Caryl

You only need water conditioner if you have a lot of chlorine in your water supply.

If your room temperature drops significantly it will make a difference to how the heaterstat manages to keep up.

You won't think it such a good price if they now die on you! The 6 danios on their own would have been best but it is too late now so lets see what we can do to get the fish over this without too much stress and death. The bristlenoses are often referred to as plecostomus but are, in fact, Ancistrus sp. They will have nothing to browse on in a new tank so make sure they get the bottom dweller pellets to eat (same goes for the corys). The ancistrus also appreciate wood in their diet to aid digestion so it would be helpful if you have some driftwood in there. I think though that good quality bottom dweller pellets have wood in them for this purpose. The rainbow shark is too big for your tank. It grows up to 15cm and needs room to swim. Please return it. If you insist on keeping it, and it survives, it is omnivorous and likes a vegetable component in its diet, like spirulina. It may also get aggressive and territorial as it ages, especially in a tank the size of yours. The Nitra-Zorb will probably stuff up your test readings so you won't have a true idea of ammonia levels. The water changes you plan to do will be good and you will need to keep them up until the tank has cycled. The Nitra-Zorb may slow down the process. Temperature will vary (try seeing what it is in the middle of the night when the room temperature has dropped a lot) and your variation is nothing to worry about. Anything between 24 - 27 is fine. Most keep their tanks around 26C. Do not add any more fish until your tank has fully cycled - at least 1 month.

But I don't think heyandrea's fish have blocked noses Alan.

Since they will have had their roots disturbed in the move they will need time to recover. Cut away any dead leaves. Once they perk up again they should overwhelm the opportunistic algae. What sort of plants are they?

Welcome to NZ 8)

There shouldn't be any need to use either

Depends on the fish too. Mine never seem to notice the lights turning on or off.

How long has your tank been set up and what sort (and how deep) is your substrate?

It isn't banned, we just try to persuade members to use the word fry instead. If that doesn't work, we send the boys around

It is what you eat with pakeha :lol: Puha and pakeha is a well known dish. The puha is a plant.

Ah yes, the red rotala. Will do One biscuit will be fine (maybe 2) as payment :bounce:

Please Rozski, they are not bubba fish, they are FRY :roll: We had an ongoing thread on this subject somewhere which was very funny :lol: If you are going to keep fish you must learn the correct terminology - like temperature thingie, sucky thing and greeblies

I am sorry to see people now being rude about it. As said, it is large to some people, but size is relative. Perhaps Trademe could divide the section eg. one bit for tanks under 100L, next section for tanks between 100L and 300L then another for big tanks over 300L

If you haven't had these fish in a heated tank before then there is no need to do so now, assuming your house stays realatively warm. Danios will cope down to 18 - 20C but 22C+ is better. I would be getting a pond for the goldfish then adding a heaterstat to the tank and going tropical. I always gathered oxygen weed from the river running through the middle of our town Java fern will grow in an unheated tank. What do you want an air pump for? You don't need one unless you want to have some of those bubble walls or an air stone or something. They are not necessary though.

Thanks Ian. I looked for them in the White Pages but couldn't find them so wondered if they had ceased trading. They are in our FNZAS member discount list.

It is the filter that has the majority of the good bacteria in it, not the water. Think of it as a large water change and run the 2 filters together for a month. You will still have to add new fish slowly so the bacteria can build up to match the fish numbers.

Can anyone up that way tell me if Critters Petshop, Devon St East. still exists?

I'm glad you said that as I thought it was a colour mutation as well, nothing to do with the amount of salt. I wonder what else they are telling poor unsuspecting visitors?

Just siphon the water from one tank to the other (turn the heater off first), and move the fish in. Top up the tank with fresh water. Hang the old filter off the new tank for a month until the new filter gets established. I assume you are not wanting to use the old tank for other fish immediately in this case. Don't forget to turn the heaterstat back on once you have transferred it to the new tank

All those barbs cope with lower temperatures than most tropical which is why you can get away with the tank unheated, if the room temperature doesn't go below 20 - 22C. They are also good (possibly better) with a temperature of 22 - 26C I bred odessa and rosy barbs outside in paddling pools over summer although I suspect the temperature in the pools was hotter than the temperature of my tropical tank inside 8)

Only because you said if you moved the heaterstat over you would still see the cable.

Have you not got a backing sheet on the tank at all Rozski?

Which ones? You must pay me in chockie bickies

Be guided by the ammonia levels and do water changes as necessary.