Caryl

To start, the bigger the better. Large tanks are easier to maintain than small ones. Trademe is a good place to look for 2nd hand set-ups or Port Nicholson glass (or any other glass merchant) is cheaper than pet shops to buy new.

Hi and welcome. There is a BBQ at Jude's (a membr here) next weekend in Wainuiomata. Perhaps you would like to join us? Lots of friendly people with lots of advice. It is a chance for members here to meet each other in person rather than just in the chat room most nights around 9pm If you want to know more, send Jude a PM or join us in the chat room.

It doesn't mean just one problem either Shae. It could be a mix of all the suggestions so far.

Depends on the driftwood . Some doesn't leach at all. I have never had a piece of driftwood leach but then, mine are wild caught, not store raised ones :lol: If you boil the wood it will sink faster and if you add a bit of baking soda to the boiling water it will sink even faster - but you must be sure to rinse it very thoroughly afterwards or it will stuff your pH.

Are there lots of plants to make them feel secure?

I hope it's still cool when, like Ira, you have hundreds of young fish to get rid of

The fry can hide in the green water and feed off it. It is that green because hedgehogs keep dying in it and polluting it before I spot them, lift them out with the garden leaf rake, then biff them over the fence into the reserve next door

I prefer the moss myself but whatever works for you - and you have it in the tank.

Put it in a container with few centimeters of water in the bootm and slowly raise the water level over time. Don't know how long though as I have never tried it :roll:

Hmm wonder if I should catch them and put them in something else - the barb pond perhaps?

When I set up my 4ft African tank, I cycled it with 4 medium sized goldfish. When the Africans were added the goldfish went outside into a bath. This morning I was outside photographing dragonflies in the barb pond (no sign of fry there but I think they would be too small to see and well hidden in the plants) when I noticed some goldfish fry in the bath. Never thought they would breed as there is little plant in there (and no flat leaves) for the fish to spawn under. The 4 big goldfish are all orange so the fry should eventually change too I hope. The fry are about 1.5cm

Are you sure its baby kiribs? Perhaps it is really what the marine guys call "live sand" :lol: :lol: :lol:

If this is the one with the filter running along the top of the back of the tank, a couple of people complained that if you didn't keep the filter clean it tended to bank up the water and flow down the outside of the back of the tank. Has anyone found this? Perhaps it is a different brand of tank. :roll:

I keep getting an orange spot indicating a new or unread post in the freshwater tank section but when I look there don't appear to be any new ones. I wonder if it goes orange when you submit the stuff, even if it hasn't appeared yet since it needs to be approved?

Many aquatic plants are actuall grown emersed (ie. out of the water) as bog plants and can be slowly adapted to aquatic living. Baby tears immediately springs to mind. It is a common house plant and also found in aquaria. The well known spider plant can survive quite some time underwater although will eventually die off as it is not a bog plant. Same with the peace lily. Try getting a few bog plants from the garden centre and experiment. They are certainly cheaper to buy from a garden centre. They need to be slowly drowned rather than suddenly dumped underwater.

I don't even do that on my African tank. They get a 50% water change every so often and it is filled up straight from the garden hose dragged through the bedroom window :lol: . The fish love it and play in the current of cold water.

I haven't seen yours appear yet Dawn.

We had 18mm here today but the day ended nice and sunny. Aren't you up a bit late for a 5 year old - even if it is school holidays? :lol:

That is what we are here for. Whereabouts are you?

Looking good Dawn. Any spare? :lol:

All I know is if they die they pollute the tank real fast!

Hi and welcome blackcat. A tank that size is really too small for goldfish as they grow big. They would be OK for a wee while but would then need a bigger home. Mountain minnows would be good in there though. Would you be happy with just a school of them? Otherwise, one blackmoor would be ok for a while.

To me Wgtn, Upper and Lower Hutt, Wainuiomata etc are ALL Wellington!

I will have my camera with me next weekend mystic. Any chance of taking some pics for you? Of course, someone would have to volunteer to drive me :lol:

Dwarf neon rainbows would look good too.