Caryl

It is at this stage that the fry are most prone to disease etc. Keep the top of the tank well covered and free from draughts as the fry start to use their labyrinth organs at 12 weeks. An additional sponge filter (or corner filter with a gap for the fry to escape from)will help keep the tank clean too. Boys are blue and girls are pink Actually, males are more colourful and their fins grow faster. They are also more aggressive as it is only the males who fight. Once you remove the ones you are sure are males, the other lesser males should become 'top dog' and colour up more and start being more aggressive so be easier to sex. Unless you have a pure line (highly unlikely unless you have bred it yourself over several generations), your colours will be mixed. Get a book on the subject of breeding bettas and it will tell you about the genetics. [ This Message was edited by: Caryl on 2001-07-09 17:14 ]

Hi Derek, The tank is 1.2m wide x 53cm deep and 45cm high from the top of the gravel (around 10cm deep) to the top of the tank. Lighting is a double 4ft fluorescent running ordinary bright white tubes, 12 hours daily. The tubes were new at the time the plants died off. The lights are in a reflector and sit on top of a glass lid 5cm above the water level. The plants, apart from the Java and a Japanese rush, started dying a month or two after set-up. They slowly turned pale and started to rot at the base of the leaves. I did not notice any deformities or crinkles in the leaves. The other plants (if I remember correctly) were Hygrophilia polysperma, Cabomba, Anubias nana, a Japanese rush and a lot of crypts which had previously overtaken the tank and were the main reason it had been stripped down and replanted as you could not see the fish for the plants! The Java was not in the previous tank. Lack of light could certainly have been the problem with the Cabomba as they like strong light. The Java had been in one section at one end of the tank and the other plants were arranged in bunches everywhere else. The tank used the old filtration as I kept the bacteria going, the same gravel, and the plants were given fertiliser tabs. Plant growth was vigorous in the tank before it was re set-up with the Java added. [ This Message was edited by: Caryl on 2001-07-06 03:33 ]

I have permission to reproduce the FNZAS Plant Survey Booklet on the web and have been working away to do this. Hopefully it will be ready to go by the time Cees comes back from his holiday in August. The pictures have been done and I am now working my way through the text.

Whenever I plant Java fern in a tank it seems to take over and all the other plants die. I have been told this is because the Java takes all the nutrients before the other plants can use them. Is it possible to have a well planted tank with lots of different plant genus (genuses? geni?)as well as Java? PS. Anyone want some Java fern?

I had a call from Paula, in Texas, who has a Betta which was well until she fed it (Tetra flakes, as she usually does). The next morning it was very bloated and floating on its side at the surface. Do Bettas get swim bladder problems or could it be constipation? I hear there is a cure using Epsom Salts. Can anyone tell me the dosage, or have any other suggestions?

We do have photos from conference and will put them on the web as soon as possible. We got home after a 2 week break to find our computer's hard drive had died of loneliness. Grant is slowly installing everything again but, as usual, everyone else's computer problems get fixed before our own :sad: As soon as the appropriate programmes are re-loaded, I will make sure the photos are available.

Thanks for that Warren I will give it a go. I am not so impressed with this Fluval either. The first couple of times I cleaned it, it was easy but as time has gone on the blue bit you lift up to stop the water flow appears to have worn. It is not so easy to get the inlet and outlet pipes off the base unit without a lot of pulling and wriggling of the part to be removed. Mind you, it is a big improvement on the previous model [ This message was edited by: Caryl on 2001-06-17 06:30 ]

Conference was fun and interesting as usual Cees. Held in Hamilton (so we were told but it was hard to tell in the thick fog )the local club did an excellent job. They held a limited class Fish Show at the same time which doubled their workload but was well supported with entries. Nice to see a good number of entries in the photo competition too. I am trying to remember the order of things as we continued on for a 2 week holiday (our first in 6 years) and I am now so relaxed and laid back I just fell over :cool: Friday night was registration and the usual get-together. Saturday had guest speaker Franz van Oorschot give an interesting talk on plants and their requirements followed by a lot of questions and answers. After a nice morning tea the AGM started. I am sure full details will be given in the next NZ Aquarium World magazine. This magazine now has a new editor, Roy Jessett. The video competition was judged by those present and what beautiful tanks were filmed!Warren's winning tank was stunning. Late afternoon saw John Sutton run a Judging School for those interested then we had a buffet dinner with raffles and spot prizes.I think this was also where I heard John Eastwood's hilarious joke about the choir in the lunatic asylum.Those of you who missed it will never know the significance of the pencils, or the apples. Sunday morning saw those who had entered the poster competition give a run-down on their posters and gave viewers an opportunity to ask questions. We then headed off into the fog to "see" the sights of Hamilton. We were given an interesting guided tour of the Hamilton Gardens and a delicious lunch at their pavilion. The afternoon saw us headed for the Ruakura Research Centre's noxious plant unit where members were warned to keep their hands in their pockets and out of the water We got to see a number of noxious plants and were told why they were banned and the damage they did to our waterways. Didn't see any GE cows anywhere either. There was some spare time late in the afternoon and a number of members took the opportunity to visit a few local tanks and pet shops while others sneaked off to the Cat Show. That evening we had dinner at the local Cosmopolitan Club and the Fish Show winners were presented with their trophies and certificates. Sunday was auction time and there was plenty on offer going for good prices. We had to leave at this stage so I can't tell you about the rest of the morning.I thoroughly recommend conference to everyone as you always learn so much and go home with new ideas or renewed enthusiasm.Thanks Dave and the Waikato Club for a great weekend. Next year's conference will be held in the new aquarium at Napier.

I don't see why you could not get a bad batch. Although I am sure they are usually produced to a high standard, the company has no control over what happens to them once they leave the production line. I would wonder if poor storage may be the culprit. Who knows what happens to them in transit! Did you buy a well known brand? Does it have a use by date on it? Has this expired? If you buy regularly from the same shop and have not had problems before, I would tell them what has happened and ask them for their views. Ask (politely) what they would be willing to do for you, if anything.

Keep your fingers crossed all you brine shrimp users. Some locals are conducting experiments at the Grassmere Saltworks in Marlborough to see if brine shrimp egg production is economically viable.

Siamese fighters start to colour up at around 12 weeks. This is also the stage they need to be sexed and moved to larger tanks to grow on. Good luck with your fry.

I have a Fluval 404 which keeps blocking every couple of days with the roots from Java fern. I have tried covering the end of the uplift with fine netting but nothing seems to work. I guess I will have to put up with it as long as I have either Java fern, or a tank of large barbs but any suggestions would be welcome - apart from getting rid of them

The most popular club night the Marlborough Aquarium Club had was when we gave a practical demonstration on how to set up a fish tank from scratch. If this sounds too basic, why not discuss how to set up a specific theme tank? I hope to get an African tank started soon and will set it up during a club meeting, with help and advice from fellow members. Of course, I bet when it wins our annual tank competition everyone who helped will say it isn't fair and demand winning rosettes for their efforts too

The FNZAS plant survey book is not currently available electronically. I would have to get permission to do something like that but will keep the thought in mind. The subject will be brought up at conference (I hope)

I like the idea Cees but fear you keep getting too technical for the simple-minded. What is 'admin interface online' 'open source package' or mysql/php? The last one sounds painful! I also see the BBCode buttons below but don't know if they have to be used or not. I will hope not and now click on Submit and see what happens. Anyone new to computing will find all these options a bit intimidating.

11 hits on this Forum and no replies? Come on people, get your finger out and start typing!