Caryl

To be honest I have no idea. Freight costs have gone up A LOT! It wouldn't surprise me if it was $15 - 20 just for the postage. Not sure what your reply means - do you want affinis and rotala?

You have bught plants from me before. I have rotala, Anubias nana and C affinis as usual.

I cannot speak from experience with these particular fish but understand these puffers come from a variety of different waterways with a wide variety of pH's - anything from 6.5 - 8.5. I have always said fish don't know what their pH is supposed to be but it helps if, at least at first, it matches the water from where you bought them, or is close to it. You then don't have to worry about shocking them with a sudden pH change. pH can be important if you're trying to breed a particular species but otherwise most species are fairly tolerant of quite a pH range.

Hi and welcome Frosch. Hopefully you will soon get a helpful response from frog breeder, Alan Minnery. I don't have frogs myself but my daughter in law does and I don't think she cleans out the entire vivarium. If you want to put in a waterfall then do so. No such thing as a "done thing" unless the thing is going to harm the critter sharing the space, which I don't think a small waterfall will do.

Thank you for such detailed information about the fish and its tankmates and environs. If the fish doesn't appear stressed, and is otherwise eating and acting normally, then I would leave it as it is and it may heal by itself.

I don't keep natives myself so can't tell you that without looking up the book.

Quiet is an understatement! Welcome back, I remember the name 🙂

Hi Benjamin. I asked Stella McQueen (NZ's native fish guru) abpout this and she said it was difficult to answer as there was so much other stuff you need to know. To answer your direct question she said; That's fine when they are small (and it is best to get them small as they adjust easier, 5 cm or less). Small tanks are very hard to keep cool over summer. That will be the biggest battle. So much depends on your location, what the room is like etc. Best not to have more than 2 males in that size as they get very territorial. Make sure that there are lots of hiding places. The more hiding places the safer they will feel. Treat every new fish with 7 ppt salt for four weeks to eradicate whitespot. Table salt is fine. If you are able to get a copy of her book The New Zealand Native Freshwater Aquarium (or find it in the library) it is full of information. It was produced by Wet Sock Publications, Palmerston North. ISBN - 978-0-473-17935-9

I hate to tell you this but guppies are just about born already pregnant, they are that quick at reproducing. They can also drop 3 or 4 broods of fry from each impregnation 😉

I can't help with an ecostyle tank as I have always had my aquariums custom built at a glaziers and never bought a "brand" style one but here is my 4ft tropical in my lounge, badly in need of trimming (the plants, not the lounge). This aquarium has been running over 20 years and just has Odessa barbs and Ancistrus in it.

Hi Alana and welcome. Sorry for the late reply. Guppies, generally speaking, don't get swim bladder issues. When raising fry it is good to feed little bts often. If you have them in an aquarium with lots of algae in it, they will be able to constantly graze as well but don't worry if you don't have excess algae. I see no reason to fast fish for a day but I guess wait until the fry are aruond 1 month old. The only problem with excess feeding is fouling the water, you will not over feed the fish. A lot of fish species love vegies but it needs to be a treat, unless they are specifically herbivorous only. Lettuce and peas are also enjoyed and my ancistrus love cucumber. I know someone who's oscar loved bananas! What do you plan to do with the fry? Many pet shops won't take them these days (they have their own breeders) and you will quickly be over-run with guppies. They aren't celled the millions fish for nothing! It is all very well raising as many fry as you can but you need to have somewhere for them to go. Guppies are prolific breeders!

What is causing changes that requires calcium to alter the pH? Too late for what? Many fish are tolerant of a wide range of pH as they have been commercially bred so don't know what pH their species is supposed to live in. If you are breeding fish then pH can matter more. I must confess my 4ft tropical has been running for over 20 years now and I can't remember the past time I checked the pH.

I would be very surprised if your guppy had hole in the head. That is a disease usually found in oscars, discus and large cichlids. It does sound like the fish had some sort of internal parasite. Is it just the one fish or the whole tank infected? If it was only 1 fish I would separate it and just keep an eye on it to see if it healed itself as they often do. If it is otherwise now acting normally, gaining weight and eating then I would leave it without further treatment. You are correct, metronidazone is not available in NZ (as far as I know). The cavity may, or may not, improve. Like you sometimes get scars after an accident.

If she wrote it to be published in the forums then I can't see a problem using it in the magazine.

Figured less confusing to change your topic heading rather than delete the thread. Good to hear you found homes for them.

Might help if you put where you live Chrissie. Welcome to the Fishroom too.

I don't think it is legal to import them (and you can't import anything without approved facilities) so I suspect you will have to move elsewhere. Someone may tell me I'm wrong though!

170L is not a big tank from a stocking point of view so you will be limited in your choice of inhabitants. What you add may depend on the angels' behaviour. If they turn out to be a pair they will attack anything else every time they breed and in a tank that size there will be few places the other fish can get away from them as they will consider the whole tank as their territory to be defended. You will need more than a few plants for other fish to hide behind. 3 little neons will not be noticeable as they are a shoaling fish so need to be in a larger group (10 or more). With just 3, they will not stick together and not show at their best. I would make the angels the feature fish and add a shoal of smaller fish for movement and colour eg tetras or barbs. These also need to be a good sized group so they are too busy keeping each other in their place they don't have time to get nippy with the other inhabitants. As you are just setting the tank up, by the time it matures (6 months) you will know how the angels are behaving and be in a better position to consider what else to add but if they are put in first they will probably dominate anything else added later even if they don't pair up. I love a tank of shoaling species (like tetras, rasboras, barbs etc) as they move in a totally different way in a large group and are always out and about. They are also egg layers so you won't be inundated with fry as you would with live bearers like guppies and platies.

Hi and welcome. Some good plant growth going on there and a lovely looking aquarium.

Can you be more specific as to what these plecos are? There are a lot of different species out there commonly referred to as plecos. As I think your aquarium is only 70L, it is not suitable for plecos which grow up to 50cm. If you are meaning the bristlenose (Ancistrus) they are a lot smaller. They will survive in cooler water but not necessarily thrive. They may have problems in winter if you have a cold house.

It is good the tank water doesn't look dirty but you can have crystal clear water but still have too many nutrients or some other problem with it. The pH is not as important as the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. A betta will live 2 - 5 years generally and it will be 3 - 12 months at least when you buy it but if you chose the biggest, nicest looking one in the shop tank, it was probably also the oldest so could even be older. Good luck with this betta.

Marou, that list was 2008 so not up to date.

They are not the best tank mates for juvenile guppies as they tend to be stroppy (like quite a few tetras). Try adding a thick wad of Java moss or similar. Fine particles of food will get trapped in it. The fry will be able to swim through it and eat the particles but the larger tetras will not.

A betta likes little current. Just because the fish was found stuck to the filter doesn't mean the filter killed it. Whatever the reason it died, it would eventually end up sucked against the pipe if you had not noticed it earlier. You can put a piece of sponge on the end of it if you like. You can buy sponges that fit over filter pipes anyway as people who breed fish often use sponge filters so the replacement sponges, which you can shove onto the end of various filters, are readily available in pet shops. How long have you had the tank set up and how many fish do you have in it? If not cycled, the fish would have died from poor water conditions. Bettas are not a good addition to a new tank as they prefer a mature set-up.

Looking good. I would try and hide the equipment more if possible though. Can you fit the heaterstat down behind the rock? Could the 4 items stuck on the front be moved to the sides? Once the plants start to grow (assuming they are all live plants) it will look great, especially the log.