Caryl

I am sick of people blaming "the government" (and I do not care which party is in at the time). They are not the ones setting the prices. Yes the tax take has increased in fuel but it has decreased in other stuff because there is still only a certain amount of money to be spent. By being more frugal in our fuel use, but not spending on other large cost items, the tax take has actually dropped. The major problem with the fuel costs is speculators in the US. I too walk, or ride my bike. I am lucky I do not live in a city where this is too dangerous! Our "home" vehicles get used very little but Grant's work 4WD (diesel) makes up for it. In the last 2 weeks he travelled over 2,700km. In the last 12 months he did 47,000km but this year will be more, up to around 50,000. He is averaging 1,000km per week.

Hmmm are these dark or milk chocolate? :lol: (You can combine the S3X and chocolate you know )

I don't think so and can no longer remember what it looked like so it must have disappeared :lol: :roll:

I remember quite a few years ago now an FNZAS member couldn't stop his A. curviceps from breeding. He had a 5 or 6ft tank absolutely chokker full of the things but nobody at the time wanted to buy them! :roll:

Have you tested the water quality? 99% of whitespot is caused by poor, or incorrect, water conditions. Get them right and the problem should be solved. Lighting makes no difference.

I have 4 west coasters staying with me as all the passes are closed and they can't get home. My aunt (1 of the 4) works for the Hokitika Council and said a man came in to introduce himself the other day saying he was a photographer and new to the area. She looked at the address on his card and said "You keep tropical fish don't you?" She said the look on his face was priceless!!! (Yes, I suspect it was Vinson Massif's dad :lol: ) She knew as I had sent her the pic Vinson posted of his new house and I had asked her where it was. She said it was the old Deitrich place and that my late grandmother used to work there as a housemaid many years ago :lol:

I have 4 guests overnight from the west coast. They were in ChCh but the passes have all closed and they can't get home. They came up here hoping to go via St Arnaud but that too is closed. It is almost snowing in Stoke and people there say they have never seen the snow so low. I can see it snowing further up our valley but we have had a glorious sunny, calm, day here.

Very nice, well done.

He could ice skate on the big pond this morning and it is too thick for a budgie, even a solid one, to break through. I hope he doesn't see the suggestions he swim with the aros

A lot shorter! 8) Don't forget to get the new club heading details, member details list, caps and YB levy in to the FNZAS treasurer ASAP (pref before 10th July)

You can get an oily surface from high phosphates in the fish food (or if you are feeding salmon pellets or similar). Try lying a paper towel flat on the surface to absorb it. Having the filter return break up the water surface will also help. I don't know if Flourish Excel has an effect.

Much appreciated

You do realise capitations and YB levy are supposed to be sent to the FNZAS treasurer by 10th July?

They don't work after about 6 months (not as a wet/dry anyway) and you can't get any information from Eheim as they don't answer your emails. All I could find was others whose filter had the same problem as ours but nobody had come up with a fix. It put me off Eheim for life, which is a pity as I believe all their other filters are supposed to be very good.

Well I think they are big and ugly and your one has obviously killed its duck so they must be aggressive! :lol: Looks like the snail is trying to make its escape too! I know a lot of people love the big cichlids but I am a fan of the smaller shoaling fish myself.

Just don't ever get an Eheim wet/dry!!! :evil:

I wonder if it is an age thing as I can't think of anyone I know who smokes these days (but many who used to). When we built our house 28 yrs ago it was smokefree and we hosted my parents' 25th wedding anniversary. Just about all their friends smoked but all happily went outside for a drag. A recent get together had not a single smoker needing to leave :-? (and no, it wasn't because they had all died :lol: )

I love my Jebo 819's out of all my brands (Fluval, Eheim wet/dry and Jebo) of external canister filters.

It will turn the water a dark blue. Does the bottle only suggest one dose? I thought most had you add so much first day then more on successive third days or something. Sorry, I don't have a bottle here to see. Keep an eye on the males that they don't have whitespot too or you will have to treat them and their tank too. Probably only the poor stressed out female though at this point. Make sure you have removed any carbon inserts from your filters as they will absorb the meds.

Either get more females or get rid of 3 males. The poor female will be killed. Can you separate her and treat her away from the males?

Stress, usually poor, or incorrect, water conditions. What sex ratio are your guppies? Is the female being harassed too much by the males? You should have 3 or 4 females per male.

You cannot compare smoking to eating habits and other things that kill you. Why should non smokers suffer health problems and die early from breathing in others' smoke?

Here are some more pics of Sally's inhabitants Hugo and Toby Getting the stand done

My brother was a 2 pack a day smoker for 25 years. He didn't care about the health risk as he said you have to die of something. The thing that made him quit was the cost. He realised he had smoked the equivalent of a new car so stopped cold turkey and very soon got the car he wanted.

We live in a more civilised area than Auckland so don't have many power cuts, especially long ones My tank is built into a large wall unit so is totally enclosed on all sides except the front so holds its heat very well. I would put poly up on front of it and heat water, if required, on the gas BBQ. Have also got a large battery that will keep the filter and stuff running for several hours.