Caryl

Trouble for what? Providing a link to another forum? Not a problem if it is relevant and the forum offers good advice.

If it's an oily film Ant it might be from your fish foods. A layer of paper towel or newsprint laid flat on the surface for an instant it will soak it up.

It might be just what you need Daniel to relax you before the exams! 8)

1. Assuming you don't have an UGF, not a lot 2. I used a wide mouthed hearth shovel If you are concerend about bacteria in the gravel, do half one week then the other half the next.

As fishboi said, the first 3 pics are an undergravel filter. There should be a large tube and a narrow tube to fit in the 2 holes in the blue bit that slides into the large plastic grid (as you have it in the 3rd pic). An airhose fits over the top of the narrow tube and the other end of the air hose fits onto an aquarium pump. The last pic looks like an internal filter of some sort which, if so, has a pump inside the top bit. If it makes no noise when you plug it in I would say it is stuffed. Is the blue bit below the red arrowed container a separate thing? It looks like a small box filter. Again, this would attach to a pump like the undergravel filter does.

All the fish will try and eat the fry - including mum :roll: If you have a true plec in that sized tank you had best find a new home for it. They need a much larger tank as they grow 2ft or so. Keeping them in smaller tanks stunts their growth (but not enough to stop them getting too big). If the plec is actually a bristlenose of the Ancistrus sp then that is OK. Get more plants, especially fine bushy ones like Java moss, cabomba, ambulia or water sprite. Livebearers can store sperm for several months and continue to produce fry for some time after no contact with a male.

I hate to say this but I think you are heading for trouble! Too many fish added much too quickly. Those golden barbs will grow quite large and the tank is much too small for the plec. Are you able to take him back? His growth will be stunted in such a small space and it is not fair to keep him in too small a tank. I would ask you to do some water tests but since you have added extra products, especially the waste control, the readings will be innaccurate. There is no need to add such products (except to remove chlorine) to a well maintained and balanced tank. The blue gourami looked stressed to me although it is hard to tell from the video. They will find the other fish quite stressing I feel, although others may disagree. The water is going cloudy with bacterial blooms which will hopefully settle once the tank has a chance to cycle fully.

Finally! Most magazines were posted yesterday and the lower South Island ones went today. In this issue you will find... David talks about his gouramis breeding Read about TAPS Great Fish Auction How Much Lighting? - a basic guide What to do in the event of a power failure Read about Parrot's Feather and other plant pests (or should that be pest plants?) Learn how to look after your tiger lotus kribkrazy tells about his favourite fishes - Malawi cichlids Should you add salt to a freshwater tank? Understand and improve fish colouration Learn about Hammer Coral Euphyllia paraancora Find out about the featherfin catfish - Synodontis eupterus Get step by step instructions on how to make a spawning mop Read and see photos from the Masterton Livebearer Show PLUS LOTS MORE!! (no Ginsu knives are offered with this magazine )

She will be very fat and you can often see black dots through her belly when she is about to drop (it is the fry's eyes you can see). Her anal vent will be enlarged. They will drop fry every 4 - 6 weeks depending on temperature so she must be pretty close to delivery. Females will often get distressed in a breeding trap. They may also abort. Much better for them to be free in a larger heavily planted tank with lots of fine leaved plants for the fry to hide in.

You will not find them in the manchester department Mincie! :lol:

Okis are reliable too. Email Grant if you want advice on options as he is always up on the latest reviews on these things. Too many people look at buying price only and do not consider running costs - which vary considerably.

HPs are expensive to run though

I siphon round my plants without them getting upset about it. The mini vallis even get the siphon totally over top of them. They do use the muck certainly but you still need to keep the levels of it down to a reasonable amount.

You still use a printer with "one colour suits all" mix? You poor thing

Sounds promising. Shine a torch down on them from above. Their eyes will reflect in the torchlight.

I use warm water.

I have to say that living in an area without chlorine or fluoride added to the water supply, I always clean my filter stuff under the tap.

The magazines will be posted Monday morning to all except those in Nelson/Marlborough and south of Christchurch Have run out of cyan toner and supplier is temporarily out of stock :roll: Hopefully new stock will be available within 2 days. Thank you for your patience FYI: Have had new printer 2 days and have printed 5304 sheets already. Am on second black toner and used all the cyan plus 75% of the magenta and yellow. For some reason we go through a lot of cyan (that's 'blue' to those unfamiliar with colour toner) :lol: When we buy toner it is up to $1,000 worth at a time and I buy paper 40 reams at a time. So next time you gasp at the cost of a cartridge for your little deskjet type printer, spare a thought for others 8)

It sounds good. I have the TFH Handbook of Fish Diseases by Dieter Untergasser. How would you say the books compare? I like the pics in the TFH book, very helpful, but do find following some of the chart to med links a bit confusing. Plus a lot of the meds talked about are not available here or are known under different names.

Very nice colouring.

I assume you are trying to raise infusoria to feed the fry? The cloudy stuff in the container is the infusoria. I have never bred paradisefish but have a book here that says to feed the fry brine shrimp so I wonder if infusoria is too small for them?

Why weren't you expecting it? Breeding is all your fish do every few weeks. :roll:

Pond paints would be safe. A lack of colours though :-?

Shadowfax, if you put the thermometers beside each other do they still read 2 degrees different?

It is green moss 8) Why don't you try it and see? Digging a bit up and then totally submersing it will not work though. Try growing it as a bog plant and go from there.