Jennifer

They have a similar shape to the hongsloi but none of mine have the orange pectoral fins, and the tail is bigger compared to the body so that might indicate that yours could be something other than hongsloi. Not sure though. Wish we had more to compare to. :roll:

They look like females to me. Of course its hard to be certain, and for that matter I can't be certain they are hongsloi, but the dark black markings on the dorsal fin and under the eye, as well as the less than prominent chin and the round body and dorsal fin, lead me to think female. The hongsloi have spots on the anal fin. I will try and post some pics of my males and females tonight.

If there is an extra female out there, please let me know! Its a very small population of them here in NZ so i want to pair up as many as I can. Btw, I have males if you want one.

If you do indeed have female hongsloi, please hang onto them. I lost some of my females in the quake so it would be nice to pair them up with the males I have. The females are a little less than half the size of the males. They look like this (note the near lack of a 'chin' and the rounded tip to the dorsal fin): http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:-vTP ... uw.jpg&t=1 and http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish1/red ... hlid-2.jpg and http://www.aqua-art.biz/fish/foto/apist ... ngsloi.jpg Compare it to the image of the male: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_WIoCiAPTp10/Shz1u ... E/0797.jpg

Sorry, I am not at my home computer today but the male looks like this photo but without the pink chin markings and yellow. The offspring are developing the pink chin markings and yellow along with very long dorsal fins. They all have that pink on the dorsal fin, tail and belly. http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/other/DSC_5311.JPG

I heard back and Bridey can talk to one of you. Just send me an email with your number and I can have her call you. She will likely ask you if you have stabilised the fracture with a figure 8 bandage. I have a slideshow that shows you how to do that if you need it, just let me know.

Hmm, I haven't heard back from my email. They must be busy, as usual. Anyway, I would just take the bird in. They won't really be able to offer much advice without seeing it and they will very likely want to retake the radiograph to get a clearer film. See the following website that details what do do if you need to bring in injured wildlife: http://wildlife.massey.ac.nz/clinic/clinic_intro.asp

They are not as finicky as you might think. Mine are in ordinary Chch tap water approx pH 7.3 and are happy as Larry. They do like a little hardness, but that is very easy to achieve and most community fish will have no problem with a little hardness either.

Yep, those three should be sweet. Keep in mind, it will take the plants at least a week to start kicking into gear so it won't happen instantly, but it will happen.

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LA, I haven't heard back yet from the txt message I sent but we usually email back and forth so I just sent an email as well. I asked what the procedure was for taking the bird in. We may not hear back until tomorrow but I will keep you updated. Be prepared to send it down!

FNZAS members are invited to attend a non-commercial symposim covering Native Fish Passage. Thurs 28th October Comittee Room GW Regional Council Building Wakefield St Wellington 10am - 12noon Topics will include: - Obstructions to fish passage (natural, physical, chemical etc) - Devices that have been developed to improve passage through floodgates, culverts etc. - Management of passage improvement contracts/projects Other attendees may include: - Engineers - Ecologists - Recreationalists including Fish & Game - DoC - Iwi - University students and staff - Private consultants - Roading, Farming and forestry contractors. If you would like more information, or to be put in touch with the speaker Kelly Hughes, feel free to contact me.

A Kaka is a pretty special bird so I think they will be very eager to receive it as soon as possible. I sent a text message just now so will keep you updated on the reply.

Its a pretty clean break LA, I would guess they would have good success fixing it. Fingers crossed. Keep us updated! P44, say hi to Bridey for me.

Hehe, sorry, I wasn't meaning 'yes' that I wanted you to talk to Brett. I was meaning 'yes' I know some of the Massey vets at the wildlife ward. :oops: Perhaps LA will tell you if he wants you to talk to them. I should have used the quote....

Yes, talk to Bret Gartrell, or my good friend Bridey in the wildlife ward (you may recognise them from the Wild Vets tv show). You will hardly find anyone better. http://ivabs.massey.ac.nz/staff_indiv.asp?id=304

Welcome! I know I have already sent you guys a letter, but I will say it again - it is great you have you all a part of the Federation!

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't add Melafix unless you absolutely have to. It is an irritant so that might stress him further.

Yes, I think they would go fine. The hongsloi are much more peaceful than other apistos in my experience. In fact, I have about 15 of them in a half full 180 L tank with a load of other fish (including other apistos) and they are nothing but peaceful all the time. I originally had my breeding pair in a tank with a pair of rams, some danios and a couple of GBA and there was never any aggression (except the usual husband/wife bashing after spawning but this wasn't directed at anyone else). My bunch may be particularly peaceful, but if so it is passing on to offspring.

+3 for shellies. I have actually been thinking of doing this for mine (the low water level after the earthquake looks really good!). Sand, shells, rocks and dwarf sagittaria. Stunning! You won't regret it.

Totally cool LA, I would love to have had the chance to hold one of those. Wow.

Phosphates aren't bad for the tank, nor do they cause algae. That is a myth. Imbalances in light and CO2 cause algae as do poorly growing plants. If you don't have plants, then turn off the lights. If you do have lights and plants,then do the following: Remove all detritus and cyano that you can see and keep doing that every other day Increase your water changes to 50% once weekly Add a liquid carbon supplement (normal doses of Excel every 24 hours) Add a nitrate supplement and potassium supplement every other day for the plants Add a trace nutrient supplement for the plants Decrease the lighting intensity or photoperiod by half Rationale: the supplemented nutrients will get the plants growing well so that they can use the nutrients in the water column and the cyanobacteria won't have anything to feed on. The water changes will prevent buildup of 'leftover' nutrients that can cause imbalance and it will also attack the cyanobacteria with a burst of CO2 dissolved in the fresh water. The liquid carbon is a 'nutrient' that will help the plants grow - if you don't already have CO2 injection. Too much light will cause algae so cut it back, but not completely off at this stage since we want the plants to start growing faster. If the problem persists, you can do a blackout of the tank.

Thanks guys, your concern is so very much appreciated. I really am amazed at all of the offers of support from the great people in this community. I have been contacted by so many of you with offers of tanks, fish, heaters, plants, filters, a spare bed and most importantly a shoulder to lean on. This is the most generous community and it has made this hard time so much more bearable. I am very lucky in that my house was mostly spared but the garage took some serious damage with split water pipes, cracks in the walls and floor and the hot water cylinder pulling from its braces, not to mention all the shelves coming off the walls. The 6 foot tank in the lounge and the two office tanks survived but I lost 10 tanks in the garage including the apisto trifasciata, wild kribs, large shellie fry, a handful of large apisto hongsloi fry, a few ancistrus and a bunch of dwarf danios. The the large shellie tank colony survived (minus 20 cm of water) including the two lots of fry that were in there. Now two of the females have kicked out their offspring and I think they have spawned again! I have been out helping those in the community who were not so lucky and have seen first hand how much work will be needed to rebuild their lives. However, we can all be thankful that we made it through with only minor injuries. We have had 480 aftershocks since the big one - I am starting to get used to them now!

Joe, I think your idea about the Hemianthus is good as it has more dense growth than Glosso so it can be pruined into attractive mounds. There are a couple of varieties around so you might be able to get some (try Hollywood Fish Farm, they sell online through their website now). Also, nano tanks look good with a sense of scale, meaning that smaller leaves, smaller fish and smaller hardscapes all contribute to a spacious looking mini aquascape. For some plants that have smaller scaled leaves, perhaps you could try Hemianthus sp, Echinodorus tenellus tenellus (for carpeting) and Ludwigia arcuata or Rotala macrandra (for the red, but it will require frequent pruning to keep it short). For increased visual impact, try limiting your plant species to just a few, and keep them clumped together and always choose carefully when selecting the hardscape, it is so important for keeping good composition when your plant growth fluctuates.

Apparently by midday today we had experienced around 400 aftershocks since last Saturday, including ten that were above magnitude 5. The model predicts that in the next seven days we will be likely to get two aftershocks of magnitude 5 or more. Hang on folks. Source: http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/News-and-Eve ... aftershock