elusive_fish

Well I don't think anyone could accuse me of mucking around. I set my new tank up yeserday and got my first fish. A big thanks to all that contributed advice and a special big thanks to navarre, who spent a lot of time sharing his expertise and his excellent fish with me. I have ordered an aqua one Cf1200 and should have it Tuesday. In the meantime im using my pathetic little internal filter to spread those good bacteria. In my tank I currently have: 1 x BN 5 x Lionhead 5 x Melanochromis Johanii With 11 small, and still shy, fish it sure looks empty! The aquascaping is just a placeholder. I'll probably have a small rock pile either end of the big bit of bogwood. Either that or I'll push the bogwood down one end and encorporate it into the stone pile. Ideas are welcome My neighbour makes kitchens, so I may see if he can make it into a false cabinet.

I did look there, but nothing like that. I will have to ask Bob next time im there. I really liked the aragonite they have at organisms. Looks to be around 1mm size, so kinda in between the two types they had at redwood. Unfortunately, its $70 for 25kg. Ouch.

That second one is incredible. How on earth do you carve polystyrene like that? How do you coat/colour it to look like rock? Wow is that ever effective.

I like the look of the sand. But do they fish send it everywhere just be swimming around fast?

Thanks for all the detailed information. I like the look of aragonite or coral sand, so I may go the route of using the substrate for buffering. I didn't see any 'marine mix' at redwood aquatics- they had coral sand and aragonite in two different sizes and dolomite in bigger chunks. Do they add to the hardness in different ways? Should I get a bit of each? Should I be going for the bigger (2-3mm?) size as opposed to the fine sand? Thanks again for the help!

Anyone know anything of this brand or filter? Would it be suitable? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Pumps-filters/auction-205352627.htm

So do you know if you are going to have another boy or girl? Ive got two girls and its AWESOME. If cannister filters are the way to go maybe I could find a way to block it off. I know nothing about them. Any chance someone can point me at a good deal on trademe or an online retailer? Is second hand a dodgy prospect? What about something like this? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=205851640 Part of the problem for me is timing. I have three lionheads I'd like to keep so id preferably be able to set up my new tank at the same time as passing on my two. That way I can transfer a good chunk of walter or even run one of my filters in the new tank for a few days (that must help the bacteria?) I just want to do it once and do it right... unfortunately that is normally the opposite to doing it cheap

One income, two kids makes for a tight situation! My wife is awesome about my fish enthusiasm, but the day the eftpos card declines buying nappies is the day I find my tank on trademe. Maybe I could get a second job and bid on my own tank... I did a quick trip to redwood aquatics today and it looks like it would cost me about $65 to do the tank in aragonite. Is this good? Well, wouldnt it make it open to view and tampering? I have a 3 year old and a 15 month old = noting on the floor or within reach! Still a little unsure of this. I'm going to visit navarre this weekend to take a look. I do like those melanochromis johanniis. I'd also love some of those dems you have... maybe I should reserve some and split the shipping costs with anyone else from chch that wants some Any recommendations of what to keep?

Hi, You may have seen my recent post saying that Im bored with my two tanks and want a change. Well, I'm currently selling those two tanks and have bought a 4ft tank (1220 x 450 x 460) to turn into a Malawi tank. I'm trying my best to keep this venture 'cost neutral' - ie spending only what I get out of my two current tanks. My wife will NOT be happy with my hobby anymore if it costs any more (the kids are priority one... and some day id like to buy some new clothes too!) So the big questions I have are: Substrate - what to use. I've been reading a bit on here, but still a little confused. I like the look of the white sand, but I see people saying that it gets too dirty and gets swept around by the fish swimming? So is Aragaonite or coral sand the best options? Is there a cheap way to get hold of something suitable? Filters - the tank I have is on a simple metal stand, which makes it not very suitable for a cannister. Could I put two internal filters in at opposite ends to form a sort of whirl pool current? If someone can please recomment something suitable but inexpensive I would be very appreciative Aquascape - Is schist suitable? Do I need to silicone the rocks together? What has worked well for others? Will any plants grown in the water conditions I am aiming for? I'm excited to get my tank going... but still a little daunted at making the right decisions and coming in 'on budget'.

Well I'm now officially cured of MTS. I'm selling my two smaller tanks in order to pay for the 4ft I just got on trademe. I miss having a malawi tank and want to go back that way and found that I can do it 'cost neutral'. I'll have to keep firemouths at a different time All I need now is a filter, some substrate (coral sand?), rocks to decorate and some FISH. Navarre has been a real help, Im looking forward to getting some fish off him. Any fish/substrate/decoration suggestions are appreciated! (Im not really entirely cured of MTS. I still have a 54L 'back up' tank in the garage! haha)

My substrate is ugly and my piece of bogwood takes up a big chunk of the surface. Call me a dog with a bone, but If I am going to do a malawi tank I'd prefer to do it right. I have been PM'ing Navarre, he has been incredibly helpful. Hopefully I get to see his fish this weekend!

Well, I think I'm going to change my 140L over to a malawi tank. Only thing is that means my substrate really needs to be changed, those plants that are growing well have to go, the lovely big bit of bogwood needs to go... and most of my current fish will need to find new homes! I think I'm going to get some melanachromis johanni... they are great looking, have a lot of personality and, from what I have read/heard, they are far more mellow than those mean yellow stripes I had years ago. Some of those Dem's you have sound great too... maybe I'll need to find someone else from CHCH who wants some so we can split the shipping cost.

Hi Lynnie, thanks for the welcome. Do you happen to live in West Melton and currently selling a couple of things on trademe?

What about kadangos (Copadichromis Borleyi) or powder blues(Pseudotropheus socolofi) - would either of those work in the tank size?

Not a bad suggestion. I'll have to think it through. I really enjoyed the electric yellows and peacocks I kept years ago. The kenyis were ok and the yellow stripes were just nasty little buggers. The only thing that keeps pulling me back to firemouths is that Ive never kept them before. The other stumbling block to changing over is that I have pea gravel sized substrate, a large bit of bog wood and some nice plant growth for a low light tank... none of which are ideal for malawi. I'd have to gut and start again. Do peacocks breed in pH close to neutral? from what I understand, lionheads are river cichlids and don't do the basic water like the malawi guys. Anyone know what are these 'dog tooth' cichlids like? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=204554148 They look a lot like kenyis to me. If anyone who lives in Blenheim or Auckland have anything interesting I'll be in both of those places in the next month

Thanks for your thoughts. If I can find some decent looking juvi firemouths and lionheads I might just sell my kribensis on to someone else (who will need to get a second tank to keep all the fry!). The several firemouths ive seen around lately hve been manky - one with a deformed dorsal fin and the other had very little red on it. I have 3 sub 2cm lionheads, but as they are all from the same parents I guess I should try and put them with fish from other sources? The ones I have a quite blue/grey colour and others ive seen are a more boring grey/brown. Anyone happen to have any lionheads or firemouths going for a good price?

Excuse my ignorance, but if firemouths breed so readily how come juveniles sell for around $20? I guess I put it a little wrong when I said I wanted something more challenging... its more that I want something different. I've kept kribs before and they are in every LFS I visit. firemouths are amusing with their throat flare thing and lionheads have such a strange face and odd swimming style - thats why im attracted to them. So would the rams work in the smaller tank if I decided to use the bigger tank for lionheads? I'm a little scared of doing ramerezi as I will be really unpopular with the wife if I spend $50+ on something that dies quickly...

Thanks for the reply! You mean the little armoured cat fish? They're cute little guys, but I'm really after some form of cichlid.

Haha! I guess I was kinda right about it being an autoimmune disease then! I blame my 2 kribensis fry factory fish for the second, bigger, tank (which I did get for a steal on trademe - $100!)

Thank you all for your welcomes. What is MTS? Sounds like the acronym for an autoimmune disorder of some kind! If any of the cichlid people can spare time to answer my q in the 'cichlid' area that would be great!

Hi all, I'm hoping you can all offer some advice on how I can change my 2 tanks around. I'm new to the forums - you can find a bit about me and pictures of my 2 smallish tanks in my 'welcome' post here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=37219 Basically, I have 2 aquariums and I'm getting a little bored of the krib factory and wanting to try something a little more challenging. Here is what I currently have: 140 L - breeding pair of kribensis, 30 - 50 krib babies of various sizes, 2 very small lionheads, 1 bristlenose plec 54L - 4 tiger barbs (2 don't look particularly tiger barb ish...), 1 small lionhead, around 10 krib babies, 1 bristlenose plec What I'm thinking about doing is selling the kribs and trying to find something a little more unusual/challenging to hopefully breed. The three small lionheads I have look interesting, but they are very small and all from the same parents. Ive always liked firemouths, so Id like to see if I could get a couple in the larger tank, maybe with the lionheads and keep the tiger barbs as dither/target fish. How difficult is it to get firemouths to breed? Would they be ok in a 140L tank? Would they be similar temperaments to lionheads? ie semi aggressive A guy who owns a fish store locally told me I should try and breed german blue rams (Ramezei?) as he has real trouble keeping them alive when importing. Would I be able to keep/breed a couple in the smaller 2x1x1' tank? Obviously they wouldnt go with the firemouths and lionheads. I could keep just these in the bigger tank but as they are kinda delicate it really limits what else I can keep. Any input/ideas you have would be much appreciated. Thanks, Ben

The bigger of my two tanks... I quoted the size wrong, its only around 140 L. It looks pretty full of kribs, even after I sold 20+ of my bigger krib babies! The two parents are hiding away again as they have more 1 week old fry. Sheesh. Despite being considered very low light I think my plants are growing nicely. My 54L tank with 4 tiger barbs, numerous krib babies, a bristlenose and a small lionhead. The plants grow like rampant weeds and I need to do some tidying up. Much more exciting than any fish tank... my beautiful girls. Lucy (almost 15 months) and Zoe (3 years). Lucy is by far the biggest fan of my tanks

Hi all, I'm new to the forums and just got back into the exciting world of tropical fish. I've taken a few years off from raising fish to raise some little humans instead. I've kept a pretty wide variety of fish before and bred a few before (dwarf gouramis, cockatoo cichlids, electric yellows, kribensis). I lived in Canada for about 4 years and adpoted a couple of unwanted larger fish over there - one was supposedly a blood red parrot, but looked like a red devil. He was a real character. He spat rocks on the glass to get attention, attacked the scrubbing brush, the vacuum hose and my hand. The other was a reasonably big puffer... who died in an unfortunate heater thermostat incident. 6 months or so ago I convinced my wife that our girls would find fish an exciting pet and dusted off an old 2x1x1 tank I had left at my parents place. Since then the two kribensis I got have been breeding like crazy and I managed to get a great deal on trademe on a 170L tank. Now I have more kribensis that I know what to do with, a couple of very small lionheads, 4 tiger barbs and two bristlenose between the two tanks. The kids love it and I'm really enjoying the hobby again. I have to admit I'm a little bored of the kribensis and would love to try and breed something a little more challenging. Maybe firemouths? Lionheads? German blue rams? I'm trying to find a way to do this on a budget as 2 kids, one income and a horrible mortgage doesn't leave much money for hobbies! I'm sure there are plenty of people here who can associate! I'll take a couple of pics of my tanks and I'd love some advice from people here on what I should try and get hold of to breed in these tanks. I'm looking forward to learning from the experienced people on here. Thanks for letting me be part of your community! Ben