David R

I hand-fed mine shrimp at that size too, and you're right they can put it away! Seemed happy enough in the 4' tank yet one day just dropped dead for no apparent reason.

If it weren't for the fry I'd suggest getting said friend to feed maybe once a week (or even just once during the four weeks), but as you said that may not be quite enough for the fry. TBH I'd probably take my chances with under-feeding them rather than rely on one of those mechanical feeders.

by gosh!! how DARE your parents invite their friends into YOUR home!!!! :an!gry ps. how does someone still at school afford to buy a house, and why aren't your parents living at their own house?

If you're away for four weeks have you got an automatic water changer set up too?

What kind of filters do you have? I'd give them a good clean out (with tank water) before the power outage as dirty filters will quickly turn into ammonia factories if left full of crap with no water moving thru them. Don't feed the day before and do a water change so the water is clean, should be fine unless you're massively overstocked. What part of town are you in? I haven't heard anything about it!

My wife and my sister have both had all four wisdoms out in the past couple of months, and both experiences varying degrees of pain. Days 4-5 are usually the worse too, so if yours are sore now there is a good chance it will get worse! Hope they put you under completely for it, try the smoothies and ice cream as suggested, and good old clear chicken broth...

I don't see why you would need to maintain a siphon (or why with two correctly sized overflows you would have any problems draining the tank), and if you decide you want to get rid of the turtles and keep fish you could simply remove the overflow box made at the lower height for the turtles and make a higher one to set the water level higher. RE the sumps overflowing thing, the main cause of that is the sump not having adequate space to hold the "skim" that runs down from the tank when the pump switches off. You need to calculate this based on the footprint of your tank, and how much space there will be in your sump based on the water level you'll need to run for the pump. The evaporation thing won't be an issue either, unless you're leaving your tank for weeks. Just mark a line on the sump where the usual "on" level is and keep an eye on it. The question really is, why do you want to build a sump? I understand turtles are quite messy, so having big turn over and big mechanical filtration that can easily be cleaned would be a big advantage, but you would also need to make sure the tank has enough flow to keep the waste suspended so it ends up over the overflow. Would you have enough space to do that under your stand? I'm not certain. Have a look on the DIY Filters and Set Up And Filtration forums on Monsterfishkeepers.com if you want to get some ideas about different sump configurations, but as the other guy said, a big canister will be simpler to set up.

Texas cichlids are one of the more northern species of cichlid we get here, could be worth atry. Gymnogeophagus balzanii also comes from a fair way south of the equator and certainly prefers cooler temps over winter.

LOL drinking on the job has certainly gone by the wayside in rail, used to be standard practice back in the good old days... You certainly wouldn't have to move out of Auckland, they tend to have people wanting to leave so staying there certainly isn't a problem. In fact there's a guy in Auckland with over 50 years service, all in Auckland!!

What is that in the background of the second pic?? They're pretty nice pics, when are we going to see some like that of your FW fish?!

Interesting, I guess not everyone is a rivet-counter! *edit* not implying that I am!!!!!

If you're looking to join the company you have to go where the jobs are, usually Auckland or Wellington for driving passenger trains, Palmerston North, Otira or the West Coast (maybe Te Rapa) would be about the only options for getting straight into the freight as a driver. Any time there is a vacancy at a depot it is offered first to existing drivers (based on most senior and most suitable) and then if it isn't filled internally they'll look at upskilling from within the company before recruiting off the street. Subsequently, driving jobs at the smaller sought-after depots (Whangarei, the Mount, Stratford, Napier, Picton, Dunedin etc etc) are pretty much impossible to get without joining the company elsewhere and waiting your turn. At the moment there are a lot of guys getting close to retirement (the average age of driver here in Whangarei would be late 50s early 60s, we have one with 47 years service, five around 40 years, and the baby of the depot just ticked over 30 years service!) so in the next ten or so years there will probably be a big surge of new blood to many of the smaller depots, if they don't all go to Australia that is!!

The weathering looks great, obviously hasn't been on the coal route though! If I were a picky bugger I'd point out the handrails and the number, but I'm not so..... :lol:

Agreed that .5 ammonia is nothing to worry about with most hardy species, and I wouldn't jump to conclusions about the number of fish, I've chucked over 30 fish into a completely uncycled aquarium before! they were a bunch of assorted small tetras going into a 630L tank though.

The roster depends on where you are and what you're doing. The passenger trains in Auckland (and Wellington I guess) aren't so bad with most of the shifts being earlier or later, no real night shifts, maybe just a couple of 2-3am finishes on Friday and Saturday. The freight side has far more nightshift, especially places like palmy north and te rapa with the over night trains between Auckland and Wellington. Up here we only have one nightshift Mon-Fri (2000-0600) and one job on a Sunday evening, the rest is early/day shifts starting between 0430 and 1200. It's certainly nice being home for dinner every night! And yes, there is no getting out of the ugly shifts, its just a case of take the good with the bad...

Just applied on the website. They're still recruiting for the Auckland passenger trains, there is a pre employment test with psychometric tests as well as a medical and drug test. Takes 8-12 months to get full trained with about six weeks in the classroom and 500 hours of driving with a minder. It's a great job and well paid too as long as you can handle the shifts...

Looks like a stressed and beaten carpintis to me.

Firewood is just pine, if it was acacia which we also cart we would have cleaned it up ourselves!! Those old wagon are about 7 ton IIRC, but it is inaccessible by road, it's half way up the kauri bank on the side of Parakiori.

Carlos, yep that is the coolstore down at the port. Was once a hive of activity now that's the only thing we do down there. Fraser/ira that is what happens when wagons that were written off for scrap 20 years ago derail in the middle of nowhere, just push it over with a hirail digger and leave it to rot...

Old job in Auckland; New job up here;

Black arowana, probably the most interesting looking, graceful, elusive, fish I've ever kept. Geophagus altifrons, simply because it is the only true Geophagus we get here. Always busy, good looking especially when the fin extensions get long. ex-Cichlasoma festae, colour, size, rarity, and pure badassness. (yes that is actually a word)

Have you contacted the manufacturer about your concerns? If he is a professional I'd be inclined to fill it and send him the bill if it goes pop...

Looks good, could nearly pass for a real one if you trimmed the handrails! Close enough anyway, I think, been a long time since we saw a DX up these ways...

This. Given the price difference between L25 and L114 (L27 Vs L190 etc etc) I find it hard to imagine wholesalers would be clumsy/foolish enough to mix them up. Thats not to say it couldn't happen though...