Aquila

Yeah, I saw it. Gutted. It was an amazing season otherwise. Best show on tv!

Do you have an animates in Christchurch? They should stock it. Its not a bottle but pills. You open up the pills and mix the powder into the aquarium.

I did try to find the fish on the mongabay site a while ago with no luck...I thought maybe someone on here may be able to name it.

Hahaha...I knew someone was gonna say that

Really? I thought it was some kind of lumphead cichlid...but I don't really know my cichlids that well... I think the fish in the first and second/third photo might be the same species just either a male/female, or a juvenile/adult.

At the beginning of the year I visited Guatemala. We went to Semuc Champey which is a natural land bridge over a raging river. The pools on top were quite deep and were filled with lots of fish. Anyone have any idea what kind they are?

One of my e.b. rams got it the next day after getting them too. Do not worry, its easy to cure as long as the fish is otherwise healthy. The ones I've seen coming into the stores often have whitespot on arrival from the supplier. They could have been fine before they left the seller and the stress of the voyage could have done it. Rams in general are prone to it. I would put them temporarily in a smaller aquarium, if you don't have one just use a large bucket. This helps as you to not have to use as much medication and you don't have to worry about anything in your main tank staining. I put my little guy into a 10L bucket with an airstone and heater. Brought the heath up to 30 and also covered the top so he wouldn't jump out. Because I was really worried that he would die from stress i only kept him in there for 1 cycle (2 days) of the treatment (until all the spots were gone) and then put him back to the main tank. If you want to make sure you don't get a relapse, treat them again for a further 2 days with a 2nd cycle. Goodluck

I'm pretty sure dropsy is not contagious. You may try treating with antibiotics or Furan to try to knock out the potential causative agent.

As you said, he seems happy for now and still has an appetite so I wouldn't euthanize him just yet. I would advise to try and treat him as if it was constipation or edema (fluid-filled). The best course of action would be to try a bath with epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). Failing that, try aquarium salt. I had a glass catfish which had an inflamed abdomen a few months back after I first got him. Since he was see-though I could tell that his organs were not swollen and it was just fluid filled under his skin. I didn't have epsom salts at the time but I started dosing him with regular rock salt baths. I figured that if I can create as salty an environment as the fish can handle, I might be able to get some of the water to osmosis out. I put the fish into a 2-3ltr container and slowly started adding small amounts of the salt monitoring him carefully. Since glass catfish can be pretty sensitive to water conditions, I had to be really careful. He started turning on his side a couple of times but for the most part he made it to about 10 minutes before I removed him. I did the baths once a day for about a week. He always seemed like the swelling went down a bit after the bath but for the first couple of days it would return when I put him back into the aquarium. At the end of the week though, it was completely gone! You could try this with your betta. They are more tolerant of salt than glassies. Maybe add a bit more aquarium salt into his tank and then once a day try a epsom salt bath. Try feeding de-shelled peas as well...they may help. Goodluck! Milena

How about we strike a deal? After I finish getting my M.Sc. published, I'll get in touch about what I could write an article about

Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into....

Hehe Or just 7 years of uni doing a freshwater and marine bio degree and masters...+ lots and lots of money later

Technically the definition of drowning is asphyxiating by getting water in the lungs. Since fish don't have lungs (except lungfish), they cannot 'drown'. But they can definitely suffocate in water either by not being able to reach the surface or not having enough dissolved oxygen in the water. You can argue that Bettas and other 'air breathers' can drown...but they don't have true lungs, only highly vascularized gas bladders called labyrinths.

Lol, I don't know about the farting but marine fish do drink water! Freshwater fish, as far as I'm aware, do not 'drink' water (or they drink very little) but absorb it passively across the gills/skin. Because water moves down the solute gradient through osmosis, it moves in through the gills (and potentially skin of smaller fish) passively (requiring no active mechanisms) to try and balance the concentration of solutes with the external environment. This causes a build-up of fluid inside fw fish which they need to deal with by constantly releasing a dilute urine. Any ions are actively pumped into the body across the gills as needed. Marine fish, on the other hand, live in a hypertonic environment (more solutes dissolved in seawater then their own fluids) Their water is passively exiting the body and so the fish will actively drink water and then actively pump the ions out across its gills in order to compensate for the dehydration. Also marine fish pee very little and it is very concentrated. There is a good pic to illustrate this here http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/41/6541-004-A9497BC0.gif

The Flourish Excell works well but can be expensive if you're tank is med-large. To get the best benefit from it, squirt the stuff directly onto the algae as you are dosing and it will 'burn' it off within a day or 2...

I used a SAE to fix the problem and it did a great job. There are still a few sprouts trying to grow on the edges of leaves but they never get a chance to get bigger/visible. Just make sure you get a TRUE sae as there are FALSE ones that aren't as good at eating it and they grow bigger and can be slightly agro. There are a few sites that state the diffs, but PM if you are still unsure and need help

Lovely frogs

Universities follow very similar protocols for fish euthanization, these are either to overdose on clove oil or hit the fish hard directly on the top of the head (between the eyes) as their skull is soft. Best method depends on the size of the fish. Small fish=overdose, larger fish = knocked. These have been reviewed by animal ethics as being the most humane methods.

Sometimes real estate agents get lucky and do little to sell the house, and other times it takes months and heaps of money that goes into advertising. So it averages out.

Here is a link to an auction site that does have someone selling it. I believe they also sell it in larger quantities. http://www.sella.co.nz/general/business ... ry/52ybnr/ Goodluck

Awesome! Did you find out whether these people were the criminals or if they were actually given the dog by someone dodgy? French bulldogs are really popular in Canada ;P But I swear I've seen quite a few in NZ...didn't realize they were rare here!

If you're down in wellington anytime soon you can have some of my boys

Also be careful not to confuse a bowel movement with a gravid spot

Hi guys! I'm going over to Abel Tasman for the first time this weekend! We will have most of Saturday and about half of Sunday to explore the park. What are the best sections to see (as we don't have time to trek the whole trail)? We will be leaving our car in the parking lot (wherever that is) Saturday morning and Saturday night we are staying in one of the cabins. I know you can kayak part of the trail and we are keen to do that, and also catch a water taxi part of the way to save time. I also know you have to plan certain crossings around the tide cycle...which will be about 7am and 7pm lowtide this weekend. Any suggestions on the spots we should definitely not miss??

Hi I used this website when I was first researching guppy breeding. http://guppyplace.tripod.com/Breeding.html The fry can be separated as early as 1 week if you look closely for the female's developing gravid spot - dark spot behind anal fin (this can be hard with blonde guppies as it is without pigment and comes up yellow). But like the article says, its unnecessary to be this proficient as the males do not develop their gonopodium (long anal fin) until about 3-6 weeks. Some of my fry, especially the tuxedos/half-blacks, start developing their black body pigments almost immediately after birth. This is both for the males and females. The other colours like red, yellow, and blue start to come in later. Some females will also have flecks of colour or black in their tail, but the males will have more and their tails will start growing out larger. Yellow is usually present fairly early on ~1month. The blue is also fairly early when the light hits it because its iridescent. The reds and oranges come in last >2months. The males typically don't have a tail that reaches its full size and has all the colours in their glory till adulthood. I find you get the fastest growth rates if you start the fry off the first couple of weeks in a breeding trap. Feed them as many times a day as you can (try to keep their bellies full at all times). You may need to split them into 2 breeding traps if you've had a particularly large drop. Having them in a smaller area at first help because the food is more easily found in a smaller area. I feed mine solely on baby brine shrimp at first, but many have had success on microworms. After this, move them into a larger tank 2-40L as they start to grow out. Then into a 80L. If you keep the water warm, and feed them very often and give them enough room so they are not crowded, they will grow out quicker. Hope this helps! Milena