Jenna

Apparently they're fine as long as the chickens are young when the quail is introduced - even better if the chickens are young and the quail is already established. We're pretty lucky here as far as che council goes - there's no limit to how many chickens you can have, as long as any roosters don't make too much noise (and we're not having any) ...and the poo will be awesome for the garden :lol:

we're planning on doing the same in a few weeks We're in the middle of Christchurch city but there's nothing that says we can't have as many chickens as we like here - the only thing is that they aren't allowed to mae a lot of noise, hence no roosters! We are building a coop and run, fully enclosed so the local cats don't get at the inhabitants, and when it is built, we will put a few (3 or 4) 8-week old chickens. That makes them old enough not to need heat-lamps etc. We're also putting a quail or 2 in there. Loving the idea of having super-fresh free-range eggs available all the time!

I prefer to use a breeding net - it is a plastic frame with a fine fabric mesh around it, and 2 bendable metal brackets which hang over the side of your tank. The mesh is too small for the fry to swim out, and all the water is still circulating from the rest of the tank, so it stays aerated etc. Put a little floating plant in there to hide them from mum, and take her out after she seems to have dropped most of the fry. You can get them at your LFS or on the auction site (search under "fish net breeder") for $10-15. I find mine to be so useful that it always seems to be clipped on the tank for some reason, even when there's no young fry in there. Don't panic, there will be more babies - take it as a lesson, save as many as you can this time and be ready for next time. They're so cute aren't they!

haha, ahhh ok I see.... How about this - I'll try them on the mozzies, and I'll share what they don't want evenly amongst anyone who wants them. ...... oops sorry - none left, greedy fishies! *sigh* maybe next time :lol: Thanks for the advice - I always love to find new things to feed them, and now I have some very happy, mosquito filled mollies here!

Looking at a bucket outside my greenhouse, there are a couple of inches of what looks like mosquito larvae infested water. Would my community fish love these? If so, is it a simple matter of scooping them out with a net and dropping them into the tank? Would love to know if there's a treat outside for the fishies, before they grow up and bite me!

Wow I'm surprised but happy to hear so many recommendations for Tutto Bene! Happy because that seems to be where my neighbour wants to go after talking to a few people. Surprised because every review I've seen online has been average to bad! See http://www.dineout.co.nz/restaurant.php?rest=3864&Restaurant=Tutto_Bene I guess the ones who weren't happy with their experiences were the only ones who bothered to write reviews. Sad really Thanks to all who recommended Tutto, earlier today I was talking my neighbour out of wanting to go there but now I'm looking forward to going there... and I'm going to make sure that if my night is a good one, they will see a review which reflects it!

I've lived in Christchurch about 2 1/2 years now but haven't been out many places for dinner. Now my neighbour has just sold her house, wants to take a group of us out for a really great dinner, and has enlisted my help in finding the right place to go. There will be about 8 of us I think, and we're after somewhere we don't have to be too sedate or dressed up to the nines - if someone tells a funny joke, we don't want to be frowned at for laughing too loudly for examples, I've been thinking about somewhere like Cooking With Gas across from the arts centre, or a good teppan-yaki restaurant to make the night an experience, but would love a few more ideas Any suggestions or recommendations? Any help appreciated!

Haven't seen it here, but there are a few copies on amazon right now. ranging from 9.45 US$ to 11.99 US$ - one of them is even still unopened. Shipping looks pretty reasonable with them too - 4.99 US per item Have a quick look at TM for the Origin of Species, there seem to be a couple there.

haha yeah, emails and maybe a very little surfing is all she's really interested in. Anything bigger (including any security downloads first time she connects) can be done at my house over my wireless network, but her day to day stuff shouldn't go over the 10MB mark 8)

get mollies! Seriously, that's exactly why I always wanted mollies - they're so sociable! They and their fishy kisses are a hit with every visitor (especially kids) I have; following a finger on the side of the tank or tickly nibbles on the fingers. No training, they just do it. Here's a youtube clip I just took. They were fed not too long ago, so are a little more lethargic and less enthusiastic than usual, but still up for the kisses! they even love to force themselves between fingers and glass, to the point where they struggle to get past, then turn right around and do it again. They're just so much fun!

Thanks for the replies, I'm still looking into it all but so far it seems the cheapest way so far is to get her a vodem and a prepay sim card. Main point being she's a 70+ yo lady from Scotland, in NZ without transport, staying in Hornby (outskirts) and wanting to keep in regular contact with her friends and family back there. Much as she wouldn't mind having a nice cup of tea in some wireless hotspot occasionally, every day is a heck of a mission to accomplish :lol: I tried getting a USB external dial-up modem, so she could just run around the house/yard with a massive extension cord.... but they're hard to find and not as re-sellable as a vodem would be after she goes home. It would be even better if I could find some place that leases vodems to tourists (though given what tourists are typically charged, it'd be cheaper to buy!) As I said I'm still looking into it, so I'm still welcoming suggestions Thanks

My poor cat was sprawled out anywhere that looked shady today - pity it was just as hot in the shade! 39 was not fun! 10pm now and still 27.6.... looking at another sleepless one Still, its great for the garden! :lol:

9am and already 27 degrees in CHCH. Gonna be another hot one 8)

My partner's auntie from Scotland arrived in NZ the other day. She's here until mid March and bought a teeny tiny notebook specifically so that she can check her emails etc comfortably from her couch/table/outside in the sunshine etc. She's no technophobe for a 70-something year old! :lol: What she didn't count on was the dial-up connection my partner's dad has. We called Vodafone and it is looking like a horifically expensive exercise getting her connected for such a short period of time (2 1/2 months), starting with $250 for the modem stick and $90 a month because of the short time. I'm currently completely buried up to my eyeballs trying to glean any information on other suppliers, but trying to look at too much at once.... i'm going a little hysterically blind Does anyone have any other experience with this kind of situation and/or have and ideas on how to bring the price down?

almost 7pm now and still 26.5 ....and I've been outside setting up the irrigation system in the garden all day ....soooo hot! *dies*

I've never added salt to my community tank (3ft) and the mollies all seem very happy, many of them are currently pregnant

Are young bristlenoses (about 3cm) safe housed with severums, oscars & other cichlids, as long as they have safe places to hide etc?

I had heard of swords changing sex, but a couple of my mollies are in the process of doing the same! This batch of lyretails was born beginning of August and all (yes all) surviving fry were female. The two adult males have been having a great time impregnating as many as possible lately, and many of the 17 or so younger ones are starting to look familiarly plump. But suddenly there are 2 more males in there than there were before - 2 of the younger ones now have definite gonopodiums, and seem to be having fun exercising them too Fortunately the 2 who seem to be changing DON'T seem to be pregnant - how confusing would THAT be :-? So has anyone else had mollies changing sex?

thanks for the welcomes! Dixon, right now the fry are all platy - the mollies haven't had any babies in a few months - though the last batch is about old enough now to start. They're really gorgeous gold & black lyretails too - i'll keep you posted

So this morning I watched as one of the heavily pregnant platies in my nursery tank swam around pooping babies. She was constantly followed by another heavily pregnant platy, who almost instantly ate most of the fry popping out of her tank mate. I've been keeping fishies long enough now that this doesn't shock me, or panic me enough to go catching every tiny fry and putting it into a breeder net - as it did the first couple of times - but see it now as the fishies' way of seriously dampening the population explosion. I still add a few more floating plants to give them more of a chance though Anyway, Hi! I'm Jenna... long time lurker, first time poster. I've been hanging around here for ages, though I couldn't join on my regular email addy - hotmail. Then I finally got wise and signed up using my partner's email addy I have 2 tanks, one is currently my nursery tank and my bigger one is community. I love platies and mollies and Feargal the rainbow sharky. One of the first inhabitants of the smaller tank (before the mollies reproduced and we upgraded) was a female bristlenose we call Little Spot. 2 1/2 months ago we put a couple of males in with her and 9 days later I saw babies - now there are a couple hundred of them - lucky they're so dam cute So I'm here to ask questions when I need it, help others out when I can, and have fishy conversations with people who actually care what I'm talking about! Reeeeeally happy to be here!