Caryl

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.

Hi Candela and welcome to NZ I don't think you are the first Malaysian we have had in here but don't let that worry you. We have rain forests here with lots of moss. A big money earner on the west coast of the South Island is the gathering and drying of sphagnum moss.

One of my African cichlids is missing all its tail too. Am keeping an eye on the fish but he seems to be able to swim and is eating.

The barbs are partial to some plants too plus the plec will uproot them and destroy delicate plants

Yes, how many plants have you got in there?

They fit on the dual taps - the ones where the hot and cold come out the same slim bit. They do not fit all taps. My tap has an end that unsrews so I can put different ends on it to adjust the way the water comes out so I just unscrew that bit and screw the python on instead.

There are 2 Critter Kingdoms. One is in 213 Blenheim Rd and the other 250 Stanmore Rd.

I assume you have done water tests? Some fish are more sensitive to water conditions than others so one may look unhappy while others appear fine.

Mistymu would be able to tell you and I know she has been breeding them. I have seen them for sale in most of the ChCh shops.

You would be hard pressed to find any specific guppies in NZ as they are bred for quantity, not quality. There are a few line breeders about though if you can find them. Most guppy types here refer to tail shape, not colour, although 'snakeskin' is commonly recognised. People selling them seem to think they can get a better price if their guppy has a specific name like 'red snakeskin veiltail' etc

Hi Douwe and welcome to NZ :lol: We have quite a few Dutch in NZ as many came over after the war. Marcel (scalare in here) is Dutch and lives in Christchurch (and, of course, our webmaster Cees is Dutch also) You are going to be disappointed I think in the fish and plants available here compared to what you are used to but hopefully the friendliness of the people will more than make up for it I would love some P denisonii but the price is beyond me at the moment