Jennifer

Pelvicachromis pulcher is the species name for this fish. It's common names are Kribensis or Rainbow cichlid. They also come in albino variants. The male will be much larger than the female and the male will have spots on it's tail. There are also other species in the genus such as Pelvicachromis taeniatus, otherwise known as 'Wild Kribs.' In other words, your fish are of the same species and Krib is just a nickname for the species. You can register them as P. pulcher :thup:

+1 to Alan These are funny plants. They get mature then flower like crazy and if you let the seed heads mature on the plant, they will pop and the seeds will disperse throughout the tank. Then the mature plant will die off and some time later (up to a year) it will come back and all the seeds in the tank will start to grow at the same time. I tried pinching off the flowers to keep them from dying back, but it just prolonged the die back.

Hey, it's looking great! I bet your mum likes it too, eh? I think a small tetra would look nice, that way you can have lots. I would say ember tetras but they would look too much like the substrate. Perhaps reef tetras instead? They sure were cute when I saw them a few weeks back. If you need any mature media, just let me know. :thup:

The two most common monogenean freshwater flukes are Dactylogyrus (egg laying gill flukes) and Gyrodactylus (live bearing skin flukes that are invisible to the naken eye). The mode of treatment depends on their reproductive strategies; live bearers are much easier to kill with one treatment as all organisms are exposed to the medication whereas egg layers need multiple treatments since the eggs are unaffected by the medication and will continue to hatch in the environment for days afterward. Discus are much more prone to Dactylogyrus than other fish. Praziquantel is an effective anthelmintic against monogenean flukes. The dose rate is are as follows: 5-10mg/L in a 3-6 hour bath. Aerate water well and watch closely for signs of in-coordination or lethargy. Repeat in 7 days up to 3 treatments. Use lower doses with Corydoras catfish.

I am thinking of this too for my big tank as I want to aim for a more sustainable water change system where I only have to do a water change every couple of months. I have looked into it a bit. I was considering using Indian fern but the economic benefits from growing that stuff are low... I was seriously considering putting a lighted sump with hydroponic vegies in the stand. It sounds like it can be done pretty easily, easier than I thought anyway. Keep us updated with what you decide, and if it works.

:sml2:

Reef, bullying will get you nowhere, I can assure you. You have been asked to help many times but you refuse so we have been on our own with only a couple of people volunteering their time in this project. Yes, it moves slowly when busy people have to make time and yes, it is hard to stay interested when people offer only criticism and little support. Your statements are incorrect about no progress being made though. We have spent our own time and money investigating this and the FNZAS is now the primary stakeholder for the fishkeeping hobby with regard to MPI and pet Biosecurity. As Darren alluded to, this project ground to a halt when he attended one of the Pet Biosecurity meetings in Wellington and learned that no species would be added to the fishlist in the future unless someone was willing to offer tens of thousands of dollars for scientific and cultural consultation as to the biosecurity risks. The easiest option is to go through the backdoor by proving that a specific fish was imported into NZ prior to the current fish list. If this proof could be provided from old import records, then they would consider adding it to the current list. The FNZAS will not be able to comment further on the contents of the meeting. The NZ Organisms Register is another option we can investigate but it won't happen since we have had no more than a couple of people come forward to help, and none of them are willing to lead the project. More than ever before, the FNZAS represents the common hobbyist and when the common hobbyist wants to progress with this by fund raising or investigating alternative options hopefully people will come forward to make it happen. Until then, this project is still closed.

I have been out of town for work but thanks Darren for following up on this. There has been a lot 'revealed' discretely at these stakeholder meetings so we are being careful not breach confidentiality here.

I wrote an article on shipping fish for the next AW magazine. Might see about eventually getting it put on the main site so everyone can see it. :thup:

Nice work Sophia, your tank corner looks great. :happy2: I'm jealous of your great rockwork. I might have to do a tank build thread when I finally get around to planting the 6 foot tank.

That two mm tubing should be good. I find the glass one-way valves aren't quite as reliable against water leakage but they are non-reactive to CO2 (at least in our lifetime...). It might be good to add one cheapo plastic one before the glass just for a failsafe.

You will have minimal problems if you use a very thick tubing. Not all tubing is created equal. Silicone is the most porous. The tubing sold as resistant to CO2 are just thick enough that it doesn't leech out. Be sure you get one way valves in your tubing to protect your regulator. One-way valves will perish in the CO2.

Maybe that is the verbal version of :nilly: :gigl: At any rate, I will wait for a reply but I will be out of town next week so....

I just saw this. I will offer to take it. I have a big group of zebra loaches it can join (after quarantine of course...ugh).

You pretty much need to increase the nutrients as soon as you increase the lighting. The plants will take a few days to get used to things before they really start taking off. Just watch things closely and adjust as needed to keep the algae under control.

Kinda like tough fish in texture and a very mild flavour, slightly fishy. A lot like crocs or gators if you've had those. We always put it on the BBQ which may have helped the flavour.

It sounds like you are on the right track. Be sure your circulation is good and that you have enough CO2 or the plants won't be able to take up the nutrients. For EI suggested target ranges are: CO2 range 25-35 ppm Nitrate (NO3) range 10-30 ppm Potassium (K+) range 10-30 ppm Phosphate (PO4) range 1.0-2.0 ppm Iron (Fe) 0.2-0.5ppm or higher GH range 17-40 ppm or higher For a 150-230L high light tank: +/- 1/2 tsp Potassium Nitrate (KN03) 3x a week +/- 1/8 tsp Monopotassium Phosphate (KH2P04) 3x a week +/- 3/4 tsp GH booster (e.g. magnesium sulfate/epsom salts) once a week after the water change Trace elements/micronutrients 3x a week 50% weekly water change Nitrate test kits are notoriously inaccurate (although some brands are better than others). The options are to add as much as you think will be needed and see if that works, or calibrate your test kits. For example, to make a control solution to calibrate your kit, you can mix 1g of KNO3 in 500ml of distilled water to create a 2000ppm nitrate solution. To dilute that solution to a usable ppm you can take 10ml of the solution and mix it with 490ml of distilled water to create a 40ppm nitrate solution.

!drool: turkey......... About the most wild that I have eaten is rattlesnake. Used to have that every summer as a kid just from shooting ones under our deck. I got a 14 button one once. 8)

If you have lots of light (either photoperiod length or intensity) and have plenty of carbon (either Excel or CO2) the plants will be growing so fast that you will need a LOT of fertilisers to keep up. Therein lies the problem, if you don't have very exacting dosing regimes and reliable test methods, you will not easily know which of your nutrients is limiting growth (and allowing the algae to take over by using all of the other available nutrients). This is why we tend to overdose on all the nutrients to help ensure none are limiting. The amount you add depends on how much light you have (assuming you have a constant supply of carbon during the photoperiods). For a while, I had a really high tech tank running and was adding about 1tsp of dry potassium nitrate each day! Not to mention all the other ferts... For your setup, it sounds like you don't have much biomass left so nutrient/carbon/light requirements will be low until you get some mass in there again. It is much easier to start with low tech and very gradually go up to high tech. Add some floating plants (like Indian Fern) in the mean time to help things stabilise again. If you have new enriched substrate, don't add too much light for a month or so since the substrate will be leeching into the water column. About some of the algae: the blackout will not erase the algae but it will kill it so it is easier to remove. It will also stimulate the plants to grow. Black brush algae is not affected at all by a blackout. Green spot algae is caused by insufficient phosphate. Most other green algae will prosper in any conditions of high light regardless of the nutrient level.

I would say you would need to go to Timaru or Dunedin. Another thing to consider is getting something posted to you. Postage within the island is probably cheaper than petrol all that way.

I just had this discussion split as I feel it is a fair and civil discussion and it is not out of bounds of the rules. The Federation's stance is that we do not wish to be heavy handed with moderating this forum and thus we encourage civil debate of relevant issues. Regarding some issues brought up in this thread, I feel I need to clarify some things. The Federation has no financial incentive at all from any local businesses but it is one of our primary goals to support local fishkeeping and in doing that, we need to encourage the shops to thrive by recommending any and all local shops to our members. Advertisement from any source is considered without bias. Comments from executives on this forum are their own opinion unless otherwise stated as an official FNZAS position statement. With regard to on-selling of food, I have been informed by MPI that on-selling of food is illegal over a certain limit (a commercial seller must have a permit from their local city council). The FNZAS is not in the position to police illegal activity, and we also cannot be seen to condone illegal activity on the forums therefore if we are alerted to illegal activity on the forums, we will take other steps as needed to address the offending member and will provide evidence to the authorities as asked. So, if you think you may be doing something illegal, you may want to keep discussions to yourselves. Otherwise, feel free to keep the debate going and enjoy the forums. :thup:

Neither get direct sun but both are in a room that gets direct sunlight for a few hours a day. They both are low light intensity and have a 7 hour photoperiod.

I think more of the problem is related to the excess light as you suggest, not the Flourish. I have two tanks that I run this way and the plants grow so well that I have to prune about once a month. You just have to be consistent with dosing and have enough plants so that they will take off and use up the nutrients you are putting in there. You also need to have a low light tank or the Flourish Comprehensive won't be enough. It is actually very easy. I think you will be delighted with the results.

Sophia, the algae will be dead, so just wipe it away. Do a good water change and pop the photo period up to 6 hours a day. If you really want to have some spectacular growth that isn't hard at all, add 1ml of Flourish Comprehensive daily and 5 mls of Excel once a week after a 50% water change (I am assuming your tank is 35L? I can't recall... :oops: ). The growth will take off and you will be delighted with how easy it is to maintain.

You'll have no trouble Dan, the pair just require slightly warmer water to the apistos. Mine spawn on broad leafed plants.