Jennifer

When I moved here from California 10 years ago, I left a fishroom and breeding tanks. I didn't fully realise what I'd be giving up when I got here so when I decided to get back into it four years ago I was crushed to realise I couldn't get Satanoperca leucosticta and Herichthys carpintis. Then I nearly cried to think that I sold my beautiful pair of true red G. surinamensis. Might never see that type of fish again since they are almost lost due to hybridisation. Giving up on the larger fish has made me take on a whole new challenge with the smaller fish, and more plants so that is good.

That's right! by the end of the month, I will have spent every Saturday of November partying...er...I mean doing important business... :roll: :lol:

We'll just have another meeting! After all, they are really more like parties than meetings.

Yes, yes and yes to all of the above. That would be great. I will mention it at the meeting tomorrow to see how many other people would like to do the spotlighting - that should be really fun!

We have new people in executive office and appointed committees and they are working hard to answer some of these questions but over the past few years a small number of dedicated people have been left to do all the work themselves with an apathetic response from members and lack of commitment from people who are not members. FNZAS executives and committee appointees aren't paid positions. We are volunteers who work on these issues in our spare time and hitting a brick wall of apathy from members is incredibly disheartening. If you want to influence the public voice of the FNZAS, get involved so you can vote on who gets appointed to executive offices and committees. If you want to keep interest in an important issue then keep the ball rolling with continued support and enthusiasm so the representatives know what the members want and can recruit sufficient help and expertise when needed. I have very little tolerance for complaining and I am absolutely not interested in dwelling on the past, that will get us nowhere. Let's keep talking about where we can go from here - that is how we can make a difference now. If you have information that will help, then get involved so that we can improve our collective knowledge and influence.

Reduce your light intensity/photo period and that will reduce the plants' demands for nutrients. Otherwise increase and stabilise the CO2 and add more ferts somehow. One or the other. To get rid of the BBA, you can do a black out, dose with flourish, or correct the nutrient/CO2 imbalance.

Exactly. Even if you don't have the time to do much legwork, your positive voice will make a difference to keep us going in the right direction. Instruction is one thing, encouragement is everything.

For many years the FNZAS has been acting as a representative body for fish clubs. Each club is individual in their activities but they seek a common affiliation under the FNZAS umbrella. In theory, this should mean that the FNZAS is not only a resource, but it also speaks for all hobbyists with regard to their concerns and this could have great influence with national and local government, as well as in the public eye. This public voice relies on a few things including, but not limited to: 1. the FNZAS listening to what the club members want; 2. the FNZAS moderating itself to ensure the members' message is conveyed accurately; 3. appointed FNZAS executives and committee members stay motivated to continue working to achieve common goals. The executives are nominated by their clubs so this is one big way the clubs can influence our collective voice. I can only speak for myself when I say that I thought long and hard when I was asked if I would be willing to be nominated for this role. My sole reason for getting involved was because I believe that the FNZAS can do more for hobbyists, and that I can make a difference toward that end, if only by encouraging success and promoting a positive outlook for the future. Time will tell whether or not I am successful, but if I can get more good people involved, the stronger we will get and the more we can spread the workload and actually get some things done. For too long now it has been one or two people working to get things done and not only is this not sustainable in the long run, it is not in the spirit of community which is exactly what the FNZAS is supposed to represent. The Fish Committee is a small group of motivated people who were partly appointed by the executives to work on issues of interest to the club members. It is a very good group of reasonable people who genuinely want to get things done. Some of these issues include correcting the spelling of names in the existing allowable fish import list; establishing a relationship between FNZAS and MAF BNZ and ERMA to clarify import guidelines; formulating useful guidelines for adding fish to the import list; posting guidelines to the FNZAS website as a resource for the members; improving resource articles on the FNZAS website; monitoring judging and standards for fish shows and appointing a panel of experts who can be called upon to provide expertise in any matters relating to issues at hand. There are action groups working on each of these areas and it really helps to have motivated people involved who can help with some of the legwork. Here is a link to all affiliated clubs. Now is a good time to get involved.

Wow, that was great. ...and then I clicked on the next link, and the next. Check out these : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX90r12A ... re=related

Interesting topic. pm'd 8)

WOW POTM material right there! (that's photo of the month). :bounce: You have some serious photography skills! Hey Deepsound, want to join our local club? I need an excuse to come to Paris...

Wow, you have an amazing talent. That is spectacular.

Love this one. After trying several types I keep going back to it. I have about a dozen of them now and none have ever given me a problem, even with big loads.

Haha! I want to make some of those, they look so creepy cool. :lol:

Agreed! It can also be caused by high silicates, photoperiods over 11 hours and excessive nitrate or phosphate. Brown 'algae' are actually diatoms (single celled organisms) and they are a temporary problem in newly set up tanks. It will usually resolve and not come back but it can be a sign of imbalance so it is good to try and sort it out so you don't get worse algae problems. One solution is to get some fast growing plants that will use up the nutrients. Then, slowly (over a week or so) increase the photoperiod to 9 hours and ensure that your lighting intensity is good for the plants you are keeping. Do a weekly 50% water change and supplement with carbon (CO2 or liquid carbon). This will get things going in the right direction toward balance.

Congratulations! You are doing well. The nest looks good and should provide enough structure to prevent splay legged chicks. Keep up the good food to the parents. In addition to their normal diet, you can also feed mashed/blended hard boiled egg (including the shell), sprouted seeds and sprouted wheat (wheat grass), and mealworms. You can also add a little bit of hand rearing formula to the mashed hard boiled egg and this can help to prevent nutrient deficiency in the chicks. The parents will feed the chicks as much variety as they can but they are limited to what is available in the cage!

http://www.wimp.com/octopusmimic/

I don't know about mixing them but personally, I wouldn't do it. The frequency of dosing depends on the amount of light and carbon you have. Technically, the 'life' of Excel is only about 24 hours so daily dosing is fine. Daily dosing with Comprehensive is fine, if you have the light and carbon to support it, although keep in mind that lighting intensity can be low but if you leave it on for too long you will still have a higher demand. You also need to do a big water change once a week if you are adding lots of ferts or they could get out of balance. If you have lots of light though you will eventually get more success if you add additional nitrate and phosphate since comprehensive doesn't have enough for a high demand system. You should see a lot of new growth within 7-10 days, if you don't then it is time to reevaluate.

I personally feel DIY CO2 is best for tanks that are 70 to 150L - anything smaller than that can be quite unstable with the variable CO2 produced by the yeast. Plants do need carbon though and the most stable way to provide that in a smaller tank is by dosing with Flourish Excel. It is very affordable and safe when dosed as directed (about 1ml/40L of tank water, every day or every other day depending on your lighting). If you add Flourish Comprehensive at around the same dose and rate as Excel you will get a good spectrum of micronutrients and macronutrients. All of this will result in very good growth with that amount of light (as long as your photoperiod isn't so long as to cause algae).

I go to Pines Beach Kaiapoi.

Good thing it didn't suck blood...it may have gotten a bit... tipsy. :lol: 8) That's a cute one, looks like it is out of a cartoon. I totally creeped myself out doing a brief Google search to find out what it was. Ick!

Postage from North America is expensive. My mum sends me shoe box sized packages and it costs her about $50 in postage alone!

Welcome to the forum! Great to see another Chch person on here. There is plenty of reptile interest in our club so you will fit right in. The meeting is at my house this time, November 6. We are a really friendly and social group. Just an excuse to get together, eat and talk about fish and stuff. Hope to see you there!

Female.