raewyna

Is the bowl one of these? http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/ ... 3_392.html If so, it's 45 litres. I have one and it's great, but I have guppies and platies in mine. It's too small for goldfish. Originally it had it's own filter system up under the lid, but it was unreliable and after having a crisis in the tank I replaced it with an air pump under the lid and a simple cheapo filter that just lies on the bottom. The visual distortion factor isn't a problem. If you are up close the fish at the back look funny, but sitting back in the room and watching it they look fine. I was worried about fire when it was brand new - the sun light gets focussed on the wall behind like a magnifying glass. But it didn't happen and now that it has a biofilm there is no longer a point of light magnified on the wall. One point about your boss's feng shui concepts - I doubt that it's good feng shui to keep live animals in overcrowded or otherwise unhealthy conditions. Maybe some white clouds and a simple filter are better feng shui after all.

Is it whitespot, or just the white spots on the gills of the males which signal they are getting ready to breed?

My pair often eat eggs/fry but every now and again they get it right. One thing I have learned to do is leave a night light on for a couple of weeks. I make it dim so they can still rest, but give them enough light to see. I don't know why it helps - unless it's just giving Mun a chance to keep Dad away. But it does. I had several spawnings when I lost about 50% every night. Until I left the light on.

Only that that's the only information I've ever seen about them (have to admit I've never looked). I'm very happy if they are longer lived. I have a self sustaining population in an outside pond so I have no idea of the life spans of the individual fish. I just sell some off when there are too many.

"What are you going to do with these extra fish when you get your tropical tank??" Minnows can go out to the pond with the goldfish, or can stay indoors in the tropical tank. I have minnows in my goldfish pond. I also have minnows inside in a tropical tank and this is now the third winter the same fish have been in that tank. The original 15 is now down to 11, which is reasonable attrition for fish that are meant to only live a couple of years anyway.

I think that would be the case - as with other fish.

Thanks guys. Since I posted the original I've had another male mature the same as the one in the photo. Also a few corresponding females that are a bit hard to spot but you can just see a colour change from their gold body to the whiter colour near the tail. I haven't been able to separate them out properly - I've had a batch of baby angels taking up lots of tank space. Once they've moved on I can refocus on guppies again and sort out what I have. It's interesting that they should be called 'bumblebee'. I have a strain of females that are much better match for that word - they are gold bodies with dark rear half. On some the dark area is khaki coloured, but a couple are very dark. Not quite black though.

I looked this up a while ago - took ages to navigate through the acts, etc. From memory I think it works out that the definition of fish includes crustacea, and the selling of any fish without a licence/permit/quota is illegal except for whitebait. So you can catch all the shrimps you like for yourself, but can't sell any without a permit.

I have jugs that have open handles that can just hang on the side of the tank (hanging in the tank water to pick up the warmth from the heater). Into each jug goes 1 tbsp salt plus however many brine shrimp eggs - up to about half tsp is good. I then hang the jug over the edge of the tank and put an open air hose in it (ie no airstone on it). That gives enough aeration to keep the eggs moving and get a good hatch rate. I can use as few or as many of these jugs as I want depending on how much I need to feed. To feed, I just fill another clear sided jug with fresh water. I tip the brine shrimp mixture through a 'net' I made from fairly finely woven polyester fabric. That then goes into the clean water. Wash out the net and the used jug and make up the next batch. And meanwhile put the clean brine shrimp brew next to the tank light to attract the shrimps to the bottom, then siphon them off with a meat baster to feed. It's all quick and easy. I have baby angels at the moment and the morning feed takes only a few minutes in between me eating breakfast while I wait for the shrimps to settle.

I guess it's just the combination of genes. It could be worth breeding him back to one of the parents to see what the next generation produces. Or may not be worth bothering with. That all depends on what you're objectives are. Certainly breeding him back to parents will likely result in more the same, but might also enhance some of the good genes in some of the young.

That was interesting and seems to be new information. A few years ago I read a scientific book (came from Otago Uni I think) that had results of various experiments. Its conclusions were that female guppies take far more control over who they mate with than is usually apparent (eg the 'sneaks' don't usually succeed) and that they are usually only carrying offspring from 2 males at a time, sometimes three. Trouble is of course that the colours we like might not be the ones the females guppies like.

Maybe you have four females. They will spawn without a mate, but the eggs are sterile when they aren't fertilised. Or even it you do have a male and female together, they might not like each other. You did the right thing in getting 7 to start with, it's just unfortunate that you lost some. When I started out I bought 6 that did turn out to be three of each sex. The pair I kept are still going strong - a very strong pair bond. The second pair looked like a good pair too but when I sold them, they never bred for the buyer. The third pair did breed together but fought over the eggs and babies because neither accepted the other fish's right to them. Very problematic. That female also breed with a young male but when I sold them as a pair the first thing that happened was she paired up with a different fish in her new home. So you might need to bring in some more fish to have enough to get proper pair bonding going. Good luck.

The FNZAS plant page has a search function and also a link to the accord which should cover everything, including explaining that a few plants have special status which means that no one can have them, v. the majority of pest plants which may not be propagated or distributed in any way (ie if you already have it you are not required to get rid of it, but don't give any to anyone else).

Something to read - "Ecology of the planted aquarium" by Diana Walstad. She is a scientist who is also an aquarist. If you go to your local library it probably won't be there, but you can always interloan it. Tauranga has a copy.

Mine eat their eggs more often than not (I'm sure it's him). Occasionally they get it right and having babies growing up with parents is a joy. It's down to what your objective is. If you want lots of baby angels then you might have to separate them out. If you are just into the pleasure of letting the fish do their thing, then it might be worth waiting it out to see if they do finally get it right.