roger

Could be a blessing in disguise. "I'm glad I put a damsel in my tank" said no one, ever...

Will look forward to the new book! Great news!

Man - I'd like to go to the supermarket with you so you can talk to the butcher about the pink fluros they put over their meat..... ;-)

Fast, cheap and they put the value of your item really cheap on the outside of the box so you don't get pinged for GST or duty Go for it!

I've got an FX5 on a 350l tank with 5 discus and other random fish and they are all pretty happy - keep laying eggs even

How exciting for you!!! Here are some of my ideas - stuff I've read about, been told about and learned from experience. It really is just my opinion - not a "this is the only way" Is your rock dry stuff you get from the pet store? If so you should be able to give it a quick scrub/rinse (pref in some RO/DI water) and pop it in your tank to start your cycle. Any dead stuff left on it will help your cycle along. If your rock is wet stuff it's probably a good idea to cure it to get rid of stuff on it first. I think that the whole cure thing is more for the USA where they ship wet rock. A light is a good idea (not a necessity) on a sump. Run it opposite to your display tank and you'll have a more stable PH. Absolutely! You should wait at least 6 months before getting an anemone too. Clowns in a tank are fine if you decide to never get an anemone - and then (IME) if you do finally get one your clowns might just completely ignore it ;-) Clowns are great fish to start with too. I don't think they do. They eat diatoms and micro algae - according to my book ;-). It depends on the size of your tank and what you have in it as to how many you should get. They only eat algae so if you have too many in a tank they will run out of food and slowly die I have 10 in my 250l tank and they clean out the hair algae and other stuff as it grows. They don't seem to touch the coralline - so far.... Good luck!!!

This is my guess Platygyra Favites Both are from the Faviidae family. There is also a 3rd similar one called a Favia - that is very similar to the Favites but the little 'circles' have their own coralite wall (the Favites share coralite walls). Platygyra have maze like shared walls. They are all commonly known as Brian Corals. And what a lovely, healthy looking tank!

I use Flourish Excel - which is slowly working on my BBA and my plants are growing fast! I use a dosing pump as I'm notoriously forgetful Cam

MIne shrinks from a dinner plate size to next to nothing at the same time every night. It really annoys the clown fish who still try to get in it even though it's tiny. I takes an hour or two to get back to full size. Sounds like yours is perfectly normal

Where in Auckland is pick up?

Oh wow - that would be awesome to do that!!! Do you think I should give the free swimmers a week with their parents? Cam

I have two lovely Discus who paired off and laid eggs - woo hoo!! The best part is that my other half knows how much I paid for my fish and that I can sell them, so said 'I need another tank to raise them'. Ohhhh - words you only dream about! Well two days later the other fish in the tank ate the eggs when the Discus wandered away for a bit. But...a couple of days later they laid some more. Day 3 I couldn't see the eggs so presumed they were eaten again but day 4 and I have a closer look with a magnifying glass as the Discus were still hanging around where the eggs were and I have wrigglers!!! The parents are being very protective this time but once the babies start swimming are they going to be gobbled up straight away? I don't have a separate tank yet - working on it. Ironically I think the wrigglers look exactly like the BBA - but with eyes when you look closely ;-) The other fish are: 3 more Discus, Rams, Cardinal Tetras, Golden Bristlenose, Corydoras Julli. They are all in a med/heavy planted 350l tank with a Fluval FX5 filter, temp is 29 deg C, PH 6.0-6.2, Ammonia and Nitrite always 0 and Nitrate 2ppm - 5ppm. The water is filtered rain water Cheers Camille

I can't afford this hobby and a drug habit ;-)

Oh oh oh!!! Bugger - that does sound bad! I have a reef tank too and use a syringe (like the ones to give my kids Pamol) to target feed corals. Honestly... and I'm a she ;-) Cheers Cam

Wow - that's some great information - thank you! I dose Excel 15ml morning and night (using a dosing pump as I'm notoriously forgetful) into the corner filter thingy so it isn't directly into the tank. Cheers Cam (off to get my syringe out and kill me some BBA)

Hi Flosty The PH is usually low side. Although it has been sitting about 6.2-6.4. The filtered rain water is what comes out of my tap as I'm on tank water ;-) I did consider trying CO2 but was cautious about poisoning the tank as I have such soft water. I've been dosing Flourish Excel for 3 or 4 months now - more to try and get rid of the Black Beard Algae than for the plants but all I've had so far is excellent growth on my plants AND my algae - doh! Any thoughts are great - thank you

No - I've never even read anything to say to do that. Is this important to do regularly or only when there's issues? Thanks Cam

Yes it does help me not to worry They are eating a bit more enthusiastically today and all the other fish are just peachy. Fish have emotions - who would have thunk it! Cheers Cam

No - they only laid today but all Discus been odd for about a week. I hadn't seen any pairing up or aggressive behavior out of the norm. Maybe they only fought when I wasnt looking - a bit like my kids ;-) 2 days ago for the water change Thanks Cam

Hiya I have a 350l tank with 5 Discus, 2 GBN, 20-something cardinal tetras, 6 Rams, 5 leopard catfish. It's got lots of plants and some BBA & cyno. The fish have been awesome until about a week ago. The discus have suddenly become shy. They run and hide when anyone approaches the tank where as they used to all come to the front for food. Now they seem to eat only reluctantly. All rams and cardinals still come to the front for food. My GBN has been busy with eggs/ babies. I did have 2 girls and a bloke (GBN's) but this morning I found one of the girls dead and looking a bit munted I've been getting a little worried at the change in the discus's behaviour and the dead bristlenose but this afternoon I've discovered two of the discus with eggs!! I'm guessing the water is OK as the discus and bn are laying eggs but I'm still a little worried at the suddenly shy discus. Is it just like a human household where new babies change everything and everyone acts a little weird??? Or is my PH too low? I've read so much on the internet and so much of it is contradictory... TIA Cam Temp 29 deg C Ammonia 0 (always) Nitrite 0 (always) Nitrate 2-5ppm PH 6.0 (that's as low as my test kit goes) I use filtered rain water with about 3x 30% water changes per week. Dose 15ml flourish excel 2x a day PS Feel free to laugh at my algae garden....

Mine took 2 or 3 days to open fully. They love light and lots of flow. Some star polyps have white centers and long green 'petals'. Some just have the long green petals. Mine closed up on one side just recently for about 3 or 4 days. I moved them higher in the tank and away from my other corals (just in case they were having a toxic war game) and they opened up fully the next day. I was at Wonderworld last week and all their star polyps were open and looked just fine