Caryl

I suggest you join the Waikato Aquarium Soc. That will affiliate you to the FNZAS.

You are getting off topic again guys. The original question asked about people's "favourite large live food that they feed their africans". If you wish to discuss nature and cruelty etc, please start a separate thread.

There are 2 clubs in Wgtn. Kapi-Mana and Wgtn Aquarium & Watergarden Soc. Kapi-Mana is affiliated to the FNZAS (this is their site) and meet on the last Wed of the month, 7.45pm at 20 Mexted Tce. All welcome. Several of their members are in here as well so any more questions just ask billaney, Janey, mystic, Chris, newtman, Anthony, modern angl, livebearerbreeder, Ira, Interfecus, ballistic, Jude or Kevin, to name a few

The thing about the tests is, if the tank develops a problem, the first thing you will be asked is for your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings as these can tell us a lot about what is happening with the tank.

Yes it's nice to see they get the heart tick :lol: Nice fish!

If you have a friendly GP or chemist you may also be able to get some from them. Metronidazole also comes under the names (in human meds) Flagyl, Trichozole and Rozex (though this last is a cream, not a med). Metronidazole is not subsidised, Flagyl is partially subsidised and Trichozole is fully subsidised so obtaining a bit of human stuff may be cheaper than getting it from a vet - assuming you can get some of course. I'm sorry but I do not know what dose you use either.

Just returned from ChCh today. All the shops there have vallis for sale.

It isn't really good to keep them on for too long as the fish need to rest and the plants need the cycle to photosynthesise properly

The pet shop may have meant 'don't bother' if indeed they offer to do the tests for you. Some shops do this for free.

Hi seahorses, pleased to hear you got in here. Perhaps we will see you in the chatroom sometime too. There is usually someone there from around 9pm or so.

When I tried to keep daphina to begin with, I was told to use banana skins but found they rotted too quickly and formed a film on the water surface

Have you had a look in the local waterways?

Try whiteware shops as it is used as packing around fridges and freezers. No worries using several bits as long as they are the same thickness. The bigger the tank the thicker the poly. I have 2cm thick under small tanks and the 4ft, 285L, has 2.5cm thick (and in 3 bits too ) We have the Expol (you know "the penguins with the warmest feet in the world") factory just down the road so no trouble getting the stuff.

I don't know where you can get them in Auckland but I have several old baths, fibreglass ponds and mussel floats in the yard which I just fill up with water and leave. They fill on their own with daphnia, mosquito larvae and other little critters. I have green water in a bath of goldfish so dump a bit of that in occasionally otherwise I don't feed them or anything. They slowly multiply and since I have few fish, and lots of containers, I have sufficient for my needs. They can be fed on grass clippings, dried sheep poo, dried blood or dried yeast. I have found they do not travel well and start to die after a couple of hours in a lidded container - I would put them in a 1kg peanut butter jar 1/3 filled with water. If I removed the lid every so often they were OK but keeping the lid on, despite the air gap, killed them pretty quickly.

Sorry to hear that Melanie. I wonder if he was bullied by the bigger one? They are happier in groups so if your tank has room, get 2 or 3 more or the same thing will happen again.

There you go then - acidic snail poo!

Hey, if you think it is male then treat it as such. I am sure the fish won't mind Give it a name that is sexless and you can't go wrong :lol:

One angelfish can tend to get a bit stroppy in a community tank but it very much depends personality as many people have kept them successfully without problems. I have several angels in my community of gouramis tetras and barbs (plus a few others) and they leave the other fish alone. Angels are known to eat neons though and I do not have any fish that small in my tank. Octagonal tanks are ideal for angelfish and a pair in yours would look lovely.

Hi and welcome wtm. Whereabouts are you and what sort of fish are you interested in?

Hmm, not sure about that. Never thought about it before. When you say you recently set up the 180L, how recent is recent?

Hi and welcome. Perhaps you would like to join us in the chatroom one evening around 9pm. Sometimes we even talk about fish! :lol:

The fish don't really mind plastic or live but a tank is easier to maintain of nicely 'balanced' and this is better with live plants. One of our club members has silver dollars and she feeds them lettuce daily so they mostly leave her plants alone.

Hi Naomi. If it is white it will probably be an algae bloom. I know you said you left the ugf in when you added the Fluval, but did you leave it running or turn it off?

This is how MTS - multiple tank syndrome - starts

Hi rockpool. The raising of the temp only speeds up the whitespot life cycle to help get rid of it faster, it is not a cure. You also need to do daily water changes and vacuum the substrate thoroughly to pick up the cysts. The fish will only like that temp for a few days.