BikBok

there's more than a coincidence in timing.

really sorry to hear about your BN boy :-( Just out of curiosity , what medicine did HFF give you? Furan2 is a systematic antibiotic so should have dealt with any internal bacteria.. or was it parasite treatment that you got in the end? I have bought worm infested guppies from animates before (callamanus worms) so treat all new fish for worms now (especially live bearers) as a matter of course, no matter where I get them from. My very first guppy was dropped by animates staff .. yes dropped and flapping around on the ground and they still sold it to me!! then sold me another fish and told me it was a female when it was actually a male. I was new so trusted them when they told me that the dropped fish would be ok.. it wasn't but they did replace it when it bloated up and died and swapped the male for a female when i took it back to question them on the gonopodium!

I disagree. there are some beautiful big bodied colourful guppies out there that can add interest to many a tank. Not everyone likes big fish.

my experiences: 1st tank : 34L - added 2 guppies , got ammonia readings, went through cycle, added a couple of fish every week or so. 2nd tank: 20L - added JBL filter start and one bristle nose.. never got any ammonia or nitrite readings at all. Added a fighter a couple of weeks later. That tank must have had a super fast cycle because i tested every day and never got ammonia or nitrite readings.. can only reason that it cycled within hours between my tests... anyway, I'm convinced the JBL filter start did a really good job. It's a little bottle that you add the whole thing to the filter. BNs are messey fish too! 3rd tank: 160L - used all the media from the 34L and kept same number of fish. no need to cycle. Added a couple more fish every week or so. No spikes that i know of. (this is the tank with your ottos sophia!) restated 34L tank - used 4 guppies to cycle- got the usual readings 4th tank: 70L - used the media from the 34L tank again and put the guppies in new tank. so far so good. conclusion - use existing /seeded media if you can .. otherwise JBL filter start was really good. With ALL my tanks I also use TLC once a week when first starting up and then every time I clean the filter or change the wool. The bottle says to add it weekly but I don't think that is necessary.

I always use water close to the same temperature but it's slow with buckets. But at least we have gas heating so I can set it quite low and mix it with a little cold. I'm getting pretty good at feeling the temp with my hand and knowing what's right! I've heard of people filling up a clean coke bottle with warm water and placing it int he tank. Depends how big your tank is though. Today I had to help my daughter set up her new tank and transfer some fish from her old tank to it. I had them sitting in a bucket in a warm room during the process but I was surprised how quickly the temp in the bucket dropped form 26oC to 21oC.

I thought they weren't testing for swine flue anymore. I work at a school (teacher aide) and we had 9 kids away from my class on friday with a further two sent home by mid day and by the end of the day i was sick too! Waah .. can anyone come and do my water changes for me ! I've already helped my daughter set up her new tank and now I feel all used up for the day.

it looks very similar to the head injury my dwarf gourami sustained Twice after getting stuck in a piece of driftwood tunnel. We thought we were goign to lose him , especially the second time when he could barely swim afterwards (damaged his dorsal as well) ... but somehow he survived .. gave him salt baths and lots of water changes.

do betta bite their own fins?? My lil guy has a ripped dorsal fin and I can't figure out how he did it. He isn't at all interested in the mirror.

my son is yr 11 at Howick college. INWJ

she is a real cutie!

biosecurity is just the way a country protects it's environment from biological harm. i.e unwanted organisms that can cuase damage. in NZ I think it's MAF (ministry agriculture and fisheries) and DOC (dept of Conservation) that take care of that.

something to do with biosecurity. I wondered the same thing a few years ago. Apparently the NZ climate would be perfect for them to reach pest status and damage our crops and small wildlife animals as well as compete for food sources.

what size tank do peacock eels need?

My dwarf Gourami jump.. they jump up at my hand and also spit at it when they think i'm going to feed them. Pearl gourami might be similar. I like the idea of a school of something and then maybe a couple of bottom dwellers.. kuhlis and a small fancy plec maybe. It's what I would do if I had another tank.. I don't have enough tanks to have a school of something! Nearest is my group of Guppies in my community tank. It's really fun to plan and set up a new tank.. good luck, I'm sure you'll find just the right mix that you're happy with.

ha - I just learned that Morcs is a guy - for some reason i always thought female.

who is "they" ?

I wondered why i got an animates email saying the rottie promotion has now been withdrawn. Now I know. Poor worker!

I'm pretty sure that in NZ you are not allowed to give away animals in any sort of retail promotion. Hopefully that means fish too. I'm going to check the spca website on that. edit: couldn't find any info but I'm sure I've read it somewhere. It may have related to animals being given away as prizes .. but I have emailed SPCA for clarification. A vege shop is not a petshop so i'm sure they're not following the animal welfare codes!

the sponge would be a lot easier! When I upgraded my 34L tank to a 160L tank I just moved all the noodles and sponges over and never got any ammonia readings . added extra fish very slowly .

It's about 25L as well but I do make sure it gets frequent good water changes. Have had them all together for a year and a half. The whiptail is one of the smaller ones but I'm thinking of putting him in the community tank soon.

I keep my male fighter with a couple of platys and a whiptail. I have a female fighter in my community tank , she occasionally gets a bit bossy with the female guppies. I haven't tried to breed the two fighters as it's a lot of work required.

Nitrites follow ammonia so agree with Lyndyloo.. your tank must have been cycling. Transferring water helps with climatisation but you need to transfer some filter media or at the very least some gravel if you want to hasten the cycling process. The aim is to get good bacteria established quickly.

she will get really fat and maybe start chasing other guppys away and hang out in areas of the tank that are quieter. Also you'll notice a little white tube which is her birthing canal. With my guppies a decent water change almost always brings it on if they're due.

that's what I thought. I have emailed the sender to query their info.

Hi Kipper! welcome. I do love the oto cats - cute too.