Tigerhair

Martin Bear in mind if you have any rocks in your main tank that buffer your pH your quarantine tank may differ in this respect and pH shock can occur. Just trying to cover all angles

It depends what fish you have - if you have to treat the water in any way to achieve a certain PH or hardness then water from the tank would be more suitable - however, you need to make sure you are not taking water from a "sick" tank to put your fish in in order to get them better - you may be transferring parasites, etc over. However, you may do this anyway if your filter for the quarantine tank is running in the tank the sick fish came from. Obviously the ideal is to have more than one tank running - and put small extra sponge filters in them all so you can transfer these over to a quarantine tank - however, this is not possible generally!! And, of course, a minimum of 10 tanks is the required amount for all us fish keepers, isn't it!!! As was said, if it's simply a quarantine tank for new fish - water out of the existing tank - at least 50% (filled up with tap water) would be great - so they get used to your PH etc.

This may help http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/qt-tank.htm

The best way is to bash the fish over the head and make the death as quick as possible. I have discussed freezing as an option in the past, but now feel that it has been proven to be unnecessarily painful for the fish.

As they are man-made hybrids, they are not my choice of fish - there are way more beautiful natural species out there. However, that's just my opinion!

Hi I'm in the UK and this is the information on the site I help out with: http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/parrotci.htm I hope it helps

Caryl (I normally ignore men, on the quiet! Seems sensible!!! :lol:) No offence Bruce I think I have my heart set on either Nelson area or Marlborough area. I think the weather would suit me better there! I hear there are volcanos there too (are they just on North Island?)

Thanks Actually, I think things are changing over here - there have been two new mags in the last two years published - and still going. The best and original is Practical Fishkeeping - it's BRILLIANT. Might be able to send you a couple of copies, if you're interested sometime

What do you guys read over there?

It does help, Bruce, thanks Another option for me would be to import a small amount or buy from NZ suppliers and set up to breed myself.

Bruce Napier, Hawkes Bay - why are they better?

I have been looking at moving to NZ and one of my possible ideas has been to open an aquarists shop. However, I have been told it is expensive to import to NZ. I've looked into this and there is a huge list of fish you CAN import, but they have to stay in quarantine at the airport for 6 weeks (which I assume the importer has to pay for!). How does it work out there? Do you have breeders in the country or is most of the stock imported? I would be very interested in any information or ideas. Thanks

I'm thinking of moving to NZ (after the credit cards are paid of ) and am drawn to this area. Anyone else live there?

Thanks guys - pretty much the same except us UKers seem to monitor the Ite and Amm. We generally add a couple of hardy fish at the beginning, wait 4 - 6 weeks until the Ite and Amm are reading zero, then start stocking from there. We have had discussions about Cycle and it's usefulness - I'm not one for adding stuff to the tank either, just for the sake of it! The other way is to try and avoid a cycle altogether if you can run the filter in a tank that is already established - my fave because I have 4 tanks running currently. Thanks for the help and don't apologise for the humour, please I was a little worried that you guys call it something else and you thought I was mad. Well, I am!!!! :razz:

Um, no, sorry, I meant cycling a tank (that's what we call it) - after setting up a tank you go through "new tank syndrome" - the nitrogen cycle... I don't know what you guys call it out there Sorry to confuse you!