jc360

Thanks for your replies, he is so podgy its rediculous. No scales are sticking out and he is quite calm and 'happy'. he kind of looks like bubble wrap and i want to pop him. But will not.

big fish, i have a big fish, cheers guys, tank is 6 foot, which primarily houses a huge fire eel (65+cm) two large severum, school of lacy gouramis (8), i have done a 20% change tonight and have observed a noticeable improvement in fish behaviour. Tana the fire eel eats around a handful of defrosted shrimp a night (a lot of waste) but hasn't eaten consistently for a couple of days.

tank has been up and running nearly 1 year with low mortality rates, i have reduced reduced water changes during winter to 10% once every 3/4 weeks. And yes two large pieces of drift wood are in the tank apart from that i have recently added some rocks that i have got from the beach, as well as a smallish chunk of lime? found on the shore of Lake Te Anau.

i have a large tank. The town supply of water in Tauranga is around 7.0 however my tank has ph has been dropping below 6.0!!! i know that some fish like Discus appreciate this level but i introduced a school of Danios and lost the majority of them. The remaining seem stuffed, they have inconsistent white marks, as well as some pinkness in areas. Don't care much for the danios but i have noticed the same white marks on the head of my Severum. Two questions... Is the cause of my dilemma the low Ph? How can i maintain a nice and neutral Ph? please note drift wood is a feature of the aquarium I have just added a pot full of crushed shell.

i have a opaline Gourami about 10 cms. It has a huge bloated stomach which seems to get bigger and bigger. Do i need to b e concerned?

sorry to hear about the loss of your fishes.

Clown Loaches are very susceptible to ich, (white spot), it is more than likely the situation you are facing but this cannot be confirmed without photo graphs. Ich is a parasite, a small worm like creature that exists in the water and will burrow into the flesh of stressed out fish. this parasite can be fatal to fish especially to Clown Loaches as they have very soft skin, with none or hardly any scales to protect them. Most advice out there is to medicate with White spot cure. Be warned from research that ive done about this medication is that it is actually cancerogenic (cancer causing) in America items containing this ingredient has to have strict warnings on them. My advice is stay the hell away from it, it can kill you, is that something that you want to be putting it into your fish tank? imo. i have had ich on Clown Loaches and to begin with suffered fish losses. But from my understanding of the parasite i now have some effective strategies for dealing to this nasty little beast. 1. Raise the temperature of your tank to no less than 28 degrees no higher than 31, this is also the optimum temperature for your loaches, i would suggest if your tank is not at this temperature then it may be one of the causes of your fish becoming susceptible to the parasite. But most importantly raising the the temperature speeds up the life cycle of the parasite. 2. The white spot on your fish is a cyst, only a symptom of the parasite, this is where a parasite has burrowed in and is feeding off the host fish. Once this parasite has burrowed into the fish it will multiply and then leave the host fish to find other likely victims. Which is another reason why clown loaches are so susceptible. The parasite will fall to the gravel in your tank where Clowns spend most of their time. 3. Do 10% daily water changes, this is to focus purely on syphoning the parasite out of your substrate to reduce its numbers. As long as your fish are eating and active, they are in no real trouble, so what ever you do don't overreact. Nail the parasite, keep the fish happy, make sure that you are dong everything you can to provide the best possible set up for your Clowns (fast flowing clean water, 28 to 31 degrees not colder check that the tank temperature is not dropping during these clod winter nights). Don't use salt as Clowns don't like it. The white spots may last 4 maybe 5 days don't worry the parasite will only spend 12 hours in the fish, this can be shortened by following the steps outlined above. Clown Fish are cute but require very specific factors to keep them happy meet these requirements and no problem. If you neglect them, well you are going to have trouble. They are some of the best fresh water fish to keep and there are websites devoted to them, do your research it will reward you with beautiful happy fish. Remember the parasite is in your tank although you have removed the infected fish you have done nothing to battle with the parasite. Netting the fish may have had the negative impact of placing already sick fish under more stress. All the best with your Clowns.

i just used the same stuff the other day and was going to wait and see what happens. its the daltons pumice (No. 2) you will need to wash it well first, i have young fish in the tank and they are fine. Surprisingly not a single piece floated when it was being washed, my concern was would stunt growth. but i thought that it is very light and will not condense the substrate with excess weight, and that it will be easy on bottom feeders. it is very bright though, with plants i prefer a darker substrate but its just 'the look', it should work pretty well, but i am no expert.

Brine shrimp recipe; small pinch of brine shrimp; 300mls water, teaspoon of salt, aeration, wait 16 hours add hatched brineshrimp to tank. Cant help with the discus, but i have heard that they need 10% water change daily, make sure water is de-chlorinated and at right temperature. don't over feed. but i have never had discus so this information needs verification.

hey thanks, will get some if i set up another tank in the future

this tread is interesting as i fully want to get some little shrimp. i have seen them used in competitions and they really add that wow factor, would these adjust to higher temperatures?

ive used dalton aquatic mix with good results see my introduction thread, dont know if it is the best stuff but it has helped me with success, last time i was down there i spoke to a guy who they said he was the guy who was in charge of the mixes, he also mentioned that the they sold a decorative mix, pumice based, that may have been propagation, the only thing was that it was 5 mm +, i wasn't sure if it was gona be too big for my set up. But he said the people at Palmy, Wet Pets, rave about the stuff for plants.

your gona need a bigger tank lol, hope you've got something to plant that under.

I've got some biggish goldfish (all males) that i am not really doing anything with. im sure if its viable that we can get them into your tank, if your interested?

cheers snorkel, i just took three pups of the tiger lotus which i am really stocked about, the planted aquarium has been my most rewarding pursuit so far in fish keeping, fish love it to. I want to do a bigger project with my big tank but have some non-compatible with plants, but love them too much to axe them, so its kind of a catch 22...

good stuff Snorkle, yeah i just joined up this week aswell, it feels real good to know that you are connected with people of the same interests, my mates appreciate my hobby, and my wife does too within reason (she still isn't gona let me buy the Frontosia colony i've always wanted). Whats Whakatane like for fish stores? Not to good in Tauranga so we always go down to Rotorua, hes the man!!!

it may be b/c i am using a mac? im going to try photobucket later see if thats anybetter

hey lets see if i can add photos this is the best i could do in ten minutes, any ideas of how to make it bigger?

thank you for the heads up with the abbrev. I have got a few tanks set up now ranging from an ar620 through to a six foot. the foot long tank is actually two foot (sorry) and i was just going to use that for breeding. i am trying to figure out what is the best way to post photos, i have seen some actually in posts, how is this done? any suggestions out there.

Finally signed up to the site, love keeping fish and have found it to be a very challenging and rewarding hobby. Seriously considering trying to breed some of my fish, have established a foot long tank with a variety of plant life, just unsure of what fish from my display tanks i should start with. The fish that show the signs of breeding are my Lemon tetras, Rasboras, Scissor tails, Buenos aries tetra, Gouramis, and fighters. i want to have a successful experience, without to much disappointment. i am not even sure if this is the right time of year or anything, any suggestions? and what does imo or imao mean? It would be great to hear from any enthusiasts in Tauranga.