Colour_genes

Far too much salt. Maybe 1 part seawater to 10 parts fresh water would be OK.

Thanks Jasa. Very happy to pay freight etc, no worries, please let me know how they turn out. In a few months the weather will be a bit warmer for shipping as well. Fair enough re the Scarlets, but when you get them to a saleable stage, as I'm sure you will, just let me know. Cheers.

Fantastic pics & fish JaSa. The scarlet endlers are beautiful little gems, and the black lutinos are fascinating, such a contrast with the red eyes and black body. You wouldn't have a few Jap Blue DS for sale in the future, would you? I've been working on a line from an import male but they are not very robust and some extra stock to work with would be a a huge help. A pair of scarlet Endlers would be rather nice too!! Do the females have any colour in the tail?

I don't have any pics atm, but hoping to move the tank into the lounge soon, so I'll see if I can get one when I empty everything out. I bought 2 of them under the name of 'Mini Moth' catfish (also called anchor catfish because of their shape), really picky to feed until they adapt, one didn't last more than a month or two, had this one over a year, very small and super camoflaged (looks like a dead leaf at a casual glance). But it's nice to know it's in there, and see it once a week or so.

Wow, that is a super cool looking fish! What size is he? The only thing I have that is even slightly rare is one little Hara jerdoni. It hangs out in my sub-tropical tank, very rarely seen hiding in the plants, would love to find a few more and might be tempted then to give them their own tank.

Possibly a marginal plant of some kind? Agree with Caryl that probably not a true aquatic.

Hi, Just sent most of my excess plants up to Blenheim a few days ago, but my plants do keep growing and dividing, so next time I have a heap to get rid of I could get in touch. Could probably find you some common types of plants (a couple of short bits of ambulia, a handful of Java moss, and a few very small Windelov Java Ferns) right now, if that would interest you. I don't have any 'different' or rare plants though. PM me if you'd like to discuss further. Cheers.

Nice looking fish. Are you thinking of trying to get a mate or too breed them at some point?

Not sure. I haven't been back up that way since I saw them, so unsure if they are still there. Sure hope someone took the opportunity.

I went into Petstock (general pet store) in Northwoods, Christchurch today for some fish food, and had a quick look in their tanks (as you do!). They have a tank containing 'Bristlenose $13' - there are at least 5 fish I could see and none of them are your regular, standard BN. Same general shape, possibly slightly more flattened head, black body with small whitish spots/dots, orangey edges & markings on their fins. Couldn't get a photo sorry, but look just like the photos of Rio Ucayali on 'Planet catfish'. The shop assistant checked and said they came from an importer based in the North Is. I just don't have room for them in my tanks atm, but someone else might like the chance to grab something a bit more exotic than the usual BN? Cheers

I have heaps of smallish windelov java fern, also ambulia, java moss, and maybe a small bit of anubias. PM me if interested.

Hi, your tank looks good in the photos, nice setup. I'm not very knowledgeable about either rams or angels sorry - maybe it will just take a while for them to settle down? Or maybe they need a bit more cover /hiding places? Is there a lot of activity or movement going on around the tank? Hope you have found someone who can test your water. It's all a learning curve, just keep experimenting until you find what works. Good luck

Still Looking!

Does anyone in Christchurch have an identifiably male, long-fin bristlenose they can swap or sell? Ideally calico in colour, but I'll consider anything at this stage. I have four adult females (1 brown, 3 calico) already, and have sold another 2, and not a single male! Happy to either purchase or swap for one of my females. NOT interested in any juveniles thanks, unless you can see the start of bristle growth already. Please PM me with any offers. Thanks

Yes, sounds a plan

Put your female guppy in the 9l tank reasonably early so she gets used to it, otherwise they can abort or reabsorb the fry. Catching the fry once they are born in the big tank is a pain, I don't recommend it, females often give birth overnight / early morning anyway, so a lot may already have been eaten by the time you realise it has happened. Yes you will need a filter, also water changes very regularly for the first couple of weeks. You can feed the fry on a good quality ( high protein) flake, crumbled into fine particles or 'dust' if you want to, although brine shrimp (either newly hatched live, or decapsulated eggs - google-search details for both) will make them eat more and grow faster. There are also specialist fry foods you can buy. I have some female guppies spare, you could have one or two for a dollar each if that helps.

I agree totally about using a sponge filter (you will need an air pump to run it with as well). It depends on the strain of guppy you have, to some extent, if they will eat their fry or not. For instance most albino guppies will eat every single fry as soon as they are born unless you take major precautions, whereas some of the snakeskin and platinum strains are really chilled out and will not really bother the fry (even the males don't touch the babies) But on an average you should expect that unless you have the tank absolutely stuffed with weed (java moss I think is the best) about half the babies will be eaten, unless you can arrange to have the female in her own tank to give birth then remove her straight away. If you have only one tank then possibly isolate the female in one of those net breeders that hang on the side of the tank, and leave the fry in there until you think they are big enough to survive in the tank with other fish. Don't worry about getting your female guppy pregnant - if there is a male around, she will be!

Actually isn't 15 gallons more like 55 - 56 litres? That sounds like a really, really BIG bucket ! (about 5 regular buckets?). Ramshorn Snails do eat detritus & algae, maybe they would help?

Hi, I could help you out with a couple of smaller tanks in the 40ish litre range, also some nice cheap guppies, and some plants for free. PM me if you would like to discuss or have a look. Pet Shops - Try Rodney's Tropicals for fish (look up on facebook) or Redwood Aquatics. Organism didn't seem to be in their shop last time I drove past, they may have moved?

Oops, should have said this is pick-up only at the moment, unless you have a particularly good deal for me!

Clearing and sorting a couple of tanks - I have 2 x Black widow Tetras ($2 ea) , 3 x Neon Tetras ($1 ea), 2 x WCMM ($1 ea), and a whole bunch of Guppies (mostly snakeskin and platinum & combination of those, nice colours & patterns $2 ea male, females also available) for sale. I would also swap for a couple of Golden Barbs or an adult male long-finned Bristlenose, any colour (could swap adult female longfin brown bristlenose if wanted). We can work out terms of swap according to what you have to offer. Please reply here or pm me.

A few drops of clove oil added to the water (in a small container) seems to quietly put fish to 'sleep'.

Yes, I have kept fish ( guppy and gourami fry mostly) in clear / transparent 'hobby box' type containers for a year or more, with heaters, quite safely. Also used some of the darker plastic tote boxes outside for mini fish-ponds. I washed mine out well with detergent and rinsed thoroughly several times to make sure there were no manufacturing residues. I suspect some of the lower-grade plastics with bright or fluoro-colours might be a bit dodgy, but clear plastic, food-grade plastic or better quality plastics I think are pretty much fine. I have fairly neutral water here, acid water conditions might be different perhaps?

Yes, you do need some sort of filter/s in there. I'd leave in the internal filter you have already, and as you already have an air pump going, add one or two of the air-driven sponge filters ( this sort of thing http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/product/aqua-one-breeder-sponge-filter-60-19885/) up to it, and then add some sort of filter bacteria (this kind of stuff http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/product/api-stresszyme-1-89l-3/ That should help your water quality no end.

One of your best sources for named varieties would be Redwood Aquatics in Christchurch. http://www.redwoodaquatics.co.nz/ They have 12 varieties listed at the moment. Pretty sure they will ship.