Caryl

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.

You'd probably fit into NZ very well then!

I'm from Blenheim which is an hour and a half from Nelson. Nelson itself does not have a fish club as it went into recess a number of years ago. They have 2 pet shops that I know of and quite a few fish keepers. It is a beautiful region and is officially the sunniest city in NZ (Blenheim is the sunniest town). It has a beautiful beach.

Pardon my sense of humour. I assumed you meant cycling a tank (after I thought about it a bit) but already had a mental picture of people riding bikes with tanks tied to the carrier We cycle a tank as Rob suggests but tell people to set up at least a week before adding fish to allow for any problems setting the temperature on the heaterstat. We then slowly add fish (say 3 or 4 a week depending on species and size)to let the filter media grow the required bacteria, until we have the required stocking level. I know a lot of people use Cycle or other products but I don't like to add anything to my tank if I can help it. I can't remember the last time I had any disease in my tanks, in fact I don't own any medications at all. I gather Cycle is supposed to speed the process up a little.

Assuming you mean cycling as a sport where you ride bicycles, what ways do you mean? I thought you would buy a bike (and a helmet, they are compulsory in NZ) hop on it and cycle in a forward direction. What other ways do you have in mind?

We are aware it is not a big difference and a lot of other factors are involved. We just got curious about whether the media did actually absorb anything in that way. As you say, it is not a big difference, nor a problem. Thanks for the reply. It obviously got you, and those you asked, thinking and discussing the subject

Is this a trick question?

Can anyone tell me if the sintered (I think that is the correct name)glass used in the Eheim filters absorbs lime? A tank has been set up with plenty of plants but no fish. The water is 7.0 pH out of the tap but moves up to 7.2 in the tank. The owner previously used the filter on an African set-up and was wondering if it had absorbed the lime used to raise the pH.

Try http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/gmoonlight.html There are people there who have bred this fish so perhaps you could contact them directly. It is a pity the font colour used is yellow as I found it hard to read but I think some of the information there will be useful to you.

I just had a visit from Warren who confirmed it is the same stuff he has in his tank but we still don't know what it is and I still don't think it is bladderwort. By continually hauling it out by hand it is being kept under control and now I only have a few strands to pick out here and there. Warren says his always floats on the surface but mine wraps itself around the plants - especially the fine leafed ones. If you pull it too hard, it tightens around the plant and snaps it in half.

I agree with Rob Goldie. Note he recommends Siamese algae eaters, not Chinese algae eaters. They are two different fish. The Chinese ones are the ones that sucked your angel to death.

Substantial grants have recently been approved for the brine shrimp project being conducted at Grassmere. I think NIWA are also helping. They say it will be a slow process but keep your fingers crossed that one day we will have our own supply of brine shrimp eggs at a much cheaper cost that the current imports!

Can you be a bit more descriptive? Is it hair-like or fluffy? Short or long? Grow on everything or just plants and logs? Clumps or spread out? If it is what I think it is, you may have to strip the tank and start again.

I thought of bladderwort too but the photos and description don't seem to match my plant. All of them talk about fine bits off a main stem but this plant does not have any main stems for anything to branch off. The little brown bits look more like seeds than bladders capable of catching small prey.