Peter McLeod

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(1) how do you put pictures on (2) how do you get the pictures to thumbnail size so they don't take ages to come through.

www.ak.planet.gen.nz/~bio you may have to ask for them but they usually have Daphnia in stock.

I have read adult brineshrimp are high in a vitamin that enhaces colour and good health.I have also noticed feeding my guppies live food seems to make them happier and healthier baring the whiteworms at least for the guppies, and I want to be able to raise something in reasonable quantity to feed all my fish that won't do them harm if fed every day.

Anyone had success with growing brineshrimp to adult size.

You need to ask Brineshrimp direct to get a vet certificate for the brineshrimp. When I contacted MAF they said there are only two species allowed, so don't order the smaller species. Everything must be clearly labelled. If you send an enquirey put attention Deb.She helped me out with mine and knows more about sending to NZ.

www.brineshrimpdirect.com only economical if you buy two or more tins.

I think if you are happy it dosn't really matter.As far as I know there isn't anything genetic wise that will do harm just that some people don't like the look of the eyes being fully black.

Sometimes my halfblack yellow guppies do this too and dissapear within a day or so. If you go by the American guppy association they shouldn't be used for breeders if their eyes truely are black. Maybe their eyes are too big for their stomochs

Found this link through Championship show guppies. Anyone realy interested in linebreeding will find it interesting. A few big names in guppies giving interviews.Need to logg in to get access to the site but it is worth it. www.fullredguppy.com

If you want good guppies you have to keep the temperature constant.If the room you have them is stays stable and I wouldn't recomend lower than 20 degrees and if you want large tails on your fish at least 24 degrees.The drop rates for the females will slow the lower the temperature and probably dissapear at 15 degrees.Over the warmer months I have kept guppies and platties outside in green water with good results, but all you need is one cold night and the sudden drop in temperature will not be kind to your fish whether they die from the innitial drop in temperature or suffer some infection or stress as a result of the temperature drop.

Linebreeding Guppies and other fish is a very rewarding hoby if you have the pacience and tankspace.You will need a minimum of 6 tanks for each strain to do it properly. I have found temperatures between 22-24 degrees is the best range.Below this the fry tend to be small and do grow hapily but probably won't reach their full potential.Above 26 degrees I have found problems with infertility and also female to male ratio with very few males. I started my H/B yellow strain off with one nice female I found in a petshop.I did this mainly because with the fy I could be sure they were already related.Most of the fry were yellow with some being black.By breeding the cleanest tailed yellow males with the cleanest yellow females one generation and dad to his duaghters if there were no good males in the next it wasn't long before I had fixed both the black and the yellow with some gold body yellows also comming out as well.Three years or so later I have 3 different strains from one female. I would not say the fish are perfect and I have seen fish in petsops much better but at least the fish are consistantly that colour and I can work on improoveing different features of the strains over time. Even if your tanks are small and you only have space for 3-4 fish in each the males and females need to be kept separate until you are ready to choose your future breeders.The main Idea is quality not quantity.Young potential breeders could be housed in a display tank if you wish but keep the females away from all males especially males that are not related.

If mum and dad are fed well they will be ready again in a week or so.The male may need a bit longer than the female if he hasn't eaten.Watch the weather and try to set the tank up a day or two before a low arrives and feed them some live food to give them a rainy season feeling.

Sorry Robbo As far as I know there is no easy cure for dropsy.It dosn't as far as I know sread to other fish and sometimes it is better for the fish if you can bring youself to let it go.

You could try separating her and increasing the salt in the water she is in, and maybe some methyl blue.I have always found even if they recover they are never the same and no good for breeding.

Some of my female guppies used to get Dropsy.Problem I think was diet.Too many white worms.Have not had the problem again since I stopped feeding the worms to them.I grow blood worms instead.

Are her scales standing out of her body.Dropsy Some live-food could encourage her to drop faster if she is having trouble giving birth and won't eat anything else.

I have found this a problem with young female guppies in the past.Like Rob has said I have found small breeding traps stress the female out and she will often hold back the fry and will also stop eatting.I use 3 litre containers and if the female hasn't dropped replace the water every 2 days.The females also get some live food rather than flakes that foul the water if uneaten in such a small area.Live food seems to snap them out of stress.I have also found most female guppies won't eat their fry if the container is reasonably small and unfurnished. If the female will eat, some live food such as whiteworms or bloodworms can get the female to drop quicker.My theory is that the full stomoch gives more presure and aids the mother in dropping her fry.

Glad your having success Come over anytime. I have split my H/B yellows into two different lines now, grey and gold body. Now I have the space I can use the more stable lines to work on new strains if I see a nice male. Have noticed some of the H/B blues have purple colour and have set a couple of tanks up for them also. Don't think the garage will be big enough!!

I have been breeding snakeskins for a few generations and have been attempting to fix a yellow cordal with no red.Yellow and red are a dangerous mix when breeding or so I have found. Probably better if your in Rotorua some time for you to come pick your own as I may send you something you don't want.Being a new strain they are a bit open to not being not as fixed as I would like.At least you will be able to get some females off me as well that are related.

Have you tried Bio Suppliers They have their own website Hopefully this link works www.ak.planet.gen.nz/~bio

I have a range of different sized tanks 10,20,30,40.At the moment I am short on space and will be moving into my garage shortly.I am putting all my tanks on a central filtration system with UV in the system to help slow down any disease outbreak.I will use the room I have now spcifically for breeding and gravid female livebearers and fry.Hopefully if I set it up right it will require little maintenance and I will be able to get back to enjoying my fish more. All of my tanks are bear bottom which makes them easier to syphon, espcially when there is alot of uneaten food lying around.

Breed the father back to the daughters, and if possible to his granddaughters.To create a strain you must condence the gene pool as much as possible.Once your new strain is putting out reasonably consistant fish you will need to set up two lines with the strain, with the idea you will use each line to cross into each other every few generations to give them some genetic diversity without dammaging your new line by adding in fish you have no idea of what other characteristics the may be hiding. Try breeding an easier strain to start with.Halfblack or Snakeskin perhaps and work on the tail shape you want first.Colour will be fairly easy to set but you will loose the tail shape first so concentrate on that. I had 7 tanks inside all powered by their own pumps and heaters.I turned my toolshed at the back of the garage into a fishroom.The idea is to make the room as well insulated as possibled, during the winter the power bill for the room I have worked out to be about $20.Much less than when I was inside and I have ten times the tankspace. Goodluck Not as hard as it seems as long as you have patients