wasp

Can they do a 6 line wrasse?

Anybody can sell me a small 6 line wrasse? Mine jumped out recently, he kept the flatworms under control, hoping to get another.

Very interesting read Chimera

Just read the thread as a newish guy on the board, and to be honest was not impressed with some of the maturity level displayed. Argueing the toss over price levels also seems endless. In the end it is simple economics. IF huge profits are being made, more punters will be attracted to the business and competition & prices will come down. New ways of selling such as "garage" or "net" may also have a niche, but there is always going to be a place for a LFS. But I think this cycle has already been happening. There have as previously mentioned been other market participants who have folded, and LFS that have closed the marine department. Time will tell how the new ventures go, and I wish them the best. But endless bickering here only turns one time friends into enemies, and puts on permanent record the childishness of some.

Seen not one, but several posts on Reef Central with guys keeping the two species together as a pair. Not able to point you to the post though I'm afraid. One guy said his produced young, and that was followed by a whole heap of posts flaming him for producing an unnatural hybrid. True percs are around, if you hang out long enough you will likely get one, although have not seen any myself in a long time. The alternative would be to get a O. perc juvenile and see what happens, or sell the A. perc & get two O. percs, or some of Warrens maroons.

both A. and O. perculas will often live together as a mated pair, and cross breeding has been documented in aquaria also.

I think it may be the "other" type (false perc), some of them have those black markings.

Correct. I've seen the bigger pic which includes several surfers, and a school of more easily discernable dolphins surfing in in a big wave, a really cool pic. I think someone chopped the origional pic down to this which does look like a guy looking at a shark.

Buzzy, you say you have a 450 liter tank with nothing in it. You mean nothing as in totally empty, no water, nothing? The reason I ask is if you are totally new to marine tanks, there is much to know before even starting, more than can be explained in one post. The best plan would be to meet up with someone who is running a successful tank and discuss with them. But for you, the basics would be this :- The 450 liter tank is big enough for a smallish snapper. For filtration you will need liverock and circulation. External filters are not such a good idea for marine aquaria. Liverock is made from coral skeleton, and houses bacteria that eat the waste in the tank. The normal amount of liverock is about 1 kg to 6 liters water, so for your tank 75 kg. You can have less, depending on the bioload. For the rock to work effectively, you need sufficient water movement. This is achieved by pumps or powerheads, the flow should be at minimum 10 times tank volume per hour, or for your tank, you would have pumps with a total of at least 4,500 liters per hour. When you initially put the rock in the water, it has to be "cured". In other words, the rock will contain dead organic matter that will pollute the water, and has to be given a few weeks to break down before fish can be added. Get this right, and you have a basic setup that could house a snapper. The skimmer can come later, lighting is not critical in a fish only set up, and don't mess with any external filters. But there is MUCH to learn. Here is an excellent site with a wealth of info. http://reefcentral.com/

Oh well, here's the web address http://tinypic.com/bihkj

Mmmm.. What am I doing wrong here? Can't get that image to show.

Yeah it's not likely any Tank Police will raid your place, but legal issues should be mentioned.

I had one years ago in a temperate tank, it was easycare and a good eater. It was perhaps 10 cm long when we got it, but grew quickly and had to be released again in just a few months. I checked out the legality at the time, it is illegal to take an undersized fish, even for an aquarium. I was also told that getting a special license is not that easy either.

Oh well, I will bow to the majority opinion on that then

Hi Pies - It's what Brian said, he took a look at the MH. I wouldn't nessecarily agree with the heat thing. MH SEEMS hotter because it's concentrated in a small area, and people normally think about the heat from something like a 250 watt MH, but watt for watt, 250 watts of flouro will make a fair bit of heat also.

I bought a new 150 watt MH last week, the cost was :- ballast $75.00, bulb holder $45.00, bulb $98.00. That's pretty hard to beat in similar wattage af any other type of light. Also remember that the MH bulb will last longer than flouro tubes, and electricity use is less per unit of light produced. Also, the ballast is remote, and the bulb holder smaller than any other type light you would put above your tank.

Well my opinion only, but I think the anemone would benefit from more light than that.

I'm guessing from the pic it's a bleached H. Malu, if so it really would want good light to aid recovery. How much PC?

When I was a kid I caught a small octopus which I managed to keep alive for a few days till he climbed out. Would be pretty cool done properly. I saw a TV program where they showed octopus are quite intelligent, they were doing "rat in a maze" type tests on several captive octopus, the octopus actually seemed to enjoy it.

I've forwarded your details to him, just let me know wether or not he gets in touch. Good sleuth work re that bulb! Looks just the ticket. I'm talking to a MH expert later today so I'll find out if these bulbs are suitable to our ballasts. If so I think we should go for it.

Brian I am not authorised to give out somebodies email address, however if it's OK with you I will send him your email & tell him to get in touch. Please just confirm to me I can give him your email.

Hi Brian, Bummer about the clown. That's reefing though, similar things happen to most of us. Hope the trip home from Auckland was OK, the rest of your corals are OK, and you got the baby stuff with your wife! I know a guy in Hamilton whose clownfish have had babies which he has been able to rear, if you don't already know him I can put you in touch.

Yes and the quantity thing may be it, most purchases just a few hundred dollars.

Quote - "WASP-As for not paying GST, how do you get around it. Every time that I have mail ordered, it gets stopped in Auckland, they give me a call for my credit card in order to pay for the customs taxes (which I assume are GST). " Don't know. I did not make any attempt to avoid it, it just never happened.