Caryl

Hi blueram. Good to see you gave us another chance. We have certainly improved since our beginning and hope to continue going from strength to strength. A site like this is only as good as the input from members so keep those posts going people!

I have heard some suggest using those tags like on bread bags as they create a wider surface for the gravel to sit on but I found them too fiddly.

Welcome Stephanie. Might pay to join a local fish club too! There are 3 to choose from in Wgtn. If you click on the FNZAS logo at the top of the page it will take you to where you can find contact details.

Make sure you have at least one of each sex :lol:

I tie mine to a piece of polystyrene

daphnia is the easiest live food to grow and feed to fish. Start a white worm culture too.

Getting things replaced under warranty would be a nuisance though.

I never found the weights helped in that regard. You can buy little netting things from your lfs to hold plants down when the fish are pulling. Do you have a separate tank where you can put the plants first to grow a decent root system before adding them to the aquarium?

Well said Frank!

Welcome to the fishroom whetu. I just go to the local knitting supplies shop. I think dark wool is suggested as it is easier to see the eggs on it. I use black myself (as it goes with everything :lol: ) Not had one leech colour yet. Not sure what toxic chemicals they would have unless they have been treated with flame retardant. What are you hoping to spawn?

Richard, no-one in NZ is allowed to import fish (or any animals) without a quarantine licence. If you want a particular fish you have to ask an importer to get it for you. This might get a bit easier as there a more import facilities now so more competition.

Mine came from Redwood Aquatics in Christchurch.

I don't think they'll let you into their quarantine facility Ira so don't get your hopes up Most of those NZ fishkeepers in the articles belong to the FNZAS and one of them belongs to the fishroom.

It is not our fault if you have large odd balls, we just aren't sure we wanted to know about it! :lol: Keep those installments coming.

Some time ago I was contacted by Howard Norfolk who was visiting NZ and wanted to interview some kiwi aquarists for his web site. http://aquarticles.com/articles/people/NZSmithies.html takes you straight to the NZ section. The whole site is very interesting with good photos accompanying the text. I recommend you go and have a look.

If you can buy clip-on dividers then that would be easiest. My thoughts of making a frame (either wood or metal) to attach netting to was so the water would flow through and you wouldn't need to heat each side and get another filter. Each compartment will need a heater and filter, unless you have an under tank heatpad along the whole tank, and a flow-on filtration system so the water circulates through the whole tank. If you are wanting to line breed or encourage a particular colour, then control your impatience and don't get any more colours. You will need a fishroom to cope with all the offspring!

Sheets of glass or plastic will do the trick. Make a frame and use that shade cloth stuff. Dennis your reply didn't make sense to me. Are you saying you can buy tank dividers at pet shops? Don't subdivide all your tanks Frances, you will need a growing-on tank for all those fry!

If you go somewhere other than a pet shop, make sure the gravel is smooth. Rough edges can damage barbels of fish who nose through the substrate.

Yes that lovely brown stuff is Canterbury sourced. I use it in all my tanks except the African as I have used beach sand with lots of shell for that one.

They should also be getting rid of the fungussed ones too while they are at it. Fins and fingers crossed. Have you found some brine shrimp eggs yet? I would have thought most lfs would have them.

Hi Stephanie and welcome to the fishroom. Most of the gravel sold in pet shops is hardness free. Sometimes what looks like shell is actually small pieces of white stone. The 2 most common gravels used in aquariums is "fruit salad" (a mix of brown, orange and white stones) and "brown". Both of these can be found in shops. Both are 'hardness free' or inert. The only hardness altering gravel I have ever come across was when I first started keeping fish (over 25 years ago) and the local shop (just a garden centre with a few fish) sold me a lovely dark reddy/brown gravel for my guppy tank. I could not understand why my pH kept rocketing up to 8.0. Turned out the gravel was meant for African set-ups which require very alkaline water.

I have seen macka's zebras and there is not a shy one among them!

I look forward to the next installment!

Thank you both

Until you said that Andrew it had never occurred to me! Too angelic I am. Don't expand (no pun intended) on this theme please people or the thread will have to be removed from this friendly family forum :lol: (she says while still sniggering)