alexyay

I've got some H polysperma 'sunset' and a little bit of R rotundifolia but I've recently been treating for IPs so I'd recommend a sterilization dip first - if you're okay to do that you're more than welcome to a couple of small bits.

I have Macs fry which became free-swimming on the 2nd (I think) - growing steadily it seems, she's been a great momma  Had an issue with my air-pump breaking, so hopefully they're still okay. 
Unfortunately only 2 of my Trifasciata fry survived, which I stopped feeding because I thought she had eaten them all (so they're teeny!) - my Tris have been looking lethargic lately, so I'm not expecting any fry for a few weeks until I figure out what's causing them to be sickly. I lost one of my females, but still have a pair left.

That would be absolutely fantastic, thank you so much I'm currently a bit busy with some personal stuff but will let you know when I can start looking into doing this for realsies
 
@Jamie No BBGs yet, will spend a few good hours when you're away photographing them  The larvae and Earthworms would be awesome, thanks!

The girls seem to be more aggressive than the males - the males kinda just chill, whilst the girls are busy sorting out their hierarchy. My alpha girl for example is definitely the "alpha"/dominant fish - haven't had much of a chance to observe them but everyone looks to have settled in just fine

worst bite i ever had and took weeks to heal was from a Homo sapiens
and i have been bitten by quite a few different species :sage:

I couldn't just leave four of them there 
 
They're doing way better lately - will be moving the first group to the group of 9 tomorrow - they're still super reactive, but I'm seeing less white/black patches in general, and much more colour. The 6 seem to have sorted their hierarchy out a bit, the 9 are still squabbling but in a 260L tank they have so much room it's not as intense. Now I'm going to mess it all up by introducing the two groups 

Oh no I didn't even know we could get these guys in NZ - they're one of the most gorgeous killies out there. Would also love to know if you find any, Maxi

https://www.lernz.co.nz/publications/books/invasive-fish-management-handbook
This handbook is a joint initiative between Lake Ecosystem Restoration New Zealand (LERNZ) and the Department of Conservation (DOC). In 2005 the University of Waikato initiated a 10-year research programme on harmful algal blooms and pest fish (the Freshwater Restoration Outcome Based Investment or OBI, tagged LERNZ). The invasive fish work stream has, over the last decade, contributed significantly to current knowledge on invasive fish management in New Zealand, as described in this handbook. Contributions to a joint LERNZ / DOC workshop held in September 2014 helped form the basis of the material in this handbook.

I made this sped up video of my tropical community, i just love watching them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkUETFo_BWk
 

wow...so good to see the lovely fish, and great to know there are apisto lovers around! 
I want to get back to them again now, but they are so hard to find here :-(.
here is one of mine a year ago, think he is Steel Blue. They breed in my big tank and 3 babies still alive. unfortunately I lost the parent fish....

Not really sure which forum to put this in
 
I'm hoping to buy a bunch of books from the lovely Caryl but they're looking quite heavy to try to ship - is there anyone travelling this way that might be willing to work as a bit of a taxi service for us? I'm happy to pay some petrol money

Rearing Hippocampus abdominalis.
Tank set up.
30 Litre tank.
Air pump
Sponge filter
 
The tanks must always have pristine water, I use natural salt water at 1.026 salinity and 20c  
Any leftover food is siphoned out each day and a water change  done of 10 to 25%.
I use sponge filters on a low flow to allow the fry to feed continuously with a light on 24 hours a day for the first few weeks.
Picture of fry tank with separate compartments to keep numbers down of fry kept together,Brine shrimp hatching bottles overhead and the orange is plastic plants for fry to attach to.

 
Fry are attracted to light and go to the water surface and then swallow air to fill up their swim bladder, which then seals up. the fry can congregate and form intertwined rafts at the surface and expand energy wrestling to get free of each other so i use floating plastic plants or netting for them to cling to instead.
Pic of fry at 6 hrs post hatch, note the air pocket in swim bladder.

Feeding Seahorse fry
.It takes about 20 hrs for the fry to use up their yolk sac and this is when i start feeding out rotifers as brine shrimp Nauplii shells harden which means the fry’s digestive system  can be impacted resulting in mortality. I heavily feed out rotifers or newly hatched brine shrimp to ensure all the fry can feed properly as starvation is easy in the first week. After the first week the fry are able to handle baby brine shrimp.
After about 3 weeks i change the lighting to a 8 hr dark period  and move into a 30 litre tank.   
Picture of fry at 7 days old, they have darkened up and swim bladder is now silver.

Clean water and lots of appropriate live food are the key to success with these fish.
 

I believe there were just some available in Auckland - I'll PM you the guy's name

I hope you don't keep naturally free-swimming fish in tanks then  (where's my hole-digging emoticon???)

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has released the draft Facility Standard: Post Entry Quarantine for Plants for public consultation. The draft Facility Standard will replace the current version and is now available on the MPI website: Draft Facility Standard for Post Entry Quarantine for Plants <https://mpi.govt.nz/news-and-resources/consultations/draft-facility-standard-for-post-entry-quarantine-for-plants/> From 28 October 2015 to 27 November 2015 the Ministry for Primary Industries invites comment on proposed changes to the: Facility Standard: Post Entry Quarantine for Plants Supporting information can also be found on the above website, including the following: Risk Management Proposal: Revision of the Facility Standard: Post Entry Quarantine For Plants; Draft Guidance Document: Post Entry Quarantine for Plants; Example Operating Manual for a Hypothetical Level 2 Facility, Comments are also welcome on each of the above documents. We are aiming for the consultation period to remain open until 5 pm Friday 27 November 2015.

Try the NZ carnivorous plant society

While the introduced fish like trout and salmon are considered more important than our natives they will have about as much chance of survival as our native lizards and frogs while people believe that cats should be free to roam and prey on whatever they fancy. Our values are a wee bit out of wack.

A quick, easy fix - install the Greasemonkey (Firefox) or Tampermonkey (Chrome) extensions, make a new script and copy and paste the following:
 
// ==UserScript== // @name AquariumWorld // @namespace http://aquariumworld.nz/ // @version 0.1 // @description Changes forum post styles // @author You // @match http://aquariumworld.nz/* // @grant none // ==/UserScript== function addGlobalStyle(css) { var head, style; head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; if (!head) { return; } style = document.createElement('style'); style.type = 'text/css'; style.innerHTML = css; head.appendChild(style); } addGlobalStyle('.ipsBox:not( .ipsBox_transparent ) { background-color: #FFF; border-style: solid; border-color: black; border-width: 1px; }');It doesn't look lovely, but it'll add a small black border around each post, so you can see where they start and finish (personally I don't have any issues with the theme, so I've not bothered to make it look nice, lol).
 

Went and saw these guys on Saturday - they were awesome! Would definitely jump on the chance if I had the tank space

Mine are arriving on Wednesday 

Haha, was it you who bought all of them? Can you please let me know if you manage to breed the Panduro? As I'd be keen in a pair

I am well aware, but it would be nice if stores actually took photo's of there fish themselves, instead of blatantly stealing photos from other people.
It says something about the integrity of the store when they do that.

I am still after some of the following for a photography project - I am more than happy to pay for shipping, and for your time to collect samples  
 
I still need:
- Mosquito Larvae
- Backswimmers - I believe it is Boatmen  that I already have photographed, however if someone notices that the ID is wrong let me know!
- Earthworms (not Tiger Worms, some native Earthworms would be cool)
- Peamussels 
- Latia
- I am always happy to take any other cool little inverts you find
 
A big thanks to those who have helped me out so far - here are some photos of previous ones supplied (please do not distribute any of these without my permission):
 
Daphnia:

 
 
Ostracods:

 
Corixa / Water Boatman

 
Caddisfly Larvae (unfortunately these photos didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, and I only had a couple of days as I had to shut down the tank soon after!)

 
Thanks!

Oh my gosh, that is super cute! It's been yonks since I've tried to use fondant, but my attempts have made me appreciate cakes decorated with it 100x more