Jump to content
Latest Issue of Aquarium World Magazine.

blondfish

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    98

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Forums

Events

Plant Articles

Fish Articles & Guides

Clubs

Gallery

Posts posted by blondfish

  1. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated this in such a long time!

    Unfortunately, there won't be any more updates as Zeus sadly passed away earlier this week, presumably from old age. :tears:

    I'm now in the process of setting the tank up for a dwarf puffer, which is what the tank was originally for before I fell in love with Zeus. I just need to buy some more plants and set up the snail tank and then I'll be able to get my puffer :D I'll probably set up another journal for people to follow my progress :)

  2. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Sorry I never updated again. I tried moving the heater, unfortunately this didn't work as the inlet pipe is too close to the glass to allow enough room for the heater :/

    I've moved the heater further up to the top, and I am hoping to purchase some plants from Carine or Trademe soon to have them grow and cover up the heater. Any suggestions to what plants would do this job?

  4. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Place the heater vertically on the Left side so next to the filter intake. That'll look heaps better and less cluttered, you want to avoid it looking like a load of big stuff in a small tank if you know what I mean.

    Try to find angular stones rather than using the smooth river stones Then have a play around. Google iwagumi and you'll see the sort of shapes that look good either spread out or piled up.

    Hope this helps

    Thank you!

    Going to try this now :)

  5. Culturing Daphnia without a starter culture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    are there none in yet ? did you do it right ? is the hay not too long ? :dnc1:

    just kidding, I can't say how long it will take as I actually forgot about that little project of mine and some day I saw the bin was full of green water and daphnia beside all sorts of other creatures, even Whistlin Tree Frog tadpoles. months maybe. if you need your daphnia now you better get some started daphnia from a pond or buy a culture on TradeMe.

    Thanks.

    It might take months or years or even getting nothing at all. :yawnn:

    Why do it the hard way when ready culture is available :facepalm:

    But I don't know anyone with a culture :oops:

    There is the option of buying on trademe, but TBH I don't want to risk them dying.

  7. Culturing Daphnia without a starter culture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    put a bin outside with some water and put some straw, hay or grass in it, be patience and wait. I have no idea how they suddenly are in there but you will get Daphnia. you could probably speed the whole process if you get some water from a pond or swamp. here in Naseby the outlet from the water treatment plant is full of Daphnia.

    Sorry to be a pain, but do you know how long this will take? :)

  8. Culturing Daphnia without a starter culture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    put a bin outside with some water and put some straw, hay or grass in it, be patience and wait. I have no idea how they suddenly are in there but you will get Daphnia. you could probably speed the whole process if you get some water from a pond or swamp. here in Naseby the outlet from the water treatment plant is full of Daphnia.

    Thank you so much! Going to try that now :thup: :dnc1:

  12. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    I've started dosing with flourish twice a week and the plants have really taken off.

    I had a go at aquascaping, not quite happy with it but I think its okay for a first go.....

    Before:

    Beforepic_zpsfbcf4b4a.jpg

    After:

    IMG_3620_zpsdc584af6.jpg

    What do you think?

    What do you like/dislike?

    Anything you would change?

    Any general tips would be greatly appreciated :)

    P.S. :cr3:

  13. Aquaculture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    At the facility I am working at we are primarily working with Hapuka and Kingfish; mainly with the puka at the moment, trying to improve the quality and consistency of eggs to produce family lines that would be ideal for starting a commercial project. The big broodstock Hapuka are about 34kg and the largest kingies are 42kg/1.5m, quite cool feeding them haha. There is also a growth study of NZ king salmon currently going on, and a long-term project investigating paddle crab pheromones.

    Yeah, pretty much need a Masters degree to get anywhere tbh, although you can get experience at the BOP polytechnic I think.

    Not really any work being done where I am at with whitebait/natives so I don't pretend to know that much about them, still going to need an extensive facility, and I don't think there is a large market for them internationally. If you're interested in farming natives you could look at the Mahurangi institute which does more of that sort of thing, they also do kinda 'skills'/'certificate' courses for preliminary techniques.

    Sorry, completely stupid question, but a masters in what?

    Thank you for the information! It is very helpful!

  15. Aquaculture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    The aquaculture industry for natives is still in the research stage.

    Growing them on is relativity easy but spawning and getting them post larval is difficult

    Hmm, I guess so.

    Mind you, I'm still in school so hopefully by the time I get into the job it will be much more advanced and succesful.

  17. Aquaculture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Heya I'm keen on aquaculture also, I've been working this summer at the Bream Bay NIWA aquaculture facility for experience while I complete my studies. Unfortunately your idea of sustaining native populations would be difficult to realise; unless the venture has commercial interests you rely on govt funding which is hard to obtain. Aquaculture needs high capital and getting land/coastal space is difficult; and MPI is not favourable to releasing farmed/domesticated fish back into the wild for fear of introducing disease and the like.

    Hope this helps, sorry if it sounds negative haha but it is a great industry I think.

    Na, you're algoods :)

    What type of aquaculture are you working with? Is it marine?

    Thank you for the information, I wasn't aware of how hard it can be.

    I remember reading several articles about the government setting up whitebait breeding facilities around the country, which was what first made me want to get into the industry. I'll see if I can find the links........

    This isn't the exact link I was looking for, but its pretty close to what I was looking for. http://www.fishing.net.nz/Waste-into-whitebait/

  18. Aquaculture

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Hi, not sure if this is the right place to put this but wasn't sure where else to post it.

    As a future career, I'm thinking about getting into aquaculture, primarily so help sustain native populations of fish like inanga, longfin eels etc.

    So, the point of this thread is that I'm curious if any members on this forum are in the industry and I'm interested in what sort of things this career involves.

    Thanks :)

  21. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Sorry I have been so slack on my updates, been almost a month since the last one :o Time certainly flies.

    Anyway, not much has happened, except for that Zeus (what I named him - can't remember if I mentioned that before) has started tailbiting again, which I thought I had resolved, along with that, he has developed a mild case of cloudy eye.

    The plants are all growing well and I ordered some blue hygrophelia(?) off TM and ended up getting four bunches along with two ivory mystery snails which I also ordered. I have taken some pics but haven't uploaded them yet, as soon as I do I will post them :)

    If you have any ideas for stopping the tailbiting then that would be most appreciated :)

  22. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Sorry, :smot:

    Its fine :)

    I'm learning a lot of things reading your comments.

    Mine was skinny initially too, but a pile of love made him healthy until the well deserved EX MISSUS dumped a bottle of detergent into my tanks, :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry :an!gry

    Wow, sounds like a crazy ex O_o.

  24. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Carine had two in on Monday, I had presumed they'd found a new breeder/importer? Unfortunately they had a really bad import so they're probably trying to find better options (really sickly puffers, I lost two and they lost one that they were holding for me) - I'd be happy to bring some puffers back from Auckland for you if you want (the HFF ones are OK, I got one healthy one, but two skinny ones, one of which I lost and the other I still can't put weight back on him - but they often come with parasites so you'll want to perhaps buy antiparasite medication just in case).

    Thank you so much for your offer, I'll definitely get back to you once I have rehomed my danios, as that will give me an available tank :)

    Chloramine is not allowed to be added to drinking water in NZ, but there is a natural reaction with the chlorine they use producing trace amounts of chloramines. but no where near the level that would harm your fish normally, or do in Tauranga at any rate.

    Thank you!

    Will put a bucket out now :)

  25. Dwarf Puffer 35L Tank Journal

    in Freshwater

    Posted

    Yep, its definitely cycled. All stats have been coming back good (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and about 5 nitrate).

    I'm worried about putting the water out to gas off, as I read somewhere that the water company adds chloramine, which doesn't gas off :/

    Will do the water change tomorrow.

×
×
  • Create New...