Caryl

It was only a few years ago that BNs were rare in NZ. It was thanks to one particular woman that we have the number we now have today. Only a few years ago "everyone' was breeding rice fish. Try to find some now!

Goldfish have been on the banned import lists for over 30 years here in NZ. Getting good quality goldfish of some true strains is difficult.

Welcome from me too. 8)

I seem to remember previous threads that said they do not cope with warmer temps. Might be wrong though

In my experience BNs will either breed or not, for no reason I have ascertained. I have had no fry for the last 4 or 5 years but suddenly have them swarming about again :-? Nothing has changed in the tank and no fish added. Perhaps one of the younger females finally got interested. Some of the males are over 8 or 10 years old but I have no idea which 2 did the deed as the tank is heavily planted and they only all come out at feeding time. Since I can't remember the last time they had a water change I doubt that was the trigger.

Our last was the highest we have ever had at $299.91. 2 adults, 2 heatpumps, 1 tank, lots of electrical equipment running (some 24/7). Last bill was costing us $7.36 per day but this bill said it was $9.98 per day. :-? We also have a gas bill on top of this and the cost of gas is horrendous these days.

I like the mini golf course at Picton :lol: but I have fun playing that. Don't want to play seriously.

I'm sure he will be as impressed as I was Stella! :bounce:

Grant here: Our experience has been the opposite of suphew's. Poor Dells and HPs but great Acer, Asus and Toshibas. No problems with any of them. A lot of bad experience with HP/Compaq. Haven't had a lot to do with IBM/Lenovo but what I have had to do with them made me decide not to deal with them. With your budget you can get a very fancy machine. Do you want it for portability or just the fact it is in all the 1 unit? How about this that just came through yesterday? Acer notebook with Blu-ray drive Vista home premium Intel core 2 duo mobile processor 250GB SATA hard drive 2GB DDR2 RAM 8600 GS graphics with dedicated 250Mb RAM 15.4" screen built in web cam 5 in 1 card reader about $1620 inc GST and freight with a $149 cash back (until 31 July) For a TV tuner, due to the rapidly changing TV systems in this country, you need to be very careful what you get and it will depend on where you are. Any extra device like this will have to connect via USB. You might want to consider a separate wireless keyboard and mouse and some good speakers for when you're using it at home. As for anything else to get with it, it depends what you want it for. Are you going to use it on dial-up or broadband? If broadband, you might want to add a wireless acess point to your broadband modem so you can use the laptop anywhere in the house. The laptop has the wireless built-in. If you don't need the portability go for a desktop machine as you finish up with a bigger, better screen, decent keyboard and mouse and the capability to add much better peripherals to add to it if you want as time goes on. Hunching over a laptop is damned uncomfortable for any period of time unless you put it on a stand and use the separate keyboard and mouse as suggested above. The other thing you will definitely need is some sort decent printer, or maybe a multifunction unit.

Grant was only home long enough to grab some equipment he needed and then off to Kaikoura so he wil look at this question tonight. It was his idea to put the tracking in, and very useful it is too. If he wants to do something sneaky he can turn it off and claim equipment malfunction :lol:

I can ask Grant about it tonight reef (we own a computer company and sell a lot of laptops). I am at work at the moment and don't know where Grant is - oh yes I do, I can track him via his GPS. Looks like he is almost home for lunch. I will get him to look here 8)

No excitement here either. I am at work at a Dr's surgery so excitement is something we don't need as it usually involves calling an ambulance! I think, Caper, you are confusing two different Warrens

I went to a Neil Diamond concert back in the 70's :lol:

Do I feel an article coming on SpidersWeb?

Would members please refrain from attempting to sarcastically correct spelling or grammar? :evil: As a result I have deleted the last 3 totally unnecessary posts.

You and I are thinking along the same lines stock-wise whetu. I will try and remember to take pics as we go 8)

One of our members used to have tanks set up in rest homes but didn't have that problem. She had to stock with gourami or larger sized fish though as the residents thought the tank was empty as they couldn't see fish smaller than that! :lol:

I think I will use a 76cm x 30 x 30 tank instead which will give me 65L or so. It is one I want to keep but this will be temporary as hopefully when they add on to the hospice they will want a bigger tank and I will get this one back :lol: That will open up my options for fish. Our hospice is always fundraising as it only gets a quarter of the money required from govt. We have a hospice shop too and lots of activites to fund raise. Always a worthy project.

Chain loaches - there's a thought. They often have them at Organism too 8) Do they need a mature tank? It seems odd they can't even have a cat. My boss breeds Birmans and had one lined up to donate. He was adorable and so friendly and laid back he would have been ideal (the cat that is) but the woman claimed 2 of the nurses were allergic so turned the offer down!

I feel special 8)

I have just been asked by the local hospice if I (or the club) would set up an aquarium in the hospice lounge. I am sure I will be able to get everything needed donated. Where the tank is to go is only temporary as it will have to be shifted in about 12 months when they do alterations so we thought to start off with a small tank and, once the head lady (who is anti any kind of animal in the hospice ) has got used to it (it is being snuck in on her day off 8) ), we can update to a decent size when it is time to shift. I have a 46cm x 30 x 30 tank here which will be about 35L once I allow for gravel etc so will use that as a starter. Trying to decide what to put in it? Probably have an UGF or internal Shark, depending on what I find I have left after all was picked over by conference attendees :roll: :lol: I favour small barb types, rather than guppies (which have a tendency to drop dead when they aren't multiplying out of control) and am thinking perhaps cherry barbs and/or Hengeli rasboras. I have spare BNs for the bottom. Any other suggestions? I will be in ChCh next month so will be able to get some fish then.

Yes it is contagious but if a fish is healthy it usually has enough resistance to avoid it. It is when a fish gets sick that is is more likely to get it.

I think I now have it 3 times 8) :lol: You will expect me to read it next!! :lol:

Our farm dogs always had single syllable names - Jet, Bess, Zip etc

Dave Dobbin