twinkles

nope, thats why i love my boy so much <-- i had another halfmoon boy, whos tail was alot longer than Glint's and he looked like he had trouble swimming, and couldn't hold his tail flared more than a second or two. He lives at school now, don't want to breed fighters that can't swim properly. Better to have shorter tails that are strong, like the good stiff tails on plakats.

three tiny homemade sponge filters would be good, run from a little pump with 3-way splitter.

darn it, i need to get round to joining a club...

there's a discount?

yeah we had a pair of black puppy kongs that were years old and still good, one had teeth marks on the end from a pitty but that was all. Had to throw them out after being in contact with parvo, and i was shocked at the price for replacements, but i guess its worth it when they last so long.

well then, if you're not particularly attached to them sell them off as feeders and start fresh. It seems pretty normal for big tailed guppies to look like their tails are too heavy, so they swim on a funny angle, thats the reason i like nice short pratical tails.

you can teach old dogs any trick, i think they learn faster than scatterbrained young 'uns :lol:

you'd hope though that they'd try to hire people with some knowledge of the animals and products they sell, or give them some basic training in them. They seem to be entirely focused on sales, which will mean they lose in the long term as people find alternative shops where at least some of the staff know their products. I remember the mt eden Jansens being really good for fish way back, i set up my first tank with advice from their fish person and never had a problem, good advice on stocking, tank set up etc. It was a shame when they sold out.

i've got tanks with very little lighting and the guppies are fine, as long as they get decent food there shouldn't be any vitamin problems causing it. Wonky guppies have wonky babies, so get rid of all the wonky ones and keep a real close eye on the rest, so you can get rid of any wonky babies before they are old enough to breed. Or sell them all as feeders, and start fresh with a batch of healthy girls and a couple of boys. How many have you got?

there's also the flyball machines used for flygility - dog steps on plate, ball shoots, dog runs and gets ball and drops back in top to play again. Doesn't take long for a smart dog to learn how to work them, and keep themselves amused for ages

the balls i mean are made out of the same rubber as kongs, but they are solid right through so theres no 'give' in the middle to let them be chewed up. I don't know who makes them, ours came without any label, but its lasted through 20-odd foster dogs and puppies without being damaged, and regular soakings in bleach. If i knew where it was i'd offer it to you but the last i saw it was in the garden a few months back.. no doubt it'll show up when the lawns are mowed.

did you wash the gravel first? You could drain and refill it a couple of times if the water seems really dirty still, when you fill it put a peice of gladwrap in the bottom to cover it and siphon it onto that. Though i guess with the plants that would be hard, maybe just siphon the water out and back in slowly a few times?

ditto, the pricey ones are worth it, last alot longer. There's also the rubbery solid balls, made out of the same stuff as kongs, which are indestructible, very chew proof I think they're about $20-40, depending on size, there are tennis ball sized ones.

nope i can deliver, come up that way fairly often

i really want to spread some more around, planning on building up the numbers i have over the next few months then i'll be offering them dirt cheap to anyone who will keep them seperate from show guppies

no decent ones, really should get onto trying to get some here's a badly lit pic, just imagine that the colourless parts of their bodies are irridescent green and gold, and the orange is almost flurescent

i've got half-endlers - from a cross with wild guppies. Would love to find anyone else with them, even better if someone has pure ones. Best guppies ever

now compare that to the position vacant adds on here from hff and wow, i know where i'd go for good advice and healthy fish (unless i happen to be in palmy when you guys are working )

i haven't got any decent pics, but here's one of mine on its way to changing to white, and then changing to gold and blue

also, i've got vall growing in the back of my tank, and whenever they're in there my angels have their stripes showing dark, which is what they're there for - camoflages them with the vertical lines of the plants. They only change through the other patterns if they are out in the open, so that could be something else to try.

Both lighting and the colours in your tank will change the colours of your fish, and their mood too. Light gravel will make the fish lighten, dark gravel will make them darker/more intense. I had a common plec in a white bottom tank for a week, he went pale sandy brown, and the young killies in with him were pale and washed out. Chucked them in my other tank with black stones and the plec went black within a few hours, and the killies got darker and brighter. They adjust to their surroundings so if your fish is a noticably different colour in the log thats probably part of it. Different types of light will bring out different colours in the fish - red, orange, yellow seem to show in any light, while the colours from the other types of colour cell (blue, green, gold foil, irridescence) are hugely affected by the colour levels in the light. They look best in sunlight, so if the sun comes in the windows of the room your tank is in, you can use a mirror to reflect it onto the tank to see if your fish are green in it. The stripes on the angels are changed with their mood, mine are the same colour and i've watched them flick between almost white, then dark grey with 7 thick black stripes, to a gold and green colour with no stripes, to their normal 3-striped pattern, all within a few minutes. I haven't been able to figure out what they're saying with each colour change, but they show a more intense version of the normal stripe pattern when they are fed. So - try sunlight, or a desk lamp with a normal lightbulb, and see how your fish look with that, then if its alot better try and find a new tube with the colour range to match. If not, look at adding more dark things to the tank, or accept that its their mood and they might darken once they've settled in more.

i believe oeminx's pics outshine anything i could manage by a mile

my javas have just started doing that, i was amazed, never seen a plant do anything like it. When i bought them they were really manky with one or two leaves each, chopped in half, so i'm stocked to see all the new bits growing. Can you pull them off and plant them seperatly once they grow a bit?

i tell people to start with one fish, then a week later add another one, then the next week a couple more, until its stocked, while doing frequent water changes. I've got about 10 unfiltered/cycled tanks, just do water changes every few days.

could be good for garden ponds though?