varven

lol one of their unscruplous salesmen tried selling me one of those little things... theyre a size of a whisky glass some of the containers ...

On a side note , if its only a fry grow out tank, dont even bother with gravel and UGF's. From my experience easier to siphon crap off the bottom when theres no substrate and usually a couple of sponge/corner filters should suffice.

Chris, not meaning to contradict you , but just an observation, Ive had a platy once develeop distinctly rich red colouration when it was hardly1.5cm. But on the other hand, I left it in a tank full of adults. That usually stunts their growth . So it could have been matured but stunted physically in size ? Just curious . cheers, V.V.

As long as water parameters are tolerable.. most run off the mill livebearers will breed anywhere. It would probably pay to ensure that you can maintain a warm temperature though... a heater and a simple air driven filter should suffice. Provide loads of plants/hiding places and just wait for the babies. But if you really want fast growth, seperate the babies into their own tanks when theyre a little bigger.

Im going to go with a no filtration/ barely any fish setup... if it doesnt seem good ill add a wee lil powerhead with a prefilter or whatever.. so not really filtration. I was thinking abt a C02 setup but rejected the tank/home brewed versions because of cost and secondly even if theres a tiny lil 'bang' from a home made unit I get the tank booted out of home :lol: . Besides Ive seen crap go wrong with dive tanks and I dont like anything near high pressure around the home. Any reccommended fertilizers.. I was going to go for the generic 'fetilizer tablets' u stick under the plants but wondering if theres something I can more freely mix into the substrate . cheers, V.V. ps: in terms of fish I was really keen to have an algae gobbling Chinese algea eater but not sure if he will like a tank with no fast flowing water ?

Ive got a 600x300x300 tank sitting around that Ive decided I want to convert to a 'mini planted tank'. What are youre reccommended substrate beds ? Im thinking along the lines off 1cm depth sand followed by gravel >? Similarly I dont want too strong filtration or something that would oxygenate the water too much as I want it to retain co2 for the plants. Is the smallest model available internal cannister ( more like powerhead attached to a sponge filter ) a viable option ? cheers, V.V.

what applications are you interested in using them for ? Im thinking about getting one for a 60x30x30 'mini' planted tank of mine. I already have a standard 2ft tube on it.... wondering if its going to be enough..

Is that internal cannister filter thingy in the corner deflecting water flow over the plants ? I had one of them before in a previous tank and it was 'the devil'!..swayed tha plants around wayyy to much and I had to pull it out. cheers, V.V.

is the zebra danio behind the driftwood.. ( head and tail hidden behind the wood ) ???

do u mean comet goldfish ? a tank size would help. off hand (chinese/siamese) algae eaters are ok ..but make sure you can provide them with the right food and they dont starve.they enjoy a fair bit of water flow and hiding spots. cheers, v.v.

Looks like I opened a can of worms here ! While a number of aquaria related DIY projects in the past have yielded promising results, I think personally Id be better of buying a skimmer. Ive come from a school of thought where skimmers were typically skimmers were given little priority and large complex wet/dry filters were the norm. It quite went "a good marine hobbyists wet dry filter size and complexity is directily proprtional to errr his 'manhood' " :roll: Obviously as time has progressed this seems to have changed to more effecient systems with live wrock and skimmers. cheers, v.v.

Hi all, Im hoping all of you can tell me a wee bit about your tanks : size, stocking ( fish only/corals ) amount of live rock ? filter types and details ? Im trying to develop an approximation of what type of filteration most of you guys tend to lean towards. If any one would like , please attach pics and details of your DIY projects. Im a D.I.Y. filter enthusiast cheers, V.V.

Yes eradicating them is understandable but the method is not right ! A while ago I saw a documentary in which this lady who works for M.A.F was sitting in a tiny boat in a lake down ( further down south i think ) and she caught koi in nets.. and proceeded to examine them and drive a knife through their head and dump them in a bucket ! That was rather crass !

Yeah Ive ruled out spots with direct sun on them, mostly likely theyre going to be kept semi indoors. Ive done this before succesffully Im looking to see if I can find the preffered "containers". Midas would you be able to tell me the brand of the containers youre using ? cheers, v.v.

Do any of you use large semi clear plastic containers to hold goldfish ? Im talking containers that are sized about 2 - 4 feet long and about 1.5 feet wide and high >? The ones that have a volume of about 130 - 180 liters seem pretty ideal. Im gonna shop around to try different products and compare their structural integrity/ material composition/ pros and cons and see what I can come up with . Has any one been succesfull with plastic containers and which ones did you all use ? Cheers, v.v.

Picture/link doesnt seem to work ? or is it just me ?

Mollies and swordtails fortunately have been the only ones to "jump" my tanks... the mollies were tought little things... started swimming right away. Now why cant they all be like good peacefull goldfish and not do dumb stuff like jump around !

One of my diving friends just fwd this link to me http://www.geocities.com/reidfish/220204pupuke.html (warning link contains pics of innocently hunted down koi at lake pupuke) Im too heartbroken..just 3 weeks ago I was admiring them and now ...the poor koi never stood a chance against those free diving monsters .

HI all, first up thanks for the warm welcomes. I should apologize for my delay in responses as my internet was down. herefishiefishie : not sure if you meant do I have tropical Marines here in Auckland ? if so, no. I meant I had them back in Kenya. Species diversification here is definitely limited but still intersting ! On a side note, Im aware it is illegal to own Koi here and Ive seen documentaries of ponds/lakes being medicated to rid the populations. I frequently dive in Lake Pupuke on the North Shore and theres an absolutely gorgeous Koi family living there . Im guessing theres no way I can find adopt them legally ? Alisha Im intersted in hearing about your seahorse setup..theyre one lot I have no personal experience with. Alan, Im not sure I got your comment about the age factor.. been a long day and Im thinking impaired at this hour 8) Lastly could an admin help me out as to why I dont seem to be getting email notifications when a chosen topic is replied to :-? ? Once again cheers guys for the warm welcomes Varun.

cichlid ponds /discus ponds are bad ideas unless they have viewing ports mainly because : you cant see them full on/profile which means : you cant check their health/fin status/body development etc any other choices u have ??

These barbs get huge and FAST. they need loads of room to swim freely,specially when panicked or they will tend to smack into tank walls. They need vegetation/cover to hide behind if they feel threatened or they start swimming like JAWS imitations ! cheers, V.V.

Hi all, I just found this forum and decided to sign on. A little history about myself: Ive had fish in my home since I was old enough to remember. when I was about 14 was when I REALLY got interested in a big way. The innocent hospital tank/breeder tank fever blew out of proportion and I was experimenting with a variety of species and interesting "tank setups". During this phase I lived out in Mombasa (Kenya) East Africa. Being in the tropics one of the greatest advantages was no need for temperature control and natural tap water was perfect for average conditions. Soon tubs/pails/buckets/plastic storage bins/water tanks and fish tanks lined my bed room and outhouse to an extent my family had to intervene and curb the growth :lol: . Being in a developing country, the fish itself were very very cheap ( I managed to source and make friends with 2 major exporters who would provide me with wholesale rates ), equipment on the other hand was a nightmare to obtain. power filters and the likes retail at exorbidant rates, forcing hobbyists like me to adapt. we designed our own filters. primarily there were air pump driven and were cheap to build. A compressor could effectively be used to pump about 200 - 250 air lines making it more economical. I passed through the goldfish/livebearer/angel fish/cichlid phase and was soon stuck on marines. I started scuba diving at 12 and since all my diving was done of pristine,picturesque coral reefs teeming with critters and life, I saw no reason to bring a bit into my own home. Marine fish are NOT popular in the least with the locals since nearly none of them were ever able to succesfully keep them alive due to lack of equipment/dedication. There are major exporters though who quite rake in the $$ with exports of marine livestock. I realized the only way to setup a marine tank would be to supplement filtration (or rather lack off) with water changes. Thus the new journey began. I collected sand myself from about 3 feet deep water while snorkelling . Soon as I built on my "free diving skills" I managed to collect my own live rock. There are no rules against collecting livestock from the "marine reserve" as long as scuba wasnt utilized. This was about 100 m from my back yard. Live rock was collected in a similair manner. oh btw even meter longer morays can get rather aggresive when confronted by a free diver clutching 2 hand fulls of about 5 - 7 kg of live rock :-? . Well after much adventure I had a "marine tank" running... dimensions : 4ftx1.5x.15. Filtration :sponge filter,air pump driven corner filter, 2 powerheads. 25% water change every 2nd day. Thus the marine setups grew to a point where I was growing some very freaky back muscles from doing water changes using jerry cans down to the sea every day ! Connections I made with local fishermen and marine exporters soon had me doing part time jobs with them and setting up fish tanks/maintanance as a part time job. A pond soon followed.. about 10 ft in diameter which was dedicated to Tilapia, Koi, guppies , platies and plecos. well that seems to be a pretty long rant abt myslef! Back to the future.. Ive been in Nz for under 2 years now and finally got a wee lil 10 gallon tank with just 2 tetras for seasoning in it. Unfortunately being a student at uni means im $$ restricted and dont see myself getting more tanks. Then again I havent seen many cold water marine tank setups with native species ? Ive been blowing all my money getting more serious with my technical diving. Hopefully I can start of with some interesting fish and get to meet some just as interesting folk on here Cheers, Varun.