Luke*

I make PMDD (poor man's dosing drops) mixture of trace (micro) and nitrate/phosphate/potassium (macro) elements. pick up supplies from local hydroponics shop cheaper this way

hahhaha classic, he looks happy about it too

Seeings as you want details on conditioning, it means... for water: right temp pH kH clean possibly adding peat (research the requirements and tricks for breeding them via google) for feeding: live foods (microworm, white worms, wingless fruit flies - LFS can help here or trademe) frozen foods good quality flake Often conditioning also means seperating males and females, such as with tetras. But with danios I believe they breed so readily you can just condition them as above and they will breed. Of course you will want to have them in a dedicated breeding tank so other fish or the parents don't eat the eggs and fry. Hope this helps

You want a 4-5 foot tank for oscars because they get so big and as mystic said they like to swim like they're back in the jungle

Usually starts to crank the next day and builds up strength over a few days. Then it stays constant for a while then peters off. They last 2-3 weeks depending on the amount of yeast and sugar. Thought about going pressurised?

Sorry I think you're stuck with it. 4 foot = 36/40w 3 foot = 30w 2 foot = 18w from memory. Someone with electrical knowledge might know how you can rig up additional lights however

I know about that site but you'll find it doesn't mention what Kelvin their bulbs are, so it's useless, and whoever I talked to didn't know anything about it

I rang a certain "switched on" hydroponics store recently thinking that this "switched on" crowd would know everything about metal hallides. When I ask if their bulbs come in various kelvin ranges I get silence on the other end. "I've never heard of that phrase before" says the pot-smoking sounding bloke. He went on to explain they have one that says "sun" on it and it has a "graph on the back". Very useful. So that was it, had to leave none the wiser and feeling like they were not very "switched on" at all.

If your weather is anywhere near as good as it is up here, you might consider putting a shoot in a tank outside in the sun, flag heating it over summer at least. The amount of sun it gets will boost a shoot you can reintroduce to your tank later.

The good thing is brown algae comes off easier than green algae usually so use a good quality paper towel or some other cleaning device to remove it.

how much lighting do you have? Have you tested for nitrate and phosphate lately?

Usually too much light, a lot of marine tanks seem prone to this. Is it by a window?

I never actually suggested i would do this, i'm talking about the viability of it only. Why would i throw money and enjoyment away?

Hello, I was just thinking - because killifish can live in lower water temps, would there be any lakes/rivers in NZ they could be released in and survive? Would be nice to go down to your local picnic resort and take home a few potluck killies wouldn't it?

A tip: add L260 or common name to the subject

Personally i'm looking for gold nugget and zebra plecos

They are quite fastidious eaters and will eat better in groups, and even better in a group of just discus. But we make do with what we have don't we so see how you get on with the good advice above

I can get some filter material on the go for you bigstatistics, what part of Hamiltron are you in? It can be ready in 2 weeks instead of the usual 4-6 wait. But if you get some danios they will do it for you but you will need to wait about 6 weeks before adding more *precious* fish.

I avoid all albino fish as their sight is substantially impaired. Golden are fine. You know albinos as they have a pink eye, goldens don't.

agreed hehe funny pics

Hi Bigstatistics, you are clearly insane which is a good start. I'd recommend starting with a: -cheap box filter (around $10 from LFS = Local Fish Shop, not fish&chips) or hang on the back filter ($50+) -the filter is powered by an air pump -a heater (1watt/litre) -a light (0.5watts/litre or more) -some gravel (goldfish bowl sells some cheap sacks of the stuff bout $8 a bag) -a few, and only a few, fish to start with. I'd recommend a few danios. you will need to keep these by themselves for 6 weeks while your filter grows beneficial bacteria on it. this is called cycling and there's info on this on the sticky thread in the main beginners section here. this bacteria converts the harmful wastes from the fish to safe wastes. aslong as you keep up with weekly water changes of around 25% min the safe wastes will stay safe. as for the 4 plug, if the socket is below the tank, create a 'drip loop', this is where the cord goes from tank, to nearly the floor, then up a bit to the plug, that way if any water goes down the cord it will drip at the bottom and not into the socket. if this happens you will have fish fingers for dinner. hope this helps

Hello bigstatistics funny post. What kind of fish do you have or are going to get?

Sounds like breeding arowanas

Looks really good, hope you don't need to use that door too often??

I always like the idea of a 25 foot tank. Doesn't have to be very high (deep) or wide (front to back) but if you sump it you can have some huge pumps at one end and intakes at the other making it very river like. There is a tank out there like this took the guy 2 years of planning and he built it himself. I'll see if i can find it. One interesting thing is he made the mistake of putting platties in it and now he just can't get them all out.