Caryl

Because it lives on the substrate, it is more prone to disease from bacteria in the gravel. Do you syphon the substrate regularly? Perhaps it is picking up greeblies from there.

I used to have a 35cm plec but every time it moved it uprooted half the plants so I gave it away.

I don't think you get many gold nugget plecs in NZ SoulkeepeR and when you do they are pricey. I am sure if that was what it was, Zeta would know. Bristlenoses are a lot cheaper! I have only ever seen one gold nugget plec that I can recall. Are they more common where you are?

Welcome to the NZ Fishroom SoulkeepeR. If only all our members participated as fully as you! Where did you hear about us?

Guppies aren't called the millions fish for nothing! A female guppy can produce 3 different lots of fry after impregnation as she can store the sperm for a long time after being separated from the male. She can also produce different fry from different males (females have always been good at multi-tasking ) I think Pegasus covered all the most likely reasons for the colouration (or lack of it) and it is probably the age difference between the two batches and different fathers. Guppies start reproducing at a very young age so it is important to separate the sexes as fast as you can. Sexing small, colourless fry can be very difficult! Do you know how to sex them? Do you know what a gonopodium is? It is the guppy version of a penis so look for fry with that extra bit poking out underneath.

Many aquarium fish have teeth of some sort. The ones that eat live foods don't gum their prey to death Fishes teeth don't have roots and are firmly attached to the bone or embedded in the mucus membrane. The teeth are renewed throughout the fish's life. They will grip, crush, cut or rasp but they don't chew. Not only can the teeth be on the jaws, but some fish also have them on the tongue bone, palate, and the opening of the oesophagus. Some fish, mainly cyprinids, have their teeth augmented by bony plates. These can crush and grind.

Assuming Mesonauta festivus is also the Cichlasoma festivus or flag cichlid or festive cichlid, then yes, they are in NZ and have been bred by several FNZAS members.

If the knifefish gets sick, check it for lead poisoning (from the pencilfish - in case you didn't get the joke)

Have you actually checked the pH and nitrate level in your water source recently? This can change. Since all your tanks now seem to have a high nitrate level they have not had before, there must be something connecting them. Water changes is my first thought. Have you changed anything else in the tanks (type of food etc)? Just having a lot of plants will not ensure a low nitrate level, plants can only do so much. I am still concerned about your duckweed's behaviour. This is well known as a hardy plant which is hard to get rid of so there must be a damn good reason why yours keeps shrinking and dying off.

Oops! There must be a lot of dead plecos about then! Is this belief held by those people who also don't mention the play Macbeth by name? "Alas poor pleco, I knew he wasn't well" :lol:

Fish will often rest on the bottom to sleep. I will never forget one night (many moons ago) when I got up in the middle of the night and turned the lounge light on. Glancing into the tank I saw all my fish lying on the bottom of the tank and just about had a heart attack!! As soon as the lights were turned on they started to get up and move about again.

If I was your guppies I would be hiding in a corner too! Never ever say they're "just" anything. Just because fish cannot cry, bark, mew or otherwise indicate verbally they are sick, does not mean they don't suffer. The smaller ones die first because they are not as hardy. When you decide to keep animals in an enclosed, artificial environment it is your duty to make it the best environment you possibly can for them. Hang on a minute while I climb down off my soapbox... Such a large water change would have changed other water parameters too, not just the nitrates. What was the pH before and after the water change? They might be suffering from a massive pH swing on top of the original problem. Why was the duckweed shrinking away? I would have thought this was the effect of the nitrates, not the cause. Something else may be wrong. It may just be shock and they will settle down soon. Hopefully someone else has more suggestions.

A Dunedin member has loaches this big too. I think they are over 10 years too! They are faded a lot as clown loaches lose their colours as they age, but boy are they big!

Buy Sell & Exchange magazines are always worth a look. In Blenheim we often have tanks turn up in the weekly auction. When buying 2nd hand, check the glass for scratches and give the silicone a poke. It should be springy. If it isn't, it may mean the tank has been sitting empty for some time, or is old, and the silicone will need replacing.

Does this mean we've gotta start breeding bigger fish (since we're too small compared to cattle and sheep)? :lol:

I am pretty sure weather loaches are a banned species in NZ.

Thanks Andrew. I know others were taking photos so hope more get posted. I have just spoken to HB Aquatics and they would prefer I didn't show photos of their set-up as their tank designs are unique. Company secrets and all that. I thought that might be the case and I am glad I asked them first or I might have got into lots of trouble Warren - If you remind me of the names of your fish I will rename them instead of calling them fish 1, fish 2 etc.

And a beautiful flower it is too I assume you want our photos of aquatic plants in general and not just flowers? It certainly adds to the plant survey.

Conference was a great chance for me to meet some of The Fishroom members. It is always good to be able to put a face to a name. A fuller report, with more detail, will be in the next Aquarium World magazine. Conference started Friday night but we arrived too late to participate so I can’t tell you anything about it. The Mayor of Napier opened conference and then we listened to guest speaker Gordon Dine, a Life Member of the Hawkes Bay Aquarium Society. He had been involved in the Napier Aquarium since its original concept more than 25 years ago. Gordon talked about setting up the original aquarium and changes in fish keeping over the years. It was very interesting. After morning tea we got on with the AGM. This was very quiet for once with no major dissentions in the ranks, few interjections from the cheap seats, and no remits to discuss. Timaru have resigned citing dissatisfaction with the federation, lack of communication, and a belief that the federation doesn’t do anything anyway. They claimed no one from the FNZAS had bothered visiting them since the late 80’s. Considering they hosted a conference in 1990 and the FNZAS president in the early 90’s was Timaru member Bruce King, we found this hard to understand. Disappointment was expressed that Timaru had not voiced its concerns to anyone before now and they could have at least sent delegates to represent their club over the years. It was suggested we should drop the capitation fee from $7.50 to $5.00 next year. Hot debate followed and the suggestion finally accepted. One of the members present was from DOC and she talked a little about DOC’s position when it came to aquatics. She also had posters exhorting people not to release unwanted aquarium pets into the waterways. The best thing about these posters (in my opinion) was that each one had the DOC logo and the FNZAS logo on them. Each club was free to take posters back to their clubs. The final business of the AGM was to elect new officers. The trophies were presented to the various winners. The final decision of the AGM was on who would host conference 2004. Marlborough is hosting 2003 but no club came forward to host the one after that. It was at this point the suggestion was made to go offshore – to Vanuatu. Airfares overseas were usually cheaper than internal fares, Vanuatu used NZ currency, and it was the cheapest option out of the islands. A letter will be going out to FNZAS members informing them of the opportunity to attend. On this exciting note, the conference was officially closed. We then looked at, and judged, the entries in the video competition. The only entry in the club poster competition was from Marlborough. I was then asked to give a small talk about the display I had also made, showing what our club offered members. The display board featured examples of our club newsletter, a Beginners’ Guide booklet for setting up a tropical tank and Basic Aquarium Lighting, advertising posters, club business cards, raffle books, club yearly programmes, the FNZAS fund raising and publicity booklet, 3 fold information leaflets, a club calendar and examples of our club tank and pond competition certificates and rosettes. We then had free time before dinner at the Golden Crown Chinese Restaurant. The opportunity to then enjoy Napier’s nightlife was too tempting for some while others headed back to the Kennedy Park venue. Sunday morning started with a mystery bus tour and a visit to the local Farmers’ Market in Hastings where lots were buying fresh produce. Then we went to the British Car Museum at Hamouana. From there it was on to Kim Crawford winery (Te Awanga) for a sample of wines. Back on the bus and we were off to the Clifton Bay Café, by the gannet colony, for a delicious lunch. The most interesting stop of the day was at HB Aquaculture (Awatoto). This company breeds seahorses (currently about 60,000 of them) for the overseas market, paua (abalone for you non kiwis), brine shrimp (to feed the seahorses), paddle crabs and crayfish (aka rock lobsters). The crayfish have not been successful though as they are too slow growing. We were split into two groups and given a guided tour of the facility. It was a very interesting afternoon. Back at Kennedy Park, we had a little more free time before heading out again – this time for a tour of the new Napier Aquarium. What a wonderful place! Not only could we tour the facility at our leisure (with wine and cheese served) but we were also able to go behind the scenes and check out the huge filtration units and other machinery needed for the smooth running of the place. We could have spent a lot longer here but dinner was waiting so we wandered down the road to the Napier Cosmopolitan Club. A number of raffles were run throughout the weekend. The evening finished with a Dutch auction, then the passing over of the FNZAS banner to the next hosts - Marlborough. There were plenty of raffles and prizes handed out throughout the weekend, thanks to the generosity of sponsors. It was good to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. This year saw a number of new faces so I hope they enjoyed themselves and will return again. As usual, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and look forward to the next conference in Marlborough 2003.

Finally! I have prepared and uploaded photos Grant took at conference. They have been divided into sections. Go to http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/carylnz to see a list of my photo albums. The first one is from the 2002 FNZAS conference just held last weekend. It has pics of members at the AGM and shots taken at dinner and at the car museum. Napier Aquarium has photos taken from there (what else would it be? ) but some are a little dark due to the lighting. Warren's Tank (Fishroom Warren) is not too good as we visited at the worst possible time and the sun was shining full into the room and the tank. It still gives you an idea of what his tank looks like and what lush plant growth he achieves using CO2. Feel free to look at the other albums too as they are of various club trips, competitions and fish. Enjoy I am waiting for permission to upload photos taken from HB Aquatics. As soon as they have given the go ahead, another album will be added.

Paradisefish are legal here. I used to have a beautiful male in cold water but as he grew he got more and more aggressive. I gave him away in the end as he was hassling the other fish. He was the only one of his kind in the tank and at the time I could not find a female for him.

As far as I know, the Ancistrus, or bristlenose, is not a plecostomus, although they are often called plecs by mistake because they look so much like the Hypostomus plecostomus. Don't quote me though

Hi Zeta, Welcome. I liked your photos too. Is your fish a bristlenose or a plec? They are two different fish. A bristlenose will only grow 15cm but the plec will grow over 40cm! Rosy barbs are a shoaling fish and would be happier in a group of 6 or more. Perhaps they would not get on your nerves so much if they were in a nice group. I like the hoplos as they are a nice chunky fish with personality.

I think he may just be defending his territory and as there is only one of him and several of the others, it should not be a problem. If you want to separate the Betta, put him in a square plastic container and float it in the main tank. It will keep its temperature without the need for another heater. I use those 'critter keepers' to separate fish when necessary. A clothes peg will anchor it to the side of the tank if it has a tendency to move with the current. You can float him in a preserving jar (or similar) too and make a wire ring around the neck of the jar which then has a 'handle' which sticks out one side and folds over the edge of the tank to keep it afloat.

Welcome Chris. My husband and I were in Hamilton last week - and it was sunny! Last time we were there we couldn't see the city for the fog Nothing wrong with those of you who have goldfish as opposed to tropical. One day (I have been saying this for almost 20 years) I will have a pond in my front garden for some goldfish. Spread the good word about this site please. May I suggest you contact the Waikato Aquarium club and join up?