wasp

Some good points Caryl. I know at least 2 couples where the gift is expected, plus the other partner mainly does it cos if they don't they will be in s**t street. Hardly the basis of a genuinely romantic day, but as you point out, whatever the motive, the retailers don't care if there is a buck in it for them. However Valentines Day is a good thing to celebrate, but wether it is Christmas, or whatever day, there will always be those whose primary concern is to milk the occasion for as much money as they can make.

Here is a link that will give you a good explanation of a weir hang on overflow. http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/overflow.html Drilling the tank is the most popular option and there is a reason for that, but a weir type overflow can work if you really want to do it. Note, the weir, is to make the syphon unbreakable. (In theory, anyway).

Heck, I let her live another day! That's enough, isn't it? Just kidding! :lol:

You are correct Alan, the so called "dick fish" (among other names), of South American rivers, detects it's prey by smelling the ammonia which guide it into the larger fishes gills where it lodges itself by spreading it's frontal spines, then locates and bites blood vessels for food. The victim fish will sometimes writhe around frantically for a few minutes before dieing, or a bigger fish may survive. It is true that some people have fallen victim to this fish when they urinated while swimming, the fish is small enough to swim right up both male and female urinary tracts, I saw a video of a human victim of this the result was so nasty I don't even want to talk about it here! The advice is if swimming in a SA river wear tight fitting underwear. But anyway, yes, ammonia is excreted through gas & chemical exchanges that take place via the gills.

Yes that parrot was initially bought and used by it's student owner to do her Uni thesis on the parrots ability to use language, but the results were so amazing that she was given a 3 year grant to work full time with the parrot to see how far she could develop it's language. Ended up with a vocabulary of around 800 words which was enough to have a simple conversation. The parrot demonstrated something that was not known before, that it could talk about things in the past tense, and also talk about things it wanted or hoped would happen, in the future tense. It was put with a younger bird and talked to it in english, teaching the other bird some words, and on one occasion expressing concern when the other bird hurt itself. Sadly it died a few months ago, it was found dead in it's cage one morning despite it had been fine the day before. This was considered a great loss to the scientists who had been interested in this stuff.

Tanks starting to look good Matt, I like all those zoos, once you get a good covering with them the tank starts to get a "other world" type look, really sets things off. I THINK that coral is a finger leather, best as I can see the pic anyway. Finger leathers can be tough as old boots, but can also be pretty fickle if something is not right. It should only be fragged if growing well, thereby showing good health. Easy to frag, just cut bits off. They should be wedged into a crack in a rock, but they will work their way out by expanding and contracting so should also be secured with a rubber band, the rubber band should not be tight on the frag, if need be wedge a peanut sized bit of rock behind the rubber band to hold it away from the frag a bit so it will not cut in. Leathers take a while to attach to a rock, usually several weeks. BTW, that "umbrella" coral, an easy way to frag it would be cut the whole head off and remove it from the tank. Then slice it up into as many frags as you want & attach them to rocks same way as the finger leather. The origional stalk will grow a new head and in a few months look exactly the same as it did before you cut it.

Unfortunately not. Reef also has dealt with these and may be able to provide more info than I can.

Good point Matt. The test is if they move around on the fish. Note where they are then check again in a few hours.

They are little flatworm type things that mostly live on tangs. A few years ago there was a bout of them up here in Auckland a few of us including me had them in our tanks. They don't seem to bother the fish much but will continue to increase if not dealt with & eventually cause harm. Treatment, FW dip the fish the parasites drop straight off. According to the literature they will recur on the fish from the larval stage in the tank, but for me, and others I know of, this did not happen. FW dipping is a scary thought for those who have not done it before but is actually quite easy. Over the years I've done it quite a few times. According to books you have to get pH correct but I have never bothered with that, just get the temperature right & drop the fish in. I just use tap water, chlorine and all doesn't seem to matter. Some fish will go into a kind of "shock" and drop motionless upside down or similar, what I do is give them a gentle nudge just to get them right way up, and breathing etc. They have to be watched full time as they can suddenly go nuts & jump out of the bucket, just watch them & keep them right way up & happy as possible. Most marine fish can comfortably cope with 1/2 hour plus FW dip but for black spot 5 minutes is usually plenty. Once time is up just ensure all spots are off the fish & then dump straight back into the tank. Within a few minutes they will usually be acting like nothing happened. Catching the fish is the harder part, I highly recomend a fish trap. keep it in the tank a few days and feed only in the trap. Luckily tangs are suckers for traps and very quickly lose their fear of them. Obviously watch the fish closely for new infestation and re-dip if need be.

Hi Srossnz, you will find on some overseas forums they recommend chaeto over caulerpa, that is because chaeto is (supposedly) toxin free, plus it doesn't go sexual like caulerpa. However as stated chaeto is not available in NZ, but caulerpa, managed properly, can do a fine job, depending just what you are wanting to achieve from your tank. Do you know which species you have?

0.03 on a Salifert kit is actually quite a high level, due to the limitations of this type of test. However bubble algae is able to survive and propsper in very low nutrient levels, for me over the years it has come and gone in cycles, i'm suspicious there is more to it than just phosphate alone. For many tanks you probably need something in there that will eat it.

Well that is pretty awesome! Is that a private house? The pic I like the best is the one with him leaning on the tank, it's great when the fish are in a big enough and natural enough environment to live as in nature.

The ones I had were not introduced at the same time. They all ate whatever I gave them.

I had a pair of each in the same tank, they didn't mix but no aggression either.

I was thinking those lights could be funnelled sunlight? Or maybe I just can't see them right! Reason i was interested because I was thinking of supplying some funnelled sunlight to my own tank.

Lit by natural sunlight?

Hmmm... Well they certainly take their stuff seriously in Japan, a heap of guys with hi tech camera gear to study how the guy feeds his fish! :lol: But I will say, the Japanese national characteristic of really doing things properly does pay off with their marine fish tanks, Japanese reef tanks are in a class of their own, typically they are stunning to look at, everything in peak health, and soooo clean you cannot see a grain of sand in the wrong place.

Really! I thought I was the only person who had that problem. I'm in pest control & you wouldn't believe how many people seem to serioiusly think they shouldn't have to pay. The problem is people ring the City Council with various problems and if it's not a council problem the council refer them to me. Then the people often get to thinking the council will pay for it. Now I've heard every excuse & can usually tell on the phone if there is likely to be a problem but in the early days I got caught more time than I like to think about, AFTER I did the job the person would say "WHAT!!! NO SWEARING!!!!! if I"M paying for it they came from the council reserve". Funny as it may sound I had several times thought it would be nice to be a washing machine repair person so I wouldn't have these problems. Looks like all jobs have their hassles LOL!

That's what I was thinking, I got some once from the NZW at Taka and they looked just like that on the fish. But how long has the fish had them and did they appear overnight? If it was my fish and could be caught again, I would be strongly tempted to lance on of them with a pin or scalpel to see if it is some type of parasite. Lance sideways paralel with the fish body, trying to get under it incase it is a hard shelled burrowing isopod. Just watch the fish doesn't cut you with his spurs.

Do they stay in the same place or move around?

No Alanmin. It's that we are in the 21st century, LAST century was the 20th century! :lol: IE :- year 0-99 was the 1st century. 100-199 was the 2nd century. So the year 1945 for example when the 2nd world war ended, was the 20th century. 2008 is the 21st century.

Well if people think that is normal we need not wonder why things are going wrong in our society. Just cos whatever is going on in the 20th century does not make it right. A few things have happened that i've seen lately making me think we actually live in a very sick society. But just one more thing, this is not the 20th century.

Very interesting Anthony. Any chance you could take a photo of it? This brings back a mystery that happened to me a few years ago, I was walking down the beach and found a coral skeleton, a branching sps type. I guess someone could have put it there but why would someone? Always wondered since then if we do have a few corals growing somewhere.

Hmmm... I see from the article your husband is called Grant Simpson. Did he spend part of his boyhood in Palmerston North by any chance? ( I went to school there with a Grant Simpson, I'm thinking, how many Grant Simpsons could there be?)

Ouch! On a par with Auckland. What kind of test kit?