David R

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=135181 It seems they occasionally get them in the states, I hope you've got a big tank Johannes!!

Awesome! There's some great fish videos on youtube, I was watching one of a jaguar (the cat, not the fish!) trying to catch a massive arapima. Perhaps we should start a thread somewhere for people to post interesting videos?

Mt Wellington, so (on a good day!) we're only about 15 minutes from goldfish pagoda, hff mt roskill and jansens botenay, who still seem to have some interesting fish, unlike most of the other animates. I'd probably use pupuke and/or origin more often if they weren't so far away.

Tank size is probably fine, they get to about 20-25cm. They might get a bit aggressive if you have a male and female and they start breeding. What other fish are in the tank, how much filtration, plants, etc???

I guess I haven't found the NZ Guppy Keepers Association yet, where do I sign up? :roll: I don't care that HFF doesn't stock killi's, and I guess the majority of their customers don't either otherwise they would probably stock them. LFS's can't keep every species of fish in stock, its just not profitable, as you said youself there are only 40-50 people in the NZKA so they obviously have more of a cult-following than mainstream appeal. My point with the killi's is not so much that they get sold privately, its that the 40-50 people who have a real interest in them are a fairly close-nit bunch who regularly trade fish with no desire to make a profit out of it. There's no way a business can compete with that. Yes plenty of other fish are sold on trademe and by other means, but they are usually far more mainstream things than killifish so the shops can still make money selling them to their customers.

Was going to use 15mm ply with the liquid nails under it. Not planning on having any massive heavy rocks in there, just a couple of pieces of wood and maybe some medium sized river rocks.

The poly I was given with the tank is only about 8-10mm thick, should I be hunting for something thicker this weekend?

So they stock some killis and stimulate interest, and the new enthusiastic killi keepers eventually find their way onto the net and into the killiklub (or whatever its called) where they are in contact with other members who will give away [or sell cheaper] fish. Its still a fairly niche market, and there are probably more profitable things for them to stock their tanks with. I still think HFF are probably the best LFS in Auckland (certainly on this side of the bridge). I hadn't had any contact with Dave [the owner] for years and he still recognised me despite me being 5 years older and not having shoulder-length hair.

Yeah, I had similar nerves when setting up my old 5'x2x'2', which was also on a wooden floor on a home-made wooden stand!! I really want this tank set up, but I know it needs to be done right. If I ever go for something bigger I think it will be steel or timber frame with plywood and one big viewing window in the front...

Yeah I know, sometimes you've just got to agree to disagree. Your argument is based on maths and experience, sulphews is based on experience. I do really appreciate the input and different ideas from both of you as this thing is doing my head in, I just didn't it to turn into a who's right and who's wrong thing. Peace! P.S feel free to make me a moderator any time.... :lol:

FFS, do you guys see that little button with "PM" on it? How about taking your ego's there to do battle instead of clogging my thread. :roll: Don't let it get this far! :lol:

Probably because there's no money in them, and thats what they're there to do. I've heard of people distributing new/rare killi's they've bred to other killi keepers for free. How is a business that needs to make a profit supposed to compete with that, and more to the point why should they bother to try? Both HFF's get a big thumbs up from me, been shopping there for years (in fact I got my first goldfish from there about 21 years ago!). Origin have good prices, and the goldfish pagoda in pakuranga often have a good selection of large cichlids and other oddballs.

Its 30x30 I think

Hmm, I guess I'll give it a go this weekend then. First I'll try jumping up and down on the middle to level it a bit more...

Could you give me your opinion on the liquid nails filling the 1-2mm unevenness? :lol:

Not sure, it could just badly stress the tank and all it takes is a rock being moved or a slight sag in the steel over time, small earthquake who knows. Still, not a nice thought when keeping hard-to-replace [impossible] fish. I disagree. I made a a stand for my old 5'x2'x2' from 4x2 pine clears. It was put thru a thicknesser to get every piece dead flat and the same size. The legs had notches cut out of the top for the top pieces, and it was a lot more level on top than this steel stand is. Steel will always expand and contract when welded, so it is hard to get it perfect. Warren, would it be possible to compensate for a 1-2mm unevenness with the liquid nails thing??

Thanks Warren, I think even with the liquid-nails trick it is too uneven. I'm not happy with the stand, and I have your expert opinion to say it is a big risk to take, so I guess the guy doesn't have much of a choice other than to give me my money back. :evil: I guess I should start drawing some plans for a wooden stand, or perhaps phone toughtanks?

Um, and I come home to find my impossible-to-replace 14" ornate bichir, my 4 year old 10" dat, my big school of clown loaches (probably over $500 worth if you bought them from a shop, or 5 years + if you grew them out) plus numerous other fish dead or dieing in an empty tank. :evil:

Those are the front corners, glass is 12mm to give you an idea of how big the gap is. I used a piece of paper to test where the weight is actually resting on the stand, and there wasn't actually many points where I couldn't slide the paper between the stand and the tank.

:evil: That means borrowing the work truck, taking more time off during the day and going out to manukau. I really don't even care if he can fix it or try to repair it, I'm completely over it and would much rather build a wooden stand that I know will be level. Or maybe get toughtanks to make a steel stand, you'd think they would know what they're doing...

Try www.whitepages.co.nz

No native cacti in Australia (they only come from the Americas, from USA down to Argentina), but they do have an area about the size of NZ covered in Opuntia (prickley pears) that are now considered noxious weeds because they grow so well in their climate! I actually feed our beardy cactus pads, there is an Opuntia that was bred to be spineless by some crazy german for cattle food, but it was a failure as the cows didn't really eat it (I think). He really enjoys it! You could try some Lithops (living stones) in there as they would handle the hot dry conditions, and aren't spiney or toxic.

Probably a bit much for me to do, considering I've never welded before! So, really I should be taking it back to the guy that made it and telling him to sort it out or give me my money back?

Hmm, I'll check my crystal ball... :lol: You can never tell with cichlids, might work or it might not. One day one of them might have a change of heart about sharing his tank and suddenly it doesn't work any more. A larger tank will help anyway. Keep the water warm and clean and add a little salt and the convicts fins should grow back, they're tough as nails. Good to hear they are all females too!! How big is 193L? I think you'd want at least 4'x18"x18" to house a severum for life.

Two days with about 150kgs over the four middle legs that are off the ground and it hasn't sagged a bit. How bad would the unevenness have to be before you said the stand wasn't up to standard and was unsafe to use and asked for a refund? Anyone?????