Pegasus

There are a number of formula's to feed brine shrimp, like the one in my article on the subject, but for small batches I use liquid fry food which seems to work. With the right setup you can grow them to over a half inch long, and they even start producing their own eggs. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Looks a beautiful fish AJ and I hope you have success with your efforts at rearing the young. Just wondering if all the young will be true albino. What are the chances ? Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Al, Let me be the first to welcome you. Hope you'll stick around a bit and share your knowledge with us Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Kellz, What was $25 ?

Excellent post Ben, and as you say, a very confusing subject. Hopefully we can get more opinions on the subject. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi all,

DAMN.... Our illusion of Caryl has now been shattered

Hi Kellz, Wow... I thought it would be all gone by now Your Clowns, as you say, are a little bit fragile in some ways, but if the water you add is the same temperature and hardness, then I don't think you will have a prob if you add it gradually and not just pour it in. 10% would be fine I suppose, but it sounds by your posts that you are having probs keeping track of the growth, which appears to be quick. By removing 10% you are only removing 10% of your prob, which could just about grow back in a day, but you could try it and see how you go. Doing a major water change is going to reduce the soup by a major amount, perhaps to a level you can cope with. There are various live foods you could try. I've not used blood worm, so I can't comment, but Mossie Larva is plentyful just now, and it will certainly be in anything in your garden that holds water, like old tubs or buckets. Most farm ponds will have Daphnia at this time of year (pick a sunny day) and they will be swarming near the surface. BioSupplies in Auckland have a great selection of live food, and will ship to anywhere in NZ. Here you can get White Worm which is a great standby livefood, and ALL fish love it. You ask, Mossie Larva, and again, I have yet to find a fish that won't devour it. Add a small amount of yeast (1/4 spoon per bucket) once they get going. Use your old tank water, it will feed the Mossies. Add it to some water and shake till milky before adding. Place the bucket to get all day sun if poss for best results. Addy for BioSupplies is, http://www.ak.planet.gen.nz/~bio/ They have everything you will need in live food, plus lots of info. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Kellz, Hate to say this, but you are doing something wrong :oops: If your tank is not getting sunlight, then you are possibly overfeeding, or your water conditions are up the pole. The soupy conditions you have are caused by the algae having the ultimate conditions to survive, and basically it seems as though it has little competition. Having not seen your tank, my guess would be that you have very few live plants in there to compete with the algae, or your pH is way out, along with the possible overfeeding. Just a suggestion, but I would do a 50% water change twice a week, plus reduce your feeding (feed only live food if poss) to two or three times a week till it clears up. This along with good filtration should clear your water up. Dump the water in a container in the garden and you will have a good source of live food in no time. The danger here is in allowing the algae to die, which will cause you more probs than you have now, so if you can remove the problem naturally, then so much the better. You might consider some Plecos and perhaps some hungry bottom feeders to clean your substrate up which will be coated with algae, but either way, (unless you do a full stripdown) it is going to take time to erradicate. As mentioned, if you can purchase some live Daphnia, these will clear your water up in no time. Best of luck. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Midas, Are you doing a complete reseal, or just a repair ?

Hi Dennis, looks to be about 70 or so, but I'll know better when they come out of the Methelene, which I'll reduce gradually over the next few days. My Sailfin Mollies started dropping tonight, so I may have to drop everything and start making tanks :) Hi John, Saw your hatcher (1960s model ) but still very effective. Don't know if it's good practice to feed shrimp five or six times a day, but your fry look ok in the pics No prizes for the cheapest shrimp, or the best hatch, but it's nice to pass the info along. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi All, Having lost two good clutches of Angel eggs over the past month I was unsure as to the fertility of the eggs due to the parents being so young and seemingly inexperienced. Many of the first batch fungused, and the second was heading the same way, then vanished overnight. The pair in question are under six months old (approx 90mm tip to tip) and seem to spawn at ten day intervals in a community tank along with other Angels, Plecos, Neons, Mollies, Corys and various others. Twice they have spawned on the 15mm uplift of a homemade filter, so this time I quickly removed the uplift and placed it in a container which I floated in one of the tanks and added 25 drops of Methelene Blue. The majority of the eggs have now hatched and are at the wriggling stage. It seems these young pair are productive after all, and perhaps when space permits I will give them a tank of their own in which to spawn. I have spawned the Angels so many times in the past I have lost count, but each new hatch is just as exciting as the first. Even watching the fry drop from the Livebearers is a sight I will never tire of. I mentioned a "Fry Saver" that I made in the Technical Section and was explaining how good it was. I was quite wrong, as it is absolutely brilliant, and to date has allowed me to raise several batches of fry (around 250) with no apparent losses. The fry are transferred at around 12 to 15mm to normal tanks. My good wife recently purchasrd some "Un-named" Brine Shrimp Eggs for me. ($16:65 a vail) I was quite skepical about these, but it did say they were from San Francisco Bay, which I have always found to be better than the Utha area ones. I had read somewhere that adding a teaspoon full of Baking Soda would help the hatch, so again being skeptical I added some to the two litre container I had set up. The 2ltr is adequate for my needs at the moment, but I will make one of my big hatchers when the need arises. The hatch rate of these eggs is astounding, and they hatched in approx 18hrs. Half a capful gives me enough shrimp for around three days, feeding twice and more a day, so perhaps the Baking Soda does help in the hatch rate, it certainly softens the peas when you're making mushy peas. The fry grow at a rapid rate, and it is a pleasure to see their pink bellies bulging after they have been feeding on the shrimp. As normal for these situations, I am rapidly running out of room, and my my next project is outside tanks, my fish room, more tanks, more fish, my multi tank heater,... more.... more... ARGGGG... Here we go again. I seem to have been down this road before. Happy Days, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Andrew, The Long Finned WCMM sound like a good addition to the hobby, and if you have some spare I would be keen to continue the strain. Please contact me when you have some available. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Cat, You is one addicted feline And here was I thinking you were new to all this and only had a few fish. Bigger house (or less furniture) seems a good deal With all that lot to look after it's a wonder you didn't find us sooner Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Great job Warren, it's looking fantastic. Good luck with the fill up... could take an hour or so. Get yer wet suit ready just in case

Don't exactly know the complaints about Dow Corning, but I do know they were the originators of the first true aquarium silicone that became available in the early sixties. It came in tubes much like toothpase size and cost the earth at the time, but others followed in quick succession. The Silaflex RTV cartridges cost me $13:55, which I find is pretty good value for the amount of tanks you can seal. Great to see you on the forum again Joey Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Good to hear it's a reliable product Warren. I was a bit skeptic, but saw it was for aquariums so thought I would try it. Just a little tip for those sealing tanks. To prevent the sealer going hard inside the nozzle, use the piece you cut off the end of the nozzel to block the hole up (pointed end first) . Fits perfectly and saves using other forms of plugs. Might be obvious, but not to some Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Oranda, welcome to the forum. As with all fish, they can have too much of a good thing, and variety of food is the answer, the more variety the better. Looking from above, the females should be plumper than the males when full of roe. If possible you could try seperating them during the conditioning process to "get them in the mood" as it were On large goldfish you can "strip" the eggs and fertilize them in a dish manually with the males milt, but you need to know what you are doing. Many goldies tend to get egg bound if conditions are not right, and as above, a bit warmer conditions might help plus a period of seperation. Hope you find some interest in the forum, and we'd love to know where you are from Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Midas, I use Silaflex RTV Professional Range on my tanks. No as clear as the stuff I used to use in latter years, but seems to work ok, but haven't tried it on a six footer yet... but who knows.. Now where can I find some 9mm plate glass he he. Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Cat, He He... I remember. Be a few years before he gets over the "other fish" but at least he's looking at your's, which might spark his interest. Keep us informed about those eggs of yours. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Nomad, welcome to NZ. Seen your name on a few boards, but not sure where... mmm.. possibly CT. Anyway, great to have you here and hope you visit often. We have a member here already from Texas. (Bowhunter I think) Have you bred the Discus yet ? We'd all like to hear more about them Hey Goldie, Thanks for bringing Nomad along Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Cat, Could have been a book the missus sold, but if it's the one I'm thinking of, then you are the lady who's son keeps Cichlids. We don't charge extra for Son's and Mum's, so why not let him join ? Real glad you decided to join up, and although some of the threads (posts) seem a bit tangled at first, you'll soon find your way around and the tangles will disappear Lots of great info here if you untangle the knots. It gets a bit confusing if an old thread is opened after being idle for a few weeks or months, but I'm sure you'll sort it out. My regards to your son Bill (Pegasus)

AJ said, There you go Cat... As I mentioned in the Welcome section, we are a friendly bunch here :) Good on you AJ, and good info too

Hi there Cat, Glad you found our friendly forum. Forget the housework... Think fish.... just fish I'm always on TradeMe buying something or other to do with fish.. Great site for bargains, if you get in at the right moment that is. Lock the Vac in the cupboard and tell us all about those fish of yours. One thing is for certain, you don't get bored when you start reading all these posts. Great to have you with us Cat. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Wayne, Can't say I have ever been plagued by TB, and hope I never will be. Some people seem to get disease after disease, and touch wood, up to now I have only had a mild case of white spot. Just a query while I am writing. I have a large Angel that either got into a scrap with one of the others, or was given a "love bite" by one of my Plecos. There's a patch of scales missing around 8mm by 10mm on the side of it's body. Now this happened about three weeks or a month ago, but the wound has never fungused, or really got worse. It looks a tad pinkish, but apart from that it seems to be healing. The only salts I added were in setting up where I added around two or three tablespoons of sea salt to approx 40gallons. Normally a wound of this type would be covered in fungus after a short time, but this hasn't happened in my case. Temp is around 80deg, pH6.8, and other levels at nil or very near to. My water is tank water and is quite soft. Perhaps the imune system is quite high in this fish due to the conditions, who knows May I just say that for someone who has just joined us you have proved to be a great asset to this forum, and I hope we don't scare you off with all our questions We are definitely learning from you, and possibly you are learning something from us. It's a real pleasure having you here. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)