malevolentsparkle

thats a relief, thanks

sorry to here about your situation. its made me worried about my fish. I use flourish comprehensive (the one with just micro neutrients), is that dangerous? or just the macro neutrient one?

probably banned cause they're not here yet, if rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, and mice weren't here already then they would probably be banned too.

sounds good, similar to what mine might end up like.

im guessing from the comments, etc that they are a mutation not GE so should be fine to import. still prefer the 'wild' form though

it's news to me that blue angels even existed....

I used to think they were south american too. like similar water chemistry though so unless your a purist like me :lol: they might as well be.

generally SA cichlids need very soft, acidic water and african cichlids need very hard, alkaline water, so you will not be mixing them in the same tank. also, while ive never keept africans, I always thought they needed a large tank (min 300L). I could be wrong there may be a way to do a small african tank. The general idea with pH is that you use a buffering agent like proper pH, i guess for africans proper pH 8.2: http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/product_detail.php?id=279 hardness is a bit trickier. I think limestone would be the way to go but Ive not used it. all the best

theres a HFF in mt roskill too, a lot closer to you. not sure what fighters they have in at the moment though.

oh like the look of Microsorum pteropus 'Windelov' http://www.fnzas.org.nz/index.php?PG=plant&PID=MP4 is that readily available?

yeah just do 1-2 degrees a week or so. yup my brother has one in a tank about that size for couple of years.

well i suppose every rule has an exception!

ah that looks promising, might see if can track down some needle java fern too. thanks

25L should be big enough for a male fighter on its own, I wouldnt keep anything else with a male, esp in a tank that size. but female fighters are perfect community fishes granted no one nips it's fins. If you still have lots of snail eggs on the plants, get them out fast and either kill them with chemicals (not sure what would be best) or just scrape off the eggs and/or remove the leaves with the eggs on. snails are next to impossible to completely get rid of the best you can hope for is to control the population.

any species of anubias grow small? I still want the shape of the wood to be visible.

after seeing some of you guys masterpieces I'm really keen to grow plants all over my driftwood. I know java fern and moss love it, but I was wondering if I have any other options. I would like to stick to my south american theme but I'm not too strict with plants. thanks

my friend has one of those, awesome fish. cool to watch jumping for flies. didnt realise you could keep them in a community tank though.

I have frozen brine shrimp. but anyway i might cut down on the frozen food. sorry to derail the thread...

ah ok. I do feed prepared food too. are brine shrimp better?

why is that? I feed bloodworms every second day (not to discus though) is that a problem? (the other day I feed brine shrimp) my fish just are not that into prepared foods.

swordtails are a natural species, not a selectively bred platy. platies are unique in that they can cross with species outside their genus. I did a lot of research several years ago but i can't remember much more than ive already posted though.

Platties can breed with swordtails, mollies, and guppies. But swordtails, mollies and guppies cannot interbreed with each other. It's rather facinating really.

lol you got us good there

wow they let you hold them like that?

yeah looks like an african lake tank really. cant imagine angels for example in there