Luke*

Have you got them in with goldfish? They require warm water 20-26degrees celsious. Your plants will grow if you have enough lighting, if they keep dying i'd bet my money that you just don't have enough watts. Mine use to always die for years until I increased the light.

but I thought:

Welcome aboard. I concur with Ant

I have 4 in with a bunch of tetras, clown loaches, and apistogramma cichlids, no problems at all, they've been going for years even, and they are great little workers behind the scenes, unlike most algae eaters these ones seem only interested in algae too - not other food you add in to the tank. Tiger barbs are renowned fin nippers though so you might want to find someone who has them in together. Is it a heavily planted tank?

Some may also be interested in the "Mega tank" part. http://www.freshwaterstingray.nl/Frames ... glish.html I can't imagine being 'that' obsessed with rays as they just hang out on the bottom and don't do much. With the gallonage, you could fit 2641 adult discus in there. Now that'd be wicked.

I think you were supposed to attach a pic?

Thanks Ant, yes Ronnie I love the very round shape and colour on that red melon. It also has a perfect arking curve on its forehead. To top it off it has a very small proportionate red eye. Just to fill in anyone watching Ronnie raised this fish up and I have recently acquired it off him. What pic isn't working Guru?

Red Melon From the DiscusGuru Ronnie

Do you mean how effective is it when you pump CO2 straight into the intake of the cannister filter and it churns it up? It's pretty good but it can accumulate then spray out a whole of lot of bubbles at once. Also long term the carbonic acid can wear away at the parts. If you mean in terms of just spreading around the CO2 fish produce then it depends on how powerful it is, the more litres/hour the better with 5x/hour being the recommended minimum. Fish produce very little CO2, not enough to get your plants cranking like they will when it is injected. Hope this helps

That's ideal. Add peat in a stocking to give your fish a present. It lasts about a month. It should get them breeding too If your air pump is strong enough to turn the water over so it's consistently heated and aerated it'd be alright

Hey Mat, the easiest way, if you can, is to look into the tank from above. The females will be wider than the males. Alan are you saying the bronze and albino can interbreed as they are the same species just a different variety?

This is most excellent Alan, I'd definitely buy some varieties if they become available. I did a google on the varieties, here's some that I thought were stunning, these are the last two on the list of your second post. Fundulopanchaxgardnerii "Mamfensis" http://www.killi.dk/bmk/Image/Fp_gardneri_mamfensis_CRW_4655.jpg Fundulopanchax rubrolabiale "Malende" http://fotos.naturspot.de/fotos/17-19.jpg http://www.fundulopanchax.fische-killifische.de/Paludopanchax/rubro_/rubro_.html

Just checking, so the exporter can get those ones definitely listed in your second post, but we just need somewhere for them to be quarantined... is that right?

Apparently the Amercian Flag fish is a very good eater of this but often you read this and the reality is different, haven't had one of them myself but was always curious to see if they would eat it. I have known nothing else that will touch it.

Highly recommend Hollywood Fishfarm's, located Mt Eden, and north shore (take the Greville Rd exit and veer left at round-a-bout, it's amongst a bunch of other shops).

If you 'condition' them, i.e with good live and frozen foods like bloodworm, brine shrimp, daphnia, the females will fatten up with eggs.

Hair/Thread algae, believed to be caused by excess phosphates or iron. Remedy by removing the excess nutrient, or with Flourish Excel fertiliser double dose. Begin with one normal dose first, if fish act stressed after a normal or double treatment, do a 50%+ water change immediately.

Metronizdazole is known as Trichozole in New Zealand, perhaps try asking your vet/GP for this instead. If its worms fenbendazole is good.

Hi Al, good to have you in ally over the ditch I've just started out breeding discus; my first fry are 5 weeks old this Wednesday. What's an average figure you're getting per fish selling to wholesalers/LFS over there if you don't mind me asking (AUS$ or NZ$). What varieties do you have? I have red spot teffe green x royal red, red melons, red tomatoes, and one leopard discus.

Levamisole that's ideal for treating intestinal type worms. If you have a local vet there see if they can get some in, and if they can get in metronidazole or dimetronidazole (soluable version) (aka in nz as Trichozole) let me know too! I'm not sure what specific worms Drontal is good for, maybe it's just good as a general wormer for all types. I tried it once on some rams that had callimanus but it didn't work, they may have been too far gone though.

The target is 0.1mg/l Fe (iron). Iron in it's liquid state isn't all that stable, so it's best to add small amounts regularly. You might want to research PMDD (poor man's dosing drops), with that you add it daily and that helps you get the consistent iron level target as above. If you don't want that hassle I'd just add it as directed about once a month.

It has been said that pH change is like climate change for us; like walking through a door to Thailand for a while, then stepping back through to NZ. Hopefully they'll come right in time.

Wow...that looks awesome Ant... massive ups to Freshwest. Looking really good, loving the cardinals.

That's awesome Reef_man :D I'm in Hamilton and would definitely be keen on some if you can get them in.

lol (aka lollie)