alexyay

It's pretty much too small to tell I'll have a look at it tomorrow (and may try to get a pic).

Looking awesome :thup: I found my Parsley and Lettuce both kicked the bucket pretty quickly. I think the Parsley didn't like the wet feet, the Lettuce leaves died whenever they hit the water so it would have needed a different setup to what I was providing. Mint is doing great (struggles without high light). Haven't gotten around to planting my Chillis or Tomato plants.

Possibly a sad Lilaeopsis sp? I have a teensy piece which survived some BBA and looks very similar

They /could/ be the kind that use a symbiotic relationship with algae to live. I'm, well, going to try a blackout because that's obviously the one to hurt the fish the least. They could be the other kind (don't use any algae at all), which they look to be, but it can't do any harm? They're yellow, some are more green than others.

Wow. Lucky me. When I introduced some hatched brine shrimp into my Sterbai cory fry tank, there was this squiggly little "worm" only a couple of mm in length. Despite the thought in the back of my head that said "get rid of it", I left it. The water used for the shrimp was water from the tap, left about 6-12 hours on the bench, plus some tonic salt. http://www.william-hogarth.de/HydraSkep ... arist.html says that Hydra cannot come from brine shrimp eggs - and they make sense. However, this "worm" had definitely come from the brine shrimp mix I just added into the tank. I don't know where it had come from - the water or the eggs. Although now that I think about it, if they're capable of surviving dried out, they could come from the air stone/tubing used. Anyway, a few days later. Behind is a coarse sponge filter, in front is an air tube, just to put size into perspective. One of my spare 3-spots would have been my first choice, but, well, corydora fry in a 31L. Salt would have been my second choice. Again... corydora fry. I've used the same siphon on two tanks - it's possible they're in the other two, but a net was used over the siphon opening - here's hoping to the small chance that either 1. they aren't contaminated or 2. as they feed on brine shrimp, they aren't thriving in all my other tanks. Does anyone have any fry-safe known extermination methods? Unless you know these guys are 100% safe, 'cause then, I'll keep them until my microscope arrives so I can have some fun. I also have another brine shrimp brand, so I guess my next experiment is to have new equipment + 2 setups with my two brine shrimp brands. Just to be sure. If they show up in both, um, my tap water is looking to be a bit of a concern lol. Anyway. I'm super freaked out. Can someone help my panic at all? *hyperventilates*

I have also heard of rival males killing each other (even females). My 6 females live without any visible issues in a 220L but it's hard to tell as they're quite timid so I don't get to see their activity, really.

Oh my goodness !drool: !drool: !drool: Sturisoma aureum? Growing two out in the hope I get a female to go with my male - cool to see that the fry survive with the cardinals! Very excited to breed these guys Have certainly been recommended the 60D as a good video camera, so a +1 to it!

Haha as you become more educated you begin to realize how crazy it is that some fish are still allowed in when you realize how easy it is for them to become established in our waterways. I'd certainly personally like to one day become qualified to be to put forth applications, though.

That moss goes super cute when emersed!

Honestly, out of everything, FW inverts IMO are just not going to be allowed full stop. They pose way too much of a risk to our natives. You can pay but you may not get your money back lol. Edit: It's not necessarily the money that's the big factor, but you need to be able to PROVE that they are of no risk which takes a lot of qualifications and education to be able to do, hence why the average fishkeeper tends to not try to get fish/inverts put on the list.

As much as I hate buying emersed grown plants, that is... !drool: !drool: !drool: Absolutely stunning.

Have you been buying them emersed or just using submerged growth? Keen to hear how it goes :thup:

You can trust some sellers, but you can't buy anything from it here :dunno:

IMO you would need 2 Finnex Ray IIs for a 69cm deep tank. We have one on a 50cm deep and it does great but the PAR seems to drop significantly on deep tanks with LEDs. You could perhaps get away with one BuildMyLED, but they're not cheap (but I'd loooove to see some in NZ with them ). LEDs are a cheaper option in the long-run and well worth the investment, it's just you tend to need 2 units for higher lighting especially on deep tanks, and the initial cost puts people off.

1 220L SA 1 120L SE-A 1 55L Killifish/Hara cat 1 31L tall currently lacking a puffer (but running with plants etc) 1 31L filled halfway with whatever red whiptail fry remain :'( 1 70L holding red whiptails and growing out royal whiptails 1 55L filled halfway attempting to breed SFs 1 31L tall which I just bought new for a puffer... growing out surprise Sterbai fry 1 140L "belonging to Dad" but holding my SF females 1 450L belonging to Dad Oh, and a daphnia tank. Various small spare tanks, too. But I guess (excluding the daphnia) that makes 10 set up, 6 permanent and 7 to-be permanent/display (with the cory fry tank actually going to be set up).

I don't want to get into any arguments or anything and am not disagreeing with you, but am hoping I may be able to shed some light to help people understand why others use "labels". --- Lets say, at the age of about 5, you notice there's something different about you. You are what's called an "Alanmin". No one knows this and you've heard it's a bad thing - your Uncle is an Alanmin according to your parents and they feel uncomfortable about it. Your friends call each other "Alanmin" as joke and it doesn't sound like a nice thing to call people. So you grow up, keeping it quiet, feeling kind of confused because no one else seems to be this way. Once you reach about 13, Non-Alanmins, aka everyone else (lets call them NAs) are everywhere and they are, well, really expressing their NA selves. You wish you could join in but despite how hard you try, you just can't seem to change yourself to be like them. One day you confide in someone you trust. Unfortunately, they weren't as trustworthy as you had thought. First your friends start becoming hesitant about being around you. "He's, well, an Alanmin, you know?". Quickly, it gets out. You're still in with your group of friends but you stop getting invited to their homes, sleepovers etc. Soon, people you didn't even know start looking at you - turning their heads and whispering. There's that annoying group of guys who sit in the same spot and harass people - well, you've become a target. Every time you walk past, they yell at you with different names for who you are, "Hey, Smellanmin!*", notifying all those who may not have already known. You feel pretty ashamed. You didn't choose to have this name. You don't want this - you want to have fun and be normal, like all the other NAs. You have one friend who came forward and offered their support - you appreciate it, but how do they know what it's like? They offer up comments like "Couldn't you, like, try to stop being an Alanmin?" and you know their intentions are good, but they just don't "get it". You feel isolated in your troubles and are starting to feel like you don't want to be around people much any more. They don't really seem to like you. One day while you're walking on your own, that weird-kid-who-doesn't-talk comes up to you and mumbles something, "Hey, um, so I heard you're an Alanmin and um, I'm one too". You stop in your tracks. You're not alone. The two of you continue walking and start to talk to each other, confide in each other and share your experiences. Finally, there's someone who gets it. There's someone like you who knows what it feels like. He gives you the name of a group he's been going to. "Alanmin and proud" it's called. You feel uncomfortable about the name they're using, something you've been trying to hide for so long, but you go one day. And then the next week, and then the next week. You're starting to feel better about being an Alanmin. Over time, when someone asks, you give them the truth rather than mumbling the opposite. You feel confident enough to tell your parents, and they slowly accept you for who you are, although they were worried at first. Eventually, with the help of the Alanmins around you, you start to feel confident about who you are. Despite all you've gone through, you've an Alanmin and you're proud about it. You're happy to let people know when they ask, and may even have a little badge on your bag about it. A couple of young Alanmins, just as confused and shy as yourself, have come up to you asking for your help - experiencing that first realization that they're not alone and there's people out there like them. That scared kid still lives in side of you, but you've learned that there's nothing wrong with who you are and you're proud to be helping others feel better about themselves. And then life goes on etc etc, you live just like the NAs in most aspects but you're still happy to wear that Alanmin label loud and proud. --- *I don't think you smell (well, I don't know, but I won't hold it against you), but I thought that was a darn good pun. That's a long read. But the above is a pretty mild example - obviously it differs for everyone and not everyone experiences the same thing, but hopefully it gives a bit of an insight as to why people use labels. It's a lot of writing but it's pretty important to me, personally. Hope that was of some help.

Be prepared for a bit of an infodump. :smot: but many of us use Queer to mean anything but cisgender and hetereosexual. I go by Queer, myself The Q is kind of used as an umbrella term for anyone who doesn't fit in to the first four. There's heaps of variations - LGBTQA tends to be the most common "up to date" version, LGBTQAI is on occasion used but some Intersex people feel uncomfortable about being "forced" into a community when they don't have any differing gender or sexual identity (it's debated, I don't speak for anyone so I don't know what is right/wrong). P is sometimes included too. It gets more complex It's not complex once you get it, but it's quite confusing at first. MOGII (Marginalized Orientation, Gender Identity, and Intersex) has been suggested instead to reduce the acronyms - some only go by MOGII but I don't quite know whether it's going to catch on or not. I tend to use "Queer community" - easiest way to put it, is a nice umbrella term lol. No debate around who "should" and "shouldn't" be included. Note that all of the above, like, changes pretty regularly and it all depends on who you're talking to, though.

All tanks get 40%-70% weekly (or every 6-8 days, preferably 6). Typically around 50%. Gets evaporation and occasional water flow slowing (all have pre-filter sponges) so they let me know when it's WC time lol.

I believe our Native bullies are the closest we can get - best kept in a native setup (and require colder waters than most tropical imports here). Would love some FW gobies, though !drool:

Yeah, that's why I figured they weren't often available (a bit like my dreamy P suvattii). Seen some absolutely amazing biotopes of them, though.

Admittedly I've only been looking for them more recently So wasn't around in the fish "scene" a few years ago. Very cool to hear that they've been available here!

Although there is a species on the import list I haven't seen any sold in NZ.

!drool: Very clean and professional. Love the bottle holder - need to get one of my own!

I just use a piece of raw shrimp (either eg 1/4, 1/2 etc based on tank size) in a stocking (to keep it clean) and leave it there. Does the job for me, no daily dosing needed. I then do a 100% when it's done cycling (just to clean up as much gunk as possible).

Sorry late reply - it's usually inside, in the isle where you can buy seeds, weed killers etc. It's usually kept with the succulent and cactus mix along with various other mixes (just in case you were looking outside!)