BikBok

that's really odd that you've had platy die in two different locations. They're usually pretty hardy fish and I would ahve thought other fish would have suffered firsdt if there were water problems. I got a rid of a birstlenose because it was terrorizing and dominating my kuhli loaches but it never bothered the platy or other fish.

+1 Guppies are pigs! In my tanks the other friendly's are betta and eel who will eat from our hand also. The gouramis will hang aroudn too when there's food to be had.

Hi Ilze I'm not a goldie keeper so can't really advise on those but I wanted to comment on the stick on thermometer. If you're talking about those colour changing strips that stick on the outside of the glass, in my experience they are not very accurate and read higher than the water actual temperature. The little floating glass ones with suction cups are cheap enough and easy enough to buy. Good luck with your new adventure.

The slime that coats heater suckers in new tanks goes away of it's own accord. It will probably;y be the same with the ornaments too because the tank is new.

yeah , they swim together, or land together. So sweet. It was one of the Sharkeys that passed on sorry. I used to use a miniclip (a small bag sealer clip from $2 shop) to hold down veges (had to also attach a small ziplock bag of gravel for weight) ...probably easier to use a vege clip but I didn't have one. But now I use a stainless steel rod . The ottos like courgette, spinnach, silver beet and pumpkin. They wern't too fussed on broccoli or carrots. They will also happily take algae wafers, shrimp pellets and any other sinking tablet. They are so comical and I've seen them chasing after the odd guppy haha. That's when they look particularly sharkey!

Hi Sophia... I lost one but now have 5

the ambulance services have confirmed TWO dead http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/tornado-in-auckland-suburb-4152830 what time was the actual tornado? I'm in Manukau but this afternoon there was a huge racket of birds flying overhead in circles like they didn't know where to go.

otos are mostly wild caught I think but as it pans out, also adaptable. That fat one is still ok, it's the most active one in the tank so it must be just a fat oto. I was concerning myself with bloat/dropsy.

i tried to get prazi from HFF , they said no. they tried to sell me drontal instead.

Glad to hear my ottos arn't weird! shame that some people might be put off them if they think they might starve to death! My ones are out and about all the time. They are so cute.

I have been told on a number of occasions that Otocinclus fish only eat algae. On a recent trip to an LFS they went as far to say they'd that ottos would sooner starve to death than eat anything I would give them. However that's not been my experience, i have ottos from 3 different sources and they have all eaten veges (courgette and pumpkin especially) and will steal tablets from the kuhli. Note, my ottos are not algae starved, they do graze on the glass, driftwood and plant leaves to eat hidden algae (and not so hidden) I never wipe the back glass for that purpose. What have other peoples experiences been? Please turn a blind eye to the green spot algae in teh photos below!!! I'm working on that, aparrantly I need phosphate to correct it. In the first photo, the lower otto is one of my new ones, just got it in the weekend but it's very fat! That's how it came? Is it perhaps a female? Hopefully it wasn't damaged in the catching/travel process.. oh why am i such a worry wort! They are all my lil aqua babies and I love them! That fat one has been named Miss fatty boomsticks!

oh - maybe not then . My Whiptail has a lovley long whip, the dwarf puffers may have to wait . I'd be struggling to find space for a 5th tank! The fam want me to put the whiptail (male) into the main community tank, but there's already another whiptail in there and I don't know if it's male or female yet. I will get puffers one day though! Have always wanted a couple, and bumblebee gobys too.

I don't have any yet but I'm scheming. Would they get on with a small whiptail (10cm black) ?

Where does one get phosphate from? I also have some green spot algae and it's a pig to remove by hand. I thought we didn't want phosphates in the water?

that's going to look awesome. Good luck

petmart also sell the black satin sand, but I don't think it's silica http://www.petstuff101.co.nz/Product.aspx?ID=350

that must be frustrating when you can't find the reason.

wow, that's pretty out there! Hope the puffer pulls through.

I ran my AR380 (which was also purchased 2nd hand) for two years without needing bulb replacements. But when you say it had no cover.. what do you mean? AR380 have the light built into the hood.. or is yours missing the hood ? .. or is it the clear plastic bit underneath the bulb? I think the AR380 is a great little tank. Ours is now in storage as a spare as I upgraded. Though I'm tempted to start it up again and throw in a couple of puffers.

Hi and welcome! I don't know the answer to your question but would love to see a photogrpah. Did you originally get him from Hollywood? We have a little striped peacock eel.. such a cool friendly guy.

ok, i copy and pasted the link this time.. and yes that is the same botle of aviverm I have. It is lavamisole hydrochloride 24% w/v I use it for both my birds and my fish.

what the heck? when I click on that link I keep ending up on different pages , nothing to do with bird wormer. eeek.. have I got a virus? The active ingredient in aviverm is levamisole.. that is what you should be looking for.

this could end up being a regular holiday thing as his GF just moved there.

all printed. The website doesn't have clear instructions for new users so that's something they could improve on.

thanks.. after several hours of trying, the website came right and we're sorted. $45 one way is a LOT cheaper than flying ($180) or even train ($129) . I don't think we could even drive down for that .