Caryl

Very nice. Here's hoping this one goes well.

Paul the Baensch Atlas 1 has a Brachydanio "frankei" which is suspects is a morph of B. rerio. They said it was first described in 1963 and since it can be crossed with B rerio they felt the actual existence of B frankei to be in question. Until proven otherwise it should be considered a morph of B rerio. The pic has the same spots as your pic but the overall colour is gold rather than like yours. The pic looks like it may be in tannin coloured water though and combine that with odd lighting... Is it possible it is a morph only? Either way I think it an odd morph as the B rerio has stripes and this one has spots! :-?

I was told by a man of many many years experience that the best container was made of wood (he liked to use the old wooden tea chests) as it allowed the mix to breathe.

They also have different sized mesh at craft shops where they sell tapestry stuff. Hairnets would be found at a chemist or maybe even the red shed. It also pays to check out the $2 shops as it is amazing the odd stuff they have in there that may be converted to aquarium uses

The magazines were posted out today. :bounce: If you hear of anyone who says they did not get theirs, please get them to contact me about it.

For goodness sakes, if it becomes a problem, DON'T RELEASE IT INTO THE WATERWAYS!!!!

Melafix is for bacterial infections.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/postin ... t2406.html shows you how to post pics. The algae has no plants to compete with it so is flourishing. You are right, the fish don't mind (probably like it) but it is unsightly. Usually I would say cut back on feeding and turn off the lights for a few days. Why not put up with it until you plant the tank? Once the plants take off they should overcome the algae.

Put it in anyway. Maybe they aren't checking all the ISBNs

It is now Waikato Aquarium Society :lol: I assume you know koi are a banned species and there is a big fine if you are caught with any on your property?

It is possible they are getting better aquainted with each other away from view. They are also very good at hiding. Look for them at night when they are more active.

1. Size 2. Colour 3. koi have barbels 4. koi move at a slower, more relaxed, speed than goldfish

Cool Brad, my 3 Baensch books didn't list it at all

Many of the fish meds are known carcinogens I think you'll find

You get a culture from someone who has then already or go for a drive in the country and look for stock troughs. Watch out you don't gather up blanket weed or other nasties as well. They can be kept in a large container like an old bath, fibreglass pond, half a mussel float etc. Allyou need is water and add the daphnia. They can be fed on a variety of foods like green water, dried blood, dried yeast, grass clippings (I think someone said they used them) or sheep poo.

Just cover the tanks while you clean caper. They will be fine I am sure. We have had carpet laid (the glue stinks) the carpet cleaned (that smells!) and redecorated the room (painted and wallpapered) around the tank with no ill effects.

That's good. You would never have noticed them otherwise

10 - 12 hours of lighting per day. To get rid of it I would have done a few extra water changes (possibly) turned the lights off and covered the tank with a blanket for a few days to kill off the algae. If you have fry the green water would have been good to feed them with. If you had another tank to put the fish in they could have been transferred and then you could add a small amount of daphnia to the tank. They would have cleared it up overnight

Litres isn't as important as water surface area. General rule is to multiply the length by the breadth of the tank (in cm) and divide the result by 76. This will give you the total cms of fish you can keep. eg. my tank is 120cm x 50cm so = 6000. Divide 6000 by 76 = 78.9 so the total I could keep would be 78.9cm. You already have a total of 70cm of fish and your tank is possibly smaller. Other things to make a difference are the amount of filtration, the tank maintenance, and the size of the fish. As fishes get bigger, so does their resultant waste, and goldfish are very messy. I think your filter is probably just coping with the current load and adding another 32cm of fish is asking for trouble.

There was no need to empty the tank. What you had was an algae bloom and, although it looked unsightly, the fish would have loved it! A shift in the natural tank balance would have caused the bloom. This could have been from a number of sources; the filters blocked a bit, more natural light on the tank as summer approaches, a bit of overfeeding, building phosphates etc. Perhaps, as the fish have grown, their wastes are now too much for the current filtration which is why the tank was fine until recently. I like under gravel filters and find them good but would not use them as the only filtration in a 240L tank as I think it would not be enough. There is supposed to be muck under the plates, it is full of the good bacteria that makes them work. There was no bug so no need to get new gravel but, as you realise, you are now going to have to cycle the tank again. If you get another filter (eg an external or internal canister) run it for a couple of weeks on your other tank to start the bacteria going then you can transfer the filter and the fish back over to the new tank again.

There is more to algae than just lighting though. With no plants at all you will have more trouble with algae than a planted tank. I run my tanks using bright white, cool white or daylight tubes (all basic and available from Mastertrade or similar), depending on the brand as they come with different names. I have always found these quite sufficient for plant growth.

Baensch Aquarium Atlas 1 ISBN 3-88244-050-3 Page 525 makes reference to Aphyosemion bitaeniatum (Syn. A multicolor) but only has a small pic and says it is often misrepresented as A bivittatum. Baensch Aquarium Atlas 2 ISBN 1-56465-114-2 Page 610 has Aphyosemion bitaeniatum, multicoloured lyretail (AHL 1924). Syn Fundolopanchax bivittatum (not LONNBERG), Aphyosemion bivittatum multicolor, A multicolor

If it burned itself on the heater I would not expect blisters to be on both sides unless you have 2 heaters close together and it got stuck between the 2.

I agree with Ira. Lighting is more important if you are keeping live plants.

Best wishes to you both. No breeding point as you need a minimum of 10 fry