Sunbird73

OOOOH NOOOO!!!! watching one go down the drain, what a nightmare! But yay at finding another one alive, you must breed them pretty hardy. Think you should invest in an in-plug strainer

has anyone tried this black satin sand from petstuff 101? http://www.petstuff101.co.nz/Product.aspx?ID=350 It sounds good but if its mined from a natural rock then it could be tiny and sharp? I don't really like buying stuff without running my fingers through IYKWIM. I have synodontis (synodontises/synodontii?? ) on the daltons no.1, and they are good with it, no issues. Have shelldwellers on it too and they have no trouble moving it around and burying their stuff.

thanks people, I rang HFF yesterday afternoon and they happened to (very luckily) have one set of the exact lids to fit my tank so am sorted....

I have a 60 / 30/ 30 tank with no lids... just rang a glazier to get some glass cut for it, but the quote was only $8 less than a brand new tank that would come with lids :facepalm: So.... where can I just get glass lids from at a reasonable price, anyone know?

I used to pour boiling water over mine, and then soak in a bucket with a small amount of bleach. Did this many times with no issues, and they came out nice and white. Just rinsed off well, and final rinse with water double dosed with prime to get any excess chlorine. Can't be bothered now and don't do anything.

Well, you would have had to quarantined him for a decent while anyway cos I don't know what happened with the female. She bloated up and then lost her that night. Tho both the boys (different tanks) look fine, so hopefully was just her. Managed to get another (cross fingers) female from animal antics today. Tho this one is not nearly as nice as the one I lost in terms of body shape, but has some colour in the tail. Looking promising that it is a female at the moment tho. Hope your babies grow up nice and strong

:happy2: Awesome

obstacle I feel your pain. I lost my beautiful female last night. PM me if you are still looking for a male as I have a spare.

&c:ry :an!gry &c:ry &c:ry :tears: :tears: &c:ry

Awesome pics Jennifer (man do I need a new camera!), thanks for that, I will be comparing mine to yours over the next few weeks . Tho I must say if you hadn't labelled them I think I would still struggle to tell the M/F! Without the size to gauge the differences are a bit subtle to me :oops: Seems mine have a bit of growing to do. I have put some "rock walls" in, moved the val around, put some dithers back in and that has calmed down the niggliness for now. They are SUCH cute fish and so much bolshy personality, I love them :love:

And not all apple snails are created equal - the gold ones can decimate a planted tank overnight! I pick snails out as I find them.

Yes it was hard to get them on a similar angle as well (y'know or at all) and the bottom pic the fish is on a more oblique angle so makes it harder to compare. The nose of the bottom pic looks longer in the photo than it does IRL. It would have been nice if they could have been more cooperative and all lined up together and posed for the photo for me sigh *cross fingers* I would like one to be female!

ok here are the rubbish pics, my camera only wants to focus on rocks and plants, scuse the ugly algae on the twisted val :oops: this is the middle sized one I am not sure about (suspect male?) This is the largest one, pretty sure he is male. This is the littlest one, think female

hmm... they might just be too young then. Have just recently taken out the dithers so that might be why the increased aggression lately. And they have only just starting shifting sand. Will try to get a pic but my camera is absolute rubbish at taking pics of fish :roll:

Do you keep yours on the white silica sand Jennifer? Or do you have them on darker brown sand too (think daltons or builders sand can't remember)? The black comes and goes, depending on how they feel. It doesn't stay. There may be a white/gold edging to the anal fin but hard to see. There is pale gold on the last 3rd of the dorsal fin tho that stays whether they are camoflageing or not. Hard to tell the difference between white and gold trim tho! Must still be too babyish then with the camoflageing do you think? The smallest one does seem to have a shorter face. The middle sized one tho I have stared at for ages and just can't decide if its face is long or short, and is the hardest to see and gauge size cos its territory is far at the back. Tho that fish is not involved in any argy-bargy at all that is all from the two biggest ones, and seems to stick to its own area.

How do I sex them other than size?? I have 2 bigger (male - and behaving like it), 1 obviously clearly smaller (female) and one halfway between. The smallest is 1" excluding tail. The largest is about one third larger than the female. Any other way of sexing them? They say white edges to dorsal and anal fin = female. However mine are not on white silica so their edges tend to be black lined on anal fin and the white/gold is difficult to determine when they are camoflageing. And what size do they start breeding? My biggest male is flaring at the female, digging out the sand under his shell, and rearranging everything, and my female gets a black horizontal line down her spine (not sure if this is meaningful or not). Tho the female hasn't been shifting sand that I can see - too little? Or is that mans work....? I have one of the males in a chill out box soon to be moved out. Just trying to decide whether to shift the other one out too or not.

Ouch that does really suck P44. Blardy Palmy water. :-? &c:ry

Awesome well done! I hope it grows into a little girl for you

Anyone breeding them anywhere? Not orderable atm at HFF They are super cute

was thinking that too! Vy scarey tho. Had a friend with baby daughter in japan up until a couple months ago Pretty shocking watching it on the news.

Its an antibacterial not an antifungal so would have no effect on that unfortunately. But the daily water changes would keep any fungus down hopefully??? Never seen fungussed eggs with these guys, I think the babies hatch then die within a few days or get eaten.

Well, has been dramas.... After I upped the lights I got fed up with the algae (growth had slowed with water changes and vaccumming but still there). So took the plants out and dip bleached them. Which killed the algae, all good. Except the higher lights then sparked off an outbreak of cyanobacteria. :an!gry Had only been feeding fairly lightly and water changes for africa so thats what I am blaming, as never even had a hint of it in that tank before. So took out one of the bulbs from the T5HO and replaced with a blue coral light just for show(which hopefully?? wouldn't affect algal/plant growth? any experts?) so now only one 24W T5HO effectively on the tank. Tried with daily water changes to halt the growth of the cyano as well as vacuuming - but I could see it start to get away and the plants were suffering (and guppy in there died but not sure if that was the cyano or being beaten up by cockatoos). So am on last dose of Furan 2 today. No algae, and cyano 99% gone. *SIGH* Now I have to decide whether to swap out the filter to a different tank with less expensive fish, in case the filter crashes from the furan 2. I am not sure if I want to risk it with these fish - that female would be VERY difficult to replace. Incidentally the cockatoos thought Day 2 of Furan was the perfect time to spawn, and now she is in her cave with eggs. At least they are not bothered by the treatment!! (tho will the babies be munters I wonder?)

PM'd you Joe

yay for little girly fish :bounce:

Except with these particular spiders, the males go wandering at certain times of the year to find a lady.... We have had about 4-5 of these spiders in the time I have lived here and this is the first time I have ever seen one in a web. Dunno about mosquitoes large enough to eat these spiders, might be an anaemia risk!! So Stella, not planning any trips to auckland then?? Pretty sure we have some tunnelwebs out on the roof of the deck as well you are welcome to Take two sheetwebs and get a tunnelweb free.... Off to tightly close all my windows before I go to bed