CodKing

It must be the season, all my fish are spawning! Lucky I have the tank space, although I dont know what I'm going to do with all these Bullys... Here are some pics of the happy daddy and eggs.

Wicked, finally got my own PC back up and running! I was hoping to give others help here but seems I'm the one getting the encouragement All is appreciated as it has been a very trying few weeks. Yip, I'll be about in Nov Stella. Hopefully my fish will be all back in their normal houses by then.

There are those worse off than me, I'm feeling pretty lucky indeed!

Thanks mate, With the help of my friends and family I've managed to get my possesions to safety pretty quickly and would really like to give back what I can. I only lost a house, all my stuff is okay and I've got warmth, water and food so I'm feeling pretty lucky right now!

Hello all, This is a bit late coming but if anyone needs help with anything or just wants some company in Chch city area feel free to PM me!! I lost my house but all my fish survived! :bounce:

He's not always so fat Feeding time is much more modest these days, thanks.

I've got this lad all setup for breeding if anyone has a good looking female they would like to rent Solid colour prefered but anything considered (he's not too picky)

As a painter of almost 10 years I toatally agree with the sunlight liquid! That stuff is fantastic And the thin razor blade is by far the best, as burrowssj says any other blade is just too thick. 3M masking tape (blue) is the best when using acetic cure products. It's not cheap but does an amazing job as it doesnt distort when pulled tight. Dont stretch the tape, keep the masking edge straight and use some kind of flat blade to make sure the tape has 100% adhered to the glass surface for a perfect job! Black silicone can also be very attractive if it's done right. I find it adds a nice border the the front of the tank. Not so effective if you want the tank to be viewable from multiple sides. If extreme measures are needed, gun wash or thinner no.12 (resene), will strip anything off anything! Just look for Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or xylene in the ingredients list. These are particularly dangerous chemicals! If you happen to have the right protective gear or can get a hold of a respirator and the correct hand protection this may be an option. I did hear of some concern about selling these products to the general public but I think you can still get them.

This job was my first, to get all the gear cost about $60 - $80 and I've spent a good few hours on it now. Learned a lot of lessons along the way! If I was to package this lot up and sell it I'd say $60. There are millions of how-to guides on the net, if you want to have a go yourself.

Circled is a hole and there is a big cavity in the back. The intake for a hang-on-the-back filter will go down the heater hole shown in one of the top photos. Likely to have a small DIY canister filter as well, maybe a fluid sand filter if I can get it to look cool

Thanks! It will be grassed and have a pair of Krib, that's all I'm certain of so far. I was thinking of 'clumping' the grass so i has channels of white gravel and giving my lone Sterbai Cory a couple of new friends. I still have to do some research and see if this will be suitable for them, input anyone? I'm also thinking of adding some wood, thin branchy bits. I've got some but it needs to be cut and I'm just not brave enough untill I'm totally sure on the layout, don't want to waste a good bit of wood! So with all of that in there I also need to add some caves for the Krib! I have a few ideas but it's a slow process at the mo. The background cracked, the sun got to it one day and dried it too quickly so I've had to redo it :[ I can't seem to get it as good as it looks here dang it.

Indeed! Good to know I'm not all alone here

I did the same! Found out by accident, typed Devin into google and saw Devin Townsend New Zealand auto complete, I thought ...nah but it wouldn't hurt to look. Best click I ever clicked! I got to hear Namaste live!

Holy smokes me too!! I have a feeling that's my friend with the blonde hair on the right, ha ha

Devin Townsend Band! Ah yes, the one and only Canadian freakshow. Synchestra, track 8 Gaia If only my guitar would go that low!

Personally I don't buy from Dicksmith's. Pretty much any other electrical supplier will be far cheaper. If you visit a trade supply store (found in local yellowpages) you will also have a much better chance of finding educated and/or experienced help. The last item I got looked at was a 10M high quality DVI to HDMI cable, picked it up for $28, at Ds's it was $90!! Identical products! Just one example, I've got plenty more if you need them

From what I can see they are happy from 5-27C. Some people say cooler come people say warmer. They have done most of a Christchurch winter in cold water, the coldest I saw it was about 9C. When I got my tropical tank up and running I adjusted them fairly carefully and they have been happy as larry for more than a month. I think they will end up back in cold water as I only have a couple of heaters which will soon be needed elsewhere. I think I will bring those plans forward and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the advice!

Temp has been the same for ages but I'll give it a go! Thanks mate

I've got 12 or so minnows in a 40L(ish) tank and all of a sudden they've decided to group up in one corner at the bottom of the tank. It's been 3 days and they are still there. They don't look stressed and my water testing tells me all is okay. Temp is @ 25C and I've put a filter in to add a bit of flow but they just end up in the same spot. I had a couple of young Krib in with them but have removed them to see if that was an issue but seems to have had no effect. Feeding has slowed but they are eating a little. Any ideas?

The substrate comes from a stream near Oxford, as I said, the larger ones were actually one stone broken up. Put it this way, the closer you get to the mountains the sharper the rocks get I found this one in my garden!

I didnt use poly for this particular backdrop, I used expanding foam. I'm thinking strength issues when it comes to sealing it to the tank but I've got a few workaround ideas. When using poly it's best to use as dense poly as you can and I find a quick burn with a little butane torch can add some pretty cool dynamics to the surface after carving. This melts the individual grains together creating a much stronger surface and stops little poly balls falling out when applying the concrete. I've even carved an entire background using a just a torch. You want to start the torch as far away from the poly as you can and experiment with the range. Also as the it runs out of gas or is on a funny angle etc it will likely have hot bursts which can make gapping round holes, not so pretty...

I vote against aquaone heaters

Shot 1. Background! Shot 2. Heater hole (yet to be waterproofed..) Others are just details as you can see

Cheers! Thats the tank I'd like to have a go with a punga frond. Those rocks are some kind of intermediate metamorphic. It looks and feels basaltic but has what looks like quartz veins. Kind of odd considering the quartz runs on all sorts of angles and no real pattern to it. They used to be one big rock, being metamorphic I figure it comes from the West Coast or up in the Alps. It's all a bit more angled than where I found them but they seem happy enough and there have been no injuries so far. They are handsome fish huh. It's been interesting seeing the emergence of a new alpha male. He's gone real dark and getting very fat but gets feed almost exactly the same as the other male. He's getting a bit more territorial as well. The female isn't having such a good time. She hardly ever comes out, usually early morning or late eve I'll see her. Is there something to that? Yip that streak is a bubbler, about a 3 or 4 inch. It powers out the bubbles, looks much better in person, the blur is camera timing. Looks like whitebait are starting to run already in the Avon River, do you think it would be worth me grabbing a handful? No really sure about their lifecycle, better to grab them on the way in or on the way out? (or neither) That front on shot is magic but in full res its the tiniest bit shaky and the focus area is pretty small. I'm waiting for some summer sun to try recreate it. (sure, that will work) I'd be keen to see some of your torrents.

Heh, glad somebody likes it! Not too sure what I'm doing with this shot just yet... Might be an xmas prezzie for a friend of mine so I think I'll hang on to it just for now I wish we could post slightly larger pics in here! 645px is so tiny :[ considering we probally all run resolutions @ 1024 or higher.