Caryl

Rata looks beautiful in an aquarium! Sounds good Joze, thanks for the offer, but what a waste of ancient rata It seems sacriligeous to burn it Rata and rimu are both good for landscaping a tank.

Try Organism too - boy you have to watch that one when you pronounce or type it! :lol:

I know you are new to the hobby Ash but those are fish, not test kits :lol:

I believe they have come out with some of these plants with a pink tinged variety. They need a good amount of light though or will lose some of the redness.

Albinos can develop a slight hue sometimes. Nothing to worry about but if it is 9cm it is a good size for a cory!

Hi Josy We might not see Josie in the chatroom sue as she is unable to use her computer confortably at night due to an eye problem but keep an eye out for her during the day

Welcome TeeCee. We have a few from Canterbury in here. Christchurch has the most pet shops per population in NZ and, according to those in the know, a better selection that Auckland. Heading your way next weekend as we will be staying overnight in ChCh then on to goldie in Asburton. You had better start budgeting for a bigger house or a garage as this hobby is catching!! :lol:

I wouldn't think it matters what level you take the water from either, assuming good flow. On the rare occasions I actually test the water I always take it from the top. Haven't used a Hagen kit so can't help re colours. I can see your problem though (it's clear to me )

Gorgeous reef! Thanks for sharing.

Don't get carried away and stock it too quickly will you? Tank is looking very nice.

This won't be much help Andrew but I use a python for my 4ft lounge tank and don't know if it would work for multiple tanks unless the tanks are considerably lower than the water source. If I use the python to siphon water out the front door the length is such that it does not draw enough current through the hose and therefore does not do a good job of cleaning the gravel and hasn't enough oomph to lift larger particles of dead leaves and poo. This means I siphon using an ordinary siphon tube and empty it into a couple of 30 litre barrels which I then drag out the door (about 2 metres to the edge of the verandah). To put water back into the tank I use the siphon attached to the sink tap (a dual hot/cold) but it is extremely slow as the top of the tank is about the same height (or a little lower) than the tap. I also can't put too much pressure through or water goes everywhere so it takes half an hour or more to refill 60 or so litres. I dare not leave it either in case I forget it is filling I am wondering if you could set up some sort of watering system like the Plassay (except fatter hoses going to each tank) to fill them, and dig a drain near the garage (or in the middle of the floor but if I remember correctly it is concrete) where you can empty siphoned water, or put in overflows. If you did lots of small water changes you only need cold water and you could use a timer to turn it off in case you forget.

Hi Laurence and welcome. I think your main problem has been you have added too many fish too quickly. The tank would not have begun to cycle until you added the first 6 fish. Those products alone would not have done a lot to get it going. I like to work by the rule - add as few products as possible. Most are unnecessary unless you need to dechlorinate the water in which case you may leave the water sitting overnight and the chlorine dispels anyway then add it to the tank. Takes more time doing it that way though. Undergravels don't usually cause big water flows so I am wondering if you have powerheads on the top rather than the water just bubbling straight up and out the top of the uplifts. They should have been fine. Siamese Fighters, especially the males with the long flowing fins, don't do so well in a community tank and I prefer to see them on their own in a species setup. Having said that I am aware many people keep them in community tanks. You have added a total of 20 fish over a very short period and the filters could not keep producing more bacteria quickly enough to cope with the increased waste load. The last fish added are probably dying because they have possibly come from better conditions into your tank with climbing ammonia levels and they have been too stressed by the poor water quality to survive. White spots on the fighter also point to poor water conditions and stress on the fish. This may be treated with a treatment bought at your lfs. The disease is called White Spot (for obvious reasons). Have you done another water test since adding fish? What are you testing for? pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings would all be helpful. Whatever you do, don't add any more fish!! Treat the ones you have, keep doing the water changes and see if things improve.

What an interesting looking tank. I would not have thought of doing it around the corner that way. Did you leave the cork board in there for the fish to post messages?

Warren and Bruce in here belong to that club Logan.

The Wgtn club is not affiliated to the FNZAS so is not listed here. They used to meet at the zoo but now meet in a church hall somewhere in the vicinity I believe. I can PM you with one of their member's details if you want to contact them. This member belongs to my own club as well so he gets to belong to Wgtn and affiliate to the FNZAS as well

My cichlids certainly like a treat of live daphnia and their colour improves following a feed.

I have to send food parcels to my daughter in the USA as well

By the way, I am pleased to see some actually read their Aquarium World. Don't forget you are welcome to write letters to the editor. Your views will reach more members than in here.

I have one word for your fishes sue - diet!! :lol: They have certainly improved since finding a home in your tank.

This all came about because we could not get any club willing to host conference 2004. Without a host there was no conference. Some, over the years, have suggested conferences are a waste of time and money and should be done away with. Any time this was said they were loudly shouted down and told how conference was a great chance for us to get together socially while also dealing with the necessary business of the AGM and they were not to be dismissed. We could have said "Right, no one will host it so we will not have a conference in 2004, we will just have the AGM somewhere." Then John came up with the suggestion (at the 2002 conference) of an off-shore week long trip. At first everyone thought it too expensive and unworkable but after much discussion it was decided, BY THE MAJORITY PRESENT, that the idea had merit and John was given the mandate to proceed with looking into venues. The plan to send out a letter in November to all turned out to be unfeasable for a number of unforseen reasons but that did not stop a lot of work being done behind the scenes scouting out venues and costs etc. We were aware from the beginning that it would be out of reach of some but I have been amazed at the number of those who have felt it worth the effort and started saving. Most of these keen members do not have a lot of money, me included. My husband and I run our own company but have been working towards closing it for the time we are away and I am taking time off from my other job elsewhere. We will have a neighbour's boy look after our pets, as we do whenever we manage to go away. Where has this $3,000 cost come from? I don't see it costing us that much. As for the description of John as having 'more money than brains'. I find this most offensive and appreciate all the work he has done ON BEHALF OF THE FNZAS AT THEIR REQUEST. Yes, going off-shore will certainly exclude some but, even if we could have found a willing host club, internal travel would exclude others. It cost me $1000 to attend North Shore's conference and that was just for a weekend! I think Carol summed it up well.

I'm so sorry I don't know what to suggest but I feel for her! I don't think I would move her though as it would stress her out even more.

Still a little small isn't it? :lol: Bet it looks great.

Hiya Monique. Good to hear you have been managing to acquire more fish I don't think I would put a plec with discus. You need at least a 4ft tank for a plec and your tank isn't that big is it? Plecs are also good at destroying nicely planted landscapes whichi I am sure you will have with your discus.

We have been saving since the decision to go off-shore. It would have been nice to have a club offer to host this year but since they didn't, Grant and I are happy to go wherever John plans. We have been amazed at the time and effort he has put into this and know we are going to have a fantastic time.

This might help http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profile ... /bram.html