Caryl

Guppies are not cold water fish, despite often being advertised as such. They can tolerate cooler temperatures but not cold.

Guppies are not cold water fish, despite often being advertised as such. They can tolerate cooler temperatures but not cold.

They are tropical fish. Guppies, swords and bristlenose can tolerate cooler temperatures than other tropicals but they are not cold water fish, despite often being sold as such. There is a difference between tolerating lower temperatures and thriving in them.

The paradise fish will enjoy snacking on the other inhabitants.

Hi there. A lot warmer in your part of the world than here at the moment I am sure ?

Either you don't live in NZ or your fish is not a koi. We need a lot more information. Is this fish inside or outside in a pond? How old is it? What is the temperature? Anything else around it changed? New water mates, different food etc?

Anubias do not like their roots planted too deeply. Thy are often tied to bits of driftwood or rock. I see it still has the metal around the base. Remove this. Sometimes a plant will drop leaves when introduced to a new environment, due to stress.

Did you collect them from the wild somewhere?

Isn't it interesting how different people like different features and there is sure to be a fish for all preferences. It is the short bodies I don't like as I prefer a more streamlined fish. I am afraid the quality of goldfish in NZ is sadly lacking, compared to other countries, as they have been banned from importation for so many years there has been no improvement to the overall gene pool. Good luck with your breeding plans.

I hope they are still going! Check the top of this page under Local NZ Clubs for a contact.

Hi Fishy06. Feeding them flakes is fine. I guess, like us, they would like variety but i have always kept to the same food for my goldfish and they haven't complained ? Goldfish are cold water species so do not need to be in water that warm but it will not hurt them. How many goldfish do you have and what size is the aquarium or pond they are in? If you have just filled up a container, added safe start, and several goldfish, then you are going to have problems. Google the aquarium cycle to get an understanding of what is needed. Even with safe start the fish need to be added slowly. Do you have any plants in there? The fish will like them. Goldfish are really hard on most plants, as they eat them. You should be able to go to your local river and get oxygen weed for them. It needs to be washed very thoroughly before adding it to the tank though.

Hi and welcome. I don't have any Ranchu myself. What is it you particularly love about them that makes them your favourite?

Haven't tried it myself but it looks like peppered corys are quite happy at lower temperatures. It sounds like you are keen to have a variety of fish, other than goldfish, outside in unheated water. Can you put the pond under cover? Under the eaves of the house, on the sunny side of the property, anything to keep the temperature as high as possible over winter. Having the pond n the ground, rather than free standing on top, will help too. Some sort of covering to keep the heat in might help . I have only ever kept semi tropical fish outside over summer months.

If you don't want any fry, don't put the female in the breeder box. As she drops fry she, and all the other fish, will eat the fry as they appear. Problem solved! Not sure if any LFS take fry from random people these days.

I understand they can tolerate cooler temps for a short period of time so you might be OK. Not sure how it stays at "mainly 20C" but drops to 13C. Remember you want to keep your fish in the best possible conditions, not whatever they might tolerate, especially as we are heading into winter.

When people talk about them being cold water, they mean somewhere around 18 - 22C, which many can manage over summer without heating. NZ natives are an option but harder to get. Have a look at Stella's New Zealand Native Fish Facebook page.

They can certainly survive in cooler (not cold) water but surviving and being happy are different things. They prefer the mid 20'sC but can go down to around 15C. If the temperature (including nights) where you live stays above 20C then you'll be fine otherwise, please don't do it. They will also be more susceptible to diseases at lower temperatures.

Different aquarium plants are like garden plants, each needs different things to make sure they grow well. The two you mention need strong light and not just in the afternoon. It may also be if you bought these plants as tropical, from tropical tanks, then planted them in an outdoor aquarium, the sudden change in temperature will have been a shock.

I see you are in the USA Farriis. Water treatments differ from country to country and within councils in different areas. I live in an area with nothing added to the water so have never needed to add anything when doing water changes.

Might help if you stated what area you are in.

If something is small enough to fit in its mouth I think it would eat it.

Just heard on the news that the Auckland council are banning the sale of red eared slider turtles from September this year. They are becoming a pest and are now breeding in the wild ☹️

Sorry there have been no answers to your problem. I would assume something bacterial to affect all the fish, not just one species. Never add any medications to an aquarium unless you are 100% sure you know what it is you're treating. Have they had a change in food, either type or brand? I had one brand (a long time ago now so can't tell you what it was) that was fine when the fish ate it but it swelled a lot more inside the fishes than the usual brand and it caused major problems. Swapped food and they all settled again. In case you're wondering, I know it swelled more as I got one of the new pellets and dropped it in water along with the previous brand pellet. The difference in the amount they swelled was astounding.

Well done you! It is easy to get fish spawning but not so easy to keep them alive after 30 days. Daphnia are very hardy and will appear, seemingly, out of nowhere. I have a fibreglass stocktrough which, if I put it up the right way and it starts to fill with rain water, very quickly ends up with daphnia in it. I also used to raid the stock troughs near the walkways up the Wither Hills behind my house. The walkways run through council owned farm land. I recently hauled a huge pile of Crypt affinis out of my 4ft tropical so the fish are swimming around wearing sunglasses as opposed to carrying machetes. Luckily I found a couple of people happy to take the excess, otherwise it would have had to be dumped and that seems a waste of good plants. The tank has been running over 20 years now and every time we have a quake I half expect it to break. The seals are well past their use by date! In the cupboard underneath are all our board games. I think I need to swap them with the fishy items stored in the cupboard to the left so they have a better chance of surviving the flood if/when the tank goes. The pond is causing problems. It is approx 3m x 8m and was damaged in the last big quake (it's concrete). We are trying to decide whether to have it repaired or filled in. Since we are having great difficulty finding someone to repair it, as we want it altered considerably, it looks like it is going to be easier to fill it in, although that in itself isn't easy either due to the size and depth! We might set the stock trough up as a permanent, much smaller, pond. It will be easier to cover to stop the kotuku, who turns up yearly in the hopes of getting a feed. We are chopping down the Chinese silk tree at the end of it. It has caused a great mess over the years, although i love it and it was the first tree we planted when we built the house 42 years ago. It needs to go as we are getting solar panels installed and the tree is starting to shade part of the roof where the panels will be. My husband is in his 70's (wow, how did that happen so fast?) and I am 3 years off getting a pension so we have to hire minions to do these things. He has rheumatoid arthritis and I have recently had a near death experience in hospital after ignoring symptoms which turned out to be massive and multiple blood clots in my lungs. If my friends had not insisted on ringing the Dr (I kept saying I would wait until my appt booked for the following week) and insisting I be seen immediately, I would be dead. In fact the Dr promptly gave me oxygen on arrival and immediately called an ambulance. Hospital said the friends did good but should have called an ambulance instead of the GP. If I had waited a few hours longer I wouldn't be here! Very scary considering my health was excellent, which is possibly what saved me, and I was on no medication whatsoever. When I went back to the GP a couple of weeks later for my follow-up, the nurse who had helped said they were so concerned I was not going to make it that they kept checking my test results as they came in from the hospital as that way they could see I was still alive! Never ignore symptoms or assume it is just hay fever, sudden onset asthma, or something else. Get seen ASAP! I am now permanently on blood thinners to stop new clots forming but have to wait until my body slowly reabsorbs the oringinal clots, which can take 6 months or more, and hope none break away and give me a heart attack or stroke. Just because I am president of the local stroke club doesn't mean I want to have one! They have no idea why I suddenly developed the clots. Although it was 2 weeks after I had my 2nd Covid vaccination the symptoms had started well before that and before the 1st jab too. I hadn't been on any long haul flighst, had recent surgery, been immobile, or have a family history of them - the usual precursors. My siblings took great delight in saying they always knew i was a clot ? Anyway, I am now on the mend but have to take things slowly and carefully or I run out of puff. Every day there is a slight improvement so that's good. Better you didn't want that much detail when you said you hoped I was well! ?

Golfish produce a lot of waste as they are a lot chunkier than the average medium sized tropical. What size are the tank and fish? I'm assuming the fish are quite small. A lot of that initial spotting should disappear as the tank matures. With only 1 live plant, the algae (which is plant) has nothing to compete with it so it is lovng the extra nutrients. Add more plants but you are limited with goldfish as they rip everything up. I add oxygen weed I get from the local river. I wash it well first to make sure it doesn't have unwanted critters living in it then just drop it in to float. The goldfish will eat it too which is why I suggest you gather it from a local water source rather than buy it. Stresscoat will do nothing to help the green water. At least the green is not harmful to the fish either, it is just unsightly. Keep doing regular water changes (25% daily for a week and see if that helps) but leave the filter to build up the good bacteria. Hopefully as the tank cycles the green water will slowly clear. I assume there is no direct sunlight on the tank? Don't start adding products, they usually aren't necessary.