Susi

Oh my good what have I done...??? My day was a complete disaster. We went to Jansen’s and bought a 20kg bag of gravel for $54!!! (I find that very expensive) They paid half so it was only $27 for us. I had 3 huge bins from Kim so we got all the fish, plants, gravel and water out of the tank. What a mission that was. Water everywhere... (We had a late night on Saturday and my partner was hangover too) After we managed to empty the tank and washed the new gravel we started putting it all back together again. I thought I'd take the opportunity to put some plant fertiliser under the gravel as well. I wish I didn't. We must have done something wrong; because the water now is so muddy that we can't see anything in the tank anymore. No plants, no heater no nothing! The fish are back in the tank now and I just hope they are going to be okay. Oh well at least we don't have anymore bird grid in the gravel! Thanks Jansen’s!

Hi, I have spoken to the people down there and they will replace 50% of the gravel for me. So I'll go down there today and get the stuff. How should I go with changing it? Should I take all the plants and fish out first, or just scoop the gravel up? And do I wash the new gravel with tap or fishtank water? I'm not really sure on how to do this... susi

I bought the gravel from Janes's in Takapuna about 2 month ago. I'll go down there sometime this week and see what they have to say. But it better be good... :evil:

i have tried it but it doesn't work very well.

yes, just the usuall fish like neons, zebras, corys, clown loaches, mollys, platys and a bristelnose.

Hi everybody, I would just like your opinion on that one. We have set up our tank a little while ago with little knowledge in the field. We did read a bit about fish, tanks ect. and had to relay a lot on staff in fish shops. When be bought gravel for our 180l tank we where told to buy a bag of bird grid and mix 1/3 into the gravel so it would stabilize the ph level. We have done that and had ever since a way to high ph. I have spoken to 3 different people about it and none of them had ever heard such a thing. So here I am trying to pick every single little shell out of 30kg of gravel :evil: It isn't much fun to do and to be honest I really had enough of it. I think the easiest way would be to replace the whole lot of gravel. I'm thinking I should go back to that store and speak to the manager and tell them that it would only appropriate if they would pay for the new gravel or refund me the old one (as I'm surely not going back as a customer in the future) What would you do? Thank you for all the help, Susi

cool, thaxs for that - it does make sense to. But really I don't have to touch that filter for such a long time??? It had heaps of stuff and snails in it. But ok, I'll leave it for a while and check it every now and then. cheers, susi

Allright, it sounds all a bit complicated to me but it seems like I'll have to stop buying fish!!! That is bad news. What am I going to do now? There are still so many fish I want. Can I try giving some of the onse i've got back to a shop and get something different? susi

Okay, that's good new, one less thing to do then... We have been cleaning the filter every 2 weeks so far. Just rinsing it under tap water. And yesterday we had to rinse all the hoses as there was so much stuff in it. thanx for the tips. susi

Hi everybody, I need your help - again! We where just cleaning our external filter and wondering how often we have to change the filter media (that sponge stuff)? Cheers, Susi

I've got a 180l tank, about 12 plants, 3 clown loches, 10 neons, 5 zebras, 1 bristelnose, 1 borneo sucker, 3 corys, 3 plattys, 2 mollys and 2 baby mollys. How many fish can I have in a tank this size and how do I know when I've overstocked? Cheers, susi

Well, I have just been up the road and bought one of these net cages and I also managed to catch one!!! I'm very proud of that as I have never ever caught a fish in my life!!! Yes there was only one baby left, but maybe the other one is hiding. We'll see. So how often and what do I feed that one? I can't wait to see what it looks like in a few days. How fast do fish grow? We have two red plattys, 1 'mickey mouse' platty (the other one died last week) - with a little bit of black in one of the fins and our golden mollys are bright orange. Oh well I suppose I'll have to wait now. susi

I've just got up and feed our fish. While watching I saw to tiny babyfish in the back of the tank. What are they??? They are about 1cm long, black in the back and sort of pink/white in the front half with black eyes. Why are there onl two, I thought fish have lots of babys? And what should we do with them? Where keep them and what feed them? We have only had our tank for 2 weeks. 10 Neons, 3 plattys, 2 mollys, 1 otto, 2 albino coreys and 1 yellow bristel nose since yesterday. I have also done my first waterchange and cleande the gravel yesterday. Can anybody please tell what to do with them...

Thanks for all your help. I'll go out today and buy all the stuff I'll need for a waterchange. I didn't know that we have to do one so soon, one lady in a shop told us we shouln'd do one for about 4 weeks after we've set up our tank... i wonder why she said that. Thanx again, Susi

Hi everyone I need your help once more! We have set up our new tank (180l) 17 days ago. We have got a Via Aqua 230 external filter and 2 undergravel filters. At the moment we stock 10 neons, 1 Otto, 3 platys, 2 mollys and 2 albino corys. I was moving some plants the other day and there was all that rubbish in the gravel... The plants and rocks also show some sign of brown algae. When are we suppossed to do our first waterchange or gravel clean? And how bad is it if direct sunlights shines on the tank? It only happens in the late afternoon for about 30 min - at the most. Thank you for all your help, Susi PS: I always thought fishtanks are boring... now I think they are an addiction! I can't stop buying stuff for it!

Hi, i have just set up my first tank ever and really like clowns as well. I have read that you should keep them in a group of at least 3-5 Is that true or would 2 be fine as well? I want to get some soon but they are not the cheapest fish around ($15 each?)

sorry - I turn the light on at 7am when we get up and turn it off at bedtime at 11pm. susi

We've got the lights on all day - is that to much?

Good morning, We have set up our brand new 180l tank on Sunday two weeks ago. We've put the plants in on Monday and 10 neons on Wednesday. Saturday last week we bought 2 golden mollys and 2 platys (i'm not sure if one of the platys is healthy as he is always in a corner, doesn't move or eat much) Since Sunday I've noticed some red/brown stuff on the leaves which comes of when I rub it. It is getting worse every day. What is it and what can I do? Do I need a pleco already? Do they clean the plants as well or do they eat them? Thanks for your help, susi