Caryl

Check out the begonia house Jude

For cichlids the bigger the filter the better. I always like to have more than one filter on big tanks anyway in case one malfunctions (which happened to us recently). There is a new Fluval 5 out which looks brilliant. I am planning on getting one myself after seeing blue&kim's filter in action recently. External canisters for a tank this size plus it never hurts to have 1 or 2 smaller internals as extras.

How long has the tank been set up? What fish are in it? How heavily stocked is it? Would your parents be willing to make 1 or 2 trips to feed them? If so, pre-measure as I suggested and get them to do it every 4 or 5 days.

When we go away we arrange for someone to clear the letterbox and feed the fish. They do not need to be fed every day (in fact we leave our 4ft community tank, established several years, up to a week with no food and all are fine. Don't leave the big African cichlids that long though). Cut it back to every 2nd or 3rd day. The fish will be fine (unless you have fry). Put pre-measured amounts of food into small plastic bags or pill bottles with the day written on them then hide the rest of the fish food. Get the person to empty each container into the tank(s) on the day stated.

This is where putting the fish in quarantine first wuold have solved a lot of problems!

The 'salt or not to salt' debate has gone on for years. As I said, it is not needed. You may certainly use it if you want but it is not needed. I am against adding anything to a tank unless necessary. Do a Google as there is a lot of interesting debate for both sides out there 8)

No we didn't but we played with them

Salt is not needed. I suspect your fish are suffering because the tank has not cycled. Do you have any test kits? You need to check your pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels.

What do you mean by you turn the pump off? Is this just blowing bubbles or attached to a filter? A filter must be kept running at all times, not turned on and off.

Mine did! I put Java fern in and they chomped it all down to stumps

I have seen some stunning discus set-ups with masses of vallis.

Your tank is going green cos it probably has too much light on it. It appears to be right next to a window plus you have white gravel which will make the situation worse as it reflects even more light. Shift the tank away from the window and change the gravel for something dark (it doesn't show up the algae so much either ) This size is ok for your goldfish while small but they grow and the tank will be way too small. I really hate the idea of just returning fish to a shop when they get too big and swapping them for something smaller each time. If you are going to keep a live animal in artificial surroundings, totally dependent on you for its life, you should make sure they are in the best you can get and most suited to the animal concerned. Lots more live plants will compete with the algae and hopefully starve it of nutrients so it dies off as the plants mature. Fast growing plants like hygrophila are good (often sold as "bunch plants" in lfs). Search the net for a pic of it so you know what you are looking for. Plastic plants will not stop the algae by the way, in fact it will get worse. Go down to your local waterway and get some oxygen weed. Free and good for the fish. Check it is algae free, try to pick it from reasonably fast flowing water. A pleco will grow way too big for that tank. Bristlenoses are like little plecs but none will eat slimey algae. To make it tropical you just need a heater as you have everything else. Do not add any more fish to that tank as the problem will worsen - more fish - more poo - more nutrients for the algae. I know people have been known to have plecs and goldfish together but in bigger, tropical tanks. The fancy goldfish prefer it a little warmer than the common ones. If you go tropical, what about a single Siamese fighter and a couple of bristlenose catfish?

Wow, not seen anything like that before. I too think it may be a tumour.

Sorry none of us was able to suggest anything further.

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They didn't say. They just asked me who, in Auckland, built tall round fish tanks. I would assume acrylic. It is for a business so price isn't a priority I would guess.

There was a pic of it in the last Aquarium World magazine wok. Did you not read yours???

I have had someone ask where the best place in Auckland is to go to get a tall round fish tank built. Anyone able to help?

Tom Pearce Drive, just 1 minute from Auckland Airport www.butterflycreek.co.nz

There is a large fish club in Dunedin with lots of helpful members. Contact Denise at The Pet Warehouse (she is their president) and ask if any members live near you and can tell of any potential problems with the water. She might also be able to recommend fish suited to your water. Take a sample in and see if they can check the pH level for you.

I have been there and it is great! See the 11 metre (yes, I do mean 11) cichlid tank.

We have sony F828 to but Grant thinks the digital SLRs are the way to go. They are faster, easier to focus and manual focus is essential (he claims). Good range of lenses available. Bad part is the lenses cost a lot of money. There are good deals on the Canons at the moment, like the EOS350e. Personally I like my Sony cos I leave it on auto (as I know nothing about photography) and just point and shoot. We got it cos it was good in low light settings. We also got a separate flash unit for it which improved quality considerably.

The Fish Fairy whispers in kellsz ear "Another tank would be good!!"

I hope you realise the tank sits in front of a gap in the wall between the kitchen and lounge so the tank can be seen from both sides in the middle. That is what the blue strip is in the middle - the water level indicator on the jug on the bench behind in the kitchen. :lol: I suspect the thing you mean is the green bar on the top left? That is the return spray bar for the external Jebo filter.

I should have explained that Gareth and Dena's birthdays are just a couple of weeks apart and not only did we combine their birthdays, we combined with Dena's parents to supply the present. Her dad built the cabinet (and a beautiful job he did of it too) and we supplied the stuff on top (and the filter inside the cabinet). We had fun visiting all the lfs to buy suitable fish. It is now stocked with angels, harlequins, leopard corys, opaline gouramis, neons (left over from old small tank they had) and tetras. Once the tank has matured some more and they have made suer all have settled in, they want to add some blue Rams.