Colour_genes

Like most of the red-coloured plants, it needs high light levels to maintain its colour. And it is not a true aquatic plant in any case, so it may be starting to show you that it is unhappy. You would do better to grow it emersed.

I was joking! Not a fan of the coloured gravel either! (especially fluoro pink, urrrghh, shudder) But the experiment could be interesting, whichever way you try ('matching' or contrasting environments). I wonder if koura can even see in colour, or do they see in grey-scale or even in wavelengths we humans don't see? Anyone know?

Perhaps you could buy it some of that 'pretty' blue gravel from a LPS to walk around on. Maybe it will feel nice and camouflaged - and stay blue when it moults???

This August/Sept we took a 7 week holiday to the UK and Europe, mostly for a major family birthday/reunion, but to do a bit of traveling around / touristing as well. I had just joined the UK Fancy Guppy society, www.fancyguppies.co.uk, and asked them if there was any chance of visiting a couple of breeders. I had a couple of very nice replies from breeders in the Midlands area, and arranged to visit both on the 3rd Aug. Naturally, I took my camera - so here are a few pics (not necessarily of their best fish, but the best of the photos). (For the photographers, I didn't have a macro lens with me so these were taken with a 50mm 1.8 prime on a 12mm extension tube, so focusing wasn't the fastest, and obviously light levels were something of an issue as well.) Brian Tate was the first breeder we met, a long-time fish enthusiast who had only recently taken to the fancy guppy hobby. His relatively smaller fishroom in a partitioned-off area of a shed/garage was really well set up, with natural overhead light, a heat transfer unit to move heat from the high ceiling to floor level, and a number of other clever tricks to make fish-keeping life easier. Brian had some really nice guppies I would have loved to get my hands on, and a small number of other interesting fish as well. We were made very welcome, and thoroughly enjoyed the visit!

Taken, thanks.

Southern bell frog, morphed last spring, and growing like a weed. Outgrowing its companion in the terrarium, and becoming a hazard to it (a green & golden bell) so this guy (or girl) has to go. Pick up only please. If you want to pay $10 you can have the temporary home I have set up for it as well. Please PM me for any enquiries. Would consider shipping it, but only if you have a half grown 'green & gold' in exchange. .

Wow. That is an amazing colour! Natural variant or ...?

Bump. Anyone interested? Will go on TM next week.

Clever fishies, good owner! Please do keep us updated.

Hi, Here is my very small collection. Starting with the easier and smaller species to get in some 'practice' before I invest too much. Common name: Golden Black / Blue Eyed Bristlenose (GBA) Scientific Name: Ancistrus cf cirrhosus L number: --Sexing (numbers of) Males : 1 Females : 1 Unknown : --Breeding Successfully bred Y/N : Spawned for first time, but no fry survived Common name: Longfin Brown Bristlenose Scientific Name: Ancistrus cf cirrhosus L number: --Sexing (numbers of) Males : 1 Females : 2 Unknown : --Breeding Successfully bred Y/N : N Common name: 'Spotted' Bristlenose Scientific Name: Ancistrus sp 'Rio Ucayali' L number: --Sexing (numbers of) Males : Females : Unknown : 2 --Breeding Successfully bred Y/N : N Working on getting Longfin Calico Bristlenose in the near future.

I have an AR380 34 litre tank, in good condition, with all filter media in built-in trickle filter, lights and power head work, gravel, 55w heater, decorative backing paper, overall good condition, runs well & quietly, for sale. Had it for the last 2 years from second-hand, now bought a bigger tank to replace. Have been using up till 2 months ago. Ideal small unit for a beginner, a bedroom, or for mini-fish. $70 ono. Also for sale - 1x 5-6cm standard brown bristlenose, probably female, $5, java fern 'Windelov' plantlets, and a few other bits of stem plants (ambulia & star grass mostly): 5 pieces / $1 Pick up only, Shirley area, Christchurch. Please message me to contact.

Are you sure it is a freshwater sole, especially if they had no name or label for it? Maybe it was the more commonly seen Hillstream Loach (also know as Borneo Sucker)? There is some information here http://www.loaches.com/species-index/be ... ichowensis and pictures so you can check. I have often seen these in tanks with cool water fish in various fish shops.

Nice Fish!! :f77:

Maybe get a bristlenose /ancistrus or 2, they will clean all the algae off your plants really well without damaging the plants themselves. They are a lot hardier than the otos, too. The plants where the leaves are dying off are probably converting from growing emmersed (above water) to immersed (submerged in water) OR they are starting to die from incorrect conditions for that particular plant. Only time will tell you which option is correct, I suspect.

Cheese! (Stilton ideally ) Onion or Garlic

It is entirely possible there are no green cheeked Conures available in NZ. It makes me smile just a little when I see folks on this forum complaining about limitations on imports of fish - at least there are some (well, quite a few actually) being imported. Importing birds? Forget it!!!! Theoretically it may be possible with enough money and persistence, but there is a whole community of bird breeders in NZ who have been trying to import exhibition standard budgies and canaries, and others wanting parrots and finches to top up the existing breeding pool; but so far as I am aware there have been no aviary/show birds allowed into NZ since the mid-1990's, in spite of continuing attempts. Even the zoos have major problems bringing in exotic birds for conservation breeding programmes, some have lost a great deal of money on arrangements only to have 'you-know-who' foil their attempts by changing the import parameters at the last minute . Fish & Bird, DoC, and the commercial poultry/egg establishment are all dead-set against it and they have far more 'weight' behind them than any hobbyists. So as a consequence, the parrot stocks in NZ are becoming more and more badly inbred year by year, and species are gradually disappearing. Also, many NZ'ers are unwilling to pay the price for a rarer bird, so many young birds were/are actually exported, compounding the problem. Having said that, try contacting someone on this site and see if they can give you a contact - http://www.parrot.co.nz/ Good luck

Some suggestions based on my experience so far with low-tech (no substrate ferts, liquid carbon & trace element supplements weekly-ish), your best bets are any of the Java ferns, java moss (but try to wrap or attach it to something that can be easily removed from the tank for a quick clean-off occasionally or it tends to get messy), dwarf hairgrass or lilaeopsis for 'carpet' at the front, stargrass (but only if you have good lighting or it just puts out long tendrils all over the place), cryptocoryne and anubius are nice but slow growing, any of the green hygrophilas for tall background. Avoid any reddish coloured plants, they seem to need strong lighting and extra care. Check out the FNZAS plant database for extra info, this should be the link - http://www.fnzas.org.nz/?page_id=2379 Good luck with your tank

Fantastic guppies JaSa, those Jap blues and near-full-blues look exciting. How are the glass-bellies going? I have a pair with a fair bit of silver skin missing that popped up at random from some snakeskin imports. Trying to get around to taking photos, but not really sure I actually like them enough to keep them.

Tank minder now found. Thank you 'Bristle' :bggrn: :happy1:

In Shirley, just a few blocks north of the Palms Mall. Easy to get to!

Hi. We are off to the UK for 6 weeks, late July through August. While our wonderful next-door neighbor will feed my fish on a daily basis, he knows nothing about fish-keeping. So I am looking for someone who can come in a couple of times a week to do water changes and general cleaning/maintenance on my tanks. I will be paying a fee for your time, not expecting it for free! Some Details - All tanks are in a garden-shed/garage. 10 tanks, from 15l to 100l, mostly around 40l, some low-tech planted, some bare-bottom. Manual water-changes with siphon & buckets. All equipment and supplies provided. Livestock - guppies, sterbai cories, ancistrus/bristlenose varieties, leopard fish: so nothing tricky or demanding. I also have a terrarium with a couple of frogs, which may be better in someones home, to keep temperature at better levels. If you think you may be able to help, please PM me and we can go from there. Any offers much appreciated, thank you

Couple of comments here - It appears the term 'ramshorn snail' can be used in reference to several species of snail with the same general shape of shell. I have both types that are being referred to here in my tanks. The larger species can be had in both red and brown colour morphs and do indeed grow to the size of a 50cent coin or more. They are an ornamental species often offered for sale both through TM / private sale, for instance http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/f ... 78949.htm; and in some pet stores. The smaller greyish-brown species however is just basically a nuisance, unless you are wanting it for feeding puffers or loaches etc. They grow to a max size of 3-5mm. It is not particularly attractive, reproduces relentlessly, and is almost impossible to get rid off, I suspect the eggs are extremely resistant to dessication, judging from experiences with some of my tanks. This is yet another example of the dangers of using common names only to identify any organism, the same common name can be applied to different varieties by people in different countries, cultures or areas, and the risk of confusion or mis-identification is huge. Your camera - lack of a connector cord should not be a problem. Find the 'SD card' in the camera (the square plastic 'chip' that the images are recorded on) and remove it (with camera turned off!), then either - find the SD card slot in your computer/laptop/tablet and slide the card into place, then the computer should automatically do stuff to help you download your images; or -if there is no SD slot built into your computer you can purchase a 'SD Card Reader' which plugs into your computer via the USB port. Card Readers cost anything from $1 to $25 depending on the type you need (iPad ones for instance are more expensive). Then you can learn to upload your images from there. I hope that helps.

Hi Will, Sorry about the links, rearranged my 'photobucket' into folders a while ago & off course all the links went haywire!' I don't have any of the fighters left in any case - after 2 disastrous breeding attempts, all but the white female died, and I then sold her on TM. Sticking to my guppies and cories for now!

Just a few ideas re quarantine tanks - they do not have to be large, expensive or take up a lot of room. The fish will not be in there for more than 6-8 weeks, and you are not likely to have many at one time - so a proper glass tank is not strictly necessary. I have successfully used translucent plastic containers - hobby boxes/storage containers etc of the types sold in many hardware & general shops, and I'm sure others have as well. They work fine, although it is best to occasionally remove the fish into a glass container to examine for any disease, as the translucent plastic makes it difficult to see small details. If you are only buying in one small fish you may even be able to use a large glass or plastic jar and suspend it inside your main tank. Buy a small heater; and a cheap air pump can be used to run a small 'corner-type' filter, which can have the media thrown away and the plastic sterilised at the end of the quarantine period. Then, If you think you might be buying more fish anytime soon, you can put more media in the filter and put it in your main tank for a while so the filter bacteria starts to build up, then move it back into the plastic container when you need to quarantine the next new fish. Total cost for one I have set up - $10-15 container, $20 heater, air pump $15 - 20, filter & media c.$12 - total $57 to $65, and a half a square metre on the floor somewhere. So, if the total cost of the fish that are already in your main tank is more than $60, it is worth setting up a quarantine; if less, it may not be financially worth it, but it also depends on how emotionally attached you are to the fish you already have. Just my thoughts on the matter.

Just a couple of comments re the genetics you are quoting. Unless you know for sure that the 'Mack Snow's that are in NZ are actually descended from the Mack Snows in the States, you cannot necessarily expect that they are genetically the same. It is possible that they have a totall different gene/mutation or gene-complex that gives them a phenotype (appearance) of the original Mack Snow, but that is inherited differently or works in a different way to that gene. It is quite common worldwide for a similar mutation phenotype to appear independently in several different countries, and to be later proven to be due to totally different genes. Also, to quote Alanmin "mack snow to mack snow should give 25% super mack snow and 25% normal with 50% mack snow" doesn't quite state the practicality of the outcomes correctly. Try thinking of it like this - "mack snow to mack snow should give each and every offspring a 25% chance of being super mack snow and a 25% chance of being normal with a 50% chance of being mack snow". So the parents are not genetically obliged to turn out one super snow in every four babies they have. It doesn't matter how many babies they do have, each one has ONLY A 25% CHANCE of being Super Snow each time. Sometimes you can have a breeding pair (of any critter) churn out a dozen or more babies before the lottery falls your way and you get what you were hoping for! So you may have no hope or lots!