David R

Interesting thoughts/ideas/opinions. It seems there are three major things that we [as hobbyists] should be doing; 1. Make sure the species we have are being bred and stay available. 2. Get as many of the species that are already on the list imported here. 3.1. Get the list up to date with current taxonomy and species that are/were here but never made it onto the list. 3.2 Get new species added onto the list. This is where things get difficult though, as everyone has different ideas on how best to do it....

The Red Hump Eartheater thread got me thinking a bit, so I thought I'd air those thoughts, and see what others are thinking [or doing?] on this subject... Its been nearly 12 months since the first of Hollywoods German shipments came in and I received my group of A. festae. The excitement of keeping a fish I have been lusting after for years has not yet worn off, and given the colour and size of the pair I have ended up with if anything it has increased. The sad thing is that A. festae has been on "The List" (here's Link for those who haven't seen it) since day one, its just taken a long time to get them here. There are still so many interesting species that have gone from being ultra-rare to fairly well available in the years since The List was created, and the only reason they aren't on there is because no one has done the work [myself included!]. Is anyone actually interested in doing the work to get new species here? I hear keen people making murmurs all the time, but is anyone actually making a co-ordinated effort to channel this enthusiasm into something productive? If so, great, how can I be a part of it? If not then why not? Are we all content just keeping the same old fish? Obviously we have to be realistic, stingrays will never be allowed in as they are venomous and snakeheads are unlikely given the publicity associated with them overseas, but I can think of many Central and South American cichlids that could/should be available, and I'm sure some of the African keepers can think of an equally large number from the Old World. It costs around $500 IIRC to make a submission, and it needs to be backed up with scientific papers. Not impossible, here's a link to download the form; http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/resources/pub ... NO1R-2.doc I am not a member of any club [nor do I plan on becoming one as my job makes attending meetings impossible] so I have got no idea as to what (if anything) FNZAS is doing to increase the number of species available here, perhaps someone can fill me in? And similarly I have little knowledge of the wholesale/importing process, so perhaps one of the industry people here could give us some insight as to how it all works. If we did the work to get a bunch of new fish added to the list, would we be able to order them from quality suppliers like Jeff Rapps (http://www.tangledupincichlids.com)?

A 25-30cm "common" is only about half grown. Decide on the species you want to keep then look them up on planetcatfish.com to see how big they get and what kind of set up they need, you should be able to figure out the tank size from there.

I just use the cheap Alto ones, the current lot of 5 have all been going for 12-24+ months. I usually keep the receipts when i buy one so I can take it back if it does in the first few months.

Looks good Al, eel is a beast!

That was their downfall I think, at first I didn't have a spare tank to put them in other than with the little loaches I was growing out, so they were at about 27-8C for some time, and then when we moved and I set up the fish room I couldn't get the tank cool enough because of the ambient temperature from the other tanks. If I got some now I'd keep them in an unheated tank in the fishroom which should allow them a cooling period over winter.

School of dwarf pencil fish?

Why is this thread still here? :-?

Yep, especially when it comes to earth eaters!! Hopefully someone out there has got a pair of G. balzanii out of the last lot that came in, I miss my old pair

^ http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/imports/ ... ic.all.htm I should have said ugly for a Geophagus... http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages ... 18-001.jpg vs. http://www.bergenak.org/wp-content/uplo ... 707_01.jpg Anyway, they're not even a Geophagus sensu stricto...

Thats probably the best looking steindachneri I've ever seen! I was going to say they're probably not very popular as they're bloody ugly, but that one proved me wrong...

Yeah they're here, have seen them a couple of times in the shops, and one person who used to post here had a pair of them. Last time I saw them was in Animates Mt Eden a few years back. The hardest part about getting more species of Geo added to the list is that a lot of them are recently described [ex-surinamensis complex] or still undescribed [eg. G. Sp. 'Red Head Tapajos'] so finding enough "peer reviewed scientific papers" to prove they won't be a risk could be difficult. I'd still like to try putting the onus back on them by saying they should update their list to keep the names valid and include all the new species that have been derived from the surinamensis complex...

+1 Maybe give up the fish and take up Suiseki instead?

Try a common first, I wouldn't trust that fish with anything worth more than $10....

Bunnings will be pricey com5rated with somewhere like S&WW, I'd say. Probably won't have as big a selection too [despite what their ads say].

I would have just called it Russel, he's worse in real life than in the movie...

Kinda-realistic, but not in NZ..... 750g tank (10' long 4' wide 30" high) acrylic tank, Ultima filters, light coloured sand substrate, tangled driftwood, no plants. Stocked with a trio of black aros [that would live peacefully together because its my dream tank!], a large group of Uaru fernandezyepezi, a school of wild type discus, a tigrinus catfish, and several different Potamotrygons.

If you're bored then why not try do some selective breeding with your crosses and see what sort of colours you can develop, just don't go selling off the rejects on trademe! Look at the colours of "fancy" discus compared to the wild ones, you'd already have a good head start if starting with colourful fish...

I've never seen a pleco in there, just angelfish and livebearers. I'm not sure if it has any heating or just from the ambient temperature with the steam pipes that heat the glasshouse.

HA! Do it, would look awesome seeing them in that large a school. Are you using round plastic water tanks?

Nothing, unless you're trying to create an authentic looking south american tank!! Might as well put some orange parrot fish in there to match, they're part severum so they're kinda south american, right? :lol:

Its possibly a bit small for both, maybe 4-6 discus (natural-ish looking ones, not bright orange ones please!!) and 4-6 leucos.

$1500 a month in power?!?!

Where's the feeding video?!?! I think they need more cover in the centre of the tank, like a few big tangled pieces of wood. Look good though, might have to try take a clip of mine some time.

Would be interesting to see how much the power went down if it was inside in a well insulated room...