camtang

My DIY bird feeder in my backyard works very well. The fat attracts the waxeye, the sugar-water attracts the waxeye and tui , and of course always present the house sparrows
They are drinking a litre of sugar water daily.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I wish peple had registered there breeding!

There are many species of killi and other fish that were previously bred in this country that are no longer on the list or were imported incorrectly under other names

And next you'll complain that PVC plumbing bits are way more expensive than the US.

Yellow and Demasoni are the classic combination for Malawi cichlids tank setup. They are my personal favorite still.
You can get away with small tank size when they are young or juvenile size. But eventually you will need a 180L or plus for group of Yellow and demasoni.
For tank size, a classic 1.2M tank with dimension 1200mm L X 400mm W X 400mm H (190L) is a good start, or 1200mm L X 500mm W x 400mm H (240L) is even batter. Malawis especially Mbuna are more bottom layer fish. You need tank footprint much more than height.
For fish number, it depends on your tank size. Typically you'd better to have dozens of yellows and demasonis in each group. The more you have the less aggression in the tank. For yellows, I would say any number above 6 would be good start. They are not that aggressive most of the time but only during breeding season. For demasoni... thats another story... You can have a singel fish or have a lot, say 12 - 15 to start with or even more if you can. I would strongly against any number below 10.
For red color fish that will get along with Yellow and Demasoni, red/peach zebra. They are same as yellow not so aggressive as demasoni... So just get serveral to keep themselves as a company. The other option would be dragon blood but they might grow pretty big later on. But if you raise them and grow them out with yellows and dems from young they wont grow that big due to in the same small tank, get a couple if you like them.
Good luck on your setup.

Nice one, geos are such awesome fish.

I used the micmol and found it pretty good, so good I now regret selling it as I am also about to set up a small nano the same as yours.

They are almost impossible to get now. Was looking to order one direct from the suppliers but wasn't too keen on how sketch it felt considering it had to be an ebay payment and you had to pay prior to sending delivery instructions.
So instead ended up getting the AI Prime from living reef for $423.90 (including the notorious tank mount).
Gonna try it out to begin with and if it ends up being not enough, will upgrade in 6 months time. 
Everything is ordered to set up the tank, just gotta wait for the deliveries to start rolling in! Still haven't got the actual tank yet
So far Reef tank build is at $1456 total, so it really is true when they say how much more expensive it is compared to freshwater haha definitely feeling the strain on the wallet as a student but hey, should be worth it right?

Start from scratch and leave your problems behind.

Tank a moment to truly enjoy this
http://www.adana.co.jp/en/lisbon/
 

Your best bet would be to visit a specialised camera shop (not Noel Leeming or Harvey Norman etc but a proper, dedicated photographic shop where the staff are photographers and actually know what they are talking about!) next time you are in Auckland or other bigger city, and talk to someone with specialist knowledge
Because tanks are darkish, and fish move fast, and are often fairly small (depending on what you keep of course) the two things you really need in a camera for good quality images are -  top performance at high ISO settings (this is what enables you to get a fast shutter speed so your fast moving fish doesn't come out all blurry in the photo), and, if your fish are smallish, either - a very good macro setting or better still a DSLR with a macro lens.
If it was me, (and this is just my personal preference you understand, but I do have a serious interest in photography) I would buy a Nikon mid-range DSLR, and a tamron 60 or 90mm macro lens. Judicious buying, if you don't mind second hand, could give you this combination for $1000 or just under. A 50mm lens and converter/macro adapter rings would be cheaper than a macro lens but slightly lower quality and slightly more difficult to use. I find Nikon cameras have settings / menus/controls that are easier to understand than some other brands.
If you need something a bit cheaper you need to either really research which cameras have both good macro settings and the ability to focus at very short camera to subject distances, or - ask a pro. I know it's a bit of a 'techy' answer but hope it helps a bit.
Alexay is totally right about getting really good bright lighting inside the tank when taking photos, it will make things way easier for you

So you are looking to get some decent pictures   I can tell you that the bar is set very high and you need to go a long way to accomplish that but if you are interested in just pictures to display on the screen it is a bit different. Decent pictures are high resolution sharp photos(300 dpi) and there can be no compromise on image quality for high quality publications.
A DSLR camera and macro lense are the best choice for fish photography.  In the past I used point and shoot and a compact digital camera and the results were very frustrating.  I bought my first DSLR and the result is just what I wanted for a long time. It did cost me a bit but now I am selling my photos and getting some money back.
There is a huge learning curve, image processing, Photoshop skills etc so you have to learn how everything works. Once you know how and what you have to do, no doubt you will be getting decent pictures.
This is just my personal opinion based on my long time fish photography.
 

Hot dang!

I haven't updated on what I've done with my tanks on FNZAS recently, so thought I'd better do something to keep track. I've also had to downgrade recently to just 3 aquariums, which is a huge change as I got up to 8 at one stage, but I'm happy with the tanks I have left.They're not the best aquariums in the world, but they're mine and as always are a work in progress, which is the fun of it after all  

200L Tropical Community

Current tank inhabitants:
21x Sterbai Corydora
17x Harlequin Rasbora
10x Steel Blue Apistos
3x Banjo Catfish 
2x female Guppy 
1x Pearlspot Gourami
1x Indian Green Spiny Eel
1x Blue Phantom Pleco
I recently had a shuffle around in stocking-- I used to have an angelfish pair in this tank who I am very fond of, but unfortunately the male had so much a go at the female that I was very worried about her chances for survival, and so have rehomed them both to a larger tank with Alexyay, where hopefully aggression is more spread with other angelfish in the tank. It has allowed me to add the apistos though, who I am enjoying watching already :3
The banjos, eel and pleco I don't often see, but they are nice 'surprise' fish to bump into a couple of days a week  The sterbai army is marching along really well, and I have a tank full of their babies who have made it through their first month so far  The pearlspot gourami is lovely but I feel like shes a bit lonely, so may get a male/another female down the track. I am also looking into getting some threadfin rainbowfish, and possibly swapping the harlequin rasbora for rocket pencilfish, but that would be a long while from now  Anyone had any experiences with these fish/possible combinations with fish I have in this tank?  
 


60L Almost-Biotype
Current tank inhabitants:
17x Emerald Rasbora
9x pygmy corydoras
9x Banded Kuhli Loaches
4x Black Kuhli Loaches
6x Golden Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna)

This is probably the tank I am happiest with at the moment  The rasbora are busy, simple yet beautiful wee fish, the honeys have intriguing wee territorial conflicts and breeding habits to watch, and the kuhlis snuffle along the bottom, hide in tubes and dance on the glass surface when they feel the need. I was going to move along the pygmy corydoras, but they have recently become more active and I've fallen in love with them again, so I'm happy with this being an almost-biotype tank for now  I got a fluval 106 recently and it has done wonders for the water quality and the fish are enjoying the increase in flow  I'll probably tinker with the hardscape and occasionally have wild dreams of upgrading it to a Rubix 80 with a proper shiny stand but am definitely in love with the tank overall  



20ish L Fighter Tank

Inhabitant: Fidget the HMPK male marble siamese fighting fish  

I love this tank for it's inhabitant  had this wee guy about 6 months now and he's still as hyperactive as on day 1, is so cute to watch hunting for live food like a 'real wild fish', ferocious against his mirror, jumps up to bump your finger out of the water, and sleeps in a floating tube. He recently had a downgrade because his bigger version of this tank (an aqua one trio with the dividers ripped out) developed a leak, so he now lives in an aqua one duo with the dividers ripped out . I'll be fiddling with the scape at some stage as am unhappy with it but have been distracted by other things recently. The tank is super stable with readings of under 10 nitrates every time I bother to test it, probably due to the low stocking and the large abundance of plants. All in all its a tank I go to to interact with the fish in it, rather than one that I sit in front of to watch for extended periods of time. 



 

Lol, nope
i unplugged the wrong plug  Faulty filter, false alarm  no more zapping

Long time no pictures - time for an update...
 
Magenta Red with and without HB:

 
Panda:


Latest strain out of the pipeline - Magenta Moscow:

I really like this one and very happy with the outcome so far. The males are still young and will grow bigger so hopefully the tails will grow as well.

Not something you see very often - a Siamese Twin Guppy!

 
Cheers,
JaSa

Welcome   A good rule of thumb with discus is one mature discus per 50 litres.  That is for a species only tank.  Less than 5 discus can be risky though as generally the odd one out will be picked on by the other two.  More so when they are mature and if you have a pairing up of two of them.  Discus, if you haven't kept them before are best purchased over 6cm in size, which should be around six months old - if they have been well raised and are healthy.  Younger and smaller than this they are a lot of work and don't do well in a planted tank.  There is a lot of rubbish discus out there so make sure you choose fish which are good colour, good round shape, not hiding at the back of the tank and ask to see them eating.  If they spit the food out I recommend you walk away from the whole tank lot.
Cardinals look spectacular in a discus tank particularly in numbers - I recommend a minimum 10.  They also handle the higher tank temps which are needed to keep your discus healthy.  You have clearly done some research - when I looked at the list the Kribs were really the ones that stuck out as potential problems if they pair up to breed as they can be highly territorial and often only one parents raises the fry, having given the other parent a beating.
I don't really know enough about elephant nose fish to comment.
Longfin BN are spectacular - my personal observations are that adult BN tend to struggle if tanks get over about 28 degrees.  I kept them in my discus tank, the fins did tend to get a bit torn on the driftwood.  Try and get two males rather than a pair as males are pretty rough on the females once they mature.  If they do breed you would likely have to remove the young as the discus will pick them off.
Filtration is a good topic.  a minimum of 4 x the turnover would see you requiring around 1200lph minimum.  It is important to keep the airation/water movement up in any tank and more so at higher temperatures.  With a heavily driftwood/planted tank 4 x is unlikely to get through and around the wood/plants giving dead spots which is where waste will accumulate.  Options would be to get a larger single filter - I would recommend around the 2000lph or a second fluval filter.  My discus tank was 450 litres and I ran an FN5 plus a Sunsun 1400lph filter on it and 2 powerheads to keep the flow circulating.  UV - anything over 24 watts is a steriliser, under is a purifier.  A slower water movement through the UV sleeve is needed for proper sterilisation as the water has more contact time with the UV light.
Regarding disease - you are best to quarantine all new additions for at least four weeks.  Less time and some diseases won't show themselves.  Four weeks and they should.  
Would love to see photos of your set up when you get started, progress reports with pics are always welcome.
 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c3PKd-eoPaA
 

I can not see why not.

A big thank you for the turnout this year from Delegates and Executive and persevering through the technical issues that cropped up through the running of our first almost totally online meeting.
The results are
Patron - Grant Simpson MAC
Vice Patron - Caryl Simpson, Mac
President - Mark Paterson, BFRC
Vice Presidents - Tim Kurth, CTT, Cam Sott, TAC
Secretary - Danielle Wall, WAS
Treasurer - Melany Mohring, WAS
Editor - Darren Stevens and Stephanie Bright co editor
Breeding coordinator - Maxine Lynch, UHAS and KMAC
Executive Panel - Mark McElhinney, DAPS
                             Alex Fleming, AFA
                             Jim Systema, BFRC
An excellent result as 7 of our Federation clubs are now represented on the FNZAS executive giving us a decision making process that will better represent our clubs nationwide.
A very big thank you to our executive who have stood down for the work you have done in te past year.
 

I was testing them to ensure they were tasty

I would like to thank all those who have put their name forward for various positions on the executive this year, it is heartening to see such enthusiasm from people who have good skills they can bring to the FNZAS.
No offence is meant (either to current or future officers) but I do hope those putting their hand up are also prepared to work hard in their positions. We tend to lose people who feel that, oft-times, they are beating their head against a brick wall but if you can get a group of enthusiasts working in unison, great things can happen!

Nice pond

HI, nice to meet you

If this tank turns out half as good as your planted tank it will be amazing.
Looking forward to watching it develop.