Deleatidium

Hi Eden, first my disclaimer: I have never had a marine tank. How long have you had the tank set up? How much natural light does the tank receive? How about posting your water chem results? I take it the tank is fully marine in salinity? How are your mollies doing? I thought they were fresh to brackish fish.

Caryl, they didn't seem to change their behaviour. However I found them all in the morning so they died overnight so I may have not seen any change in behaviour. Warren, they were being fed high quality flake (Nutrafin MAX). They only spent 20 minutes in transit and I introduced them to the tank as per the slowly acclimatise method over a period of about 50 minutes. I haven't had time to go back to the LFS yet. I am in two minds as to wether I should get any more. I still want to have a school of neons in my large tank (150L). Yout tank, Warren sounds great. I think only having three neons defeats the purpose of having them. So I will ponder for awhile and see if these ones survive for at least a month.

I am looking to have a school of around 20 neon tetras in my large (150L) tank. Around 2 weeks ago I got 8 neon tetras and placed them in my small tank (30L) for a quarintine period. After two days 3 more dead, and after a week only 3 remained. The ph is 7.1 and NO2 and NH4 0ppm and NO3 ~10ppm. All fine in my reckoning. The 30L tank has 3 resident female guppies at present and is quite brightly lit compared to my large tank and has been running for about 18 months. No disease was evident and all fish were feeding well. Can anyone offer any ideas why such a death rate would occur? My theory is that they didn't like the bright light and were overly stressed by the whole introduction.

Welcome Fatman, I thought the same when I came across this site. How is the selection of fish stores/pet shops down in Christshurch. Do you use the Animates store Down there. I have been to the Wellington one quite often and would like to know what you think of the Chch one.

It is a small world then in little NZ. I also have 2 Otocinclus affinis and hope to get about 4 more soon. I like the way gold spots change 'colour' or at least the darkness of their bodies to best match the substrate.

Hi Eden, I also share Rob's disclaimer as not being a keeper of marine fish/inverts. Anyhow, anenomes are relatively simple organisms structurally and I think they have the capacity to regenerate new tentacles if one is lost. Given this, I would think provided the water conditions are good it will recover just fine. Also, have you seen those heater guards that fit over heaters to prevent fish, inverts or whatever from getting burnt (and also the heater from getting broken while one is fuzzing in the tank)? They cost less than $10 and one might save you future worry.

A very general question about water: Where do people source the water for their aquaria from? In Wgtn I used the tap water which was very high quality. I then moved my tank to my folks home in the Wairarapa (water from a bore) for a few months and used that in my water changes. It was good too apart being a little higher in nitrate than Wgtn tap water. Now in Palmerston North, I have been using the tap water here. All above mentioned water is treated with AquaPlus of course. I would be particularly interested in hearing from fishkeepers in Palmerston North as I note that at Wet Pets they have signs everywhere stating that Manawatu tap water is not suitable for use in aquariums. I tested it for nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness, ammonia, even phospate and it appears fine to me as long as it is treated with AquaPlus or something similar.

Yes Ben, I agree totally about Animates and their ever changing staff. When I was a Victoria Uni I noticed at Student Job Search a few times an ad for shop assistants at a pet store in Kaiwharawhara. They only were paying about $8.50 an hour so it's no surprise staff don't stick around long. Wet Pets in PN was certainly a pleasent surprise to find when I was about to move there. That red tailed catfish must eat some major food and that knife fish is incredible.

Hi Rhys, I am not actually after any seahorses at the moment. I think it was Pegasus who started talking about seahorses and I was just saying what I knew about them in NZ. Where do you get you fish from predominantly in Palmerston North, Rhys?

Hi Rob, how long did your gold spot ottos live for? I purchased mine from a pet store "Animates" in Wellington. I bought three, and have had no deaths. The oldest two I have had for over a year. What do you think of them? I reckon they are one of the neatest little fish I have come across. The pet shop said they recieved some by accident in a order of cories or something and they gave them to one of their customers who is good at breeding catfish and they breed more. Is this Derek I am talking about or someone else?

Hello Ben, I have just moved from Wellington to Palmerston North in the last 6 months. Wellington is pretty sparse in terms of fish shops. Animates in Kaiwharara is the only place I have purchased fish from. I find their accessories and equipment a bit pricey when I have compared some items with other stores. Where do you get your fish from? I have a couple of kuhli loaches and hope to get a few more soon.

The pet shop Wet Pets in Palmerston North has seahorses on display. I dunno if the sell them. I assume they are the species commonly found off the NZ coast. Last year I did a 3rd year Aquaculture and Fisheries course at Victoria University as part of my BSc and we visited one of NIWA's facilities. They have worked how to keep and breed seahorses succesfully. Their research was geared towards the farming and mass production of seahorses for the aquarium trade and the Asian medicinal market to alleviate the pressure on seahorses around the world from wild harvesting. I don't know if any of this is being done in NZ commercially at present however.

Great story there Pegasus. Given my limited time with aquarium fish, I have not tried to breed any as yet. As with Rob, the first fish I have had reproduce in my tank are guppies. What an exper I must be :lol: The only other brush with reproduction came when I inadvertently bred some danios when I was colonising a filter sponge with bacteria. When I installed the sponge in the new tank, my girlfriend noticed some tiny little fish. Given danios were the only egg layers likely to spawn in this tank, I assume they were danio fry. They weren't around long and I didn't have the facilities nor the desire to raise them. I only saw three and those three were each observed being eaten by guppies just after I saw them. Danios are easy to breed I know but it was a interesting first experience. Soon I am going to try to breed my gold spot ottos (Parotocinclus spliosoma) and maybe my Otocinclus spilosoma. At www.planetcatfish.com I found a good description of how someone bred gold spots. I'll keep you posted once I commence my efforts.

I have kept fish for around 2 years now. When I was a kid my folks had a tank for a while and there has always been a few boxes of old aquarium equipment at home. In 1998 I left home (in the Wairarapa) to live in Wellington and attend Victoria University. In 3rd year I moved to a flat where I had enough room for an aquarium. I found an old ~25 L tank at home and bought a light hood and got started. This was originally stocked with guppies and gold spot otos catfish (Parotoclincus spilosoma). Not long after I had this, I had a feeling come over me that many of you are probably familiar with. Basically my tank was not big enough and I wanted another. I thought about this for a time, thinking how impractical to have a fish tank in rented accomodation anyhow before buying second-hand a 150 L tank with stand and light hood for $160. I set this up, originally stocking guppies and danios. The end of 2001 came and my time at Victoria Uni was up with my BSc majoring in ecology, zoology and geology completed. Now I moved both tanks to my folks place in the Wairarapa for the summer as this was where I was living. Come the beginning of 2002, it was time to shift to Palmerston North where I had decided to do BSc (Hons) in ecology. Both tanks were moved again to my new flat. Didn't break a tank or loose a fish in either move which I am happy about. So currently I have in my 150 L: 7 guppies, 3 danios, 2 kuhli loaches, 2 Otocinclus affinis, 3 Parotocinclus spilosoma. And in my 25 L: 3 guppies and 7 neon tetras I got yesterday. The neons are to be moved to my large tank after a week in quarrantine and I'll get some more to join them soon. All my guppies are the offspring of an original 6 store bought ones I had. I am currently managing my guppy population down to zero by culling all new born fry. Thats all about me and my fish.