Nymox

I've been after red pups for a while now, can't seem to track any down. I did hear that they had the red at hff, I had a friend check them out and he said they were all greens. I gave up after that.

:nilly:

get a monster tank

pacu way too big. don't get ornates or dehezi they will get too big like an aro. Stick to senegals. It would be nice to go south east asain with the tank. Smaller fish species look much better in a large tank IMO, if you can pull yourself away from wanting the monster fish you will end up with a stunning tank. Large schools of tiger barbs for example, with some loaches on the bottom, clowns might be too big. Striata perhaps would be a better option. Even the smallest aro will be too big for that tank IMO, you want to provide your fish with a good life, not just a life.

sumps are very easy, I will explain the most simple version I know of. Get 2 sheets of glass and cut them to the same width as the tank, and about an inch less then the depth. Place the first divider raised off the bottom about half an inch gap, the second divider seal to the bottom. Leave enough room in each partition to get your hand easily down. Silicone to seal. Media in the partitions, and a return pump in the refugium. Couldn't be easier. Hardest part would be drilling the tank I guess. Quick drawing below, dont do the art thing very often so it best be good enough.

My guppies would be lost without them...

Yindi is still gaining weight, none of which is in the tail. I am prepared now for young. Would is be such a bad idea to get an ultrasound? Timing is right for her to be pregnant but just incase knowing earlier would be better in the long run right? Incase she has some internal blockage or something.

Not unless you like algae lol, this whole new completely chemical free hippie fish keeping is harder then I thought lol. I will have pics within 2 weeks. There are lots and lots of plants thriving under the algae, 19 tetra and a few otto's.

There is NOTHING wrong with feeding beef heart to spiny eels. Just make sure that they have other foods available too, for example as mentioned RAW prawn. I go to the Asian supermarkets and get raw prawn cutlet 5kg bags for $12.99 I have 4 eels now, (recently lost a half banded due to malnutrition) and they are all eat beef heart. I usually buy several beef hearts, a pack of 5kg prawns, add a garlic clove and a zuchuini throw it all in the blender then freeze it. Makes for easy feedings. The problem with a vast majority of the spiny eels is the fact that they are wild caught, so very very fussy. Hence I couldn't save the half banded as he would just not eat anything. I feed every other day, about 10% of the eels total length is adequate. Keep them hungryish, as they will be more active and happier. Spiny eels are prone to obesity, make them work for a feed its both physically and mentally stimulating which leads to a happy and healthy life. Try putting their food in a pvc tube for example. simple but they will enjoy working it out. Avoid cooked foods of any kind! The reason being, cooked foods will evaporate the majority of the moisture content within those foods, that moisture holds important nutrients and enzymes that help break that food down and process it. Without these important enzymes some of the food will be harder to break down and build up over time, causing rot within the gut leading to poisoning. Its why I am against process foods such as colourbits being "better" then fresh and live foods because of the nutritional values stated. There is a lot more in those foods that make those nutrients easier for the animal to absorb, which means less food for more bang, better for both the fish and the keeper. My ornates are about 2 foot in length, the girth is very impressive too probably have a few of the heaviest fresh water fish in nz in public captivity. Most of that growth in on beef heart.

Well if you are keen for a hunt it can be arranged. Will HAVE to camp though and no perfumed hair products. We can't have the deer smelling us from a mile away. Though a trip out to mayor island might be more fish related. Will see what I can come up with.

And here I was planning a night up the bush hunting with ya P44, what a let down.

What would be a more sensible option? I don't think I have much time left now shes getting quite big already. I have some meal worms, but my experiences with fish has left me feeling that they are not the healthiest of foods to be raised on. I want these babies to get a good head start in life, so looking to get a wide variety of live foods. I like the idea of the crickets are they seemed easiest to gut load, but nothing was mentioned about the smell, the noise Id expected.

I need some advice on setting up something to breed crickets in, I think I will have a batch of baby bt's in a while and need to get preparations under way. There is plenty of information on the internet about breeding crickets overseas, but I wonder if the black fellows we have here are handled in the same way?.

I like those large tanks, I look at what is inside the tank and how healthy it is rather then the outside. Your right though I guess in the kinds of backyards you might be talking about they won't fit in well with the gnomes and rose bushes. If its a rescue tank for larger fish then something like what L.A. posted would be perfect, after all isn't it about the well being of the fish rather then aesthetics.

Here's a few better shots.

I think you have been starring at your avatar for too long :lol: Anyone want to have a crack at an id on those plants? All i know is there is Ambulia, Dwarf Sag, Twisted Val, Rotala Rotundafolia. Still 2 sword plants I don't know, and the red ones.

Its still going, plants are banged in anywhere, lots of different varieties and still adding more as I come across things a like. Fish are 20 neon tetra, 3 corydora (2 sterbai 1 julii) 1 male albino guppy and 1 dwarf rainbow fish. Taking out the guppy and rainbow fish tomorrow they were the cyclers. Probably too many tetra, as I want to add another 3 sterbai cories when I can find some at a reasonable price and perhaps an otto or 2.

Hes loooking healthy, so don't worry too much. Slowly start introducing other foods though, I would suggest frozen brine shrimp to start. As they get more confortable with their home and their owners they will start accepting a wider variety of foods. I fed my fire eel on bloodworms and the occasional guppy fry for about a year and he still grew very quickly. Now hes eating brine shrimp, white worms, ox heart, colourbits, well just about anything really but it took time. The TT eel and Zebra both eat anything thats thrown in the tank, where as my half-banded and striped peacock will only eat white worms at the moment, and the occasional blood worm. Try swapping out blood worms for brine shrimp for a week, he might turn his nose up at them for the first few feeds but as hunger sets in he will try them by hand, if not you always have the blood worms to fall back on. This time of year is also very good for bringing new eels home, there is a lot of live food around in any reasonably clean body of water. I found they are quite partial to mosquito larvae, damselfly larvae for the larger ones, and for the ones that are getting huge, fresh water shrimp goes down a treat.

Eggs didn't make it, sucked up by a syno i presume. I will set something up for them on Monday/Tuesday. I was thinking a 3 foot tank divided in half, 1 pair and a sponge filter in each section. Would this be enough room for each pair? Otherwise, what are some recommended tank sizes, to save on heating I would prefer to have something that can be dived or stuck close together. I will add overflows and an auto w/c drip system or something similar to cut down on the work load. (work computer no spell checker sorry about any mistakes)

Hes lovely Bikbok and Co. I'm still getting my striped peacock comfortable with his new life. Have you got him eating frozen or prepared foods yet?

I will be about 45 mins late, I have to work untill 7:30 pm. &c:ry Please save me a cookie or a piece of cake Matt

Oscars are nothing, I get bitten by nearly everything lol. Fingers go in first I find out what happens later. Ornate Bichirs some times bite me when I'm busy with plants in the tank, draws blood very easily as she twists and pulls. I will try video it some time. That doesn't scare me one bit. There is however one exception, I will not let my fingers get in this mouth!

Thanks, if you were to look at his profile it would be like a backwards 's' shape, other names on the table included munter and twisted. Not sure what may have caused the deformities as i got them as adult fish. I might set something up to house them separately so they can have a chance at raising some. A night of google for me I think

A while ago I got 3 discus to look after, one of them is very deformed, named lumpy. Well, out of all the discus Lumpy managed to get paired up and spawn and is doing an excellent job in defending them. I don't think they will have a chance of raising any in that tank but I will set something up for them down the line and see where it leads. I would think that it is still capable of producing normal healthy young. Sorry for the crap photo. Had to share it, first time I've had fertilised discus eggs (I'm aware some are not) This tank sits at 24'c 7.0 pH low temps for discus but they are very healthy and happy.

You have an eel your an eel keeper, they all fascinate me