Caryl

Boy I'm glad I don't have the 18+ tanks I used to have!

Good to see you luv! I hope you enjoy it here. We are more fish orientated here and don't have all the extra fun bits the Community Tank has but you will learn a lot (hopefully). For those who don't know - MTS = Multiple Tank Syndrome

Underwater World in Hokitika has blue crayfish. I have seen them elsewhere too so they are definitely here.

We had 8 whitebait in the tank. My father (a West Coaster) was horrified. He used to ask how his patty was growing and suggested names for them - Patty, Fritter etc. He also hoped they would get big enough for one whitebait per patty.

I currently have a 4ft, 250 litre tropical tank of about 15 rainbows dwarf neons MacCullochii Melanotaenia lacustris M. trifasciata Boesemanii about 12 ancistrus 2 Siamese algae eaters Plus I am fish sitting a few tiger barbs, an angel, a chinese algae eater, some pristellas, danios, rasboras and a couple of leopard corydoras. I have recently set up an 18" 30 litre tank to house 4 dageti killifish one of our members bought by mistake at the Napier auction. Over the years I have kept a variety of fish (killed lots of guppies) and am thinking of setting up a 4ft African cichlid tank.

I am sure people get sick of me saying this but JOIN A CLUB! They are a great source of information and often know the best places to go for the best prices. Not to mention the in-house auctions and buying and selling that goes on too.

Oh that was way in the past Pegasus. I have been reformed! Yeah right! :lol:

I am visiting my son in St Albans, ChCh on Tuesday to help him move flats. I might take my pH tester and see what his tap water is. Wish we had more water pressure here. In summer we can't even have a shower as all the rich people up the hills run their hoses continually (even during water restrictions, no-one seems to get prosecuted) resulting in a real pressure drop. They water so much their lawns are permanently soggy. When my kids did leaflet deliveries I would help and take great delight in riding my bike through their grass verges and leaving squishy ugly wriggly mud tracks :lol:

There used to be a native fish group but I don't know if they are still operating. We kept whitebait once, a very pretty fish.

Clowns love company but they will need a few days to settle down. Make sure you have plenty of hidey places for them to get away from each other if required. Rearranging the tank just before adding the new ones would have helped. It would have confused the territorial inclinations of the original fish.

May I ask who the nearest local club is to you Peet? Are you in NZ somewhere?

I have had leopard danios in a community tank with livebearers with no problem. They don't bother other fish at all but will be happy to eat any fry being dropped by the others. Mind you, the parents of the fry will do the same thing! A very easy, peaceful fish. They like to be in a group of 6 or more as a shoaling species.

Nothing like a spare. Nothing like a spare spare. Oh dear, my age is showing. I believe it was Magilla Gorilla who used to say that! :roll:

Hi Peet and welcome to the NZ Fishroom. I hope you will enjoy it here and participate in various threads. :cool:

You won't need 2 pumps per tank. As has been said, the bigger pumps will handle multiple outlets with ease.

NOT Epsom salts

Ira! You obviously do not love your fish enough!!! :lol: My large cichlids loved worms but the goldfish wouldn't touch them. I actually have a genuine worm squisher. It is two metal plates with handles on one side and circles gouged out on the other. The idea is to place the worm between the plates and turn them in a circular motion in opposite directions. I gather it was meant to cut the worm up nicely. I am afraid I have never used it. I have no qualms about dropping in whole worms but do not wish to cut or squish them.

A small amount of salt is beneficial to many fish and provides a little protection against greeblies. I used to feed my fish worms straight from the garden but others say to leave them overnight so they void all the dirt and stuff in their digestive system. Also be wary if sprays and insecticides have been used anywhere nearby. People who leave their water overnight usually have chlorine in the water. Leaving it overnight allows the chlorine to dissipate naturally. The pH in tap water will vary everywhere so asking what the pH is in ChCh is pointless. The man over the road from me has a totally different pH reading for his tap water than mine. You need to get a pH testing kit and test your own tap water.

I believe Visitherms are highly regarded.

How big is the tank and how heavily is it stocked? I have left my fish for that amount of time without feeding with no problems at all. If the tank is well matured and the fish are fed a few live foods before you go, they should be able to find enough algae to graze on until your return. I wouldn't do this if the tank is well stocked mind you. I have a 4ft with about 25 fish in it, the largest being 6cm and most of the others only 3cm. Is there no-one you can ask to feed them for you? If you made up 2 portions of food and asked them to add one in 3 days and the other in another 3 days all would be good. As far as I know there is nothing wrong with the autofeeders but I was thinking $150 is a lot of money for a short space of time.

I agree. If it happened 9 months ago and is still working then don't worry about it. Those tubes are easy to break from the bottom bracket. I have managed, in the past, to move just enough gravel out of the way to replace the broken bit but it was fiddly and only works if your UG is not hard up against the side of the tank as you have to be able to slide the replacement in.

Cichlids are a nice chunky fish and produce a fair amount of waste. I only have a few small rainbows.

The filter (Fluval 404) gets cleaned out about every 3 months if I remember. The bottom gets siphoned when I do a water change. Come to think of it, I may actually do a water change every 3 months. Either that or I only clean the filter when I do a water change therefore the filter only gets cleaned around every 6 months :lol: The tank gets topped up when the water level drops the point where the constant noise of trickling water annoys me.

My tank has always been at 22 degs (except in summer when the room temp rockets it up) with no detrimental effects on the fish. I rarely do waterchanges either and only feed the fish a couple of time a week too. OK to keep the fish in but they don't breed. They need more optimum conditions for that. My tank is also understocked.

Janet did say...Any thoughts?? Or are there engineers or physicists with a formula?? Ask and ye shall receive (hopefully)