Caryl

Hi and welcome to the forums after having chatted to you so often in the other room :lol:

Very helpful ramble Midas :lol:

Depends on the cichlids. If you are thinking African lake cichlids then yes, it saves a lot of hassles buying all the fish when they are young and adding them all at once. This is how I set mine up. I set the tank up with 4 chunky goldfish (good poo producers) about 8cm each. These fish cycled the tank. When I was ready to add the cichlids, the goldfish were thrown outside into the pond I had waiting for them, a heater was added (not that it made much difference as the room temperature was about 20 - 22C at the time anyway) then I got 36 baby Africans off a breeder and added them all at once. I can't remember how big they were (and they varied) but they were just old enough to be saleable size. You have to be careful which cichlid are added first as some are more territorial than others so adding the more timid ones first allows them to establish territory before you add stroppier fishes.

Enjoy your trip to Auckland pies. Hey guys! PARTY AT JANE'S !!!! :lol:

I wish I could get all you Cantabrians (or Canterburians depending on who you talk to) to get to the Canterbury club meetings!

One of the Kapi-Mana members is a keen goldfish breeder but I don't know what he actually has. Any of you Kapi-Manaites able to help? The man doesn't have internet access as far as I know.

Stocking levels vary greatly depending on the size of the fish, filtration and maintenance. An airstone might add interest to an aquarium but not much else. Increased filtration will give you higher stocking possibilities.

Hi there fellow wrinkly It would be good to see a club start up again in Nelson. I know there are interested people. Let me know if I can help. It would be nice for us to have another club within visiting distance.

Nothing sucks fry through a small space like an angelfish!

Well control yourself and don't buy any more fish! You will stock too quickly for the filters to keep up. Your water change and gravel clean are done at the same time by using a siphon to clean the muck off the gravel as it takes water from the tank. Do a 20% water change now (or at the weekend, I don't mean - immediately) and do this every 2 weeks. Some suggest 10% every week but both are fine. The brown algae is normal in a new tank and it should go away once the plants start to grow and use the nutrients being produced by the fish. At this time of year, 30 minutes of sun shouldn't hurt but it may tend to make the glass go green with algae where the light hits.

Welcome Justin. You mean after 8 years you still only have 1 tank?? :lol: What's wrong with you? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hazel is a retired lady who plans to come to the fish show. She is looking for a female who would like to share accommodation with her at Kennedy Park. PM me if you can help her.

If there are 4 you can see there is a good chance there's another 10 you can't see They lay eggs inside caves or under logs so you may not ever see them although they are large eggs and a nice orange colour. I hope you have some hardwood in the tank as it is a necessary factor to aid their digestion. The male looks after the eggs and fry although the fry are pretty independent from the beginning. At that size they could be 3 - 4 weeks old. They don't need special feeding as they will browse on algae and bottom feeder pellets. They also like veges - both fry and parents - like cooked peas (pop them out of their shell first though), zucchini, and cucumber. I believe they also like carrot and apple though haven't tried either myself.

Tropical Blues is always worth a visit

Welcome saffaboy. I believe there are some discus breeders in Christchurch and the largest number of fish shops per population in the country Altum angels are rarely seen here (they have one at Redwoods) and importing fish is very difficult because of our import regulations.

Will try and remember

I have daphnia. I posted some to Wgtn once and most of them survived the experience I will be heading to Napier in September and meeting up with an Auckland member there so perhaps we could get some to you then.

Hi and welcome Ash. Several of us are in the chat room most nights by 9.30pm. Some of us have kept axolotls too and Dennis is waiting for some to hatch at the moment.

Gorgeous! Well done. No wonder you are excited you've done a good job.

Pictures never do the real thing justice. I have seen pics of pies tank for instance and thought it looked great but it was nothing compared to seeing the real thing. Looking forward to visiting Layton to see his tank in a couple of weeks if we are able to arrange it. Nice pics jackjackjack, thanks for sharing.

Computers are a wonderful modern aide are they not? :lol: Our back-up computer is failing too but we also have back-ups elsewhere. Having lost major data twice now we don't take chances any more!

Not necessarily doc as she said they decided to get a tank about a year ago, she didn't say they actually got it a year ago. And they have only had the fish 6 hours.

Why use ammolock if you don't have ammonia? Why use it at all for that matter? I understood that stuff mucked up test results. Clowns like good water quality but it may be just one clown with a problem and not the whole tank.

I would buy some more fish but put the fighter in a tank by himself.

Welcome to you both. Discus aren't the best fish to begin with but I hope all goes well. Echoing Matt, what size is the tank? Had you cycled it before adding the fish?