David R

It's not definate when (and if) we'll be moving, my gf finishes uni at the end of the year and there's a good chance we may have to move for her to find work in her field.guess I'll be going to placemakers first thing on saturday morning

Thanks, where can you get those bricks from??

I need a cheap stand for the 4' tank I just brought, and I saw this picture. This guy has tanks as large as 8'x4'x30" on these stands made out of cinder blocks (I think thats what theyre called). Has anyone ever done anything like that before? It only has to last for about 6 or so month as we'll probably be moving over xmas as my partner will have finished uni. Any other suggestions for cheap stands?? I'll be building a proper cabinet and hood for it some time before we move.

Also my first meeting last night. It was good meeting everyone but I'm still having trouble putting faces to screen names... :-?

Thanks guys, I might just have to set up a small tank with some platties then...

Thanks. I was thinking of platties or guppies, but thought I'd ask about the mosquitofish as they dont need a heater.

I'm after some easy to breed livebearers as a cheap source of live food. I want something that’s easy to look after and doesn’t require a heater. I'm sure DOC has made it illegal to sell those 'mosquito fish' (unsure of scientific name) so I'm not going to be able to find nay in a shop. Does anyone in the Hamilton area have a few I could have/buy? Someone suggested I go try catching some in the lake, but I'd prefer some that have been living in tanks (less likely to carry disease). Does anyone have any better suggestions??

Dont put a female in with it if you dont want babies, simple as that Alan everyone who has seen him says he's one of the best looking convicts they've seen, granted if it was just another one of the thousands of little convicts you see in the LFS then I'd be giving him away, but he's a really nice fish. Way more personallity and attitude than a killie *cough*feeder*cough*

*edit* cant seem to get that pic to work so just copy and paste the url... http://images.snapfish.com/33%3B3884723 ... B%3Bot1lsi http://images.snapfish.com/33%3A8696%3B ... B336ot1lsi If you're interested I might sell him, still trying to decide so make me an offer that'll help me make up my mind!!

If you're worried about perspex or acrylic scratching from the outside you can cover it with a second thin sheed of perspex (or maybe glass?) and if that gets scratched its easily replaced. Not sure if this would work for the inside of the tank tho.

Looks great, what are the dimensions?

Buy a bigger tank Jade, clown loaches are so cool!! I've got 3 at about 3" and I've never had any problems with snails, I actually feed them snails occasionally...

I have sand in one of my tanks, so I try to to a small water change and vacuum every 3-4 days. On this topic, is it possible to do too many water changes?? I do about 20% every 3-4 days, but only clean the canister and other filter out every week or two. :-?

Thats what I was thinking, the results from the punnet square would be something like: 25% SS (S= striped) 50% Ss 25% ss So if I was to aquire a striped female of Midas there's be a 2/3 chance that it would be carrying the recessive gene. Hawera is a long way to go for one convict tho! Have you ever couriered a fish before Midas??

I ended up going with the pool filter sand, as the shop gave me a bag free. I've moved the intakes for the filters so theyre as close to the top of the tank as possible (its 18" deep) and so far so good, the sand is pretyt heavy and I havent had a problem with it getting stirred up. You only need a thin layer (about 1") and most fo the muck/poo/etc sits on top of it, so its easy to clean, I just give it a quick syphon every 3-4 days. As for the sand being bad for their digestive systems, from that I've heard most ca and sa cichlids encounter sand in their natural habitat, and no one I know of who uses sand has had any problems.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, if not then sorry, I'm sure one of the Mods will move it I was just watching some fishing programme on TV and they went on a tour of the Napier Aquarium. As well as having a huge Kelly Tarltons style aquarium, there was a large display of african cichlids, and an asian display with heaps of tinfoil barbs, a gian gourami and I saw one pretty big looking clown loach swim past in the background. Who's been there?? Is it worth a look, I'm now thinking of making the trip [from hamilton] one weekend. What else do they have there???

Midas did they ever produce any marbled ones?? I'm going to grow up a female striped con to breed with mine to see what happens. Not sure if thats how you get marbled ones, but I'll give it a go! Would it be a mutation or some sorts, or can you have more than one recessive gene? *thinks back to 7th form bio* :-?

If its for a reef tank coral sand would be the best (wouldnt it?). I set my fw tank up with pool filter sand. The shop just gave it to me (apparantly they get given it to give away with filters), and so far I've not had any problems. Just make sure you rinse it really well.

Caryl where's the second pet shop you've seen them in?? I've seen photo's of the one in palmy and I've been thinking of making hte trip down there to see it. I'd love to keep one, maybe one day when I build that 2000L tank..... :roll:

I've never had any luck feedingthe fry to other fish, they always manage to get away and survive. I've heard of some that were chucked in a turtle tank for food but actually started breeding!! Here's my 8cm albino male I'm not usually a big fan of albino fish, but he's cool.

Pity?? Isnt that why we love them??

Did you buy Richards 7' tank from Northland Pet and Aquarium?? If so take good care of the 3 silver dollars it came with cos they were mine!! I had a black arowana for a bit over 2 years, before selling my big tank and all the fish in it. I never fed it live foods, as I believe it makes them aggressive and also causes drop-eye (something to do with the high fat content). Try train it to eat pellets, I fed mine Hikari carnivore pellets, Hikari cichlid gold and JBL Arowana pellets. It gets pretty expensive after a while because of their big appetite. As for the pacu, I'd say the best option would be to knock it on hte head. They are not an aquarium fish unless you have a tank of a few thousand gallons. Here's why....

Fancy Goldfish, blood parrots, long-finned oscars, etc.

Speaking of Midas cichlids, has anyone ever seen the striped varient here??

Ah well, as nice as it looks then I think I'll give the sand a miss. Maybe just get really fine gravel instead. The only good thing about the sand was that it was going to be cheap. Anyone got any contacts for cheap gravel? :lol: