Caryl
-
Posts
23760 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Plant Articles
Fish Articles & Guides
Clubs
Gallery
Posts posted by Caryl
-
-
Got the Auckland Fishkeepers' newsletter today. It had the following from the Aquarium Soc of NSW...
Epsom Salts as a cure for constipation - 1 tsp of Epsom Salts per gallon of water. It says to put the fish (and some tank water) in a 1 or 2 gallon bowl to dose it. I think a gallon is about 4.5 litres.
Discus take about 15 minutes before they start dropping and emptying faeces. Angels can take up to 6 hours to empty so need an airstone in the bowl too. If fish shows signs of distress, return them to their tank.
Signs of constipation are: excrement hanging from the fish in long attached strings, sudden loss of appetite, hiding in a tank corner and perhaps a bloated appearance.
Flatter fish, such as angels and discus are particularly prone to constipation.
They suggest putting Epsom Salts in your angel fry tank to avoid constipation, which they say is often the cause of unexplained deaths in a fry tank.
-
I am sure Cees can give you more details as he is a member of the Upper Hutt club, but they meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month, 7.30pm at the Maidstone Centre in Goodshed Rd, Upper Hutt.
-
I am pleased to report Sid did not make my fish walk afterall and they arrived safely via courier this morning. All were still alive and seem to be settling in with the 6 residents already ensconsed.
I now have more neon rainbows and McCullochii, some Melanotaenia lacustris, M trifasciata and a large female Boesemani. Unfortunately, the male died the night before he was due to be packed up and sent north with the rest.
There was a bag of Boesemani fry in the package - so small I have put them in a separate container with a sponge filter.
My 4ft tank now looks a lot better with all the new additions. Here's hoping the Fluval keeps up with them!
-
Where do you live Ira? Let us know and we will tell you who the nearest group is and where they meet.
The Marlborough Aquarium Club meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm in various members' homes.
-
A Hunter walking through the jungle was surprised to find a pigmy standing beside a very large dead beast...
Amazed, he asked, "Did you kill that?"
The pigmy answered, "Yes."
The hunter then asked, "How could a little bloke like you kill a huge beast like that?"
Said the pigmy, "I killed it with my club."
The astonished hunter asked, "How big is your club?"
The pigmy replied, "There's about 60 of us."
What have you done with your club lately?
-
If it is for new additions, using water from the tank they are intended for saves them having to adjust to 2 different water parameters.
-
Whack them on the head. Putting them in the freezer can actually be a very slow and painful death as the ice crystals build up.
-
The CD ought to have Latin names, common names, whether they are tropical, cold etc, Temp range, pH preference, Hardness preference, habitat, propagation and whether it is common, readily available, rare or noxious.
This is assuming I can still find all the details in the computer!
-
Are you saying an air conditioner is cheaper to buy than a cooler or will be cheaper to run, or both? Running costs are important as I have no intention of paying anything near your monthly bills! Mind you, I am only going to be cooling a 4ft tank which is a few less litres than you have.
PS. Answer my email please
-
In NZ we have Biosuppliers who have a neat web site. They supply all sorts of live foods.
-
I did that Bill. You are right - it took many many hours! It is the electronic version of the FNZAS Plant Survey Book originally produced by Paul Parsons, Virginia Stead, Len Trigg and illustrated by Ian Mills. It was much appreciated when Cees was able to put it on the site.
There may still be a few copies of this book available. The FNZAS editor has the master so a copy could be printed off I think. I believe Kelly Rennell may have a couple of copies.
I am making up a CD to be available of the information but have to design a pretty cover for it so it looks professional. I will be taking copies to conference. Once it is decided how much to charge (profit going to the FNZAS) I will be able to sell them to non FNZAS members too.
-
A new public aquarium has just opened in Picton and Grant and I went for a look. It is really neat, not up to Napier's size or money naturally, but good in its own right. It has made us keen to set up a local rock pool aquarium again so we are seriously thinking of buying a hideously expensive proper cooling system. Does anyone know of any companies selling them here? I am not too sure what their proper name is so can't look up the Net. I guess if I put "Aquarium water cooling systems" it might start me somewhere.
-
FNZAS members can check out the Aquarium World May 2000, page 22, for an article by Max George about his African set-up made out of 18mm construction plywood with fibreglass reinforced corners and resin coating for the inside. No details like Bill's article but an interesting article all the same.
This 600 litre corner tank has recently been moved to his workplace, as he is shifting house, but most fish survived the shift (as did Max). I think he lost two.
-
I myself have never put additives or chemicals in any of my tanks. The pH etc is rarely checked either. It is survival of the fittest for my fishes!
They are also only fed once a week (if I remember). This means I can go away on holiday without having to find someone to feed the fish while I am away and possibly overfeed them. If I am away for more than a week, I put the right amount of food required in a small container with instructions to my letterbox clearer and cat feeder to just tip the contents in at the end of the week. I also make sure all other containers of fish food are put away so they don't accidently grab the wrong one.
-
Grant and I started fish keeping almost 25 years ago when we bought a 2ft tank with all the works and tried to keep guppies. Unbeknownst to us, the gravel we had got with the tank (sold in a retail outlet)was meant for breeding Africans and had a natural pH of 8.0. No wonder our pH kept rising!!
We were known as the 'guppy killers'. Luckily, in 1989 we saw a notice in the local paper asking for people interested in forming a fish club to ring a certain number. This we did and our association with the Marlborough Aquarium Club began.
We have kept all sorts of fish over the years, but nothing out of the norm. I think my favourites were the blue acaras, Aequidens pulcher, but I haven't seen these fish for a number of years.
Over time I have been secretary, treasurer (but only for a short time once they realised how bad I was at treasuring)librarian, editor and have just been made president. Grant has had a stint at presidenting too but is unable to make most meetings these days as he is either too busy or too sick.
Although we got up to 18 tanks at one time, we now only have one 4ft tropical with 4 dwarf blue rainbows and 2 McCullochii rainbows and 3 Ancistrus cats. We are waiting for more rainbows from our friend Sid. He was originally going to deliver them personally, then they were going to be couriered. Then I got a message in which he threatened to "make the little buggers walk!" so I guess they are somewhere between here and Otautau in Southland as they haven't turned up. Their poor little fins will be suffering on the tarseal I am sure!
I was editor of the FNZAS magazine Aquarium World for several years but gave it up 12 months ago due to lack of support.
We still go to FNZAS conferences and our club is hosting 2003's affair which will be the 50th anniversary.
Although we barely made a quorum at our AGM, the few members who did attend were very keen and had some good ideas to help revitalise the club meetings and encourage more members to join.
I look forward to hearing about how others got into fish keeping.
-
As they say, "You can lead a fish to brine shrimp but you can't make it eat!"
It seems to be all sorts of clubs suffering a decline, not just fishy ones. All we can do is try our best and if others don't participate then there is not a lot we can do about it.
Fishkeeping hit its height here 30 years ago too Pegasus with 4 times the club membership of today. I understand from my English friends that they are having similar problems over there with declining membership and no-one willing to help. People are just too busy these days and having to go to club meetings seems to be 'just another damn thing I have to go to' to many.
I must say I am very disappointed in the lack of FNZAS input to this site. They are missing out on a great site to promote themselves. I will have something to say to them at conference this year, which is being held in Napier.
Don't give up hope! I am waiting to see more entries in the logo competition and manage to visit this site most days to see who has said what.
-
Ok if I just bring it to conference Bruce?
-
I find the covers easier to do than recording the data! Still not looking like a 'real' one but good enough I am sure.
-
Get them professionally done? I AM a professional Bruce
My husband and I run a computer company so making copies of the data is not a problem. I have permission so copyright is not a concern either.
I title myself the credit manager. This is because Grant does the work and I manage to take the credit!
-
The database is available on CD Rom Bruce. I put it on one to send to Cees to use on this site. It was done in Word. I never thought of selling it through the FNZAS as all clubs have a copy of the plant survey book.
There was no electronic version of the plant survey book as it was cut and pasted (using scissors and tape) then photocopied. I took it all and retyped it up in Word, as a table. I then scanned all the graphics and put the lot on CD.
I have a version started using Microsoft Publisher but that would only be useful to those with that programme. When I realised its limited use, I stopped doing it.
I have permission, from author Ian Mills, to do what I like with the plant survey book information so I guess I could make more copies on CD if people wanted it.
What would be a fair price to charge do you think? Many hours work went into doing it so that should be taken into account. Plus it is another source of revenue (albeit a small one) for the federation.
-
All the active volcanoes are in the North Island. Bruce is right, they have a wonderful aquarium there and I look forward to seeing it. Rob is right too that from a fishy point of view they have more range up north. Considering 3/4 of NZ'ers live in Auckland it is not surprising.
For overall lifestyle and easy living (plus Marlborough is the biggest wine producing area in the country) Nelson/Marlborough beats Napier
Once conference is over Bruce, Grant and I plan to holiday another week up around Bay of Plenty.
See you at conference!
-
I only mentioned the Aquarium World because the heading was NZ magazines. We have also got, over the years, Practical Fishkeeping, Aquarist & Pondkeeper, and Fishkeeping Answers (no longer produced but it was great for use as reference for writing articles).
I never liked TFH as I felt it was all advertising and little useful information.
-
I'd ignore Bruce if I were you
The South Island is the place to be. There is nothing to beat it in the north. Nelson's beach is much better than Napier's.
The FNZAS conference is in Napier this year so I had better be careful or they might do something nasty to me when I attend (or they might not even send an invitation!). 2003 conference will be in Blenheim though so I will be able to get my own back.
I must admit, if I HAD to live in the north island, the Napier region is where I would chose I think.
-
The only NZ produced magazine is the NZ Aquarium World, produced by the FNZAS. I used to be editor but gave it up last year. This is a 40 page A5 size magazine but not colour as we can't afford to print anything fancy.
We do not have the population to support aquatic magazines apparently. Even Australia and England has cut back on publications as they have been uneconomic.
Betta's Gouramie's and freinds
in Anabantoids
Posted
My books say Bettas live about 2 years but if Pegasus has kept them for longer then obviously the books were wrong! Longevity is affected by a lot of factors from water conditions to genetics so stating how long a fish may live with any accuracy can be pretty difficult (and hit and miss). Perhaps if enough people send a post stating how old their Bettas were when they finally died, we can get an average overall
They like a pH of around 6.8 - 7.0.
Most Bettas I have observed don't move around much, they just hang around at the surface (that's why I prefer the Africans as they are always on the move). They need to get extra oxygen from the air as they are labyrinth fish so perhaps they don't like the depth of the tank. Their natural habitat water level is not very deep.