Pegasus

Hi Lynda, A two footer is quite adequate to spawn them in. Also the bare bottom tank is the best option. They need something to spawn on... and the best thing I have found is a 40mm piece of Marley plastic water pipe. Cut this at an angle at the bottom so that you can prop it up in one corner and hold the angled end in place with a couple of suction cups. It needs to be sloping at around 30 to 45deg... and be held firmly in place. The small sponge filter is ideal.. and personally I wouldn't bother if it was cycled or not.. as you will be using water from your other tank.. so it will soon contain some benificial bacteria. Can almost guarantee that they will start cleaning it within the hour.. and if in condition.. will spawn the following day. It's important not to feed the fry until they are "fully" free swiming and have consumed all the egg sac.. then the best food is newly hatched brine shrimp. Hope it works out. Bill.

Hi Morgie, You ask: There are many fish types from various parts of the world.. but when they are kept in an enclosed environment the major rule is to try to emulate the natural conditions that the fish originated from... so it doesn't really matter if the fish are Marines.. or some mundane little thing that you found in a rock pool.. the same applies in all cases. A bit of study on your part is needed here, so first I would check the stream they came from and try to establish the conditions they were living in. Things to look for are... Is it a weedy area with grass or plant growth..? Is it a fast flowing area.. or do they hang out in the eddies and overhangs..? Do they congregate around rocky areas..? Do they tend to hide a lot in the darkened areas.. or do the swim out in the open..? (All important when setting your tank up with lights and such). What is the pH of the water.. is it Alkaline.. or acidic..? Do they school.. or are they loners..? What are they feeding on.. live food, such as flying insects.. or foraging on the bottom..? What is the average temp of the water... because a lot of keepers of native fish have probs keeping their water cool enough..? As above... are you allowed to keep them and transport them, as they could come under the illegal fish catergory..? If the water is a free flowing stream of decent water... then I personally would use that water to start off.. then if needed... gradually change the water to the type you have on hand. If they are live food eaters.. they may be getting enough feed at the moment being in the neighbours pond.. but once inside they will need providing for.. so don't expect them to take to flake foods immediately. Basically.. you will need to try to get the conditions as near as possible to their present surroundings. HTH.. Bill.

Hi Shiuh, You ask: The pipe is from the Plassay Watering System range, that is available at most hardware and garden centres. It is a black hose with a thin wall that is easily penetrated by the barbs mentioned above. On my particular system, I just made a converter connection to suit the pump I was using.. which was salvaged from a freezer unit. I could have added another hundred outlets, and it would still have coped with it.. but then I downsized and shut a lot of tanks down, so I reverted to several large double diaphram pumps... but still used the Plassay pipe outlets.. except now some were blocked off. Just a note on the compressors from fridge units. Because of the Freezone (or whatever it is called).. they should not be emptied by any other person than the people who re-gas fridges.. as they have the means to dispose of the gas safely... as it is an environmental hazzard. Also.. the air coming from these type compressors is at high pressure.. enough to pump truck tires up.. which we do on occasions.. so they are not really suitable for just the odd ten tanks or so. The air also needs to go through a purifying stage before it is suitable for using in the aquariums. The beauty of these is that they are almost silent. My bet is that's got you drooling Shiuh :) Bill.

Hi IMK, Good to hear you at least have a "true" pair of Angels.. as sometimes two females will lay a clutch.. but of course they won't hatch. You say: Microworms are a bit funny in some ways.. and you have to "really" look close to see the slight movement on the surface of the mixture. If you got them from a reliable source, then the mixture should be quite runny.. but not watery.. if you follow.. and if you look closely on the sides of the container you will see movement. If you put a small raft in the mixture.. or an ice pop stick and leave it for a while, the worms will climb out onto this for easy feeding. Brine Shrimp. Many people have probs hatching BS.. but it really is a simple task provided the eggs (cysts) are fresh and not been allowed to deteriate. There are many posts with full instruction on the site here if you use the search feature at the head of the page.. (the site one.. not the Google one) Time for another tank I think, as the babies are better if they are reared in bare bottomed tanks, which makes things easier for cleaning and water changes. Hope things go well Bill.

You will recieve this message if a post has been deleted by the Moderators, or if you have entered a search in the site search engine that does not match exactly with the one you have entered. Bill.

I use the Plassay Watering type hose.. (20mm) .. plus the small screw in barbs that they use for attaching the spray heads and such. These just push into the soft tube and then you screw them in, which makes a tight seal. The other end of the barb is perfect for the aquarium type hose and will give endless trouble free service. Need another outlet..? Just screw in another barb he he. (Must go check how my Plassay shares are doing )

Hi djoon7, Your tank is a bit on the small side and will needs lots of care and regular maintainance to keep the water suitable. You will also need to be "very" careful with the feeding.. as overfeeding will quickly polute the water. Besides the above questions... where is the tank located..? Does it get very warm due to the sun or heat of your home...? Do you have an air pump and an airstone running..? Do you have a themometer to monitor the heat of the tank..? Many fish "do" take a break now and then and rest on the bottom.. but if this is for prolonged periods, then something is wrong, which is often water conditions. In the deep of winter, a rise in temp can make Goldies a little more active... but a rise in temp in this present heat could make them a bit lethargic if the heat is too high and constant. Could you do us a big favour and put your location in your profile. We see that you use the metric system.. but many countries do now Bill.

Welcome Bigstats, Lots of newcomers here.. so no worries there Hope you find lots of interest here, as there is always someone that can help out with the probs.

Hi LMK, Welcome to the NZ Fishroom Definitely sound like a food prob.. and as Caryl says.. Baby Brine Shrimp is the only "real" food to get them over the first month. You say: This is the way to go if poss.. as it truly is amazing.. no matter how many times you see it This might help. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/the-no ... vt929.html Bill.

The brown is the result of the tannis leaking from the wood. This occurs with lots of wood types, even though they may look "sun baked" and been exposed to the weather for a long time. It can be a bit unsightly... plus.. in some cases it can alter the pH making your water more acidic. Boiling the wood will remove a lot of the tannis, but it is a long drawn out job that could take a few boilings to get the thing right. More frequent water changes will dilute the "tea looking" water It is "normally" not harmful to the fish... unless you keep Africans that need a high pH and Alkaline conditions.. Bill.

Monaro asked: Takes around four weeks to get them to 12.5mm (1/2").. by which time they start breeding and producing eggs. Green water (Algae Water).. is a great food for them. http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpy ... shrimp.htm

Hi AquaMum... Welcome to the NZ Fishroom Sounds like you have fouled the water really quickly through overfeeding. Get a length of hose pipe and siphon out a good 50% of the water in the tank... ensuring that you get as much of the uneated food and other waste that you can. Top the tank up and get the filter running correctly... plus if you have an air pump.. set that going with an air stone. Goldies are messy fish.. both in eating and in the waste they produce... so the maintainance on the tank will be high, with partial water changes at least once or twice a week. The big rule here is... "Don't overfeed" Only feed them once a day.. or twice with smaller amounts. Make sure they can clear every scrap of food up in five or so minutes. If you have young ones... HIDE THE FOOD... so that they can't feed the fish without supervision. When the assistant said "Ten Fish".. it was 'possibly' referring to ten guppies or similar fish.. not ten goldfish, as ten goldies would not survive for long in a 30ltr tank. The four you have will soon outgrow the space you have.. so as above.. they will need regular water changes and attention. Hope it goes well.

Hi Cichlid Lover, Tried to get your images working.. but no joy. You had the "IMG tags in the wrong places.. but I think the prob is the size. Looking at the ones on the site they are 1432X1197... FAR too big for here. You need to resize them to the size in the guidelines. Bill.

There's a couple of simple designs here... one wood... one steel. Just adjust to suit your size. http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpy ... %20One.htm http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpy ... 0Stand.htm

There's a sand you can use for "Sand Blasting".. which is like tiny glass or silica (sp) sand beads of some sort, and it comes in various sizes from very fine to coarse. The stuff I used to use was pure white, but I never used it in my tanks, although I would think it would be pretty good for the job. Bill.

Might be due to the Yahoofs bit... is there a site by that name...? Also ensure that they allow the uploading of pics from that site. Might be a good idea to check the addys

Hi Brite, Heaters should be pretty cheap in the States.. and it's well worth having one if you want to keep fish like Guppies and the Gouramie you mention elsewhere. The thing with the heater is that your Guppies and such can't stand the temp being too low.. but on the other hand.. your Goldies won't mind the temp being a bit warmer... in fact, they will probably be a bit more active. It sounds like it's pretty cold over there.. so a heater would be a good investment, and they are not really expensive to run. As above.. your fish were possibly stressed once you added them to your Goldie tank.. as they were possibly in warmer water at the LFS where you bought them. Get the exact measurements for your tank and take the info to your LFS... and then they should provide you with the right size of heater that is suitable for your tank. Hope it goes well.

Hi there Brite... Welcome to the NZ Fishroom Kissing Gouramies get their name from the Lip Locking that the pairs do occasionally. Most Cichlids (Gouramies are a different family).. will show this behaviour... mainly at breeding time, or during the "sorting out" of who is boss in the tank. Hope you enjoy your vistits here

:) The link was right... I just spelt "Hatcher" in lower case instead of "HATCHER".. but fixed now

Here's another method that I designed in the early '70's There are many methods to hatch these little guys, but if you need large amounts for both your fry and for growing on for your larger fish, then this is a proven method that works for me. To clarify. The eggs go ONLY in the left hand side. All four sides and top of the left hand partition are blacked out with either dark paint or card. Partition is also of darkened plastic and is best if completely sealed for optimum results. Store your eggs in a cool place, and always in a sealed container. To harvest the shrimp. Turn off the air and allow to settle, then open the flap and put a bright light opposite the hole to draw the shrimp through the hole towards the light, then siphon off as needed. Allow around ten minutes to settle and all egg cases will be at the surface, while the live shrimp will be at the lower areas. Good shrimp cysts will hatch in 12 to 18 hrs at 27degC. Remove and grow on if needed as per article on my site. Salinity is as normal sea water, (SG. 1.022) but not critical if slightly higher. The addition of 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda will assist with the hatch, but don't add to the growing on tank. Take care not to overfeed the growing shrimp, as the water will pollute quickly if you do. Green water (algae) is a good food source, so having your growing on tank in sunlight will help.

Sound like a good article for the DIY Section Alanmin.. with pics and drawings to explain the workings Bill.

Come on guys... New member... new forum.. Over enthusiastic to get started as quickly as possible.. we have all been there at one point. Please let us keep it civil.. Moderator.

Alanmin wrote: Don't know how they do it these days.. but way back when they used to drug the fish to put them into a semi-hybernation state, and this allowed them to pack more fish in less water over longer periods. There were no heat pads back then... just good insulation, and quite often fish would arrive safely after being shipped two days or so prior to arrival. Bill.

Hi Mickey, It really pains me to see threads like this after all the work we do to help others.. not just once or twice.. but constantly.. day after day.. year after year... but then we get this sort of thing occasionally. Ok Mickey.. there are two sides to look at here. You say you have limited timed to do your searches. We have some great news for you. Most of us are in the same situation.. Had you simply asked the methods for breeding a certain fish there would have been no probs... but you threw quite a number of questions about various "types" of fish, that "all" have different requirements, and to give you the info on the spot was pointless, as it would have taken up countless pages of explanation. We help others that help themselves, and you can pick our brains until you become old and grey.. no problems there, as that is why we are all here.. to help others with the hobby and to learn as we go along.. plus it is a great place to find others who may become friends online that have the same interests. You ask that the thread be deleted.. That would be a simple task.. but the whole point of this is that you have a grievance over the replies you recieved in some of your posts. The questions you have asked have been answered many times elsewhere on this site, which has its "own" search engine at the top of the page.. but after being here two days I suppose you saw that, but just ignored it in favour of the easy way out. Not getting at you Mickey, but years of info is stored here.. and it's all free for those that care to read it. We can help with most things.. you just have to ask.. but ask in the form of "One topic at a time... per thread".. and that way we can concentrate on giving you the best help we can. You say you are thirteen... We have lots your age here.. and I am 65, and have been keeping fish for roughly fifty years.. but you know what Mickey... I learn something new "every" day when I visit these forums, so please don't take your first few days here as a format for what is to come. Take care now, Bill.

Great to have you join us Rory Why not put your location in your profile.. then people won't be constantly asking where you are Chat room is around 9pm... and there's another area of the site if you click on the FNZAS logo at the head of the page... lots of info there.. plus club details.