Bellshill Belgians

They do prefer to be kept in groups of 3 or more. You will see much more of them in a group. They are facinating to watch.

cuckoo synodontis?

usually find mine will get an air bubble in the siphon tube if the flow rate is too low. So check your return pump size and that it is moving the right amount of water. Air bubbles are the only thing I know that will break the flow of water in the siphon.

The only time I have seen this with my turtles is when the water temp is too low and it is actually warmer on the basking shelf. One of my heaters stopped working well without me realising.

Hi, I have sourced some spineless Opuntia ( Cactus pads) from Coromandel cacti in Auckland. They are $15.00 each and they will ship them. Joanne

HI All, What brands of water pump do people use for returning water to the tank from a sump. I am looking at around 2000L or 2500L per hour. I have resun king pumps on my outdoor ponds and have found them pretty good running for 2 years 24/7 without any failures but wonder if there is anything anyone has found better. Thanks Jo

Didn't think there would any market for them. Mainly because they are hard to catch in an 800L tank and I live so far from the main centers. If you want some you are welcome, otherwise my snakenecks like them a lot.....

These are the rats of the fish world. I started with 2 in my 800L tanganikan community, they have bred & bred & bred, and ended up controlling 80% of the tank with all my large frontosas pressed against the glass at one end. They are the most aggressive fish I have ever dealt with. I have spent months slowly catching them and culling them and still they breed and attack my other fish. I would think very carefully about introducing them with any other fish, definately best in their own species tank where they can beat each other to death without harming other inhabitants. They are also very hard to catch, learn very quickly what a fish trap is and will hide in tiny holes and rock mounds. beware!! Joanne

I think you'll find a 6.8kg bottle will need filling rather a lot. I have a 30kg bottle on a 300L tank which lasts me approx 4 months.

Hi, I bought some stuff from here about 6 months ago. It came eventually, took a bit longer than I thought it would but I was happy with the service. Even with freight it was cheaper than I could get it in New Zealand. Joanne

Weighing the small turtles is quite useful to check they are gaining weight. I weigh all of my hatchlings every 2 weeks to ensure they are gaining weight. I also find sometimes with shyer babies they will start to feed if you help them by waving very small pieces in front of their faces using small tweezers. Bloodworms are great but may be messy in all but a bare bottom tank, it is especially hard to siphon off sand. I usually use a bare bottom tank until my young turtles are feeding well, then go for river stones (too big to eat). I wouldn't remove them to feed in a separate tank as this will likely stress and frighten them more. Good luck, Joanne

Hi, I definately qualify for Wop wop status!! I have a 22,000L plastic water tank for the house which collects rain water off my roof. It comes out of the tap as soft and acidic as I can measure. Great for my SA corys, tetras etc. I modify the water using a rift lake recipe (MgSo4, bicarb & salt) for my frontosas/altos etc. Although this is a challenge I seem to be able to maintain good water quality, test it all regularly to make sure all is ok. I guess it depends how much effort you want to put into making sure the water is right for your fish. If you just want to turn on the tap and change your water without thinking about what you are doing you may have more problems than if you were on mains supply with a more neutral ph etc. At least my water has no chlorine in it! Joanne

Hi, This afternoon one of my pair of breeding Neolamprologus brichardi has decided to kill it's mate. The two have been breeding happily (new babies about every 3 weeks) in my frontosa tank for the last 9 months and there are lots of their offspring (those that have survived being eaten by tankmates) in there too (ranging in size from approx 5mm to 4cm). They have a huge territory at one end of the tank and the frontosas tend to stay at the other end ( 6 foot tank). I have changed nothing in the tank (apart from some of the water this morning - usually once a week approx 15%), there have been no new fish for 9 months. The attacked fish is looking very sorry, tattered fins and bites on its back, probably won't survive. I didn't see anything wrong until feeding time this evening when I saw it's mate chasing and biting. Seems a bit odd to me, anyone else seen this happen?? Jo

Hi Plant gurus, I have run out of CO2 in my cylinder for the first time. Where does everyone get theirs refilled? I tried our local BOC gas agent here in Opotiki and was told they send them away to be batch filled every 4 - 6 weeks!!! I surely don't want to be without it for that long. I bought the cylinder in Auckland from the Nova Fire safety place in Gray Lynn but am hoping there might be an easier (especially closer) way of getting it refilled. Hope you might have some helpful ideas, Joanne

Hi, I have imported stuff from Aquaristik in Germany. I ordered online, it took 2 weeks to ship my goods and a week for them to arrive. Very happy with the service and the freight wasn't too horrendous. http://www.aquaristikshop.com/cgi-bin/n ... ommenν=1 Good luck Joanne

Hi, Thank you all for your comments. Kiwiplymouth, I was thinking along the lines of what you do with your air pump, but was unsure if anyone would think it was a good idea. At least someone else has had the same idea :lol: Jennifer, thanks for your input. the tank is 1800mm x 490mm x 450mm so a pretty "normal" shape. In terms of water flow I have a Eheim 2126 to run on it initially, I guess I'll have to see how that does. I have some more old canisters knocking around which can be added in if it doesn't seem enough. I do appreciate the size discrepancy between an 88g fluval CO2 kit and my tank which is double the size rating, I may have the opportunity to secure another one from a friend who is giving up so 2 would be getting closer to what I am looking for. So many considerations, so much fun to be had Thanks Joanne

Hi, Hoping for some help from all the people with beautiful planted tanks. I have 3 low tech planted tropical tanks, 2 in amazon style and one SE asian, none have CO2 or ferts added and they grow swords, cabomba, java moss/ferns, indian fern etc pretty satisfactorily. So looking for a new challenge I have a repaired 6 foot tank which I am just installing a 3 d background into. I plan to step up my plant growing on this tank and have invested in a fluval CO2 kit and T5 lights. I will be growing crypts, red pine, hygrophilla and a barclaya. My question is related to the use of oxygen bubbles. All my other tanks have an air pump running 24/7. Eventually this tank will have some fishy inhabitants. How do I get enough oxygen for the fish while using my CO2 to grow plants? My thoughts so far are to turn the CO2 off at night (coming on again 1hr before lights on). Should I have an air stone on a timer to to come on after the lights go off? Will the plants pearling produce enough O2 during the day? I have had fish gasping at the surface from lack of O2 in years gone by and would like to avoid the experience again. Hoping for some input as to what others do to balance CO2 vs O2. Thanks so much Joanne

Donna, That's a great idea!! :lol: They are much easier to catch than 1 - 2 cm fish. Only problem is, I'm very fond of my frontosas and leleupis which live in the same tank. The training involved in teaching the snakenecks which ones to eat might be a little more than both the turtle brain and my brain could handle

Hi, My baby snakenecks are going crazy over mosquito larvae which we are cultivating in buckets of green water outiside (using ourselves as a food source!!!!). None of mine, big or small will look at pellets. The big ones staple diet is hot house turtles frozen food, supplemented with earthworms. I am working on breeding guppies as live food but have yet to get enough to feed regularly. I have also hundreds of baby brichardi but they are very hard to catch in a 800L tank, need to perfect my technique. Joanne

Hi there, In the New Year I am planning a new tank. I have a 6 foot tank, 50cm high, 370L. I want to plant it with a south east asian theme (crypts, tiger lotus, rotala, java fern). I would like to try t5 lighting on it (my other tanks have t8s). I saw these lights for sale on that site http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =340649828 Would some of the plant gurus please give me an opinion on suitability. Seems like a lot of light for a reasonable price. I have also been looking at the Hagen glo t5ho as an option. Thanks for your time Joanne

Ok, maybe I haven't asked quite the right question. I am looking to add a small number of angels to my south american tank. I have seen advertised for sale gold marble angels and also koi angels. The pictures of each look alike and I am wondering if they are one and the same but with different names. What I am trying to avoid, is buying say "a gold marble" angel and then finding out it is not actually what I wanted. Please appreciate I live in a remote location and cannot just pop into a LFS. The angels I like have good, bright gold/red markings with a strong black/white marble pattern but I'm not totally sure what the correct name for them is.

Can someone tell me if gold marble angels are the same as Koi angels? If not, what are the differences? Thanks

Thanks for your suggestions. I neglected to mention I have a 5cm airstone bubbling 24/7. It is not attached to the filter but runs off a separate air pump. I think there is reasonable surface movement and I have never seen the bristlenoses anywhere near the surface. According to my research, Tiger Barbs are supposed to the pretty hardy, I'm sure something must be wrong I just can't tell what. The danios are about as healthy and happy as I've ever seen fish. The stocking rate is pretty low too. Thanks Joanne

Hi, I'm hoping some experienced fishkeepers might help me with my Tiger Barbs. Something is wrong with my setup, I've lost two today and two more in the last week. History - 200L planted tropical tank, has been set up approx 6 months, temperature 25.5 celcius (can be up to a degree higher in the afternoon), filtration Fluval 304 (hardly ever fiddled with, seems to go well). I do have a brush algae problem, I dosed flourish excel at the label dose recently to try and control and I think the current problem started around then. I have managed to kill my twisted val with it and the BBA is now regrowing. The water has had several partial changes since then, I usually change 30% - 50% weekly. The other inhabitants are a school of 6 Zebra Danios and two approx 7cm bristlenoses. I have 11 tiger Barbs left, 3 of my originals (approx 5cm and 8 of 10 2cm new ones I bought last week). I have previously had 3 more Tigers die but not in the last 5 months. Prior to dying, the barbs "hang in the water", stop eating and look miserable for 1 - 7 days. It is always the same, instead of swimming as a school all over the place they separate out. It is hard to describe, physically that look normal, as far as there is no white spot, fungus or tatty fins but they are quiet and sort of hide with their noses lower than their tail. They can swim off normally if disturbed. I thought my redtail shark was giving them a hard time so I took him out a week ago to see if that would improve things, no change. I test my water every 1 - 2 weeks and the ammonia & nitrite are always zero, nitrates always less than 20 (in the 5 - 10 range today) and the pH is always 6.0. I am on rainwater and it comes out of the the tap at 6.0, I have never used any pH changing products. I feed tetramin flakes as my staple, supplemented with bloodworms, earthworms, brine shrimp, novotabs and wardleys shrimp pellets, peas and courgettes. Hope this is enough info for someone to help me as it breaks my heart to see my fish die as I do my very best to care for them well. I have two other tropical tanks with no problems. Thanks Joanne