Stephanie

Natives would be fine I would think. Would be a good option. Koura? Would be nice to have a setup big enough for trout or some good eating fish so I didn't feel bad about growing out guppies in my wee aquaponics prototype. They were the only "spare" fish I had haha.

Another 2 gone.

Waiting on Furan, they don't stock it here. Ordered it a couple of days ago. It's so disappointing. You spend all this time and money and then one little thing goes wrong and bam! I'm so attached to every single one, which makes it hurt even more. I was reading your thread the other day, sorry to hear about yours too! Everyone seems to be having a rough time in the fishkeeping world at the moment!

Lost my spadetail this morning. He was the one who originally had whatever it is. Down to 4 males and my last crowntail doesn't look like he's going to make it. &c:ry

With some very nice looking fish! I wish we lived in Auckland sometimes, your Orandas are super cute!

Later. It needs a few things swapped around. My veges don't look amazing. :roll:

They still don't look great this morning but they're eating.

That volcanic gravel is awesome. I used it for aquaponics.

Pretty fish. You're almost an elite plec breeder now.

It's been posted a million times before but it's still awesome.

This is awesome!!

I wish it was easier. We have a whole bunch of sword fry that got sick a week ago. We've lost a few but most of them are cured. Fighters just seem to be so much more precious when they get sick. We're down to 5 males and 4 females all of a sudden.

We've swapped them into a different tank, they were all together unfortunately so we're treating that and i'm about to start scrubbing out the old tank to get rid of any nasties in there. We're using salt as well. The poor little guys aren't looking great at all. Thanks for the advice. I'm crossing my fingers and i've been checking on them constantly. I think this will be the end of fighter keeping for me.

Because we don't have a club and it's driving me mad, i was wondering if anyone is keen on the idea? I know there's people in Taupo, Turangi, Tokoroa etc that keep fish, and it's hard to find different species in small towns, and it might make it easier to swap or sell fish. I was thinking something along the lines of a newsletter every month or two and meetings (BBQ and fish talk? Trip to the Trout Farm and Aquarium?) every few months as depending on where everyone is from it could be a bit of a drive. So if anyone is keen PM me, or e-mail me as it's probably easier and depending on numbers we may be able to sort something out! Thanks!

The tanks are cleaned often and water is fine. Hence i'm going crazy as I can't think of any reason they'd be sick.

Basically our fighters have fraying fins and aren't looking great. It started with one and quickly spread and i'm more than gutted, as yesterday I lost my dragon in my avatar. We've been treating them with melafix, then primafix, the pet shop is ordering in furan as they don't have it in stock. No one is looking good and i'm at the point where I want to give it all up and sell all my fish and tanks. I've never been so gutted in my life. Has anyone had any experience with anything similar? Did you treat it?

Maybe I just visited at the wrong times! May have to visit again. :roll:

I used to love visiting my grandparents in Wanganui when i was a kid so i could collect driftwood, even though it was always windy and cold. Not fair!

Haha! I love your clay man! :lol: Really cool, i looked at a setup kinda like this awhile ago. Wooden stand with a pond on bottom and plants on the top. I've turned into a crazy wannabe vege gardener, and now you've started something again! I'm jealous. :happy2:

I feel the same way about Taupo. I went to the pet shop today, bought some stress coat and a couple more cherry barbs, came home, we cleaned all our tanks out but i feel like it's not as exciting now we've got no one to talk fish to. And it's cool seeing what other people have in their tanks and getting inspired. I miss the Auckland club!

Both haha.

Java moss is the best. If you're in Taupo we should have some spare if you want to breed them. Probably have a spare male platy too.

We've been at weekend markets were small dogs or dogs the size of mine have launched themselves at mine and tried to bite him. Mine thinks everyone is his friend and is more small child than he is dog, so he'll back right down, or run behind my legs. I've had stupid owners eyeball me like my dog did something. He's still a baby really, so he is guilty of pulling on his lead thinking he can make friends, but nothing more. Hence i'm a bit anti small dogs. It's ALWAYS the bigger dogs fault. :roll: :roll: It totally comes down to owners. We were at the lake in January with my dog, a lab, several of us and two small children when some annoying little girls with two big labs decided to let their dogs off the lead when they saw us and our dogs. Possibly the most annoying thing ever. But 10 year old girls seem to think it's funny when dogs and children are running everywhere across the sand. Children walking dogs - evil. I've come across some of the nicest staffy/pitbull/massive intimating dogs and some of the meanest terriers/chihuahuas/other small dogs. It comes down to the time spent with them, their surroundings and respect. Even teeny tiny dogs can chew your arm off if they want to. What about a miniature fox terrier or something? My first ever dog, she was amazing. Obedient as they come. She lasted 17 years and was a better hunter than the farm dogs we grew up with, but was the best family dog. My dad has just got another puppy, same breed, and at 3 and a half months she's shaping up to be a pretty awesome dog too. I much prefer big dogs or terriers to fluffy cutesy ones. :roll: Or get a greyhound. http://www.greyhoundsaspets.org.nz/ http://www.greyhoundsaspets.org.nz/defa ... eyhounds_a Easy to train, affectionate, enjoys sleeping, not aggressive. My uncle had one and two small kids, they'd jump all over the poor thing and hang off it and it wouldn't bat an eyelid, it would just plonk itself on the couch and sleep.

Plus it's pretty much a proven fact that smaller dogs are much harder to train. I was infuriated when my dog got the whole toilet outside all the time thing at about 3 months, when above mentioned chihuahua was having accidents at 2. Toilet training and all the lovely other things that come with puppies needs to be considered too. It's pretty time consuming sometimes. This is when I like cats and dogs much much more than kittens and puppies!

I have a Jack Russel cross and he's the most awesome bitsa. He adores children because children mean cuddles. I guess it's how you bring them up. Bit of a bonus because he's never had kids around him other than my young cousins a couple of times, but when he's in a situation with a million kids around he'll let them pat him and drag him everywhere! Weirdo! Personally i'd stay well away from chihuahuas! They're horrible snappy dogs. My flatmate at the time had one when i got my dog, it beat the hell out of him because we'd bonded for a few months and he didn't like anything else getting his attention. I was also out the other day and the tiniest cutest looking dog snapped and growled when i walked past with mine. The frighten me more than big staunch looking dogs! I find bigger dogs and crossbreeds to be best. My boy is mid sized and I guess i've just been super lucky he's turned out how he has. Crossbreeds sometimes tend to (but not always!) have less issues, in their heads and in general due to not being inbred as all hell! :roll: