Romeo

SUCCESS! He's mine! He's about 13cm+ long, and only cost me $11 - on account of his aggression and injury. The European fish keeper guy at Animates gave me a really good deal on him - the other guy wanted to charge me $65 for him! They all seemed happy he was going to a new home, which is what really matters at the end of the day. So far I've still got to get a tank, but if worst comes to worst I've got a near-death 2 footer in the garage that I can reseal. Animates is holding him until I can pick him up, so good on them. I got a new submersible 100w heater, 200lph filter, small 9w Jebo lamp and a big bottle of Melafix for him.

RE Ira: Whew, thankfully "Mr. Mystus" (as I have preemptively dubbed him) looks nothing like the Mystus Gulio - as the adipose fin¹ on him stretches from the dorsal fin right down to near his tail. I asked on MFK and they seem pretty positive that he's one of them, and that he'll recover fine.

Says their max size is 5 inches, so either I'm exaggerating it's size, or it's a different species. I've got a spare 2 foot tank, but the seals are completely poked (thanks to a lying user of that website). As we speak I'm wildly sending of PMs to Spoon to see if he's got any spare tanks that may be suitable!

This is the closest one I can find to what he looks like. It looks exactly the same as the one below, a Mystus micracanthus, or two spot catfish. Obviously, there seems to be a problem with this conclusion. As it's markings look nothing like other "two spot catfish".

Heh, can't say I spotted you man. It was pretty busy down there with the sales on today! Plus, I was too busy fussing over "Mr. Mystus" to notice anything else ;P...

Well, I was pretty shocked after seeing him yesterday! I was in the brown shirt with Joliet :].

Gidday all, A few months ago a certain silver coloured Mystus catfish caught my eye at my local LFS. Then never saw him again, so assumed he was bought. Well, a few days ago I spotted him. Seems that someone's put him in the plant tank on his own because he's nasty. Turns out he likes to tear the stomach's out of Angel fish and others that get put in with him. Well, I've always been the kind of person to forgive and forget - plus, he's incredibly cool! Problem is I've got no idea what sort of species it is, so I can't buy a tank to suit him if I don't know how big he'll get. Is there a list of catfish we're allowed in NZ? It's about 6-7 inches long currently, and appears to be very similar to the one below, but more of a dark gray/silver colour with a faint dark circular spot near the tail (caudal peduncle). PS: I've spotted a cheap AR380 - about 35 litres, and am wondering if this is suitable. Instinct would tell me no, but if he's on his own and is already fully grown... //EDIT: I went in there today and to my horror, someone had put an odessa barb in with him - his barbles were mangled :[, will these grow back?

Good places Nandos: The BEST char grilled chili chicken in town, guaranteed. $20 will get you a bottle of fizzy, half a chicken and a bowl of the best chili chips EVER! Most of their meals are under $20. You can customise your order from "lemon and herb", to insanely hot. Will fill you up, but it's sooo good you'll want to do it again! Ruchees: The best Indian in town, well, as far as I'm concerned. A little more posh, but they're all really nice in there. Plus it's usually never busy. About $20 for a curry and a naan - plus you get free poppadoms and rice. You won't leave with an empty stomach guaranteed! Thai Smile: Quite possibly the best Thai in Christchurch. Very refined menu with magnificent flavors. Bit more pricey, but definitely worth it if you're feeling like trying something radically different. Tutto Bene: Great Italian food. Prices were around $20+ and enough to fill you up. Good atmosphere when it's busy. @Tony's: Pretty epic Japanese teppan-yaki, some nights they do a "buffet" meal. Where they'll serve you up a bit of everything, then afterwards they'll come around and ask you for whatever else you'd like. A bit expensive and maybe a little too sedate, but otherwise it's very nice. Joyful Chinese restaurant: My favorite Chinese joint. Good prices, excellent food and a very popular place. You wont leave here hungry I can tell you that! It's got the usual "westernized menu" of the usuals, but also a very lengthy list of traditional, and unusual, menu items. The Bog: If you're after a good pub meal, this is the place. All the usual favourites for around $20. Great food, the service is a little slow but the food more than makes up for it. Places we WOULDN"T visit again: Winniebagoes - Terrible service from everyone there, plus we paid nearly $30 for something I'd consider a snack. Henry Africa - "weird food, crap service and far too expensive for what it was".

RE Zev I've only got a single 20w tube, according to many that's not enough. So I've shifted the goalposts to growing lots of Java moss. My Koura has never seemed to mind the light, though I have noticed that it's not so keen on the Grolux tube for some reason, even though it is dimmer than the bright white light. The Inanga seem to prefer the Grolux tube though, they're always out and about. I've now got some of these tiny little leaves (with roots) floating on my tank and they seem to multiply nightly. Hopefully they'll provide a bit more cover for them - as I noticed that when I had the top of the tank covered with loose plants the Koura and Inanga were out a lot more. Seems they prefer to have something above them to provide protection from predators.

Ah, fair enough. Apparently I've only got 0.4WPL in my tank¹. I'll look at upgrading the lighting when I can afford it :]. Was told by someone in a previous post that a Grolux would be best².

Only for the interested! Below is just a little bit of research I've done. The majority of forums I've searched seem to hold the opinion that "they wont harm your invertebrates if used at the recommended dosages". However, if you're quadrupling the dosage without adequate plant density to absorb the trace elements, then it may start to have a detrimental effect. Also, there were a few threads with titles like "Fertilizer xxx killed my shrimp!", but these usually turned out to be spikes in Nitrate, Ammonia or Copper from somewhere. Apparently some fertilizers have Nitrate or copper in them, which is not good/poisonous to invertebrates!

Best of luck trying to keep the tank cool, I know from experience with my 50 litre that it's pretty hard to keep it 8°c+ below ambient. A 2.25 litre bottle of frozen water will cool my tank about 4 degrees and keep it that temperature for about 3 hours, then it'll climb back up to ambient. That said, if you wrap your tank tightly with a acrylic fleece blanket, it'll keep the tank much cooler for longer - provided there's no internal heat source. Power saving tip, when you take the defrosted bottle out of the tank, don't put it straight back in the freezer. Fill it with cool water from the tap and it'll freeze in half the time (and save you power!). Apparently you can keep them axies in the fridge when it gets uber hot (or when they get really sick), may be worth investigating that ;P.

Can anyone confirm whether or not fertilizers will affect my scaleless fish and invertebrate? Will respond more in depth when I get back from the Animates sale :]

Hey, I've got a Koura and two Inanga (scaleless). I've heard that plant fertilizers are designed to be taken in by the fish, but then harmlessly excreted through their scale system somehow. Well, none of my creatures have scales - so where does that leave me? I can't find anything on the major aquarium forums, or on here, so I thought I'd ask before I rush out and buy some. I'm keen on API's Leaf Zone, as I've read some good things on the American forums about it - as it's 1/3rd the price and not quite as powerful as the Flourish XL stuff. Ideally, I'd just like to grow a lot of lush Java Moss (enough to coat the diagonal log in the background) - but it seems like that's above me as it is! - PS: I've got a DIY Jelly CO2 system that's been steadily putting out 1bps for the last week. I've had it running through the power head, but it's caused a drop in pH from a healthy 7.0, down to 6.4 - it seems that this happens within about a 6 hour period and overnight the pH rises back to 7. Since this is probably enough to kill my fishes I've stopped until I can find something that'll buffer my pH. Any ideas? (I've got about 5-6 TuaTua shells in there currently, but they take a while to react to pH changes) PSS: I've got a Grolux 60cm single tube running 12+ hours a day also. Tank is 80*30*30 - Ammonia, Nitrate/Nitrite either 0 or low. PSSS: You try keeping your plants looking neat when you've got a crayfish in your tank! Cheers, Romeo

Yeah, in my line of work we're expendable. The last thing businesses are after in the midst of a recession is web development - so I've been trying to find IT work for about a month now with no luck. A log of the IT jobs on that website have many thousands of views, and tens, if not hundreds of applicants. Here's hoping things pick up soon - but it doesn't look likely...

Well, temporarily at least. It's been VERY hot here in Christchurch, like, 32°c plus inside. So I've had to take drastic measures to keep my Inanga and Koura cool. They've been wrapped tightly in 3 layers of acrylic fleece blankets with a 2.25l bottle of ice in with them. Since the temperature hasn't dropped below 29°c inside over the last 2 days, they've been wrapped up tight, with the tank lamp off, for the entire time. The tank temperature throughout was never over 23°c, so I guess the sacrifice was worth it. Now, it's cool now, 24°c inside, 20°c in the tank. So, I turned on the lamp, and to my horror, both my Inanga were white & transparent! What's caused this? Do they get tans just like humans ;D? //EDIT: They're ok now, turned off the tank lamp right away, and let them adjust with the room lights on. They're back to normal now - only took 10 minutes

I'm sure there's inexpensive cooling methods out there, I used to build custom PCs, and there's plenty of DIY cooling techniques designed for cooling very hot PCs. So try peltier & heat sink in Google.

Right now my "Cold Water" tank is covered with 3 layers of artificial fleece blankets, with a bottle of Ice in the tank. Room temperature: 31°c Under blankets temp: 24°c Water temperature: 20.5°c You could always have a go at making your own chiller ;P.

I had a problem with Nitrate when I was starting out, turned out after regular water changes and various "Crayfish larder hunts", that it was actually a piece of shrimp stuck in my filter. Moral of the story, look in your filter or under your bits and pieces for dead things ;s.

I've had a rough starter price of $150+ for 6mm glass, and upwards of $300 for 10mm all round (These are very rough estimates, as he's on holiday and can't do his usual pricing calculations). I've seen the build quality on his tanks and they're very high quality. What can you provide?

Gidday, I left my window open in the study last night and a horde of moths slowly accumulated. Couldn't be bothered dealing with them so just turned out the light and went to brush my teeth, came back 5 minutes later to see that a couple had crawled inside my fishtank to get at the light. Well damn me if my Inanga didn't start jumping out of the water and picking them off the glass lid! A good 5-6 cm ;D. So, this has me thinking. Is it possible to devise some sort of live Moth trap? So I can feed them a more natural, and more importantly, FREE diet of juicy moths? Has anyone got any applicable schematics or diagrams laying about? Cheers, Romeo

I'm still keen on the tank, getting a quote through Organism here in CHCH. Then I'll see if it's all feasible, then seek the missus' approval!

Yeah, if it was annoying him he'd remove it ASAP. Anyways, he'll probably moult soon :].

Geez Plymouth, I said I wanted a wide tank, not a torture tank!

Thanks for all the responses, this is exactly the kind of information they DON'T tell you on many websites!