alexyay

Are the australes in the same tank? I've been informed that the panchax grow larger and will be too aggressive for the australes D:

Regarding spare parts, we used hose taps from bunnings instead of the eheim ($4 each) and they work great - then an aqua one intake and outtake based on the pipes - no way could I afford the parts which cost about the same price as a new filter!

I knew it was but was looking for a bit more specific Wasn't sure whether they could help others in figuring out what species are available in NZ - I've assumed they're both F Vittata.

A couple of pics if of any use (sorry for the no rotation, straight off my phone) http://oi59.tinypic.com/2ptcb6f.jpg - Today, bought from HFF Mt Albany, $49.99 http://oi61.tinypic.com/264jfaw.jpg - these guys were huge! $64.80, 16th of February, HFF Mt Roskill

Cool, thanks I have no use for RGB (quite happy with just the white light, don't care for "mood" lighting), so I'll be looking into the regular Satellite in the future :thup: thanks for the help!

So on that subject, HFF Albany had one in today - any tips for caring for them? We have a 450L with other "boisterous" fish and have read they're slow eaters - we can provide extra wafers throughout the day in different places of the tank, and can provide zucchini which the fish graze on - can someone tell be if it is a /definite/ "no it won't work whatsoever" and whether I have to put it in one of my tanks (dad will be devastated but if rather it survived!)? Sites say that the Acus is critically endangered and that most sold are vittata, so am I right in thinking it's probably vittata? I'm on my phone so struggling to find definitive differences between the two Edit: the vittata appear to have a longer nose, and both lots I've seen appear to be vittata. I'll get a pic of ours and the ones I saw a while back :thup: Any idea as to whether they prefer groups or to be solitary (outside of breeding)?

I've only ever seen F. acus - HFF Mt Roskill had some in a while ago, gorgeous, weird looking fish! Would love some farlowella sp one day.

I'm looking to light a puffer tank (70L, 58cm long, deciding between green spot, fig8 and arrowhead - arrowhead preferable if I can find one!) which will only have low-light plants depending on what will withstand salinity (eg java fern, java moss) and am looking at the Satellite units, but the + is a lot more expensive and was wondering what the differences are other than the RGB? Are the LEDs in the + any better? I'd rather not have the blues but I can turn those off on the regular unit, so what's the reason for getting the + other than the RGB? Any other cheaper units available? I love my Green Element unit but it appears to get quite pricey and hard to find in full white. Thanks c:

The hatchets prefer a group of their own so I'd get at least 6 - you need a good lid for them too :thup:

The high flow will help circulation, preventing it, but it just means the low flow helped it thrive but was not the cause of the problem (as it cannot "feed" off anything if fish are fed correctly).

For those who have bred red whiptails - what did you use for spawning? Any specific tubing? They've not used the one I've put in but it's not very good and the gourami have claimed it. I've seen people breed BN in a jar so I've just put that in there. But yeah, is there anything specific I'm looking at using? Also, is there a best way to sex them?

Thank you so much! I've lost a lot of my passion for photography and so it's been very slack lately but am slowly getting it back - once I get my restricted I want to visit places like Butterfly Creek almost daily So hopefully one day I'll be producing that kind of stuff again!

Everything on the account is mine

I did promise pics - not many available. The thicklip only comes out to eat, otherwise she hides in her tunnel and chases anyone who comes near - I'm hoping getting her a male will decrease how crazily territorial she's become since I lost the original male. Given up searching for the wild-type, as I've not even seen any here before (even though they're legal to import of course) :dunno: And the Banded are very shy - they don't mind the flash but as soon as I move the camera they freak out - they're starting to settle in slowly. Only taken photos of the 120L, as the 140L fish are shy (only ones who are out and about are the tetras), and I'm just letting the haras settle in at the moment. Red whiptail catfish American Flagfish Red honey gourami - he's starting to heal up - I kept an eye on it before treating it as fungus as others suggested they look more like wounds, and it appears to be getting better so most likely just wounds. In above he's not as colourful as usual. Thicklip gourami - currently the boss of the tank! Indian banded gourami - looks skinny from here but it's just the angle I promise! I'm thinking my three are female. Edit: Nevermind - Flickr is making things more and more difficult to share The photos definitely don't look as sharp on here - I suggest you view them here > https://www.flickr.com/photos/abnegate/

I think I can see food on the ground so unless you've just fed them then it's definitely overfeeding. Try to siphon out as much as possible, maybe don't feed for a couple of days to starve it. I've gotten fungus before but not that - gross D:

When you say green hair do you mean Thin, grows without needing to attach to plants Attaches to plants A bit thicker, translucent, more "stringy" (doesn't kinda fall apart in your fingers, pretty strong) - the American Flagfish shown in this pic love this stuff. I've only dealt with 2, 3 and a browner version of 1. For the brown version of one, I only got it in my low light tanks with very little flow. It also stunk. So upped the lighting, and the flow. For 2, I got this mostly in the tank that was outside - so reducing lighting got rid of this one for me (I kinda like it, so I leave it on driftwood and stuff anyway) For 3, I grow it purposely lol. I find excess nutrients (specifically iron) really get it growing (and I was recommended that I dose less iron and ferts if I wanted to get rid of it). It does grow more in my low-light tanks, but my high light tanks probably have lower nutrient levels than they need and it doesn't last long with the american flagfish lol. Regarding the SAE - they're schooling fish so you should definitely get more Our group of 5 is really rewarding - they're surprisingly social! I tend to not bother QT fish unless they're from a tank which visibly has sick fish, or you have a tank with very expensive fish. EDIT: I misread that and thought you had a singular one. I love these guys whether I have them for algae or not - they're one of my favourite fish. But they definitely need a lot of space (I'd say 200L minimum) and a good group. I recommend them just because I love them RE: BBA, I find the best thing is to get stable CO2 (I found it grew when the DIY CO2 was on and off and if I forgot to refill it), and to dose Excel. You can either dose excel daily (most plants will flourish with this anyway) or dose excel straight onto the algae for a week or so and you'll find it goes a reddish colour, then dies off. Our SAEs will eat new tufts and any tufts that you scrape off (they loooove this!) but left the big stuff alone.

Ah - looks like I'll be doing that in a spare tank, then

Is your book available as an ebook? :thup: I'm thinking of keeping and breeding natives (eventually working my way up to more endangered species) - going to be a while away but you seem like quite the expert in the area!

I thought they were at first but now he's got a bit just above his eye and it's looking more fungal (he's usually more coloured than this too) - my female thicklipped gouram is being quite territorial (not sure whether adding a male will help or not? Let me know if you've got any ideas) and picking on others, but leaves him alone. I've not seen any fish actually pick on him (she's been picking on the Indian banded) - but I will remove her if I have to.

Gah, I'm not sure what caused it, but my red honey gourami has a slight fungal infection. Can be read about here - looking for medications safe for a labyrinth fish? viewtopic.php?f=25&t=66968

I was under the impression that brown algae meant that the lighting was too low? Lack of CO2 is a possibility - I don't have any CO2 running on it but am starting to dose Excel again. Again, I think it's probably a new tank thing - it doesn't bother me too much but I will change something if it continues in the future

I've been warned against using Pimafix and melafix on anabantoids (either effects the labyrinth organ or they can't breathe through the oil on the top of the tank?) - I have a honey gourami who appears who have developed a small fungal infection so I'm wary against using Pimafix for it. I'll be treating the whole tank (although he's the only one with symptoms), which contains 1 honey gourami, 1 thicklipped gourami, 3 indian banded gourami, 5 american flagfish and 5 red whiptails. He had these little patches which I was keeping an eye in thinking they might be wounds, but this morning he's got a couple more and one over the top of his eye (not on his eye or anything like that).

Is there an ideal sex ratio when it comes to angels? It strongly appears that we have 4 males and 1 female - would adding or reducing females reduce aggression? Is tattered fins part of typical behaviour? The fins are tattered due to fighting, not due to fin rot or anything like that. But how much aggression is "too much" (needing intervention)? I'm not a huge angel fan, but I'd love some blues (They have some at HFF Mt Roskill, but none for sale). How readily available are they? Is it reasonable to make a post asking for females, or do people typically not have any available already sexed? AKA, how likely am I going to find actual females for sale? Also, it wasn't my plan, but I now have 5 black kuhlis and 5 haras thanks to Ron at Pupuke :thup: Really happy with them, excited to see them settle in. I think I've decided to change the 140L to a tank around 90L x 45D x 40H, with a different piece of driftwood (spiderwood) - maybe going more blackwater, but well planted with carpet plants (dwarf sag, DHG), swords and java fern. Will probably continue to use T5HOs, though. But I'm really liking having the oak leaves in my killifish tank and will do leaf litter in the new tank as well.

The benefits of dosing plant ferts/carbon, feeding and photoperiod all have benefits that outweigh the algae (although Dad looked after the tank for a week and dosed no ferts or carbon... brown algae was worse than usual). I typically do 40%-50% of a WC of the worst tanks affected anyway. My last otos had no interest in the brown diatom algae - I'm taking a break from them at the moment until I can get everything like stocking levels sorted D:

So doing WCs increase my silicates and thus doesn't help? Oh dear, lol. I'm putting them down at the moment to being a new tank, but will have to take further action if they stay and annoy me further. I tend to not bother with testing nitrates but increase maintenance if I'm worried about them - I'm cautious about them since the spikes which killed off my otos.