Jennifer

Ahem... don't forget to pass on the royalties... :roll:

:lol:

(insert cute racoon pic here)

Are those the ferts I think they are? 8) Keep me updated.

You can find it lots of places. Try any little gourmet food shop, particularly Mediterranean food markets.

As promised, since the exec meeting in November, there has been a huge amount of work underway upgrading the website infrastructure. These are nearly complete now and as I mentioned above, updates will be sent to delegates as these changes take place so that all members (not just those that access the forums) can be informed directly. When the infrastructure is in place, FNZAS members will have access to updates by all of the committees, including the Fish Committee, and be able to weigh in directly in key areas. In this way, it is my hope that with the fish list project, the fish committee will be in charge of choosing a realistic range of species and affiliated members will be able to pick the key species they wish to be on the application. In the last few weeks the fish committee has been on hold while the leader is busy getting married and going on honeymoon!

Lucky you! I am sure you will be spending lots of time enjoying them. The fish look great in those big groups and seem to be very good quality!

http://wimp.com/parrotsings/

Poor things. What a hard time. Not the best adventure, that's for sure!

Wok has smiley diarrheoa. :lol:

Wow, what a terrible adventure. You must have been worried sick. Great that you will have them home safe very soon. Reminds me of a dreadful 'examination' I had from a 'doctor' in a Bangkok hospital once. I am pretty sure inappropriate touching is not a valid medical procedure! :an!gry

I use a pipette to deposit whiteworms and BBS near the shell. Regular feeding is key to success with these guys. If the female has several shells around, the fry will branch out into those adjacent shells naturally and the parents will gradually stop caring for them but will still let them live in the territory - the fry are very good at hiding and staying out of trouble. When the fry are 2-3 weeks old, the parents will kick them out of the main shells so the female can start nesting again. The parents become less tolerant then and the fry often end up chased all over the tank but the other shellies (if there are others) will not mind too much if fry are in their territory. The adults will never eat the fry although they may kill the fry if the female is protecting eggs/fry. I tried keeping them all in the same tank and it mostly worked well but the females that tried to lay again always got mobbed by the youngsters who ate the new fry. I also would lose fry occasionally as the pairs got broody and aggressive to intruders. Now I remove the fry after 2-3 weeks - just as soon as I see the fry are starting to spread out to the margins of the parent's territory.

Awesome. In my mind you should have won just for that awesome team name. I laugh every time... :lol:

Indeed you do. 8) http://totallytanked.co.nz/ Welcome to the forum!

That's exactly correct BikBok. The critical socialisation period for cats is between about 2 and 9 weeks of age (in contrast, the socialisation period for dogs last until they are 12 weeks of age). This is a very important stage of development where they essentially learn to be confident around others and learn how to interact with their environment. Handling them at that stage is important, but giving them access to other animals their same age and species is vital for their lifetime well-being. This is why we try very hard not to hand rear cats and dogs on their own. Many breeders these days will insist on keeping the puppy or kitten until nearer the end of the socialisation period so that they get the benefit of interacting with their litter mates and mother.

I am sure it is because all antibiotics are prescription only (except for Furan). Furan is very unusual that is does not require a prescription and vets that aren't familiar with fish are unlikely to know it is sold at pet shops.

Excellent advice, I couldn't agree more. If you have more than one tube there, you might consider dosing the ferts every other day (e.g. Flourish comprehensive plus extra nitrates). As FDB said above, daily dosing with Excel to keep stable CO2 levels. Water change once weekly, about 25-40%. If you aren't into all that, then cut your photoperiod right down to 3-4 hours a day and go low tech by dosing once weekly and doing a fortnightly water change. The plants will still be healthy, but will grow much slower.

It is against the law for vets to give prescription-only medication without establishing a patient-client relationship (in general this means the vet must examine the animal and know the client before they can prescribe some medications). With almost no exceptions, antibiotics are prescription-only medications. Furan is a rare exception - I think it is OTC (over the counter or non-prescription) because it is not frequently prescribed in humans therefore there is little risk of human exposure resulting in bacterial resistance (it is unlikely to be used to save your life one day).

Especially that chicken! drooooll

Cats are actually very sensitive to stress and 'inappropriate urination' can be a way that this is manifested in their behaviour. A few things to keep in mind: 1. Positive reinforcement is 10 times more effective than negative punishment - in other words, punishing the cat for doing the wrong thing will not be as effective as rewarding it when it is doing the right thing. 2. Urinating is inherently a self rewarding action - it feels good! To overcome this 'natural' reward you need to provide a greater motivation to encourage the cat to stop the behaviour. 3. Rule out a medical cause. This is always the first thing to do - cats will often urinate in abnormal places when they have a bladder infection or related medical problem. Rule of thumb when dealing with inappropriate urination in cats: Minimise perceived stress - if you ave a multiple cat household make sure there is enough territory for each, this often means at least areas of safety/privacy as well as one litter tray for each cat. Size, and location of the litter tray are important as is the litter material - this cannot be understated. Neighborhoods with many cats can be very stressful in terms of territory. This can be a significant hurdle to overcome. This is a very good article which covers many of the most important aspects in these cases: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochure ... iling.html Some tips for training your cat (YES, it is possible!): http://drsophiayin.com/resources/tips/ Good luck!

As others have said, brown algae is usually just diatoms that bloom as a result of high dissolved silicates or an ammonia spike. Since this tank was established for a while, I would guess it isn't the silicates as much as it was an ammonia spike resulting from the lack of nitrifying bacteria in the new substrate you have added. As others have said, Otocinclus will eat it, but it also will usually pass after a few weeks. If you are doing increased water changes, take care to change little amounts often rather than large amounts. You will have a lot of nutrients in the water column from the new substrate and if you add fluctuating CO2 levels from the water changes, that can cause an outbreak of much more serious algae. I would recommend dropping your photoperiod to about 6 hours, above all else this will help keep the algae at bay and the plants will still thrive. Then, as the tank settles and the brown algae dissapears, gradually increase things as you increase carbon and nutrients to match.

Casual Christmas BBQ/potluck at my place this Saturday starting at 6pm. The plan is to visit and eat and then have a short meeting where we will make a plan for the next year's meetings and Pet Expo. Put your hand up for a main, salad/side or nibbles so we don't end up with 10 lots of bread rolls. :lol: Ha! Afterward there will be a movie and ice cream sundae party for anyone who wants to stay on. Bring a favourite topping for your sundae - hopefully we will end up with an excellent selection. Movie theme will be action adventure unless someone wants to bring a doco or something else we will vote on. Can't please everyone, but I am sure we will have fun regardless. If you have anything to add to the meeting agenda, just let me know.

Tinwini danio, they are a dwarf danio that are very active. I have used them with apistos many times with no problems. Another idea is Ottos - they move around a lot in a shoal. I am currently using a lot of these with apistos and they actually work great.

Welcome Kerryn. It looks like you have definitely caught the fish bug!