Luke*

hahah yess there is not enough of us out there Damiana. Do they still teach spelling/grammar/pronunciation in schools? I don't care that much but some of it is hilarious

I found some of these in a big puddle that had formed at a local school, thought I'd found daphnia, unfortunately not. I am not sure either what they are but the fish like chasing and eating them. They will crawl out of the fish's mouth and this makes for quite a funny game.

Ahhh Ben! What's up man?!? Long time no see good to see you. I sent you a couple of PMs ages ago with some updates but you didn't reply? Yep I'll get some more pics for you soon. Why are you out of the scene at the mo? The alpha male has paired up and he's the size of a saucer lol

Thanks mystic and dave, my pleasure Fish keeping is the best when you just kick back and just enjoy it, makes all the hard work worth it. Very calming yet entertaining. Good conversation piece too, usually insanity comes up lol

Hey Jimbo, lol love that username :lol: Nice array of fish, sounds like you're getting off to a great start. The bristlenoses don't get as big as the normal plecos so maybe you could swap it? Either that or after you upgrade upgrade again

Hehe yeah it's neat they rush up the top when I come home and they know when it's oxheart and colour bits time. They even let me touch them if I put my hand in. Sometimes they think I'm a tasty piece of meat too and nibble at me. Quite neat to be so close to something that existed by itself for so long in the wild. In a big group they're not skittish at all and they get use to the water changes too so they don't freak out.

JUMP PROOF THE TANK I lost a beautiful aphyosemion chocolate australe cuz he jumped out the bank of the tank (still had cover glass), need to make sure no gaps, use clear plastic bags or whatever. They're good at jumping, you can see that when you get them in the net. They go fine in community tanks, but make sure the other fish are compatible. Where are you getting them from?

Hey Ronnie, Yes it's my favourite pigeon blood, and it's from Rodney in Rotorua. Here's the close second favourite... This one freaks my gf out

As promised here's some shots of some of the 13 clowns Here's my red spot pleco and a smaller bristlenose trying to push each other aside to get more of a shrimp pellet..so much for eating the algae! A rare shot of a big clown

That leopard is only 7cm Ronnie, had it for a long time and just growing very slowly, seems to be just the way it is with leopards. Who else out there has discus to share with us? My White Butterfly

lol @ sharn and james. Sounds neat

Here's my male Red Honey Dwarf Gourami His lil buddy Mrs Blue betta is in the background

lol Wok. Is that the quickly read small print those radio advertisers say a the end of ads? Jude sounds like you have exactly the same thing as me, my tank just isn't quite as big 4ftx50cmx50cm whereas yours is 60cmx60cm. I've had no problems with mine at all *touchwood* and it's been going for a number of years. Same as you, strong stand and poly, all helps. PS.. gotta love the fresh aquascaping and planting I'm sure it will look great, goodluck

Thanks a lot Ballastic, the driftwood I purchased from Hollywood Fish Farm in Auckland (North Shore) when I was there a few months ago. It works out quite well to create depth perception at the back right, makes a higher level. I've got a nice longer piece that I found at a nearby estuary when I was back in Tauranga a little while back, so I think I'll put it in soon to make a longer shelf. The only thing is it isn't quite flat/straight so I might have to cut it a bit so it doesn't stick up off the gravel and not fit in with the aquascape. Another good thing about it though is it's got some holes so the fish can go inside it, the clowns and plecos would love it. Quite sweet to find a piece like this for free as it would sell at LFS for $20-30 I'm sure. It's quite heavy and sinks straight away too. Here it is just before being sterilised with boiling water... no bugs were harmed in the making of this sterilisation... (hopefully)

Hi Caper, it's 165L (or 45 US gallons) Thanks elmo and dave. The bigger ones pictured were from the biggset spawn I've had, about 100 of them. There's actually three generations in there though from the same pair. Depends how many eggs fungus or possibly get eaten by the parents, but I always hope for at least 50.

I can just imagine how many LFSs would tell their customers that :roll:

Or Golden Bay Aquarists, GBAs Should this be in the clubs section?

Thanks fishboi, hands, ltjan55, doug, meesheelly, sharn, shiuh, and discusguru for all taking the time to comment much appreciated. Hehe I thought someone would ask that, yes I do unplug the heater. Once the water level is at the minimum water level mark I plug it back in as you can expect a bit of heat loss due to the water movement; this helps keep the temperature as stable as possible. In turn this means less stress and less chance of disease for the fish. I got the water storage barrels locally off trademe from a rural guy living on a farm. Due to the contents all they needed was a rinse so I preserved water by positioning the barrels (the other I will use for daphnia in Summer) under the overflowing guttering on the roof. During heavy rain they would fill and overflow, thus cleaning themselves. While there's no daphnia in the outside one over winter, I keep it under the overflow to gather rainwater that is great for setting up breeding tanks and using for water changes. Meesheelly I use a 2400L per hour Resun King 3 submersible pump, it has a 2.4m head (the max height it can push water straight up). This suits my needs well at the moment. A king 4 or 5 would make the job faster but potentially could be a bit fast for the fish, not a problem for really big tanks mind you. Sharn you are right, I moved the 4 pigeon blood discus I had in quarantine to the discus display tank. I now have the alpha pair in a dedicated breeding tank. Still waiting for them to spawn...! Time to bring out the peat I think

How to do a 90% Water Change in 35 Minutes Drain the tank. Leave enough water to just cover their dorsal fins. Discus wondering if it's the dry season. The siphon tubing runs out of the door. I detach the prefilter and large air driven filter sponge and squeeze them out using the water flowing out of the siphon outside Once the prefilter on the large hang on the back filter has been cleaned using the tank water, reattach over the intake, and plug in the pump that will carry fresh water from the storage barrel back in to the tank Here is the long clear hosing that transports the water to the tank. Sure beats buckets... Luckily, think the discus, it is the wet season again just in time. A short time later, totally refilled I then bring the hose inside... ...and once the hose is tucked neatly in one of the barrel lid holes, it is turned on. Inside the storage barrel is a 300w heater and an airstone to off-gas the chlorine and get it to the right temperature. This is known as water 'ageing'. I do this for two tanks and this process is repeated every day. This keeps the growth inhibiting nutrients (namely nitrate) at a bare minimum and promotes healthy happy discus

There'll be plenty of birthday pressies for you there Mystic, just make sure you bring Ballastic and his wallet :bounce:

Nice pic Magenta, I love the way Riccia pearls and it does it readily when floating at the top of the tank with CO2. From what I've read Paws it's rather difficult, as you have to tie it down using nylon to hardscape material like slate/rocks etc; it also grows out of the ties and floats to the top as it doesn't develop a root base to cement it naturally in place

Absolutely beautiful plantman, nice back drop too, like the way it's taken :bounce:

Yep I do it daily with 2 tanks I'm preparing some pics to document the process so others can easily follow in this great thing for our fish/insanity.

Lovin' it! It's a whole 'notha side to plant keeping. Bit like there's fish, then there's fish breeding... there's plants, then there's plants pearling :bounce:

Yea I was thinking that too. Gotta be *phenomenal surely