Caryl

I find neons to be not very hardy and it may have just been the stress of being caught and transported to a new environment that killed it.

Take Raven's help Maxy and you should be able to get the tank sorted.

I suspect he was ill and so was able to be sucked up the filter. You must turn the filter back on or the good bacteria in it will die and pollute the tank. Put the neon in a container and float it in the tank. If he looks too far gone then put it out of its misery.

Whitebait is made up of 5 different species of the Galaxiids; most common being inanga (G maculatus) then koaro (G brevipinnis), banded kokopu (G fasciatus), shortjaw kokopu (G postvectis) and giant kokopu (G argentius) Inanga grow to 9cm, koaro 18cm, banded and shortjawed kokopu 20cm, and the giant kokopu (also known as maori trout) grows up to 50cm

It isn't a bother and someone else is bound to be having similar problems so will find your questions and the answers helpful. Don't give up, it will be sorted shortly and you will know not to make that mistake again.

A chiller is an expensive device to keep the water temperature down to levels the fish can cope with. In this case, I imagine 18C maximum. Inanga are whitebait and are legal if caught during the whitebaiting season. My son used to have a group of them in a 2ft tank. Very pretty fish with subtle colouring that caught the light nicely. Banded kokopu (Galaxias fasciatus), not kokapu, grow over 20cm. Juveniles are good climbers and can escape from buckets by wriggling up the sides

Check my reply under your other thread too Maxy.

That is a rather full tank for one that has only been going since February. You have an odd mix of fish there too. The bumblebee gobies are brackish and should not be in fresh water. The rams like an acidic pH but the clown loach prefers alkaline. The shark and the clown will also outgrow the tank eventually. I think I saw in another thread where you have a bigger tank coming. Is it possible to set it up straight away? If so, transfer the gravel and filter over to it, along with the water for some instant relief for the fish. If you can return some of the fish to the shop it would be good. I suspect the clown loach will be the next to suffer.

They can go off real fast even with water in the filter and the smell is dreadful!

One thing to look for when sourcing alternative cheaper gravels is sharpness. Some gravel has very sharp edges and these can damage fishy noses and feelers as they fossick through the substrate.

When I had goldfish in a tank I would go down to the local botanical garden and haul the oxygen weed out of the river there, being careful to note if any weed spraying had been done recently (easy to tell as the grass edges would be brown but easy to ask one of the garden workers). Readily replenished plant source and of help to the council in keeping the weed down as they are always having to cut it back . The water is quite fast flowing so no problems with stagnant water. The Java fern mentioned previously also does well.

Your hospital/quarantine tank must be large enough to house your biggest fish if it gets sick and needs isolating or any group of fish you buy on your shopping spree. This tank does not need to be set up all the time and a filter can be kept in the main tank as a spare until needed then whipped out and into the smaller tank when required. Of course, it is important it be thoroughly cleaned before it is put back into the main tank again!

Quite a few plants can be grown as floating plants and not rooted. Water sprite is Ceratopteris thalictroides and very similar to Hygrophila difformis which is also called water wisteria. Both do well both planted and left floating. The fine root systems are great for small fry to hide in. If you have a plant that is green with white edges, I suspect it is not a true aquatic plant and is actually a house plant. Many of these are sold as aquatic when they are really bog plants. They will last a year or so in the aquarium before rotting and dying.

All my driftwood came from the beach. Salt content is negligible after a good soak and scrub in freshwater to clean it. Just make sure shells and stuff are not wedged in nooks and crannies. All I ever did with mine was scrub it with a nail brush, give it a squirt with the hose then put it in the tank.

Fish are vegetables :lol: Goldfish nibble at the tender new roots coming up so tend to kill off the rest of the plant in the process, and uproot it. They tend to leave Java fern alone and I also had success with water sprite. I planted half and left the rest floating.

How many guppies, mollies, platys, swords etc?

Cees offered to host it. PM him

are they boys or girls? 8)

You could also use one of the various weed mats or shade cloths, not too small holes though as you want the water to circulate. Some craft shops also have sheets of plastic mesh used in tapestry sometimes.

Every post has the button at the bottom of it that says PM. Click on the one at the bottom of one of pies' posts, type your message and submit it.

There are different sorts but someone who keeps marines would be better able to answer you more fully as to what the differences are. Compare it to tropical freshwater - there are different sorts of these too, like species tanks where you keep one sort of fish only, African set-ups (split into further groups like Lake Malawi cichlids, Lake Tanganyikan cichlids etc), tetra only set-ups, livebearer only set-ups, fast flowing river themes, southeast Asian river tank, Amazon rainforest stream etc etc etc

I suspect guppies start playing mummies and daddies while still in the womb Baby guppies can eat finely crushed flake.

Buy your own cow :lol:

My thoughts are with all of those who knew the lady.

Very informative shiuh. Would you like to turn that information into a small article for me? Or may I use your information myself and create one?