lmsmith

Thanks guys. I really have NO idea what I'm looking at when it comes to skimmers; I'm not even sure I know what they do! I just know I need one. :oops:

Wanna have a race to breed them? I just bought 12 today from the big A, so hopefully they should be ready to breed soon, unless they're stocked up on hormones.

I say try it and let us know. Maybe feed 1 fish in a small tank.

How much are they to buy? I need it to do a 4ft tank.

So I need a skimmer. Aside from the obvious problems that I don't have any idea what a skimmer does, how to make one, or even how much they cost shop bought, what are the pros/cons of each? I'm looking at the cheapest and best way to skim my nearly marine puffer tank.

When it looks like a pinecone and its gills are bleeding, it's sick. When it's doing normal goldfish things, it's ok.

Mine too, Caryl! I use java moss too; either in the plastic ones or the nets. Remember not to put the mum in too early, or leave her too long. She gets stressed. I actually moved to using a floating container; it's bigger so they don't tend to get stressed out as much, and you can keep the babies in it for longer because there's more volume.

I'd plant it up, get rid of the silver dollars, and have some less messy fishies in there, and 2 - 3 water changes a week would be ok. Or, use a filter, but put filter wool over the intake. Then, instead of cleaning the filter, just change/rinse the filter wool every few weeks. Much easier.

That's why I advocate bringing tipping to nz. Service people should provide good service, not matter how much they are paid. Whether they like it or not, THEY are the face of the business they work for. I disagree with you, Alan, I think stores have a duty to provide solid advice. Just because they don't, doesn't mean they shouldn't. Imagine you were to buy a car. You want one that will seat your family of 4, fit in your garage and be able to tow a boat. You ask the sales person for advice. Were they to sell you a ferarri, you would have the right to get your money back, and depending on the situation, sue for damages because they have breached the fair trading act. However, you really wouldn't expect that; you expect that people selling cars or houses or tvs know their products and will advise you accordingly. Pet stores have the same onus of duty of care. If you ask them for advice and they misrepresent something, they have breached the fair trading act. I think petstores truly have a duty to learn their products and to provide solid advice. If tipping is that way to encourage and enforce that, then i'm all for it.

I went into animates in Welly during the week, and saw a tank full of goldfish that looked like they were swimming strangely. I don't know that much about goldfish, but I do know they shouldn't swim upside down, nor head up, and they should have tails. Upon closer inspection, I saw that 4 or 5 of them had very obvious dropsy; the poor things were hugely swollen and had the pinecone scales. I went to one of the shop assistants, and asked if she knew she had a tankful of dropsy. She said that they weren't dropsy, they were goldfish. I sighed, and patiently explained that dropsy was a disease, and that fish who have it die. I said they shouldn't be selling the fish because they were sick, and should quarantine the tank. She then said that she would know if they were sick, because she worked in a petshop. I argued a bit longer, then left without buying anything. I don't understand how people can be like this!!!

Add some salt, that should help keep it healthy. Whether or not you should take the male out depends on how big your tank is and whether you have places for the girl to hang out. Your water parameters would really help us out.

You're a baker? Start a baking thread, I LOVE baking!!!!

A solid breeder (or ice cream container or something floated in the top) is more secure, because fish can suck the fry out through the net. Not such an issue if you only have the mollies in there, but if you have fish that are a bit bigger, or corys or something similar, then watch out for it.

Do lots and lots and lots and lots of water changes. Then do another one. That's the best thing you can do for them. Read these two threads; they're about blue ram breeding, but from what I understand, it's pretty similar. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33559 http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33971

That's a bernese mountain dog at 5 weeks. I know a lady who breeds them, and they just had 7 puppies. Beautiful dogs, huge though! The photo's not great quality, it was taken from my phone, but I love it anyway!

Aren't monarch caterpillars poisonous?

The more hiding places you give him, the happier he'll be. But he might just be shy, and not want to come out. What sort of pleco is he? Pleco is pretty generic; lots of people think that applies to all bottom dwellers.

No meat, it makes it cheap. It would be pretty awesome with bacon though.

They're fine with plants, well, my ones are.

Aw don't give up on them, they're great fish!

I'm a big pasta fan, my fav cold pasta salad: 500g pasta (penne or the twisty one is good) 2 capsicum or a 500g jar of the one in oil 1 500g jar of sundried tomatos 500g feta cheese 1 bag of baby spinach Cook the pasta and let it cool, chop the sundried tomatos, capsicum, feta and spinach into little bits. Add all the bits to the pasta, and toss it. Add a few teaspoons of the oil from the sundried tomatos and it's delicious, otherwise add a balsamic vinaigrette or something. Done. It's delicious, really easy, and great for lunch, or a BBQ salad. That recipe would feed 6, so halve or quarter it to suit. It also stores well, so you can make it up, then put it in a container and leave it in the fridge for a few days.

Thanks guys; I went into animates today at got one. $44.95. But on the plus side, I'm only $75 away from my next $10 voucher!

I agree with Ron; it's def gill flukes. I'd go with the prazi to treat them; if they're still eating, get some liquid prazi or some dog wormer called droncit. Soak their food in 28mg of it, or if they're not eating, add 100mg/10l into a hospital tank for 3 hours. While they're in the hospital tank (or plastic container, whatever) do a big tank clean. Repeat the next day (you can reuse the prazi water), then do a 30 - 50% water change every day for the next week.

I only have a gazillion baby bronze corys and guppies in the tank, so there's nothing big enough to eat them. Although I am concerned about feeding them, they've eaten 3 courgettes a day for the last 3 days!

The first fish I ever wanted to breed when I started keeping fish 2 years ago was BN. It was really hard to watch everyone posting about how they have heaps of them without trying, and now I finally have babies!!! I'm really excited, the dad was really good with them, and I've got about 30 that I can see, but I guess there's probably another 20 or so hiding out of view. They're all out and about now, and growing really fast. Here's a pic, the plant you can see is duckweed; so you can see how tiny they are!