Zuri_08

I quite enjoy watching this energetic fish - but now I really do feel he needs a bigger home quickly! Are there people that would buy large fish? I hope so... and yep, he was a little aggressive towards the platties but seems ok with other fish. I wonder if this is a socialisation issue, I mean, if they are not introduced to various fish species when they are young, are these fish more likely to be aggressive to different fish species when older?. I say this because he doesn't bother the neons at all, and to begin with it was just him and neons.

Yeah, thats what I was thinking... I'll find him a new home... Thanks.

Hello I have a black lined flying-fox who loves to swim, circle and jump. The problem is he has a small tank (28L). When he was smaller he loved to do back-flips out of the water, now he still jumps but hits the aquarium lid, and then smashes into the gravel. He has been doing this for about a week (the hitting the top and bottom of the tank, otherwise he is just an energetic fish). Question: I am wondering if he is going to be stressed in the small sized tank and if he would prefer being in a bigger tank, I'm kinda guessing that is the reason, but just thought I would ask some knowledgeable fishy people... and I'd love to get a bigger tank but there is no room for one... and I am quite proud of this fish... so would have to sell him if his odd behaviour is due to a cramped environment.

Thanks, that was all I needed to know :-)

Hello I have some baby platties that will need to be transported soon, and I was wondering how old they need to be to survive being bagged up and moved? Some of the platties are a couple of months old, some are about a month old, all variuos sizes. Thanks.

Perhaps employ a black-lined flying fox; they are cool fish and he or she will gobble up the black beard algae. I'm not sure about the green algae - if it feels slimy and is a bright green it might be cyano-bacteria. Green water, I've recently learnt, is caused by high nitrate levels. I've read that too much of one nutrient can lead to an algae bloom and just recently I had nigh nitrate. If there are no fish in your planted tank though you probably don't have high nitrate, unless there is lots of rotting stuff in there. I don't know if that helps but I thought I would share :-)

Hello I've been keeping tropical fish for about 7 months now - all is going well and I've NEVER added salt. I've never heard of adding salt to the water - a tablespoon of salt per 10% water change just seems enormous to me. What would happen if you did a big water change and didn't add any salt?

Oh, so is it only Nitrate I should worry about? Are there different tests for that one? That is a good idea about testing it - though I wouldn't be sure of mixing chemicals in case of some chemical reacation... I don't know much about this stuff. reptilez: Yep, API, numbers on the actual bottle: bottle1: 0711, bottle2: 0811.

Thanks critter_crazy. reptilez: The bar code has numbers to either side of it, so I'm not sure if those are part of the bar code or not... but the whole code is: 3 17163 00086 1. The product number: LR8600. Was there a bad batch?

Thanks for the comments everyone. I was thinking the ammonia would be high because there are too many fish in my tank (two platties had lots of babies and now there are too many - how big do they need to be before I can start giving them away?). The gills of the fish are a little red - I had read that was a sign of high ammonia. Also, i've used the test strips many times before with the ammonia part staying almost white - and now I've tested with the strips a few times and it goes pink (and I've changed about 1/3 of the water now). I did find shaking the second bottle of solution in the other test made a more green result too; someone on another forum had suggested the chemical settles, or something, in the second bottle. My tank has been running for about 7 months. I really need a second tank!

Hello I have a tropical fish tank and two tests for measuring ammonia levels. I have been using the API ammonia test kit (that has two bottles of solution) and the result is always yellow, even when i suspect ammonia level is high (there are too many fish in my tank). However today I also used the API "5 in 1 Aquarium test strips" and got a high ammonia reading (I tested ammonia using both methods at the same time today). Anyone know why the test strips seem to give a much higher reading for ammonia than the test using test bottles? Thanks.

Hello again peoples I was wondering, for those who live in Hamilton, if anyone would be interested in some fish swapping? I have a female and young male platty, silver/blue colour, I wouldn't mind swapping for a red female platty? I quite like observing the baby platties in my tank (and I'm not sure on the correct spelling of "platties"). The little platties I have at the moment will soon need to be re-homed, perhaps for 2 dollars each? They are really pretty. I'm also curious of what platties would look like if the silver/blue was crossed with a red platty...

Thanks for your comments - I really don't think I could kill any fish though! I guess I will just have to see what happens, giving it a month maybe... I only want a few dollars for the fish (except for the flying-fox, I'm quite proud of him) so Trademe might work out, otherwise I'll give them away to whoever can pick them up. :-)

Hello I was just wondering; when the fish in your little tank start to multiply, do people manage to successfully sell or re-home these extra fish? I have a little tank and the two platties happen to be one male and one female and now I have lots of baby platties. They are too small to give away just yet, but I have been trying to sell a flying-fox algae eater on Trademe, no buyers yet, and the thought occurred to me; what if I cannot re-home these fish? I do not want to get another tank. Have others had any success with selling and re-homing their fish extras? Preferably I would like to make a little money (not just give them away) so I have some money to keep spending on this hobby... any suggestions? Comments?

Thanks again for the helpful thoughts ilwis. Feeding both sinking and floating food helps, a little. I've now noticed a number of little baby fish - oh gosh - it is going to get overstocked with Platties very quickly! I'll have to give some away. I never knew fish keeping could be so exciting! :-)

Thanks for the info.

Hi ilwis thanks for your thoughts. I only have 1 black-lined flying-fox in my tank. No other algae eaters. When I was away at Christmast time I left a self-feeder in the tank. The algae eater spent his entire time sitting on it and started chasing the other fish away from what I guess he though was 'his' (the other fish became so thin I was surprised they were still alive!). He has been doing that since then, but only at feeding time. Prior to me going away he was not aggressive. When I have more money i would LOVE to get a bigger tank - it is a very enjoyable hobby :-) For the moment this little tank is what I have so I am making the most of it.

Hello fellow fish keepers I'm really please to say that I have a successful little ecosystem in my living room; in my 28L tank I have 2 platties, 1 black-lined flying-fox, 5 neons, a number of Malaysian trumpet snails (not too many), a heap of various plants and now a few baby fish!! The tank has become something quite exciting with now 2 baby fish; Platties, one still quite small while the other is a little larger. The plants are doing well too. Very soon though there are going to be too many fish in this little tank, and I am already worried about the algae eater who is now 7cm long and is aggressive to the other fish at feeding time. At other times he does not worry about the other fish. I was considering selling him, or swapping him for a couple of Otto algae eaters instead, except the fish shop won't do that. This algae eater is supposed to grow to 15cm long (much too big for the tank), and I wonder, will his aggressiveness increase? Any comments or suggestions, from friendly fellow fish keepers?

Hello Simwiz, this is a great looking tank, must have taken lots of work. Something I can work towards :-)

Hello, I just noticed this post; the bowen technique is very bad for necks so I would not recommend that one. Sorry Scarletmonka, I hope not to offend you.

I was wondering, has anyone tried to train their fish??? Perhaps you could 'shape' your betta to fan its fins? Though it might require some patience... see goldfish stunts: for how to shape behaviour: http://www.clickermagic.com/clicker_pri ... r_p10.html

same... I don't vacuum (I had only guessed you didn't need to if water chemistry is healthy) and my plants are growing very fast! I guess whatever works is what you do :-)

Hello You managed a really nice picture with the fish and all its fins fanned out. Looks like a cool little tank :-)

Interesting to hear so many others having problems with aggressive neons. My neons are all doing well; there are 6 in total, schooling very tightly (except for one fat neon that hangs around the bottom by himself). All seem healthy. They occasionally attack each other while feeding, but it is quite a rare event now. I did wonder if pH or other water parameters could affect their behaviour? The pH of my tank ranges between 7.8 and 8 (pH decreases after a water change). I also have lots of plants growing in the tank. Ammonia, NO2 and NO3 = 0.

Hello the other Zuri08! its funny; "zuri" is always taken so i usually choose a number to attach to it... I'm guessing that is what you did too? I wonder if there are any other 'zuri' people here?