evey71

As our fish tanks grow we are looking at heating the sleepout room we are using. It is fully batted and also carpeted, that will go and will be replaced with rubber mats. How is everyone heating their rooms for the best result & safest result? You know electrickery and water do not like each other OR with people. I did do a search and saw gas, I am presuming the stand alone heater sort. I believe that is toxic in a closed room. I was thinking a fan heater mounted with a greenhouse thermostat. Thanks in advance Evey

Ohhhhhh HEY if this is a hunt for animal prospects I have two very cute chihuahua's LOL I will keep an eye of for the killie on the box. Also I am sorry I did not say thanks earlier but I wasnt notified of any replies as per normal on other forums. OK BCNU lata

Thanks for the pics on the set-up and the fun reading through the answers.....LOL

We are looking at setting up tanks for our increasing killie fish.....Can anyone help with a pic of a design that would be good.....size for breeding and size for offspring to grown..... thanks J& M

It sounds like he did a big run up to the top for the oxygen intake and overestimated.....hit his head and voila - head injury - overnight they slowly die. Yes Yes do get more than one they are community fish , have a least 4-8 but a least 4 and you will be laughing a lot at the sweet things they do together, If you are in wellington I am selling for $20 5 week old bronze cordydora - raise your own kind of thing. Excellent buy as they retail for up to $16 each. Kind regards Evey

Hi J here, Congrats on the babies...I guess they are grown now. I have just breed the bronze corries that the albinos come from as an albino. For the first feeding I used microworm and also the juice from the microworms. I tended to overfeed out of anxiousness and they just grew so well. I also took a jug of water out of the tank each day and repace it with fresh water. Looking back I would have cleaned my sponge filter every second day to keep the water very clean, all a learning curve. As soon as they were able, about two weeks I crushed up a good fish food finely and started feeding them this. Also I did the same with spirulina flakes and alternated between the 3 foods each day. I also left a light on in the room so they could 24 hour feed. I have just, at the 1 month mark introduced decap brineshrimp and this has caused another big growth spurt. Just be careful not to overfeed. They have gone from fleas in my tank to tiny little kittens....my theory if they are cat fish the babies must be kittens LOL. They are so fun to watch growing and playing together when you get that many. I am looking for about 6 albinos if you would be interested in a swap with the bronze corries. Send me private mail if you can do this.....thanks J

Thank you all who answered my question...they have just hatched this morning so three days. I did cover the tank with a towel as I read that this helps...the eggs being in the dark. I managed to move off the unfertilized eggs and set up two air-stones and also a hangover to move the water over the rest........they were in clusters.....I did use the meth blue as well. Lots of wigglers today...I was excited as this is my fist egg layer I have tried. I just have to get them grown now....here's hoping. thanks again Evey

Hi guys, My cordydora's have bet me to the punch and layed in their conditioning tank for the first time. I looked on the internet but found conflicting entries on how long the eggs take to hatch. I suppose I could wait and find out myself but this is the first egg laying fish I have tried so some sort of time frame would be great. Many thanks for your help. J :bounce:

Hi all, I am a dedicated guppy lover, they are so lovely. I have been lucky enought to have obtained from a local show by auction a few lovely fish which I breed from. I have some nice guppies at this stage and am happy with them. I am concentrating on blues and trying to set a strain that I like + my tank with a mix of potential guppies. I was wondering if their is anyone in wellington besides our lovely Ceasar who breeds and sells guppy stock for breeding? Thanks for reading and if you can help a BIG ty for that. kind regards

I wanted to add to my original question about the blackbeard algae. I did strip the tank and left some algae. I bought 2 Siamese Algae eaters or confusingly Flying Foxes. It has been a couple of months now and I have a very clean tank and plants. I have NEVER seen my plants look so good. I am now affording one for each tank. Oh and yes eventually they ate the little bit of BB I left in the tank. Thanks guys hugz evey

I have been battling black beard in one tank and posted on it recently. I tried frequent water changes which I was doing anyway but did more. Every week I changed half of the tank water and vaccumed the stones. The water changes did not work. I then took all the bits out , although no wood, and soaked it in a 1% janola and hot water mix. this cleaned all the bits. I then soaked them in clean water and baking soda until they did not smell anymore. Well they smelt a little bit on janola but it hasn't hurt the fish. I cleaned the black beard tufts off the glass except for a few area's for a test area on more treatments. Someone said it was the phosphates. In the end and I am just now trying I bought two little algae flying foxes also called siamese algae eaters(not chinese as they are aggressive) . They are doing a great job cleaning all the foilage but have not eaten the BB yet but I am thinking they are little and it is a biggish tank. Another thing to do also is to boil any wood that goes into the aquarium for a good hour. I know some will not fit in the pot but you can turn it around and the steam will steralize as well. I wouldn't put the wood in the janola mix. I have heard the term 'sick tank' and I wonder if for some reason you are not happy why not start again by cleaning everything. boil your stones etc It wouldn't hurt. So look at phosphates and maybe the algae eaters. Hope this helps a little. Evey :lol:

Arrrr thanks for that. I tried to buy one today but I will have to order one in as the pet shops in Lower Hutt do not have one. Great to know it has another name though as I may have overlooked it when it was really in the shop. Thanks Evey

I have just done a search and found the following on the Siamese Algae Eaters. It is good info as it points out that some other fish called a chinese algae eater is sold as the siamese sometimes in mistake and gives advice on how to ID them correctly. Definitley off this morning to see if I can locate one. http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_sae.php EVEY :bounce:

The idea of the siamese algae eater sounds good. How would they mix with three clown loaches and a cat fish? Would you know how big they grow also? I saw a tank yesterday with black beard TUFT algae and this is what I have......I didn't realize there was a variation as the form I have looked like little beards. They had cylinders covered in it and I must admit it looked very nice. I was quite worried about the effect of this in my tank at first as it seemed very invasive. However I am thinking that if I wanted a piece of an ornament covered in it I would have to be forever cleaning it up from everywhere else in the tank. I will also look at the phosphate levels. I am presuming I can buy a tester kit like for PH testing. For cleaning all the bits in my tank I used a 1% mix of bleach and this killed all the algae well. The one bit I did not do this with was the heater and just today I notice the top of it and the cord is covered in it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr............ :evil: Thank you again for all the advice as I have tried to sort this out. You all have been really helpful. Evey

thanks. Phosphates. In this tank I do use filtered water only maybe a little boiled tap water to heat up the cold water. I have been doing water changes anyway, but have done more since the advice. I have totally cleaned the tank though EXCEPT for the back wall to see if the water changes helped/ I couldn't stand the algae type in there. The blackbeard algae on the back wall is still there. It would have been nice if it had dispeared with the water changes. Since the clean a piece has popped up on my front inside glass. It sounds like it is quite hard to get rid of once established. thanks for the advice though. EVEY