clown loaches, larger ones can inflict a nasty wound!

Its going to have to. I didn't think the eggs stood much of a chance in that tank, especially with first-time parents, and sure enough they were gone this morning. I'm going to keep an eye on TradeMe for a cheap 4' set up to give them a fair chance.

On Tuesday I sold my large dat and moved the three smaller (3-6") uaru from my 3' into the 4' tank with the two larger (6" & 7")ones that were living with the dat, ornate, red head severum and 9 big clown loaches. There was some initial scrapping, but by Wednesday I couldn't tell which of the 3 ~6" ones came from where. On Thursday I noticed the larger one and one of the others getting cosy and digging in the corner, so I gave them a big rock to clean. By Friday they seemed like a close pair and were pushing the other fish away, except for the big ornate who they ignore, and he ignores them and just goes where he pleases. Tonight we came home from a movie and Hannah noticed the two were being very defensive of their corner, and what do you know... 8)

I think I did it about 3 times for each bucket of sand. Maybe you're trying to do too much at once? What do you mean by dirty?

I put some in a bucket half full, swirled it round a bit and quickly tipped the water out. Yeah you do lose a bit, but what you're left with is the heavier stuff that sinks faster.

Sounds like it! It actually sinks quite fast when you put it in the tank, but its stirred up easily by big fish.

Two gold nuggets (flat head and L177) from Mt Eden. They were just coming out of quarantine when I got there. Sunshine and royal plec from Henderson: 10 medium (tiny!) clown loaches from Albany, seemed like a steal at $12.50 each, should have bought more!! Also picked up an Eheim 2224 for $180 (normally $399). Havent spent this much on fish for ages, it felt good! :lol: I must admit though, its not all mine, the gold nuggets are for a friend in Hamilton...

Are they actually albino, or just pink?

So all the media is below the water then? I'd also say don't feed them. How heavily stocked is the tank and when did you last do a water change?

My biggest concern would be the filter media getting dry and killing the bacteria. Is there any way of setting up a temporary pipe, or a small pump to keep the water moving thru the sump?