David R

Central America actually, they're from Costa Rica.

Yeah I realise that, but at least if I get females from Firenzenz the pair won't be from the same parents. How old were they when I got them off you Afrikan? They've grown like mad since I've had them, I'll try take some photos tonight. I've seperated the three boys and put them in my 3' 200L with the heckelii's and balzani's I'm growing out.

Xnet gets a big thumbs up from me (at home and at work).

Awesome! It looks like I've got two females and three males, so when you grow the fry out a bit I'd be interested in getting a couple of females off you so I can breed them and keep the gene pool a bit more varied. Could either swap for my females, or just buy a group of juvi's off you.

Won't the fine holes on the pumice clog up with muck over time? (unless you have perfect mechanical filtration before the pumice)

Thats why [as Reef suggested] its important to voice your concerns to the management rather than just walking away. I think its important to support stores like this that support the hobby and provide a good range of livestock and accessories, even if it means spending a few dollars more on something you could get from a dodgy garage-trader on TradeMe...

Meet Arfie, the over-sized fox terrier who never grew up. He got his name when dad told us (as kids) about the samoan family who he flatted next door to who had a dog called Arfie (because dogs go arf arf). He's about 11 now, but still as mad as ever. Chases his tail, will try to fetch anything you throw him (including bricks and big logs, he's hopeless when you're trying to throw and stack firewood!) and goes berserk when ever the three cats get grumpy with each other and always rushes in to break up the fight. He belongs to my sister, but lives at our parents in whangarei where he's got a bit more room to run. Sitting on his chair, chewing up a stick (favourite past time other than eating) Playing with Little the cat... Playing fetch Yes I threw it and yes he dragged it back to me... :lol:

Yes they have a great range, but the twice I've been there I noticed an (IMO) excessive number of dead/sick fish there, including a large pleco in a tank full of baby turtles that would hardly have had room to swim and looked as though it had been picked over by the turtles for about a week. It looks like all their tanks are hooked up on a central system, and I was a little reluctant to buy fish as some of the tanks had whitespot, but I still did and didn't have any problems. They also seemed to be a bit random with their names, they had ornate bichirs being sold under two different names, and a few other strange things like that, I guess they just copy what ever is on the invoice and don't bother trying to correctly identify things. All in all its a good store, but from what I've seen they could do with a few hospital tanks out of the customers sight, and the staff could be a bit more vigilant at removing dead fish.

Seems like a bit of an over-reaction to me, I take it you grow your own food as I can't think of a single supermarket in the greater auckland reigon where you get half as good a service as at the mt roskill store... Last time I was there a staff member was talking a woman thru setting up a tank for discus, and from what I heard she was clueless and the staff member was being very patient. I was there for quite a while and the person was still going when I left.

Brian at the Goldfish Bowl is great, I always used to go there when we lived in Hamilton (was the only shop in town worth visiting IMO) and I still call in occasionally when I'm down that way. In Auckland HFF Mt Roskill is still the best IMO. I've been shopping there for around 10 years, and they still have an awesome selection of fish and products, and are usually happy to help [when asked!]. They've supported the hobby for years now, rather than going down the more commercial route that Jansens/Animates have, and at a time when the economy isn't great and costs are rapidly rising I applaud that and will continue to support them.

I guess I misunderstood what you were trying to say then, what you really meant was "with retail, the hard part is done once they are in your shop". I am a big fan of the low-pressure approach to retail, especially in a place like a fish shop where you have a high number of customers who are more like visitors to a public aquarium than actual spending customers. There's no need to do the hard sell and try to pressure someone into a sale. I've never had a problem at the Mt Roskill store, I'm usually acknowledged when I enter the store and when I've finished browsing I'll grab one of the staff to come and help me. Occasionally I'll be asked if I need help (usually by a newer staff member who probably doesn't yet recognise me as a regular), but more often than not I'm left to my own devices until I'm ready to be served which I much prefer to being hassled every couple of minutes. There's a huge difference between low-pressure and ignoring customers. Yeah you don't have degrees and it might only be a part-time job, but that shouldn't stop you learning and being knowledgeable in whatever it is you're selling...

What an ignorant statement. How do you think the customer ends up in that shop, just by chance? Retailers work hard at getting new customers into their store along with retaining current customers, pouring thousands of dollars and hours into advertising, promotions, and trying to provide a good service so customers return and the word-of-mouth advertising is positive. From the sounds of it the staff made an honest mistake, it happens once in a while with humans. And under the fair trading act I'm pretty certain if it is an honest mistake then they are not obliged [legally] to honour the price. It would be pretty hard for a person at a shop like this one to keep track of every fish they have in stock, and one slip up once in a while is perfectly excusable IMO. That said, I can understand your frustration, especially with the current price of petrol!

Or if you want to be able to pick up a large tank without needing a hi-ab or 10 people? How many of the acrylic tank critics have actually ever owned one?

A giant gourami won't be alright in a 440L tank, and taking up room with plants is only going to make things worse...

Really? Its not a stereotype, its a well known fact that china has an appalling record with animal rights. Where else would they let someone tatto and kill pigs in the name of art....

Java fern won't be doing well as the fish are probably eating it. Whats your water like? Keyholes and africans have very different requirements, although you could probably keep them all together and happy around pH 7.0-7.2. The keyholes might get picked on by the africans too. Convicts would be alright with a pH around the higher end of 7, but I'd recommend only keeping males or females otherwise they'll start breeding and all hell will break loose...

Ho how high is the distance from the pump to the top of the tank, and how much water will each of the pumps you are looking at pump at that height? Also, what are you planning on keeping in there?

An hours travelling isn't long enough to require oxygen. I've frequently taken fish from auckland to whangarei and from hamilton to whangarei on 2-3 hour trips without oxygen. Some shops have their tanks all connected on one central system, so the water in one tank will be the same as the next. I take it this shop didn't?

That sounds pretty cheap!! Maybe I'll use acrylic pannels and a steel or timber frame to make in indoor pond instead of buying a big glass tank... Here's 23 pages of discussion of glass vs acrylic; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... hp?t=78249 Bear in mind that MFK is predominantly americans so acrylic tanks are much more common and probably cheaper than here.

I doublt if acrylic would be cheaper than glass, but on the plus side its much lighter. I'll seriously look into if I get another big tank (6'+) as my current 5' tank weighs 110kg!! On the downside it can be scratched but rocks or wood.

LOL! Its only been happening for how many years now? You'd think if that was really the case they would have stopped it by now. I never float my fish, I just tip them into a bucket with a bit of tank water, then use a piece of air hose to slowly trickle tank water into the bucket to gradually acclimatise them. No way am I putting LFS water into one of my tanks!!

No decent pics They're starting to look really good too! I'll have to have a look at that Darltons sand, I want a lighter coloured substrate like that but not as fine as silica sand.

I agree with supasi that for a return from a sump I'd go with two smaller usits. If thats what you're using the pump for (return to tank from sump for freshwater) you-ll want around 6-10 times turnover per hour at however high the head is. Your tank is around 575L, so you'll want something 3450-5750Lph at the height of the tank. So, to really answer your question we need to know; What are you using the pump for? Fresh water or salt water? How heavily stocked is the tank and what are you keeping in it? How high is the head [if any]? 8)

Sorry, I was making suggestions for tankmates!! :lol:

Given the large population of feral cats I disagree. If I lived on a farm I'd gladly train my dog to chase cats the way it would a rat or rabbit, they're all vermin IMO. But as luke said, this thread isn't about dogs!!!!