Sunbird73

hiya I am moving next week and want to set up a new tank at the next house. I am wanting a 90cm x 40 x40 (roughly) but in black silicon... is the bracing usually done in black as well? I have no idea what I should be asking for - should I ask for any bracing in normal silicon (thinking as the bottom bracing will be under substrate, and the top wont get stained with algae as it won't be in water?). My last tank the silicon looked manky less than two years on, from algae etc getting under the thin smeared edges, and it REALLY REALLY bugged me. Has anyone had a black silicon tank made and how did you get it done (and by who?). And how does it look a few years down the track?

You and my 6 yr old son :sml1:

thanks

We have a tailed froglet (front legs as of yesterday, vy excited 9yo & 6yo at our house!) - there are daphnia in his water - will he eat these now? They have been in there for the last 4 days or so and he hasn't touched them, but now that he is a froglet will he start eating insects, or will he not eat anything until his tail is absorbed? Also when do I need to add other insects - when his tail is gone completely? Frog newbie, sorry for all the Q!

None of the cats I have owned have ever done caught a waxeye either. So saying the majority of cats is pulling statistics out of your proverbial :roll:

Any time my cat has caught something she brings it to me and meows loudly until I come and inspect her catch. At 6am. Usually large insects, or mice. And then that only happened about once a year (and the last few years, not at all). I am home every day, and she doesn't leave my property (she is a timid cat). I definitely know about it if she ever she catches something! We are thick with tui's and woodpigeons in our area and she wouldn't stand a chance of catching one of those birds - they are too agile in the trees and never go on the ground. She has never caught a native bird, only the occasional stupid sparrow and one cheeky blackbird that had learnt to eat from her bowl each morning and got his comeuppance one day. In saying that I knew a cat in australia that learnt to catch birds with about 10 bells around its neck - it learnt to stalk without moving its neck and by the time the birds heard the jangle it was all over. Not every cat is created equal and not all cats are ruthless bird killers. I have owned cats my entire life and never have I ever found any evidence of them killing native birds - I don't think owned, well cared for cats are the problem here! I think there is no way that NZers would ever give up their cats, they are part of the NZ way of life. Many many more cat lovers than haters. However there are some very slack owners out there that let offensive furry testicles wander the streets - should require a license to have a cat that is not desexed IMO.

:spop:

get it! They are lovely little fish :love:

Happy NY!! My year started at 5.30am with my 9yo powerchucking all over the hallway and wall and floor of the bathroom.... The morning after the night before - girl just cannot hold her cheezels and soft drink....

Beautiful photos, beautiful place Makes me want to go back, such a magic place!

Mine bred every couple of weeks every time there was a thunderstorm or big rain. So I would time my cold water changes with when the weather was about to turn. My problem was raising them past a week old tho, got eggs no problem but eventually gave up on raising the fry :dunno:

I have some and they are vy cool fish, DH calls them "the helicopter fish" because of the way they flutter their split dorsal fins when they flare. They colour up so much more once they settle into the tank, a lot more colourful than in the LFS. Get some!!

I wouldn't leave the filter off for an hour - thats too long IMO, esp just after you have changed the filter wool, as you would get some die off of bacteria. I try do my water changes in 20 mins or less. And do filter changes on a different day to water changes. Get some Seachem Prime, I wouldn't use stress zyme, it will protect fish against ammonia and nitrite in a crisis. HFF do mail order I think if your local doesn't stock it. I wouldn't use anything else. IMO most aqua one filters (with the all-in-one tanks) do not really cut it for having enough bio filter capacity or flow, so I would be doing a 30% water change once weekly. I would still be changing the filter less than monthly, and take out the carbon/charcoal completely as that is only necessary if you have put meds in the water and need to get rid of them (in addition to water changes ). I have a 130L tank, and that has a 2224 Eheim canister filter AND an eheim 2210 internal filter in there ( I prefer to overfilter!). I do a water change of about 30-40% every fortnight. And I am still mindful of cleaning the filters - only ever do one at a time and not at the same time as a big water change. Also a cynical comment from me = most fish stores will tell you that you can have more fish in your tank. They know when yours die due to overstocking, or underfiltration, you will buy more replacement fish and so they get their $$. By pushing you towards maximum capacity they ensure that you are always on the tip of a potential disaster, and so they ensure they will get your money in fish or treatments for sick fish I have even been encouraged to seriously overstock even at the most highly regarded fish stores when I was a newbie... and learnt the hard way that overstocking is an expensive lesson! So until you have everything stable then I would avoid adding more for a while. I don't understand about the rainwater - do you have a roof tank? Is it collected in copper pipes? Just wondering where the chemicals in the rainwater are coming from. I know that some cities (townwater supply) do a chlorine dump on a particular day (Palmerston North you could taste the chlorine, used to be on Thursdays), which has caused some fish to die if a water change is done on dumping day. I would think your water would be fine, raining or not?, but I don't know much about nelson...

The only times I have had barbel erosion in my cories was when my ammonia spiked. Also read an article somewhere (?) that barbel erosion from sharp subrate was a myth and usually its due to ammonia or other poor water quality issues. I agree with what the others have said, you need to get some water tested, any self respecting LFS will test for free. I would take a couple water samples, do a 30-40% water change with Seachem Prime as the conditioner (as that will help protect the fish if the tank is spiking ammonia or nitrite), and then take the sample off to the store for testing. It sounds like your tank is cycling every time you clean the filter and your water changes are too few to deal with it OR your tank is underfiltered and in a constant state of poor water quality. For the short term, more frequent water changes will protect your fish while you sort the problem out. What are tank dimensions and filter model/type? When you say you "do a water and filter change" do you mean you switch out the filter media with new media or just rinse it out?

I don't think you need a heater, overkill. I wouldn't in case it melted thin plastic or if the water evaporated off under the lights past the level of the heater and left it out of the water... but then I worry about stuff that often doesn't happen Much easier just to use the light as the heat source. Mine hatched in 24-36 hrs even with the cold weather we are having now. If you are worried you could insulate the coke bottle with poly or something.

I found some at olympic park, under the bridge in New Lynn. It was summertime tho.

they usually label the A. sp "steel blue" as Apistogramma borelli when they come in

Wow, Age 13? My 12.5yr old is about 40kg.... That does not sound healthy

Mine bred in my community tank. I have a very small piece of driftwood (more like twigs) in there and a coconut cave, no tannin staining of my water. I haven't checked the pH recently but guessing its around the 6.8 ish mark. So, no I don't think tannins are absolutely necessary if all you want to do is breed them rather than have a biotype arrangement.

try danval, he has bred some recently, or Joe, he is also an apisto guru. I haven't had mine very long, so def not an expert - but they seem about as easy as cacatuoides to keep and breed. I bought some off danval and they bred in my community tank (in with cardinals, corydoras and one cobalt gourami). Think my water is around 6.5-7.0 pH, lots of plants, rocks, hideyholes. I put a terracotta pot for them to breed in, but the female preferred to lay on the underside of a rock. My tap water is around 7.8ph but quite soft, and I don't bother altering the pH before water changes (usly do around 30% at time) and they are not bothered. They are often out and about and the females will always come an inspect my hand every time I put it in the tank, great little characters. I don't think they are a lot different to keeping other apistos (they seem vy similar to cacatuiodes), keeping the water clean and soft, with lots of plants is probably the most important, but again = not an expert

Really lovely fish :love: Might have to head out to Albany this weekend

yup the HFF ones are definitely trifasciata. Can recommend danvals tho they are :nfs:

A trademe seller who I bought some windelov from has sent me an email he is selling some aponogeton madagascariensis ... for $50 per bulb Don't think could swing that $$ for a plant, let alone one I would kill by looking at it :lol: Anyone else keen? could pass on his details. edited to say* : My other thought is that maybe he is not supposed to have them and thats why they are not going on TM?? Any thoughts on the legality of this plant?

hi, I am doing WW and have lost 5.3kg so far. I find having someone else to do it with good as it keeps you motivated. After tearing my calf muscle in April the weight loss slowed down (static!) tho - it appears when I can't exercise I compensate with chocolate :facepalm: Have started up the exercise (slowly) again, but it is hard to break the bad eating habits that I slipped back into. I am going to have to give myself a hard talking to, and go back to weighing my portions and writing everything down. Lately I have been only writing down the good stuff and leaving blanks at chocolate time :oops: Before my mum took me to WW (she is pre-diabetic so really needs to lose weight for health) I was using myfitnesspal.com. It is really good , I recommend it. I am getting better results with WW tho, purely because I am less anonymous - the weekly weigh in and meetings make me a lot more accountable. My fitness pal was a good wakeup call tho, if you plug in the foods you eat some are heaps of calories so I found it good that way, to get an understanding of how many calories I should be eating etc. Knowing your triggers helps, mine are when the kids are home and constantly begging me for food, but I have started letting them get their own snacks instead of me preparing stuff for them after school. Having a lot of fruit readily available and visible and keeping all the naughty food up high and out of sight. Boredom is my other huge trigger, so am working on being busier. My biggest downfall though is lack of planning. The days when I do well, I have thought about what my meals are, what my emergency snacks will be and what will be for dinner. The bad days I haven't planned anything and am tired. SO - whats your goal this week? Mine is to be organised, and to PLAN - realistic healthy meals (ie. plan quick ones on days I know I am busy), eat more fruit and plan my snack times & to go to the gym. And if I slip up, to let it go and get right back to my healthy eating and not let it skittle me into out of control naughtiness.

We have had one of those here before. Bizarre looking things. It got kicked out pretty fast!