raewyna

I see the National Library link didn't work - must have been too long to cope. If you go to http://nzlc.natlib.govt.nz and search the book title you should get it OK.

"I just notice that most of the fries my 5 females are dropping are mostly females". The comments about temperature are interesting. Another possibility is that you have female 'males'. I read this book "Sex, color, and mate choice in guppies". I'm sure it says that because guppies have X and Y genes, when a female 'turns male' she is of course still genetically female so the babies she 'fathers' will be XX and therefore all female, some of which will also become hormonally male and function as such, but are genetically female. It's a great book - written from a scientific viewpoint and very interesting. For anyone who wants to read it, it's only held at two universities (shown here http://nzlc.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/Pweb ... _Code=GKEY^*&PID=sIKaMddJMt4qFgWOziJw9ui-eD&SEQ=20091218090414&CNT=25&HIST=1) but you can interloan it through your local library. Charges vary according to your local library policy. Mine cost $5. Or for a Google Books limited preview see http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=ZOlB ... q=&f=false. It gives quite a decent amount of the content there.

My pair spawn again when the fry are 21 days old and the first spawning gets eaten by the existing fry, then at the next spawning the parents kill the fry. It was heart breaking. So now when they look like breeding again I 'disturb' them - water changes, rearrange the tank, whatever it takes to keep them from laying. I got one lot through to 3 months old like that. It was great seeing parents and babies together although I did have to split some babies to another tank as they grew. The parents maintained their protective instinct too, so long as they hadn't spawned again. (Overall they're not a great pair though - he has a taste for eggs and babies so eats far more than he raises, but when he does get it right he's great).

There is the theory that higher temperatures = faster metabolism = shorter life and it makes sense. But - I put a group of adult white clouds into a tropical tank March 2008 and there has only been one loss so far. Over that time they have shared with guppies, platties and angels - often with temps up to 28. I'm starting to get a picture that supposedly cold water fish also have a higher tolerance for hot. I don't know about the danios, but they might be the same.

Re temperature. The goldfish will be fine at 20deg - they spend the summer much hotter than that. I've read that goldfish have more tolerance for warm water than most tropicals but I think if they are too hot their oxygen requirement becomes a problem. I think a heater set to 20 would be a great idea for over wintering those fish that don't like it too cold. I kept a handful of guppies in our dining room over the winter with no heater. Some nights the room went down to 13. They were OK, but not really happy - slowed right down and didn't eat much - but did still eat and grow. Just not as fast as the warm ones. Having said that, the outside goldfish and minnows slow right down and stop eating over winter too. The minnows totally disappear for a couple of months. So I have mixed feelings on how cold is too cold. I did eventually warm the guppies up again though.

Blueguppies. You seem to be having a problem getting the brine shrimp going. I just use a jug or drink bottle hanging in the tank (tall skinny jug with open bottom handle to hang over the side is very practical) and put an air hose into it so that the hose reaches the bottom. Add a spoon of tonic salt (amount according to water volume) and the brine shrimp cysts. They'll be hatching in 24 hours give or take depending on temperature. When I just have a few babies I just run one culture at a time, but can do up to four at a time when needed (eg when I had baby angels - man those guys can EAT). Sometimes a culture might fail if something happens - like the air hose has blocked with salt and they lost aeration. That's only occasional though. When I harvest them, I put some warm fresh water in a clear jug. I poor the brine shrimp into a 'net' that is made of fabric tight enough that they don't go through, then put them into the fresh water. Let them settle with a light at the bottom (eg torch or tank light). The shells and unhatched cysts will either float or sink right to the bottom and you can siphon off the live shrimps with a meat baster. They're the bright orange mass near the bottom close to the light. You might see some at the top opposite the light too - they have gone to the reflected light instead. Don't leave them sitting for too long - they suffocate quite quickly once the aeration has gone. There are lots of other set ups too. Once you get going you'll be fine and it's worth it. If you are doing something like that and not getting a good hatch rate, maybe wait a bit longer in case they are slower for some reason (they're still fine at 48 hours - just not quite so nutritious), or else look at whether your cysts might have gone off. They're very vulnerable to temperature and moisture. I have a big tin and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge and just have a few table spoons at a time in the 'everyday' container. Does that help? Good luck.

We all know that guppies like a bit of salt. I just had an experience of how much they can take. My current brine shrimp set up is a jug with its handle hanging over the side of the tank. This particular time lots of eggs were washed up on the sides of the jug so I scooped some water from the tank to wash them back into the brine solution and must have inadvertently scooped up a baby guppy from the tank - which I didn't notice at the time. Next day when I harvested the bbs, there was this guppy swimming around in the brine shrimp. It was agitated and didn't look like it had eaten many, but it was very much alive. So as well as surviving being in that level of salt, it also survived the sudden change of salinity when it went in. I gave it about a one hour float back to fresh and it was fine when it went back into the tank with the others. Thought people might be interested. And yes, I'll take more care next time.

Thanks for that. There does seem to be conflicting information 'out there' which is why I wanted to be a little bit cautious. A number of sources say 16deg and up, but others mention freezing conditions in their natural habitat, plus also the fact that there are differing natural habitats. I did take the risk on putting these two outside so that the babies can have the inside tank. So far so good. The temperature has been down to 13deg in the outside tank but they come for breakfast so are obviously fine at that level.

I have a pair of paradise that I want to put outside but have been waiting for the weather to warm up. They're currently in a small unheated indoor tank and are breeding. They're OK at present - he pushes her around a bit but I gave her hiding places and she doesn't seem stressed - but they would be better off in the bigger tank. Their outside tank is ready for them but I'm worried that another cold snap may be too cold for them. How cold is safe for them? At present the outside tank is about 14 degrees each morning. But of course if we got another late frost it could get a lot colder than that. Does anyone know what their lower limit is please?

Aha. Found it. Thanks Zev.

Hi Cesarz. I can't look at let alone update my profile. Something in the set up I guess. I'm in Te Puke so not near you to look at the book, but I'm happy to accept recommendations. if you feel it's worth it, or if you were disappointed when it arrived I would have second thoughts. I've started looking at what else is out there. There's a lot of information on the net, but I'm into books too and would hope that the book would be comprehensive information all in one place, and also that it would have a bit more depth than what is so easily available online. I say 'easily' because I'm also looking up articles on Google Scholar at times and find that a) they're often a bit too scientific, or b) not free to non-subscribers - which is fair enough, just frustrating sometimes. I've been looking at other books (libraries) and also what other books are available to buy, and it does seem like the Color bank is the best. Do you agree? Thanks very much.

I've seen information on the guppy designer website and figure if I'm ever going to buy it, now's a good time while the exchange rate is good. But even so, it's hugely expensive and I feel probably too much risk sight unseen. I just wondered if there are copies around and if it is worth the money. I'm not a serious breeder, but have always been interested in genetics.

I think Spathiphyllum wallisi = Borneo sword in the aquatic trade. Peace lily is a term that I think is more general and also applies to a number of Spathiphyllum cultivars. I suspect some do better than others underwater. I've had some last a while, some rot off quickly, and some die back and then grow. From memory I think that those planted in the tank did best if they were planted with the crown a bit above the substrate. Basically I gave up on them because they don't grow vigorously enough to be much use to the water. Although I think one tank still has a small one. I think if you can get a proper species plant - ie S. wallisi - it will probably do better. In the wild, they come from areas that flood irregularly so the plant has evolved to withstand flooding, but doesn't have to be under water for too long at a stretch. If you like them in the tank, you could always just keep two in a pot and swap them over from time to time to give them a rest out of the water.

Thanks for that. It's encouraging. The two golds I have so far are the first two, but now that I have got the gene into the golds hopefully it will establish there. I just have to learn to be patient I guess.

I have a bit of a variety - breeding towards golds with high fin females (ie long dorsal fin) and nice tails in the males. I'm interested in the high fin genetics as I only seem to be getting a few. Since it's the females displaying the trait I have no idea which are the best males, or if it even matters. Does anyone know about this? I have about five large grey females that have dorsal fins overlapping with their tails. They remind me of Thelwell's ponies. There are now two gold females coming along too. So I'm getting there. But it's slow going.

Green water is pretty normal in spring and/or in new tanks. It won't hurt anything unless it is really bad (ie at saturation point so that it suddenly all dies). To be dangerous it would be so green that you can't see into the tank at all. Causes are possibly nitrate or phosphate as above, but in new tanks it's just a sign that the tank is still immature and the plant balance is not yet established. In the well established tank the plants outgrow the algae. The algae needs a certain light level to thrive, so if you cut the light back in the tank you will hinder its growth. But you will also hold back the plants. They need light to grow well, and they need more light to grow well than the algae does. So if you increase the light to get the plants growing, you will also increase the algae at first, but after a while the plants will win. It's annoying/heartbreaking when you have green water that won't go away, but so wonderful when one day you realise the tank has started clearing all by itself. In the meantime, the question is how often to do water changes. Sometimes a water change just seems to stimulate it more, but other times, the water change lets more light through to let the plants grow. Most of what I do comes from the Walstad book "Ecology of the planted aquarium" and so far I have tried to follow her advice and found that it works. She also says to be wary of anti-algae products. 1. They are usually poisons such as copper or simazine and the balance between safety and toxicity for the fish is very fine and easy to get wrong, or 2. The dead algae can rot the water quickly and kill the fish, or 3. They are a flocculents which are positively charged to make the particles of algae cling together and fall to the bottom, but they also upset the balance of the fishes' gills and clog them up too. I have three tanks, all of which had huge green water problems in the first year but seem pretty stable now. They are beside windows and have lights on 13-14 hours a day. I use a lot of indian fern, Amazon swords, tiger lotus, hygrophila, etc. Plants that grow well, including up to and above the surface to help with oxygen exchange and/or have roots dangling in the water to help with nutrient absorption. There is algae in my tanks, but at a level that I find acceptable - just gives it a natural look - and the water is now clear.

I did it about a year ago without any fanfare. Put a layer of garden soil into the dry tank - took mature soil from just under the surface of a dormant part of the vegetable garden to reduce potential contamination. Then I planted the plants in it (Amazon swords, etc) then I added a layer of gravel to stop the soil ending up floating in the water. Then added water carefully to avoid disturbance and then put the fish in. I did have algae problems (green water for several months) but that was no worse than my other three tanks that don't have soil and all had just as much algae until they matured. The tank is good now. Plants healthy, fish happy. It has a bit of algae growing on plants and occasionally gets a very slightly brown look, but only enough to to look naturally attractive rather than a problem. I'm very happy with it.

Some plants don't like the UGF - the water movement upsets their roots. The Java fern should be OK, but the sword might be suffering from that. The answer is to put the plant into a pot. Getting the plants growing well will help them out-compete the algae.

Mine all look much the same, but the females are a bit bigger and fatter. Also males more brightly coloured. I think. They like to school so chances are if bought several, you will have a mix and they will just do their thing. I have some in a tropical tank and have never seen any eggs or babies from them (possibly eaten by tank mates). Those I have the pond outside breed prolifically from spring through to autumn. Adults don't eat the babies so if you just have minnows you don't have to worry about that. But apparently half grown babies will eat smaller babies, and I have seen baby numbers in the pond drop off in late summer when the earliest ones are half grown. Best of luck. They are very pretty little fish.

I have hydra in one of my ponds and read that paradise fish eat them. Bought two paradise fish that are currently in a quarantine tank and thought when the weather warms up I'll put them out in the pond. In the meantime, I put some hydra infested plant into the tank they are in but they don't seem to know that it's food. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get them started on eating it? Thanks.

Mine hate water changes - disturbance - and when I DON'T want them to breed I have learned to just give them a water change whenever they start cleaning and that keeps them out of the mood. I know that's the opposite to what most people say. So if you are being good and changing your water frequently and finding they aren't spawning, try leaving them alone for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If they are alone in the tank as they need to be to breed, your water will be OK so long as you don't over feed. (Once the babies are free swimming you do have to do the water changes properly though - don't skimp then).

Try this book Sex, color, and mate choice in guppies By Anne E. Houde. It's on Google Books - this link should take you straight to the page about xx chromosomes, but I'm not sure if it's exactly the right one for this question (I got tired of waiting for it to lod up on my dial up connection). http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=ZOlB ... q=&f=false I read a hard copy of the book (had to interloan it through my library) and I'm sure it talked about the fact that females do become hormonally male and can inseminate a female and produce babies, but because the 'male' still has XX chromosomes, the babies are all female. (But can still 'become' male the same as their father did.). In practice I had always thought that keeping a tank of just females would make some change to male. For those of you searching Google and being frustrated by the bumf, try Google Books ( as above) or Google Scholar scholar.google.com. Then you'll get scientific material. Often the abstracts are enough, but if you really want the article, you can interloan it through your library. There will be charges for that, but it's up to you whether the cost is worth the gain.

"The boys seem to be more interested in the girls that are the most pregnant" I read a scientific book a while ago that said the females are most fertile in the 2 days after they have given birth. So the males are probably lining up to be first after the birth. Maybe you were right about them swimming into the current and getting caught when there was suddenly no water. I have never seen my guppies jump.

"Also see some sort of plant at my local stream/creak/trickle" Beware of critters on plants. I've used wild sourced plants a number of times - clean them, chuck them into a 'quarantine' tank that I have under a tree, clean them again a few weeks later and use them. Now I have hydra in one of my ponds. The infestation isn't bad, but it's there, meaning I can no longer use plants from that pond elsewhere.

There was another similar thread the other day. The book I have "Ecology of the planted aquarium" has a lot of technical info about everything that's going on in the tank. Anyway, the main message about green water algae is that the conditions in the tank are favouring the algae rather than the plants. If you get more plants, and get them growing really well, then they should eventually out-compete the algae. I have 4 tanks, all of which have had green water at some time, and only the newest one is still a problem. The one that was worst is now great with heaps of plants growing and crystal clear water. And sited between window and ranch slider. I know how frustrating it can be - you do a water change and within a day or so it's worse than ever. Be assured that so long as it doesn't reach saturation point it's not going to hurt the fish. It's only a visual problem.