Caryl

Welcome. I love stargrass but my fish eat it, right down to nothing.

That is one sick fish. Are you in NZ or does WA stand for Western Australia? Medication availability will differ in Aus.

PMd

The catfish and rainbows should be fine. Rummy noses are another fish that look spectacular in large numbers (of course cost may prohibit numbers)

No. Paradise fish need a much bigger aquarium and would eat the minnows. Have a look at leopardfish, Phalloceros caudimaculatus. I love this wee fish.

Since you want a tank with smaller fish, I would like to suggest you get a lot of one type only, eg instead of serpae, lemon and harlequins, get 50 or more just serpaes or just lemons or just harlequins. These fish look, and act, totally differently when in groups of 50 or more but we don't see it because aquariums are usually too small to allow this. Cardinals, en masse, also look spectacular. They are more colourful when in larger groups, as they are always displaying for each other, and tend more to swim in schools.

You can buy LED tubes here as we were looking at them at a recent Home Show and plan to use them in our lounge to replace the old fluorescents we currently have. Check your local recyclers, they may dispose of the tubes for you. This came from Zero Waste NZ website... A good way for some of us to dispose of our old, used bulbs, is to take them to our local Hazmobile collection. (Auckland, Environment Bay of Plenty, Hutt Valley, Waimakiriri.) For those without access to a proper Council collection, you should be aware that Medichem provides a commercial service for the collection and recycling of all fluorescent light bulbs. At this stage, the service is not universal across New Zealand, and more collection agents are required. We need to encourage hardware stores and chain stores to take more responsibility here. If you want to know your closest collection point, contact Medichem, phone 0800 10 21 31. Please note that for these hazardous goods, a fee may be payable for their safe disposal - protecting our environment does not come free.

A quick and easy first test, before moving rock work, would be to turn off the bubble wall and see if that gets rid of the particles.

Look in the shop tanks very carefully. My neighbour bought a plant from a tank infected with black beard algae and it quickly took over her tank as well. I can offer you Java moss, red rotala and Crypt affinis if you would like some. Cost of postage only (usually $6.50 or $9.00 if tracked depending on what size box I can find to fit the prepay bag.) Cam's suggestion of water sprite is a good one.

Hi and welcome. At least the red jewels are providing their own food

Not sure if there are many farm supply stores in Auckland but they would have something like stock troughs. Probably too expensive for what you want though. http://www.indac.co.nz/waterstorage.htm#

Scotty is still there??? He let us handle the blue tongue lizard a few years ago

Do they require a specific sort of lighting? Otherwise, there's lots of clip-on type lights available at various outlets.

Have you got the female on her own or in a community tank? She, and all the other fish big enough, will eat the fry as fast as they are born. A good clump of fine leaved plant, like Java moss gives the fry a chance of survival.

Depends on the genetics, age, condition and size of the female. They can spawn every 6 weeks, roughly, and have anything from 1 or 2 upwards.

Sorry, no. I never use fertilisers myself. When my son did it I think he used Baby Bio as a liquid one and I can't remember the other. I might get up to the roof space later and check as I think the original project might be stored up there (the child will be 34 next Saturday)

My son did the following (although he was primary level). Judges like ideas that take some time to produce results so one year we set up 3 identical tanks (had a 3ft divided into 3 so handy). We put 3 identically sized plants in each, 1 baby tears, 1 sprite and 1 Java fern. The centre tank was the control with nothing added. Left side used aquatic fertiliser tablets and the other side used liquid fertiliser. The question was "Which Fertiliser Works Best?" No fish but it does use aquariums. He measured the plants once a week over a 3 month period then produced a graph of the results.

I think Shilo might be closest to the answer with cyano. Why it has taken off in two tanks i don't know but when I had the green version I scooped out then siphoned up as much as possible then blacked out the tank for several days. I was also able, as a last resort, to use erythromycin which is, unfortunately, no longer available. Unless you find the cause though it will probably keep coming back. I have never seen it look like those pics though! Do you belong to the Hawkes Bay Aquarium Society? They may have someone able to help you as they will have some experienced members (and helpful contacts at the Napier Aquarium).

Welcome. There have been some interesting fighters bred over the last few years.

Good work. They are looking good.

These are a good sized, chunky, fish and grow up to 25cm. You will need really good filtration for these, which will also affect your numbers. I have never kept them myself but I found a post from someone who has and recommends 4 - 5 in a 200L tank when they are small but 300L+ for that number. So 5 - 6 would be your maximum I guess. They are apparently good with other fish but not cichlids.

That report is dated 2004. The seahorse farm mentioned closed in 2006.

Oh I see. Now it makes more sense

I would have thought natives would have preferred the larger, swift flowing, tank.

Racing to the top to gulp air is a common trait in some corys. How active, and whereabouts in the tank, can depend on tank size and how many corys in the group. Usually, the more you have, the more active they are.