David R

Great work Si, add my name to the long long list when you get some spare.

The timber wasn't exactly the same thickness along its whole length, meaning it wasn't evenly supporting the tank. It would work fine if the timber had been accurately gauged with a thicknesser. As for the untreated pallets, I would be seriously reluctant to use untreated timber, even indoors, without sealing it [using thinned varnish] and several coats of paint or varnish. It is almost guaranteed to get wet at some point and it will eventually start to break down. You're right that pallets are designed to support about a ton, but they are also designed to be thrown away after a while, and they aren't designed to support the weight without flexing. That said, your tank isn't exceptionally deep and is made out of fairly thick glass, so the weight will be well distributed. The other side of that coin is that you have a larger area to make completely level. IMO, I wouldn't risk using the pallets if you're planning on having it set up for a long time.

Pallets generally aren't treated, so not a good option long-term. Have a look at the first stand I made for my 1400L in the link in my sig, would have worked well if the timber had been run through a thicknesser first to get it all exactly the same height. I guess it depends how high you want it and if you want storage underneath. Cinderblocks are a cheap option, but before going cheap you have to ask yourself how much you value your fish, your tank, and everything else around it that could get ruined if the stand fails... TBH, the last two steel stands I've bought from Hollywood have been worth every cent of the $750-odd they cost. No mucking about, stand gets delivered, ply and poly sit on top, and on goes the tank. Sorted.

Not really interested in those trendy tanks, they look nice but I'd rather leave my plants in the garden. I prefer my tanks to actually have fish in them, and to look a bit more natural than a perfectly groomed work of art.... Lee Nuttall's Central American cichlid tanks are stunning: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... p?sid=2771 And I really like Japes different biotopes: Rio Essequibo, Guyana: http://www.simulationeight.net/fish2010 ... bohalf.jpg http://www.simulationeight.net/fish2010 ... bofull.jpg Rio Tapajos, Brazil: http://www.simulationeight.net/fish2010 ... s/full.jpg http://www.simulationeight.net/fish2010 ... acmale.jpg And just to show I'm not completely anti-plants... Martin Thoene's Clown Loach Aquarium http://www.loaches.com/articles/images/ ... age_medium

Yes I was using whole oak leaves, wasn't even going to try in the tank with the geos!! I'd stay away from "surinamensis" (G. altifrons) if you're going to keep small fish like cories and tetras, they can potentially get to 12" and I have seen them die from getting smaller fish stuck in their mouths. Satanoperca leucosticta ("jurupari") or Biotodoma cupido are both available here and would be a better mix with the smaller fish. 10-15 cardinals would barely be noticeable in that tank, think big, go for a group of 30+ at the very minimum, even if it means going for a cheaper species.

Of course there isn't, its a huge country with countless rivers and lakes with everything from rocky hard water environments to densely planted areas and just about everything in between. How can there be such a thing as a "south american biotope" encompassing all those things? Even the amazon river itself is hugely varied and could never be represented in a single biotope aquarium. "Biotope" seems to be the latest buzz-word for people who want to make their set ups seem more authentic or natural.... :roll: Kinbote; firstly, great tank!! I saw it at Gregs last week when I was picking up the sump for my 1400L tank, you'll love the width! There's a couple of things you need to think through though. What kind of fish are you planning on keeping in there? Are you going to make it a true blackwater biotope in the sense that all the fish will be from the same region? With that wide a tank, if you make the water too dark its going to cut down on the visibility unless its really brightly lit and/or viewed from both sides. Dark water will also restrict the plants you can grow without bright lights. If you look at the pics in that link in your first post you'll see there aren't many plants. Blackwater biotope and heavily planted don't really go together, in the sense that they usually don't occur in habitat (although I'm sure you could find a location that has blackwater AND dense plants somewhere in south america). I'd suggest using fine white sand, plenty of thin branch-like wood, and maybe a small plants like dwarf chain sword if you really feel the need to have something green in there. Leaf litter looks really good, but I have found it to be a real pain to maintain in larger tanks, especially with fish like corydoras that sift the sand, the leaves get buried and start decomposing in the sand, not great. Flick me a PM or email if you want to come check out my big tank [nearly up and running now!] and the 300L blackwater tank I just set up.

Phrayza? Syhmmin? :lol:

http://fishkeepers.co.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57

Unfortunately not. Brasil banned the export of it (and many other species) a long time ago. At the very least they could allow collectors in to pillage the rivers and areas of forest that will be flooded first to save as many of the unique species as possible. Rabbits right about the wind power too, that combined with a possible 40% reduction in power consumption if Brasil were to focus on efficiency instead of just making more power stations would see them right for years....

Not sure how many of you have heard of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam complex, but its going to be pretty devastating for a beautiful and diverse habitat that is home to many of the favourites of our hobby, the most prominant being Hypancistrus zebra L046, the famous Zebra pleco. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Monte_Dam The dam will flood over 400 square km's of forest, which will emit huge amounts of methane as it decays under water. The area either dried out or drowned by the dam span the entire known world distribution of a number of species, e.g. the Zebra Pleco (Hypancistrus zebra), the Sunshine Pleco (Scobinancistrus aureatus), the Slender Dwarf Pike Cichlid (Teleocichla centisquama), the plant-eating piranha (Ossubtus xinguense) and the Xingu Dart-Poison frog (Allobates crombiei). There has been no assessment of how the dam will impact these unique species. Also, it will displace thousands of indigenous Amazon Indians. Project developers Norte Energia, S.A. have failed to obtain free, prior, and informed consent from the Juruna and Arara indigenous tribes to be impacted by Belo Monte. Subsequent dams will need to be constructed to ensure the continuity of the supply of water for the hydro dam, which will directly and indirectly affect 25,000 indigenous peoples in the Xingú basin, flooding more forest with an added 6140km2 of reservoir. And to top it off, the power generated will be used to power the extraction and refinery of large mineral deposits in Pará, such as bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, which will lead to further destruction of the Amazon. Sadly it seems too late to stop the project, but it saddens me at how little publicity it has received in relation to the scale of the destruction. http://www.amazonwatch.org/ watch the video, sign the petition...

Good stuff Phil, will be good to see another monster in your tank. I'd love to go see him before it gets shipped down to you, but I don't know if/when I'll have time.

Did you read the first post? :roll:

Thats what [i think] this thread was supposed to be about, the hobby getting behind the importers and opposing MAF increasing the restrictions and costs associated with importing fish.... We need to support those in the industry who support the hobby, rather than those who offer the cheapest junk at the lowest price. Penny pinching in such a small market as NZ will ultimately lead to the death of the hobby...

You said it, not me. I thought the difference between REDUCE and NOT INCREASE was fairly obvious, not to you I guess....

Mainly because we have people like you derailing this thread posting dribble about how they used to breed a million fish 50 years ago instead if discussing what we can do to oppose the tightening of restrictions and increasing of costs. :roll: Reef is trying to raise awareness of proposed changes, if you're happy to bend over and take it from MAF the good on you, but how about you leave those of us that want to fight it to do so...

Yes that is all correct, but not really to the point of this thread, which was supposed to be about the draught of the NEW IHS. No one is recommending we reduce the quarantine period or the current testing that is carried out, you'd have to be living in lala land to even think that it could happen. The point is that despite the current system working well MAF are lumbering more costs and more stringent conditions onto importers. If anyone who has an interest in keeping tropical fish, fresh or marine, doesn't have an objection to that then they need their head checked as it can only be bad for our hobby. I'm not even sure if there is a point to all of Alans ramblings, but its derailing this thread from its original purpose of discussing the proposed changes to the IHS. If he wants to support MAF with these changes then this thread [and this forum] isn't the place to do it, IMO. We really don't need Captain Obvious pointing out "the realities" of fishkeeping as we are all well aware of them and they are barely relevant to the topic at hand.

Man, talk about banging my head on a brick wall, you two sure are champions of the hobby. :roll:

about 40cm of 20mm pvc with about 3-4 metres of the appropriately sized plastic tubing squeezed over the end of it makes a great poo sucker. Using just the hose with out the rigid piping on the end is very awkward.

The taxpayer pays for many peoples hobbies, look at all the funding for arts and amateur sports. My rates go towards maintaining sports fields I'll never use..... Alan you seem to have missed the point of the thread, no one is suggesting we stop quarantining fish, what we don't want is even more restrictions and costs placed on importers. You say it will make breeding fish more profitable, that is an absolute load of crap. Can you really see people setting up huge facilities to breed clown loaches, arowana, and all the countless other fish that aren't easy to breed in an average sized aquarium? If the importation of fish is stopped or made financially unviable you can kiss goodbye to half of the interesting species of fish available here. What I really want to know is are you just playing the devils advocate for the fun of it, or do you genuinely believe that MAF is doing the right thing by getting even tougher on imports.....

The most obvious solution is simply to ditch the silly skinny-tyre bikes and start riding for fun and not for exercise..... 8)

Get some pics of the first three asap, I head the L114 is a looker!!

Koi are temperate, and the only guppies/mollies I am aware of live in thermally heated streams, and there aren't too many of them constant and stable enough to support most tropical species. Stella, are there any native species that live in 20C+ water [thermally heated, such as the area where the "wild" mollies are found] that could potentially displaced by tropical species should they be released in sufficient numbers to establish a population? Also how do the more temperate native species handle warmer water (say 20C+)? If I understand correctly, they [the natives] don't do well at all at higher temperatures, so if the water is warm enough to theoretically support tropical species then isn't the warm water a bigger problem than the potential of having an invasive tropical species become established? Exactly. We can live with the current regulations, however treating different species of the same genus that are nearly identical to ones already allowed as a completely new organism is just ridiculous. And as I said before, increasing the restrictions etc on importing tropical species is absolute bs, just bureaucrats trying to justify their existence. How anyone like MAF can claim to be concerned with the preservation of our native waterways while allowing and encouraging fish like trout to remain here is beyond me. I guess its a trade off between the threat/damage to the ecosystem and the potential for revenue, hell I bet they'd allow kiwi to be hunted for pillow stuffing if the price was right... Amen. The incompetency MAF/biosecurities/erma manage the list with astounds me. The lack of keeping up with correct naming of species and the number of incorrectly identified fish that come in really proves they don't know what they're doing. And the reason they don't want to tackle the problem is because they would need to admit that. I really hope someone at one of those authorities is reading this, they really should be grateful that we [as a hobby] are trying to play their game and work with their ridiculous and awkward system, because it sure would be a whole lot easier to work around it and bring new stuff in through the back door under different names....

Hollywood have a good assortment of Synos from the German shipments that came in a while ago.

IMO.... It seems ridiculous to be targeting the hobby. What are their concerns based on? Since the current system [of having an 'allowed list'] came into place, or even in the entire fish keeping history in NZ, how many cases do we have confirmed of tropical species acclimatising and establishing themselves to the detriment of natives species, and how many cases do we have of imported fish introducing new diseases? To me it seems like wanky bureaucrats with very little real-world knowledge on the subject trying to make themselves appear productive and make their jobs appear necessary. Reef I agree we need hundreds of people making submissions, the problem is that many people haven't got the first idea about what to include in that submission. I think it would be a good idea for someone such as yourself with a good knowledge of the industry, the laws and the proposed changes to write a template for a submission that people can copy/paste and submit, or modify if they feel inclined. Luckily, at the moment we have a government that is keen on encouraging business and reducing bureaucracy, so hopefully we can pitch our submissions to appeal to that logic.

Even the smallest spiny eels can get to 30cm. Puffers would work though.