F15hguy

pretty much avoid larger cichlids, if you want red try cockatoos, Serpaes and red phantoms look kinda washed out in shop tank (for some reason) but in a planted tank go a stunning deep red. serpaes however can be a bit nasty sometimes. imo if you want a nice colour without being too gaudy try Lemon tetras, a bit more subdued but absolutely amazing, and the orange on the dorsal doen't look natural its that bright

get an imageshack account

a common sight.... btw to save yourself money time and potential problems, do NOT try snail rid on these guys, its practically worthless and I read a report by a canadian that claimed they actually bred in a cup of pure snail rid

try some of the peckoltia species, some nice Vittata and Pulcher ones around, max size 10cm

if you see 3 then you probably have several hundred

good lil guys, impossible to kill and they are good at aerating the substrate, Negative is that they multiply insanely fast and normally take over the tank unless a loach or puffer is added. interesting fact is that they are Livebearers.

never had a cat pink stickered before

red forest jewels?, as in hemichromis??? they will tend to dig especially if there is a pair, and they are one of the more agressive cichlids

UV tube??? do you have a UV sterilizer????, if so then the UV tube needs to be changed every 6 months to a year depending the manufacturer of the bulb, If you are talking about the regular fluro tube then you need to replace every 8-12 months as the regular ones burn out and lose about 90% of their output. its really hard to tell until you put a brand new one next to the old one,then its really obvious. another effect of an old tube is that the spectrum moves more towards the yellow green range which is not as easily absorbed by plants but algae can still use it.

species name????

useful for hiding behind rocks in african tanks too, killing those dead spots

and munch your plants.... but soft shells make them easy prey for many fish

don't bother messing with your pH too much as it will cause more trouble than good. Chain loaches are good and cool to watch, don't get big and are reasonably peaceful Clowns are awesome, colourful active and act like idiots most of the time, but don't forget that you need at least 3 (more like 5 or more) and that they grow to around 30cm + Zebra loaches are a good middle ground, as well as golden Zebra loaches, Pakistani(yo-yo) loaches etc... good range around there, and lotsa info on the web. do your research and don't be surprised if you cannot get the ones you like as the range in NZ is very small. one type I will warn you about is the skunk loach, Extremely cute, active grows small so should be suitable but have a major taste for the fins of just about every fish you have. still almost worth a tank on their own. as for puffers, check out dwarfpuffers.com, or search youtube for some cute videos.

saw a young one in Aussie that was distinctly purple black in colour just found this... so probably not

any of the coloured beardies turning up yet???

yeah the CF's have a bit of trouble there unless you don't mind spilling a bit of water, the Aquis advance have a good priming system though and aren't too much more expensive.

Royals also tend to be a touch more delicate and need a mature system to really thrive (im sure someone will tell me im wrong though) one of my Fav's is the rino whiptail (Rineloricara parva) doesn't get too big, breeds reasonably easily, and has a cute habit of motoring round on its front fins kinda like a tripod.

Commonly called a paper snail (around here anyways), less of a problem then many snails. will tend to nibble on your plants, breeds unusually quickly and is the favorite food of just about all snail eaters, consider getting yourself a mini dwarf puffer tank.... can be easy to control if you lower your pH to around 6.0 - 6.5 and keep your water soft, they can't build their shells and become prey for everything in your tank, still good excuse to get a gang of chain loaches

so in about 5 or so years we will see a sudden flood of unusual morphs available

depends, if you are picking them up on same day as delivery then it means they only have one day of stress... if you wait one day then I would wait a couple more just in case (most death occur in first 24-48 hours) hoplo's are pretty tough though so shouldn't be a problem

or they are just cheap junk

2-3cm is ok, anything under however and you might have trouble...

you mean snail torturer!!!! btw I think my catseyes have spawned... lotsa weird egg like things on the filter tube

the description I heard was approx 4m x 75cm high x 1.2m wide but that was a comment of "Its about that long and that wide" etc... if anyone has been there they might know better

have just heard a reasonably solid rumour that the massive aquarium at Braemar Hospital is going to be up for sale soon if anyone wants to go big....