lotofish

Hi, was just wondering if the brown ever came back?

Time for a change. I am looking patiently for some more Discus and was very keen on the Wild Discus. Bit pricey for my pocket at the moment. Waiting for the right ones to come along. :cofn:

Here are the new pictures of the aquarium and some of the Angelfish. I am also considering introducing a group of Rummy Nose Tetra.

Quick update...... Plants have grown some since the first pictures and I have given everything a good trimming, especially the two large E. amazonicus on the right. Another big change is that the Discus are gone and I have some Angelfish in. I will post some new pictures soon.

Quick update........... No Auratus fry to be seen. Might have become fish food. I am planning to move these fellows plus a few more Malawi's into a larger aquarium. Just purchased two second hand tanks, one 360L with stand and the other 310L with no stand. Both need a little work cleaning and re-sealing. One will become the new Malawi Cichlid aquarium and the other a temperate marine tank with jewel anemone. Thats the plan anyway

Looking good Please to see the lights are working out :bounce:

Oh I do love to live by the sea side :dnc1: Oh I do love to live by the sea side :happy2: And one more time Oh I do love to live by the sea side :happy1: Oh I do love to live by the sea side :slfg: And the 32nd verse the same as the first Oh I do love to live by the sea side :f77:

It has been a week now and those little Blue Fan Worms are doing well. They must be loving the ReefPearl because they come out like cheering football fans when I put it in. Another little fellow comes out at feeding time with his long setae (feathery hair or bristle-like structures) and starts combing through the water. Its my Porcelain crab.

I am planning my first reef aquarium and have decided to not have a bare bottom tank. I therefore need some sand. I have easy access to marble chips and want know if it is suitable and the pros and cons of using it. Cheers

It has been very interesting reading the responses to my post especially the assumptions that have been made around capture and release. I want to make it clear that our intentions are to create an environment in which the aquatic animals we have caught are happy and thriving so they do not need to be returned. This means taking great care in the capture and subsequent release into the aquarium feeding to right foods, good maintenance, suitable equipment and creating a natural habitat. This is also an educational experience for my kids who like many walk along our shores not knowing what is under their feet, or disturb creatures under rocks or in pools with uninformed interest. Today I decided to clear up the assumptions and guessing by contacting Fisheries and Biosecurity from Ministry of Primary Industries. Firstly according to the Auckland fisheries department there are no issues capturing crabs, shrimp, starfish, gobies, fan worms or anemone for a private aquarium as long as you are within the daily limits and they are not from a protected reserve. I can’t see that our 100L aquarium could sustain 50 crabs. There are no size restrictions on what we have caught so far. Details around releasing these animals back to their habitats were a little more difficult to get. First I was referred to Biosecurity by Fisheries who could not give me a definitive answer and then I was referred back to Fisheries by Biosecurity who also could not give me a definitive answer. It did not appear to be illegal to return the fan worms or any of the animals name above to the sea as long as it was done responsibly. Since one of the aims of this little project is to teach responsibility I would disagree with the mortality rate suggested because we would take great care returning any animal from our aquarium back to the sea. Much the same as we fish keepers would in introducing new aquatic animals to our aquariums. Being a fishkeeper for 25 years I think I have that covered. I have also sifted through the MPI and DOC web sites this evening and can’t find anything to suggest that our little project is breaking any regulations. Although I spoke to 3 people today from relevant government departments they did not fill me with much confidence so in closing, if anyone has some hard facts about regulations on capturing crabs, shrimp, starfish, gobies, fan worms or anemone for a private aquarium please provide details. Here is some more picture of our little Rocky Shore habitat

fair enough :thup:

Everything in the tank is from the sea including the water so I expect that they can be safely returned to the sea. Obviously I won't return them if any of them a sick. So far they are ok and seem to be feeding. I am feeding them on coral food, specifically ReefPearls which is for filter feeders.

Thank you livingart

Please can someone help identify what these little animals are. My 3 kids and I have setup a small rocky shore (rock pool) tank so that we can get to learn about the animals we have on our door step. Their challenge is then to name what they catch and learn about them. Just yesterday my son found something with tubular shell formations on them and thought they would look great in the tank. They do look great especially when the little black feathers come out. Then the shrimp walk on them and they shoot back into their holes. Maintenance on the tank is simple. Every week at high tide we go and get 40L of sea water and go a water change. The tank has a 1200L/H canister and a hang-on protein skimmer. The animals are only kept in the tank if they are happy otherwise they go back to the same location they were found.

Hi, have you tested you phosphate and nitrate since the algae appeared. Could be that your phosphate has spiked. How have you setup the controller for the lights, times for each of the light groups? Sorry questions like this are usually followed by more questions :slfg: What are the water parameters? How have you setup your filter/sump system and are you using any removers (gfo, sulfur, zeolite, etc)? How did you cured your live rock? How long did your aquarium cycle before you introduced the invertebrates and corals? What is in you clean-up crew (snails, crabs, etc)? Cheers

Hi How is the new light? Love to see some pictures it working Cheers

I hope the fry do enjoy those rocks. Would be the first time I have bread the auratus. :happy1:

I have been selling the PH2000 and the PH2010 for some time now and had no reports of issues. The PH2000 is a monitor only and the PH2010 has the ability to switch off you CO2 if you pH starts to drop too much. Another option is the pH and Salinity monitor which is priced less than the PH2010.

Thank you every one. I have 4 auratus in the tank. One male with the dark blue belly and one female currently carrying. Not sure about the other two. Initially I was only going to have auratus in the tank but my son loved the caeruleus and demasoni so it became a mixed tank. If you have a close look at the eighth pic down you can see the female who is carrying with her extended throat.

These are pictures of my new Amazon Aquarium with Discus and a variety of Echinodorus plants. There are 2 Blue Diamond males, 2 Blue Turquoise males and 1 Blue Turquoise female. Other tank mates include 2 SAE, 2 Rainbow Labeo, 5 Pepper Corydoras and one Golden Ancistrus. Echinodorus plant species include E. cordifolius, E. 'Ozelot', E. 'Kleiner Bar' E. parviflorus 'Tropica', E quadricostatus and E, amazonicus. The driftwood has been collected from North Island rivers by a friendly trout fisherman. The sand is a mix of red, black and green grit from Stone and Water world which I think gives it a much more natural look. I have placed root fertiliser sticks around each plant and added CO2 using a baking soda and citric acid system that I sell. Water conditions are; pH 6.7 – 6.9, temp 29 degrees C, TDS 62, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrate 0ppm. Weekly 30%-40% water changes. Video

Thought I would share some pictures of my Malawi cichlid tank. The layout is New Zealand moss rock with Anubias nana and silica sand. The fish include Melanochromis auratus, Labidochromis caeruleus, Pseudotropheus demasoni and 2 Ancistrus. This is an experimental tank using New Zealand moss rock. This rock is soft so I was able to drill/chisel out caves and make them fit together. Before I could use them I boiled them, water blasted them, boiled them again and water blasted again. They look great in the tank like a natural rock formation. The tank has been running for 7 months and there is not sign that the rocks have affected the water conditions or inhabitants. Any one else had experience or tried to use the moss rocks?

Nop not a member of FNZAS yet I have a 40cm unit available with the Bridgelux LEDs that have the lens kit installed. Aslo has the night light with RGBP and remote. Cheers