lmsmith

Just out of interest, how does the glass thickness calculator work? What should the result be? So if my answer is, say, 3, do I need to add bracing? What's the deal?

Go to a DoC office. It should tell you exactly how online.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=38614General puffer info. They're probably either Dwarf/blue eyed puffers (Carinotetraodon travancoricus) Brazilian puffers (Colomesus asellus). I haven't seen them, but they're the types we get in NZ. If they're tiny, they're dwarf puffers. Dwarfs need about 20l per fish, brazilians need about 100L per fish. They're quite agressive, so if keeping dwarfs, keep only 1 male to a tank. They should have lots of decorations in their tank to break their line of sight, and it will help keep the aggression down. They might eat every other fish in the tank. pH generally around 7 - 7.4, they're sensitive to nitrates, so nitrates need to be kept under 10ppm. They don't have gill coverings so can't handle any copper, and are also highly sensitive to ammonia. They need to eat crunchy food to keep their teeth ground down, and are pretty smart so you have to keep them entertained or they'll glass surf all day. They also jump, so you need a lid.

Happy as? Nope; they won't breed in FW, and they won't grow as big or as fast. They'll survive, but it's like the difference between you living in a polluted country and you living somewhere with clean air - you'll survive, but you wont thrive. I'd recommend you move them into BW or rehome them. It's not really fair to keep them in FW. I think you raise a good point; many fish shops don't know/care about the information they are passing on to buyers. Before anyone buys any fish, they should always do some research to see if they'll be ok in their tank and if they can provide all they need. If everyone did that, so many problems could be avoided.

I have a powerhead that pushes water around. They only have tiny fins, so can't deal with strong currents. Goldfish can't live in brackish water as far as I know, and whether or not they would eat them would depend on the puffer (size, temprament) and the size and speed of the goldfish. The filtration in a marine tank is using live rock, so it's biological filtration. I also have an overflow and return pump on my sump. I used to have an eheim 2215 on my brackish tank.

Poly with sand should be fine. They do jump, so you need a lid.

It's a shop bought one. About $40 from animates, it's plastic. Waste of money, but it was a present, so not my money!

I have live rock in my marine tank which is dead coral, but you could put any rocks in there. In my brackish tank I had a big fake rock and fake plants.

Yeah, bipolar runs in our family big time, as does depression. It's on both sides, so I don't figure I have too much of a chance to avoid it! It's quite interesting in our family that it's mostly females who have done it, where statistically it's much more likely in males.

That made me laugh out loud. I use water collected from my gutter, and we haven't cleaned the gutter in years. My fish are alive, water is a bit low pH (6.5-6.7) but otherwise its all good.

The scratches look like they'll be ok. You've already added stress coat, and maybe a water change to keep the pH and ammonia stable would be good, but otherwise you've done all you can. If he's acting normal it should be fine. I love those spots too; they're really cute!

Bump :bounce:

According to a glass guy I know, apparently the aqua one 620 tanks (not sure about the 620Ts) are 6mm glass, about 4mm on the corners. I'd say that estimate is even a bit liberal; I'd say they were more like 4mm all over. And 10mm? A cm thick? Who are they trying to kid? They'd be about twice as heavy with 10 or 12 mm glass, and they're light as.

If you can't be bothered collecting sand, buy builders sand from a hardware store. It's about $8 from Bunnings for a 25kg bag. Just rinse it well, it's pH neutral and is fish safe; I use it in 8 tanks.

You don't need a sump for a marine tank. When my tank was brackish I just had a canister filter and kept it clean by rinsing it out every month so the nitrates didn't build up. You can have some plants, but most don't do very well in brackish water, unless you get specific brackish plants. I just bought some fake ones cuz it was easier than scooping melting leaves out every week. I can't really see any reason why you couldn't run it with live rock (dead coral - it's really porous so the bacteria live in it) but you might be best asking someone with more experience cuz I don't want to give you the wrong advice. If you're not using live rock, you could make your own rocks. Just make sure whatever it's made out of it can withstand puffer nips; some like biting everything to see what it feels like.

Awesome! To reduce the glare, angle the camera a little bit. I'm building a thin, short tank so the fish can't swim anywhere to put them in to take photos of them. My dad's an avid photographer and has the patience to take good photos - me, not so much.

Slaters don't live underwater. Neither do mealworms, as I found out when I left mine in the rain on accident. Slaters are good for puffers cuz they survive for hours underwater, so you can hide them and they hunt for them.

Big puff is about 3 inches and little puff is about 2.5. They will handfeed, but they've bitten me a few times so I tend to use tongs. They do like mealworms, but I drowned mine on accident so they mostly have live slaters. They make a big mess with mealworms!!!

My females eat algae, but the boys don't, they just sit there with their silly bristles. The male has actually figured out to turn upside down on the bottom of the tank and let me drop shrimp pellets right on his mouth. Silly fish.

Yup. They curl up to sleep, and the shake when they wake up (roll from side to side). They rush to the front of the tank to greet me when I get home, and they like to play with their ball - they swim it up the side of the tank into the current then chase it. They also play hide and seek - one will sit with his head in the rock, the other will hide (usually a really stupid place) then the other will rush out and find him; headbutt him and the other will go hide. They play that lots, but sometimes they get distracted or forget, and will just buzz around doing their thing. I never believed they were so interactive or intelligent before I got them, but after watching them for about a week, I started seeing them doing all these silly things.

If only it was a real zeb. I live in hope.

Have the room dark, and the tank the only thing with the light on. It works much better with two flashes to get the lighting work out.

All of them. All types, shapes, colours and sizes. I think the fish are likely to head towards the rest of the fish less because they school, and more because they think somethings's going on and there might be food - even if the fish are the only activity in the tank, the results won't be very conclusive to prove that fish school. I think you'll find that the fish will spend about a minute in the tank looking round; then will head towards the other fish, then lose interest and swim away randomly. The results also won't actually prove anything unless you can do lots more tests to determine WHY they school; how will you know if they're just moving towards the other fish because they're interested, or because they want to school?

I guess once one does it, they all follow or something. It does seem unusually high, but apparently it's not that uncommon. I also have a big family, but still, about a third of them died by suicide.

That's so true. After loosing the 8th close family member to suicide this week, I know how true it is to have to cherish all those moments. You never know when might be the last time you see someone, and you should live each day like it's your last. Never finish a day thinking what if; give your all, every day, and every day be thankful for something. Phoenix, I'm sorry about your girlfriend. Seems like you two made the most of the time you had, and that's all we can ever do. After seeing so much death in my life (I've been to 28 funerals of family members and close friends, and I'm only 20), it's really helped put things into perspective for me. Never waste a moment hating something when you could spend the time loving someone; give your best, 110% to everything you do always, and no matter what, have no regrets.