hovmoller

Yeah they are easy enough to breed and doesn't get very big so if they are allowed and there were some a few years back I'm surprised they are not more common..

Just had a look at MAF's fish allowed list and of the Geophagus found ONLY 3 species: "surinamensis" and "jurupari" (list said jurapari tsk tsk) both incorrect names or should I say out of date... but that's another story. Anyway the 3rd Geo on there is Geophagus steindachneri or Red Hump Eartheater...I kept and bred these when I was younger back in Denmark and have fond memories of them so was wondering if anyone have or have seen these? Have not seen them anywhere since I came here. On another note I saw what seems like the entire amount of Corydoras species known to man is on that list.. how hard can it be to do a bit more research and add a lot more tropical fish to that list?? eg. more Geos... come on MAF!!

If I was a Geo I'd be very happy in there I think

That is not HITH.. looks like damage from something... The fact that its upside down could just be too much stress.. I would just try to keep it in a calm environment with good water and see if he gets better.. if not then put it down. Don't bother with melafix that would not fix HITH anyway

Thanks Isaac.. Yes the Angelicus are nice... but a few days ago I got 3 striata (Zebra Loach) and have already seen them much some little snails.. They only get to max 10cm I think and they are not very shy like clowns can be.. So between me picking off the bigger ones and the loaches eating the small ones I am hoping this will put an end to my snail population.

Yeah don't skimp on the ventilation/dehumidification even though it is an expensive part of your project.. Your grandparents will not be pleased if you don't keep the condensation at bay and after 3 years when you move out the garage is half rotten

Did I misunderstand something in Alans post or did it not answer the question.. I found the facts about how chlorine works in water interresting but I believe the question was whether people use de-chlorifiers for their tropical fish tanks. I am also curious to what large scale fishkeepers usually do? and if they do how do they do it?

Yep fix poly with long flat head nail to either ply or gib behind.. then tape (single strip will do) over all poly joints and corners with duct tape or similar that will stick well to the poly. About the thickness of the poly.. if the walls are not insulated then there is not much difference between that and the window so I would just use same thickness throughout. When u consider thickness then you get a lot of insulation out of 25mm but relatively little more when going to 50mm.. Eg: You want your fishroom to be 20 degree and it's 5 degrees outside = 15 degree difference. The you need around 60 watts/m2 of wall to keep that temperature inside.. If you put 25mm poly on you would need around 19 watts/m2 to keep same temp. But going to 50mm poly you need around 10 watt/m2 to keep that temp.. So yes 50mm is always better but you only save an extra 9 watts/m2 for double the thickness. Please do NOT fill in any gap that is between the poly and the wall/ceiling. Air gap here is a good thing. Concentrate on getting the poly "envelope" airtight

Saw your pics in the other thread.. Very hard to see whats going on in those pics (ok i know I'm not easy to please) but I got an idea a least.. Big windows.. as you said these has to be insulated in front of at least during winter (you can decide depending on your power bill) and I would take the blinds out so you can make a smooth connection between wall and ceiling. Can't tell what the ceiling is but I say poly over the whole lot and fix with many flat headed nails or something.. same goes for walls. Most glues will disolve poly and I don't know what silicone does to it (people here say it's ok) but I would personally not silicone every poly joint... That is HEAPS of work.. I would only use the nails and then tape over all poly joints.. I've seen duct tape used on poly before and it seems to bond fine. The main problem here beside insulating the carp out of the whole room is condensation.. With winter outside and a fish room inside will create lots and lots of condensation.. so if there are tiny cracks in the poly or other places moisture will get through and condensate on the back of the poly where it is cold and that could lead to some serious rot/fungus problems in those areas.. (reverse leaky building syndrome ) So the whole idea here is to try to create a complete damp proof shell around your fish room (in theory at least.. this is never completely possible) This leads to another point.. You must provide good ventilation ie. getting rid of moist air (before it can condensate on the walls) and do the best you can to prevent evaporation from the tanks themselves if you can.. If this is a garage there is probably not any ventilation there at the moment..

Yeah I would like to know as well whether Leuco's will dig out big pits and dig down in one spot beside something like altifrons will?? or more of a general sand sifting all over the place that keeps the substrate even (ish) I thought of a mixed geo/discus tank as well but decided to split them... different temperatures and also temperaments! if you have a group of geos and territorial disputes between them start happening I think the discus might get too freaked out by all the action...

Pictures speak a thousand words Josh.. as per other thread if you can post a pic or two of what sort of walls you are dealing with then people will better be able to give you advice

See this one: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=48957 Although most suggest getting loaches

Right... I'll just look up Rent-A-Loach in the yellowpages.. I think I'll get a few clowns... I'm sure I can find a home for them if I don't want to keep them later on.. I think Henwards place is Clown loach central at the moment..

I use NLS 1mm cichlid and sometimes the 1mm thera A+.. also still some colourbits and bloodworms/brineshrimp (because I still have some left) When the other stuff runs out I will probably only feed with NLS.. they seem very healthy and happy on just that food. (and it's soooo easy)

Hey Josh are you able to post a few pics of the place you are intending to make your fishroom? Just to see whats there and what you could do with it..

Hi Antwan.. Good choice of smaller fish.. I would love to hear what your corys think of the Geos once you get them.. I had a little flok of Bandit Corys (very similar in size and colour to Pandas) together with my Geos and every time a Geo would swim over them they would dart in all possible directions as if Godzilla was about to step on them... I'm sure they would scream like mad too if they weren't fish! The Geos of course would not even notice the bandits

I spent the morning removing all large snails I could see with a large tweezer.. as you can see from below pic there are MANY hiding places for small snails so I'm sure there are still a gazillion little ones.. Also I don't want to rebuild this tank since it has taken quite a while to get to this stage.. also plant substrate under gravel. And the poisoning the snails with copper but not enough to kill fish sounds too extreme for me.. If I were to introduce some clown loaches eg... a few Q's: (don't know that much about clown loaches) Will small clowns they sell in the shop eat snails at that size? Any problems between clowns and my current fish? How many clowns would you recommend? (stocking already high but have two large canister filters on this one so enough filtration) Thanks This is the tank in question: Discus, Corys, Cardinals, SAE's and a little L270

That's not a bad idea.. It's a 300L planted tank with Discus, cardinals, Corys and more..

Yeah when I feed zuccini to the plecos it is covered by snails next morning.. I would like to get rid of them though... not just control them.. Might have to borrow a puffer fish or two somewhere if they can deal to an entire population.

Many of the coarse fish (Rudd, tench, etc.) develope swollen whitish wart like bumps where their sensory pores are during breeding time.. I'm sure this is not the case with NZ bullies otherwise I'm sure you would know about it.. just throwing it out there..

Ok so I have decided I want mine gone... I know getting rid of snails is close to mission impossible but it would be interresting to know at what size they start reproducing. Then I can concentrate on removing all snails above that size ie. no one to produce eggs.. Otherwise any other suggestions on how to remove them completely without harming fish? Thanks!

Wow those really are very nice kribs... Makes me want to keep them again... must be 20 years since I last did.... Danish Kribs! hehe

Very nice.. This little fish is on my "as soon as I have more room I want to keep it" list. Where are the shells from? Edit: Aha... you are in Epsom... so am I

Hahaha.. this makes so much sense!.. Couldn't figure out why I have 1 discus in turbo growth mode and 4 on "standby mode" even though they all eat heaps. More WC's it is then... thanks! (walks away to do a water change)

What do you mean by "cracking" and "so so"? and why only 1-2 out of 6? thanks