Caryl

They eat small fish, worms, insects and crustaceans. Guppies would be the easiest feeder fishes I imagine as they are not called the millions fish for nothing!

According to what I have read (and I had to look up what this fish was ) they are difficult to keep and eat live foods. Perhaps it has to wiggle before they will eat it?

I wonder if he has swallowed a stone and it is stuck in his system? Goldfish are good at that. Some Epsom salts may help but perhaps someone has a better idea.

Well I certainly hope we don't find one in NZ either! Snakes are not allowed in NZ, not even in zoos, and I would love to see a real one. I think they are fascinating. Not sure I could handle the mice required to feed them though - I hate mice.

I thought Ihad replied to this but I can't find my post. I wonder if I put it somewhere else by mistake? Never mind. I don't have any medications at all. I have had occasion to use Malachite green but haven't needed to use anything for years now. I have Stress Coat on hand but it is not a medication and is used to help a fish through its problem, not cure it. I think of Stress Coat as like a fishy valium.

Like Warren, I gather all my driftwood off the beach. Our local beaches don't have any suitable (lots of wood but not suitable) so I make special trips to Hokitika. The rimu and rata washed down from the bush is beautiful. Such interesting shapes and wonderful colour. It would never occur to me to 'buy' driftwood. We are lucky to have such resources available here in NZ, free and safe (if you avoid the katipos) to pick up off the beach. I have a couple of old baths in the back yard and I keep my wood under water in these. When I need to use one it gets a good scrub with an old toothbrush and nail brush then it goes into the tank. I used to boil them first but don't bother now. I figure the salt water should have killed the bugs. Let me know if you want some Disney (give me an idea of size needed) as my husband makes regular trips to Hutt hospital so could arrange to meet you somewhere. At the moment I think the pieces are all relatively small (suit a 2ft or smaller tank).

Warren was involved in the relocation of the fish and tanks in the public Napier Aquarium when they started their rebuild. Ask him to tell you about moving them! He wrote a great article about it. Perhaps we could get it posted here when Cees starts uploading them.

When my kids were little they loved feeding earthworms to the goldfish as they stretched an amazing distance when a goldfish was pulling at each end!

I wonder if it is something in the water. I gather the algae and Ethel's slime problem occurred at the same time? Is it your own bore water or are you on a system? The council here cleans out the pipes sometimes and sends caustic stuff through. This can play havoc if you have just done a water change. A fish will overproduce slime for protection. On the other hand, she may have 'velvet' and your store will have medication for that. Does your library have any good fish disease books? Pegasus's suggestion of using Stress Coat is a good one. Think of it as fishy valium. It will not fix the cause but will help Ethel cope with conditions until they are corrected. Get some Cycle (or other live bacteria stuff) to help speed up the cycle on the other tank. Ethel may be at the surface for extra oxygen as the higher the temperature, the less oxygen in the water and she is a large lass who needs plenty! We have our fingers crossed for you and Ethel.

You would be welcome to tag along. Check this Forum under FNZAS Clubs, you will find the name and number of the Canterbury club secretary. I don't think they are particularly active but perhaps they just need some new members to come along and enthuse them!

Did they seem ok one minute then dead the next or did they exhibit some change in behaviour or something first?

Christchurch has lots and lots of fish shops! Our Marlborough club makes trips to ChCh to see them once or twice a year. The main large ones are Redwoods, The Fishtank, Animates, Petworld, Kritter Kingdom and one who's name I can't remember but recently discovered in Moorhouse Ave by Countdown (or was it Big Fresh?). Animates started off well but we have been disappointed the last few times we have visited. Not much in the way of fish or plants but we may have visited at the wrong time and a new shipment may have been due. There is a fish club in ChCh, they meet in Sydenham but appear to be very small - considering the size of ChCh and the amount of pet shops they have to choose from. Perhaps we will let you know next time we organise a trip down there, Fatman, and you can join us on our fishy tour.

Welcome Lizzy! Good to hear there are good keen members in the Kapi-Mana club. I know one or two of your members and they are a nice bunch - especially Helen who has been kind enough to pick my husband up from the ferry and get him to the hospital and back on several occasions. He has to ring and see if she is free again next tuesday Do you have any trouble keeping dwarf gouramis in with the larger ones? I could never do it as the dwarfs seemed to be very timid and were easily intimidated by the larger gouramis. I only tried a couple of times but each time the dwarfs died. Of course, it may have been something else causing the problem, like less than ideal water conditions which the larger gouramis were already used to.

At last count I think there were about 56 wineries in Marlborough but new ones seem to open every day. The landscape is getting pretty boring - miles and miles of grape vines. All the fruit trees are being ripped out to make way for grapes. We used to have a diverse base but now, if the wine industry ever falls over (disease, teetotallers taking over the world, prohibition brought in, or something wipe out the vines) we will have nothing. No more cherries, apricots, apples, blueberries, peaches etc etc etc but olives are becoming more popular. Our virgin olive oil has got rave reviews overseas apparently. How do they know if the olives are virgins? We also have several breweries. Perhaps if the brine shrimp experiment works out, one of our major exports will be brine shrimp eggs! See you at conference (assuming Grant is well enough to travel then). I think he could find his way to Hutt Hospital blindfolded by now! Helen, a Kapi-Mana fish member, has been kind enough each time to pick him/us up off the ferry and get him/us to the hospital each time. Unfortunately, we never have enough time between ferries to visit any fish shops!

Who cares who let him in? As our 100th member he has to shout us a party. Just send 99 air tickets, destination Canada, to Cees thanks Virgil.

Welcome to New Zealand Virgil. I hope you realise I am joking when I say you must be a failure as a parent if you have not managed to interest anyone else in your family in fish keeping :lol: Hope you join in our ongoing Name That Fish competition. You will find the rules under Name That Fish in the Fun section. We are up to our 6th game now.

Personally, I would not have convicts in with anything else, particularly when they have fry as they get very vicious.

Since Grant and I are both non drinkers we couldn't tell one from another but you will be able to compare them at conference 2003.

Good to hear Jan and Rowan are coming this year. I haven't seen either of them for some years now and it will be good to catch up with them. I am sure there will be plenty of wine for you Andrew as Napier keeps trying to tell everyone they are the best wine district in NZ. They can never compete with Marlborough but they can continue to kid themselves.

For those of you wanting to know about available fish clubs in New Zealand, here is the list of FNZAS members, with contacts. As clubs all have their AGMs about now, the list may be wrong shortly if office bearers change, but it will give you a starting point... Auckland Fishkeepers Association: Sec: Piet Bakker: [email protected] Canterbury Aquarium Society (Inc): Sec: Linda Graham Ph 03 389 3137 Dunedin Aquarium & Pond Society: Sec: Colin Clarke Ph 03 489 7270 Hawkes' Bay Aquarium Society: Fishroom member Warren: [email protected] Kapi-Mana Aquarium Club: Dominique Hawinkels: [email protected] Levin Aquarium Society (Inc): In recess Marlborough Aquarium Club: Fishroom member Caryl: [email protected] NZ Killifish Association: Postal club only Fishroom member Andrew Broome: [email protected] North Shore Aquarium Society: Sec: Sue Tremayne Ph 09 410 0222 Palmerston North Aquarium Society: Coming out of recess Sec: Rachel Craig: [email protected] South Auckland Aquarium & Watergarden Society: (Formerly Manurewa Aquarium Society) Sec: Paul Munckhof: [email protected] Taranaki Aquarium & Pond Society: Sec: Roy Jessett: [email protected] Current NZ Aquarium World editor Timaru Aquarium & Watergarden Society: Sec: Gary Laird Ph 03 688 5763 Upper Hutt Aquarium Society: Contact Webmaster Cees Waikato Aquarium Society: Dave Dalziel: [email protected] Current FNZAS President Wairarapa Aquarium Society (Inc) Terry Sale: [email protected] Wanganui Aquarium Society: Sandra Cresswell: [email protected] Wellington also has a non-FNZAS member club: John Crouch Ph. 04 387 7601 To my knowledge there are no other fish clubs in NZ.

I think the difference between the dearer and cheaper brands of fishfood is the overall quality. Think of it like feeding teenagers - although they ought to be eating good quality fruits and vegetables, they seem to survive quite happily on junk food. The cheaper foods are OK but don't have as many nutrients in them. Don't quote me on that! I seem to have developed this opinion over time from reading various articles (probably find they were put out by the dearer fish food companies in an effort to get us to buy their foods rather than the cheaper ones!). There seems to be a lot of science involved in developing dried fish foods so they contain all the required nutrients and vitamins. There are probably more of these, in more exact quantities, in the dearer foods than in the cheaper foods. Breeders say it makes a difference in colour and growth but perhaps the average tank owner would not see an appreciable difference. I have a variety of foods here (Wardleys, Nutrafin, OSI). The only time I tried a cheap brand of bottom feeder pellets (can't remember the brand name), the fish refused to eat them and they fouled the tank very quickly (the pellets did, not the fish). Don't forget that dried fish food loses it goodness very quickly once the container has been opened so always buy small amounts at a time and don't be inclined to buy huge bulk discount containers which takes you years to get through if you only have one or two tanks. Fish like variety in their diet so make sure you alternate foods. Not only different dried foods, but give them live foods as well. Growing your own daphnia and mosquito larvae is easy. Dig up a few garden worms for larger fishes, and grow white worms for the smaller ones. If you have bottom feeders like Ancistrus, they are partial to veges too so give them cooked peas (skin removed), slices of zucchini or cucumber.

We might not have wolves Pegasus but we have had a few territorial hedgehogs with attitude around our place lately! :lol:

My lips are sealed.

Grant and I are coming!! We have our club meeting tomorrow night to find out if anyone else is joining us and to fill out the registration forms.

Hi Seahorse, With kribs, it is the female who is the more brightly coloured. Females also have rosy bellies, particularly when eyeing up a mate. The males are generally larger with pointed dorsal, anal and pelvic fins. The female fins are rounded. Sorry I can't help you with the Rams but hope this helps the krib sexing