Bilbo

As above, dropsy needs clove oil treatment or freezer. Usually pop eye and dropsy is a sign of poor water quality so make sure the water is not causing it before doing a large water change. I know another person in Levin who has major problems like that so maybe your water supply has some issues?

I hope that a bump shouldnt break a tank unless it is a large bump or a badly made tank. Tanks should only be moved when empty. Look here for a thickness calculator to show how strong your tank is. http://fnzas.org.nz/index.php?PG=glass3 It might be a good idea to tell us how big your tank is and how thick the glass is. I have bumped or moved all my tanks from time to time and I will let you know how long until one breaks because of it. 10 years so far though. Stepping on one outside at night or dropping one while tripping over the stupid dog seems be an easy way to break one though :roll:

http://www.otocinclus.com/breeding.html I tried once and never got very far with it. Good luck.

I agree with Vincent. Lower pH and soft clean water for breeding and have it about 29c. An egg guard never worked for me it just delayed the parents eating them until they hatched. Most times they will grow out of eating them after 3 or 4 trys but artifically hatching might be worth a go if they continue to eat them? Some great new methods for doing this now that dont involve the stupid food smear round the top of a bowl and 12 - 16 hours every day.

Alot of people keep discus in pH 8 or even 9 with no ill effects. Stability in water conditions and good food should be enough if your fish has no other problems. If you are concerned then pehaps test also for TDS, GH, KH as well as NH and NO as pH by itself is only one small part of water quality. Spikes in pH are usually caused by water that is to soft so no buffering which kind of means that only small amounts of pH altering substance is required to change the pH value a large amount. If your fish is looking stunted then is it pale or dark and is it active or hiding alot? Perhaps a general med like levamisole might be an idea? That usually perks up most fish and gives them a good appetite.

What is the problem with 7.5 to 7.8? More important is very clean water and the ability to change it with the same water on a daily basis. IMO it will be worse for them if you have a tank with soft water lowered to 6 or 6.5 and then once a day during water changes you put in 30 - 50% of water that is majorly different. I agree that for breeding you should have soft acidic water but a display tank at 7+ should have no problems, infact alot of people will have higher pH and hardness delibrately to bring out better colours.

Awsome :-) Congratulations. Best of luck with them hopefully we can get the numbers up again so we get more demand and more types of Apistos will find there way into NZ.

I have one of those and it works great for 8 sponge filters. I also have a big one that I will probably be selling soon but its a monster. I have only really used it to pump up the swimming pool :-)

Congrats Faren and Kim.

If any one from Manawatu or Rangitikei‎ would like to be added to an email list let me know. Don’t PM please, Email me [email protected] with contact details and I will send out a basic form so you can chose what details you would like published to other locals and hopefully we can grow the hobby in the region. Probably should also add Horowhenua also :-). Might ask and see if we can add some of the Wanganui guys as well.

If any one from Manawatu or Rangitikei‎ would like to be added to an email list let me know. Don’t PM please, Email me [email protected] with contact details and I will send out a basic form so you can chose what details you would like published to other locals and hopefully we can grow the hobby in the region. Probably should also add Horowhenua also :-). Might ask and see if we can add some of the Wanganui guys as well.

Its hard to say where the problem came from but if the water is reasonably soft and acidish and 30 degree then Discus should be as happy as a pig in mud. As a guess something else has contracted it and passed it along. The supplier of your discus is well known to be one of the best and its unlikely it came from them. I dont think the neons would be causing the discus stress but perhaps the other way around? Being chased, nipped and living in water 5 degrees above recomended maximum. Either way good luck and hope it gets sorted out quick. I really hope it didnt come from... the 3 - 1 - 1 -1 fish you were keeping for me.

Formaldehyde removes oxygen from the water and with the temp at 30 already you might be to keep the oxygen levels high enough, it also becomes more toxic with acid and soft water. If it becomes a last resort then perhaps give it a go but I would try salt first. I am not sure that neons in 30 degree water will be doing them alot of good. Perhaps the neons are stressed due to high temps and started the outbreak?

I will say in response to most of that, that pet stores are mostly very good and even the ones we have issues with from time to time are good. We have heard some wild stories from staff from arawana breeding tanks to foot long dwarf cichlids but we have also heard some great things. If it wasn’t for them then probably most of us would have never started with the hobby so as a recruiting agent for the aquarium, dog, cat and bird hobby's they do a fantastic job and should be forgiven there faults. I think the stats are roughly 1 in 100 people keep fish and 1 in 100 of those become serious about it. With that said 92.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot :-) I will return to both of the stores I mentioned and will buy products in the future from them also because even though it’s fun and a bit of a laugh to have a go at them, we need them as much as they need us. Our hobby would be a much poorer place without them.

I have had 2 instances of awful service in the last week. One of the stores has been excellent up until then and must have been having an off day 1) I was in the local branch of a nationwide pet store in P.Nth 2 days ago (store to remain nameless and sorry to the person who posted 3 before me who was not there at the time) I had wallet in hand and some fish picked out............. Almost 20 minutes later I when I thought I had been ignored enough I went to interrupt the woman chat session in one of the back rooms to ask for help. An assistant said she was busy and would be there in a few minutes if I didn’t mind waiting, so off she went back to the gossip session which I could hear from the fish area. If it had been a team meeting I would understand but it clearly wasn’t Money is still in my wallet. 2) In one of the Upper Hutt pet stores and asked what was in one of there own packed fish food. It had "Ciclids Love It" written on it. Was told its just stuff that fish eat you know. Like all fish food is exactly the same it’s just dried out stuff for fish made from dead fish and stuff. So I offered to sell her an "H" so they could spell cicHlid properly and left.

Big congrats to Ryan and Stephanie. Well mostly Stephanie :-)

5 ltrs of cooled boiled water and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of milk powder or 5 ltrs of cooled boiled water and 20 x 30mm cutting of hay. 3 - 5 days to mature replace after 10 days. These 2 are more or less fool proof but can also make it with 2 mashed peas or 10 x 1cm cubes of potato or 1/2 a banana skin or scrunched lettuce leaf or chopped bloodworms. Dont go overboard with the ingredients or the culture will go off. Less is always better especially with the milk powder. Leave in shadded but not to dark and cool but not cold spot and wait till water look clear. Should be able to see them near the top. You can also squeeze out your sponge filter into the fry tank in an emergency, should be plenty in that.

I been reading articles about red worm cultures. A pure cardboard culture is one of the easiest and best apparently. The worms will eat the cardboard and the vegetable based glue if no other food is avaliable. One of the local companies has just started to promote the green image and was giving away tubs of worms (Eisenia foetida and Lumbricus rubellus) so I rung a document shredding company and asked if they could run a few cardboard boxes through there big shredder a few times to get small bits (roughly 25mm strips) I also got a bit of coir (coconut fibre) from a landscape company that had more than they needed for a job and were going to throw it out. I have got 2 worm farms to start up and will try a comparison and let people know which one give the best results. Trust me. If its free then I am there with both hands out :-) If anyone else has a worm farm, other than white or grindal, for fish food please post experiences or tips. Red worms are supoosed to cure HITH and many other diseases for discus, oscars etc and are one of the best foods around. Awsome information here http://www.jetcompost.com/burrow/index.html

I have tried over 50 times with at least 10 different pairs of blue rams and only once have I seen the parents look after the young and then only for a fortnight. That pair were very young and had only spawned 4 or 5 times before this and had at least 5 other spawns after that that I left the eggs in for, and in the same conditions every other time they ate them on the 2nd day. I have to admit though that one time was cool, watching mum and dad with fry. Its probably why I keep trying it. I hope your test work but I will agree with Ryan that a 60ltr might be a bit small for 2 pairs. Good Luck

Indian armond leaves are supposed to be good but an easier way is oak leaves. Make sure they are naturally fallen and not green and just chuck them in. They will float for about 3 days. If you want you can boil them first but I never do. Tea bags to much the same thing and I have used them also. Could also try HCL or H2SO4, HCL is supposed to be safer but I have never tried either.

I know at least one very good African breeder locally, most likely would love the opportunity to breed something new.

Very good point :-). Dixon1990 is right, I cant find any pictures of albino microgeo's or apisto's. Would be interesting to see one. Why would only the Germans make them? is there some type of chemical they add to water to force albino offsping or just lucky?

Worms, Beef Heart, as said before banana is a favorite but messy. When they have eggs they quite like the ends of fingers too. Whole shrimp, cat biscuits etc etc....

Hi Lyndyloo. I am also looking at getting a few more discus for a display tank. I have a spare copy of an old book called "All about Discus" that I can lend you next time I am in Levin. I am down there ever few weeks or so. Neons and Discus look good together but Discus really require warmer tempratures than neons like. Usually kept at 28+ for best results. Cardinals are nicer fish and will go better. Discus arent really that hard to keep as long as the water is of good quality. They do seem to be a little more prone to diseases than some other fish so you will have to be careful about water changes and keeping a close eye out for any minor problem that could turn bad. The good thing is that it is easy to see if a discus is unhappy and something can usually be done. Many people have many ideas about how best to keep them but for me they did really well and even bred a few times in clean soft water and a varied high protein diet. A general rule of thumb is one discus per 50ltrs minimum.

I'm with you :-) Albino this and that, pure red, yellow ect. I love the wild colouration. I think a few Symphysodon aequifaciatus axelrodi (Brown) would look pretty great in one of my tanks.