Caryl

"Nits like clean hair" is a myth apparently. :-?

Developing very nicely!

The only time I have been troubled with green dot algae is in winter when the sun is low enough to shine under the verandah and into the lounge so direct sunlight (albeit weak winter sun) hits the front tank glass for a couple of hours or so a day. I get the spots in a small area of the front glass only, where the sun hits.

Very pretty. You should get a prize for that zev!

I too would change insurance companies if mine did that when it wasn't my fault.

It pays to wait until the water is warmer too We have the same problem here with floods and dirty water too :roll: You want some duckweed?

The Dr I work for breeds Birmans also. We invariably have a Birman or 2 alseep in the surgery waiting room and kids love coming to the Dr because they get to see the latest kittens :lol:

I can give you duckweed if you want it. Alan sells plants most of the time. PM him and ask.

When I had goldfish in a tank I gathered oxygen weed from the local river. Free! Then, when it got eaten it was easy to replace. I also found Java fern and sprite survived regular goldfish onslaughts, or, in the case of the sprite, grew fast enough to keep up with the nibbling :roll:

They require regular trimming a lot as they get out of hand quickly, once established.

I have decided our membership cards need an update. Anyone like to have a go designing new ones? They will be printed here at home on a colour laser, not professionally, on A4 sheets and cut on a guillotine. I use Word and Publisher but if done as a high quality graphics file I can use most in both these programmes. I should be able to fit 12 to a page (2 rows of 6) The basic requirements; Card needs to be business card size eg 9cm x 5.5cm (or slightly smaller) Must have FNZAS logo (see top left of page) and name Validity dates (Aug 2010 - 2011) as cards are renewed annually Current cards also have "Membership Card" written on them (helps identify what they are so probably a good idea to have on yours too 8) ) the FNZAS treasurer's signature and states that XXX is a current member These last two you may think are unnecessary What do you think? Want to give it a go? I am playing around with ideas at the moment and may or may not use any other suggestions, or a mix of ideas. Email your designs or suggestions please. You have a week or two to come up with something Remember the KISS principle!

Don't forget if you feed the worms rubbish they will taste like rubbish and the fish won't eat them

Gambusia are often referred to as mosquito fish and are illegal. If he is selling them on TM then someone needs to know

Don't forget the basic electricity rates have gone up too. You can be using exactly the same amount of power as last year but if electricity went up 20% then so will your bill - with no further useage from you

Not that I have ever experienced.

If $5000 is your budget you are not going to find anything with low ks. :-? We have had Isuzu Bighorn and Wizard, Dihatsu Rocky, Nissan Terrano and Kia Sorento. All diesel except the Rocky and all had low ratio box which is essential for Grant's use. Have to be short wheel based too as he has tight corners to get around! All similar cost to run but a lot depends on what you are doing with it. As Grant does large distances diesel is the best option for him. If you aren't doing a lot of running consider petrol versions as they are often cheaper to buy, which will more than make up for the slightly dearer running costs. Don't forget a diesel is going to cost you more than 4c/km just for road user charges alone. This means a small efficient diesel can cost more that the petrol equivalent, especially when you take in the more expensive maintenance. The Suzuki Vitaras are very good vehicles and there's lots around at all different price levels. Toyotas tend to cost a lot more just because they are Toyotas (and that is why we haven't owned one). Don't write-off automatics. Grant's 4WDs are all auto (medical reasons) now and, if he had a choice, he would still go for an auto. Although the earlier ones don't have such good engine braking through the auto gearbox the newer ones are excellent. He likes his Kia but is finding the vehicle is a little low. Another popular choice could be a Mitsubishi Challenger. Grant doesn't like utes as they don't suit what he does. He needs a closed, secure vehicle with the option of folding the seats for a longer load bay. A surprising number of 4WD vehicles do not allow chains to be fitted on the front wheels so if you need to use chains, check that first! eg. the latest Toyota and Mazda/Ford utes can't have chains fitted on the front wheels!!

No but I did find some pages (notes I think they were called) that I didn't know I had. Can't remember where they were now either :roll: Is the wall my home page?

Thank you Sunbird73. I have a friend who sews and she made it for me. She found the yellow material in a 2nd hand shop for $2.99 and made an extra long skivvy and elasticised the bottom then made the matching cap. I then added yellow tights ($9.95 from memory) and the white ruff was cut from an old sheet I had in the rag bag. Black pipecleaners ($2 Shop) threaded through holes in the cap and taped on the inside to heavy cardboard (had to or they just fell over). The belly was a cushion shaped bit of material which had a strap going around my neck to hold it up. It was filled with polystyrene bean bag balls. The green star was a bit of reflective contact paper I had lying about (like you peel and stick onto school book covers) cut out in a star shape and stuck on. Yellow face paint, $2, from some shop called "1, 2, 3 or more Gifts 2 U" or something like that. Dearest bit would have been the tights (Farmers - got the last yellow pair they had), followed by the balls but they can be given to my daughter to add to her beanbag. I used half a 25L bag from The Warehouse ($9.95 for the whole bag I think)

One of our, now deceased, members made hers using the plastic coated mesh from The Warehouse of garden centres.

Ours varies from month to month as they read then estimate on alternate accounts. Our last account for May was an estimate and $297 but the previous read one was $228. Compare to summer and January's estimate was $251 but December's read was $227 There is a $46 monthly discrepency in the estimates but only $1 difference in the actual read accounts. We run the aircon in summer but in winter have the aircon on warm and use a heatpump in one bedroom plus a bathroom heater as well (only when we are in there of course). As someone said, showers are longer and hotter in winter. We also pay for gas heating in the lounge which is way more expensive than heatpumps :-?

We just passed the winter solstice on June 21st so should be getting warmer from now on

Ooh thanks for that mcrudd, I will check it out :bounce:

A lot can depend on how well insulated your house is. If the tanks are in a warm room then there should be little difference.

Our next meeting is this Sunday, 27th, at 8a Faulkland Drive. ALL WELCOME. As delegates, Grant and I will be reporting back from conference and have quite a bit of information to impart and submisisons to prepare. We will also have pics taken over the conference weekend (and no I haven't forgotten you bdspider) to show on the big screen and you can admire the trophies won by 2 of our members

Our hike is usually the extra appliances we run in winter (heatpumps etc) rather than the aquariums, which use little.