maoripho3nix

Hey all, Im not all too familiar with fish breeding/spawning etc. But I think one of my Neons may be doing so. I assume its a female,almost has a 'pot belly' compared to others (and apart from that the fact that females lay eggs :roll: ), it keeps guarding a corner of the tank and every now and then dives under and around the glosso/hairgrass/fern in that area, it is there for a while unless another tetra comes into territory, and in the case, zips out to push them back. If it is a female and it is spawning, then their eggs must be tiny or hard to see (or it might be my eyes), or its not having enough time to sit and lay the eggs before its territory is interrupted? So the questions.... is it a female spawning? if it is, where are the eggs? or what do I look for? Do I leave the eggs alone? There are 5 other Neons in the tank and a couple of them take interest in what this neon is doing and are trying to make it into the area. The 3 Otos are not doing anything :lol: Pic of the fish in question Not much of a view in the video, but it shows what the Neon is doing and then it darts off to guard the area. Any help would be great. Thank You

Update: Well not much has really changed. Went hunting for a background, at Warehouse Stationary the only plastic they had was that off the corrugated sheets (What P44 has on his background). Got it in black and cut it to size, looks good as it covers the stuff behind, but now I can see all the algae on the back glass :lol: The brown algae is pretty much gone, green has taken over ---> :bounce: I still have the stringy bits in places, persisting in trying to get rid of it. Remixed the C02 again the other day, I noticed that after doing this, the glosso stemmed, so the balance of things has tipped again. I have a question, the old WPL (WPG) equation has been thrown out the window, but would it be fair to say that its Lumens Per Watt that should be focused on instead? Although I have a 18w CFL (100W) its lumens pw is greater than that of an equivalent incandescent bulb. In other words more lumens, more intensity v depth??? Im familiar with wavelengths etc, but without a lumen intensity to depth, your plants wouldnt get light from the wavelength. But just wondering if the above is anything to speculate about?? :-? Everyone loves pics, heres the updated pics, just some I took messing around with settings trying different lighting/shutter/iso techniques.

PLastic Maori :lol: My brother is the same, hes 27 and considerably darker than me (im really halfcast looking), 1st time ever that he tried pipis a few weeks back....no go straight in the bin for him :lol:

Mmmmm sounds good Zev, kinda like how I do my Prawns/Shrimp. Use to be able to buy prawns cooked like that (fresh and hot) from this shop in Sydney.....I visited that shop quiet a bit :lol:

Im not too familiar with timetables of events....but if its something I can go to locally then im there, could even put down a hangi for a club meeting lol, wouldnt be that expensive if I had numbers and everyone put in some money. I need to get in contact with the local club :oops:

:lol: You were warned hahahaha not on an empty stomach

Theyre up the top with the best, but for a basic feed hell yea, best i ever had were marinated after opening in some kinda sauce :lol: Yes the preparing part is the worst part, hadnt shelled mussels in aaaaages lol, had to sharpen the knife. :lol: Might have to pull out the kaimoana at a regional meet up or something, im sure everyone will appreciate it, you'll just have to travel to TGA

After seeing a thread last week about smoked kahawai, decided this weekend to get some mussels and smoke em up!! Prepared Shelled Mussels Touch of salt and brown sugar Prepared the Smoker Few chips as mine are coarse Wacked them in for 10-15 mins And Voila!! P.S. They were yummmm :lol:

:lol: Yep that sounds about right, the biggest one of the bunch seems to push them around, and then the rest get into a mini frenzy. I think they are all the same age, cant really tell as I got them from a LFS. Thanks Zev :bounce:

UPDATE: Well the green hair algae is subsiding hopefully it will be completely gone soon. I think the addition of the Indian Fern is doing its job. Green spot is showing up in places which I dont mind as its feeding the otos 8) Heres a pic Hmmmm I need a background. The glosso is doing ok, just need to clip out some dead parts, some is still covered in brown algae. As I have mentioned before the glosso down the heater end is going well so its no doubt that heat helps glosso, maybe under gravel heater in next setup Tried earthworm last night for the tetra, they loved it!! Ive noticed with the tetra, they seem to fight a lot?! They are fed every second day so Im sure they aren't hungry, they dont bother the otos and the otos dont bother them, but they seem to always be after each other. Territorial? Aggression? Stress? Males fighting over a female?? anyway I can tell what sex they are?? is a video of them "fighting". Any comments welcome EDIT: Spot the oto :lol:

Update: I did a 50% water change, wiped the glass, vaccd the gravel, brushed off the stringy algae from the moss (where most of it resides). Went to get some plants from Kiwipetz, Sharn ended up bring some to the shop the next day from her place ( Thanks Sharn) I believe it is Indian Fern. Otos are having a ball of a time eating all the green spots of algae off the glass,rocks and wood. Have been dosing with pmdd every few days. So now I guess its just a waiting game, the stringy type algae is giving way but i noticed the spots of green algae are multiplying. All is well though, as long as the water doesnt go green I will be happy :lol: Although my glosso is hard pressed for the light I dont think its the light thats causing the imbalance, I think its the C02.......Before even having liquid ferts, I had placed JBL balls under the gravel, so I dont think it was a nutrient thing, gh ph nitrates nitrites ammonia have all been on the good side, however with the CO2....first of all its a DIY setup (sugar+yeast), its inconsistent and barely bubbling (now), its fed into the intake of HOB, which i have a feeling is not doing a good job diffusing, and ive never seen anything pearl in my tank I currently have a c02 bottle that was part of a Soda Stream kit I picked up, and am planning on saving on parts.

I dont think its beyond the scope of this topic, after all lighting is required mainly by plants and coral. Could you perhaps write something about the wavelengths and how they affect plants? Why the red and the blue ends of spectra are required for plants?

Hi and welcome Cool little tank, mine is a small one aswell, I currently have 3 Otocinclus for cleaning up algae, and 6 neon tetras going well in my tank. I was gonna go for sparkling gourami as suggested also by Jen, or some fancy guppies. Might I suggest guppies, easy to care for, and vibrant colours pleasing to the eye. Good luck with stocking the tank :bounce:

So im guessing its better to just save for powerglo's + fitting? mainly because of the spectra advantages of both ends (red to blue) At 14000k and by sounds of things only blue end of spectra, would that info alone render it useless in playing part for growing plants (glosso in my case) to its full potential (from a lighting POV)?

Mine liked hiding in the dark areas and in the cave they made between the substrate and driftwood. I fed them algae eater wafers, once every three days, careful when adding CO2 as mine died (determined that it was pH swing from CO2 addition). Stella was a great help on info on keeping them. JarrenB has successfully acclimated them to tropical temps over a few days, and has kept them for a few months now. 8) Apparently the requirements about keeping our native ones, is cold water, due to the lack of oxygen in warm tropical water. Im sure flow wouldnt be a problem as mine were caught in a fast moving river. :lol: HTH

Now Im confused :lol: The bulb I have currently is 6500k, and supposively intense enough for my tank, but as a result the glosso hasn't carpeted. As there were apparently no such thing as a higher kelvin CFL I was stuck in saving for a t5 fitting and bulb, which has better spectrum and kelvin options. And as evil_elmo had said his stock 10000k were not cutting it for carpet results in glosso tanks. So he upgraded to 18000k and all is better. So in saying all that, is it not a good idea to get a 14000k cfl bulb? How does that differ from setting up a 18000k powerglo??? other than the extra kelvin....from what I can tell it comes close but only half the cost of the fitting to house t5HO

This was from a post about glosso and P44 was discusing evil_elmo's glosso tank light setup So am I right in saying that this comes close to t5HO but only about half the price of just the fittings you have?? Or is it better to just save up and stick with the t5s??

Glosso :lol:

This is part reason why I have stopped catching them for food, I think if the word got out more and locals (and iwi) where involved a lot more could be done. River reserves? If i remember rightly there is a Marine reserve up coromandel somewhere??? Apparently one of the few in the world, and the marine life is thriving there. Funny enough I only know this from watching an overseas doco about global changes in the oceans. Read and signed Stella :bounce:

Thought so, havent really gone towards pricing a basic t5 setup at the same kelvin rating for my tank. :lol: :lol: I still think its interesting that what seems to be a CFL has such a kelvin rating, couldnt find it stocked anywhere while searching for lights in my setup

Thanks for the advice, will get it sorted. I would try make it to LA's but I dont finish work til 4 then the attention turns to the kids until their bedtime :lol: When I can I try and sneak into Kiwipetz in fraser cove. Will make adjustments, im sure it will come right, the sight of it doesnt realllllllly bother me, but the affects of it does, im sure my glosso is suffering :lol: Thanks guys

:-? Accidently took the 50kg in total of rocks :lol: Yeah ya just gotta be wary of adding it to the hangi, sometimes ive done a mini hangi (like enough for 10 people tops), and tried different ways of cooking things, tried putting frozen chicken pieces in foil in the hangi, came out moist, fully cooked and tasting great :lol: Famz are from Matata, but most live in Kawerau now. Had some smoked trout last weekend, uncle caught it down Rotoma.

Just flicking through the SOG site, not sure if anyone has seen or posted this. As a DIY enthusiast :lol: this is the best package ive seen yet considering the kelvin rating. Not sure how the $185 kit prices compare to fluorescent t5/t8 total setup or MH total setup prices, to this..... Kit Just Bulb fitting Maybe i could just buy the bulb for my lamp.....or would it burn it?? the cs is marine blue and aparently this bulb doesnt push out heat any comments

Ok so tomorrow should I cut back the light time to 8 hrs? (i went from 12 to 10), get some fast growing stem plants (ill get some from the lfs, any suggestions?),increase the WC %, as I only have PMDD which has the trace elements mixed with the rest, will this be ok?? Thanks again Jen :bounce: Hoping it will sort itself out

People have tried hangi'd fish but the thing you gotta watch out for is how it cooks,where you put it in the hangi, and your method of having it in there. As fish doesnt take long to cook through normally, best bet would be closer to the top of the hangi (away from the hot rocks) to stop it from over cooking or burning. But you would have to have it wrapped properly to stop juices running through the rest of the food, so everything doesnt taste like fish. If you have it wrapped properly it should be fine. Ive seen it in foil then baking dishes, along with mussels, paua, oysters and cray. I guess you just gotta be careful, like wild pork, the taste can go through everything. And now I want hangi too Luckily Im putting down 2 in the next month 8) :lol: My rocks are the same age as me :lol: 25 Years ago my uncle and my dad got them, from Tarawera too, luckily too because its the mountain of my Iwi.....still going good after that long. Great looking Kaimoana and good luck with the Hangi when you get there :bounce: