Snowman

I just missed out on some albino koi swords from HFF, cool fish, first third was orange, second third was silvery and the final third was orange again, basically 3 stripes, they had the coolest red eyes but wasn't sure if i should get them on Sunday and they had quite a few but decided to get them this morning but someone came and bought all of them yesterday :evil: . Got my name down for more and if you want some it would pay to put your name down at HFF to reserve some.

Of course the water change bit depends on tank size versus stocking levels (also plants to use up the nitrates) I prefer to do regular water water changes, 1 3ft tank has 70 or more growing b/nose but suppose i could do a lot less changes on my 4ft considering there are 180 less guppies than there were a few mths ago but i enjoy doing the changes and spending time with the fish. Makes me laugh having a zodiac loach following and picking at the vacuum and swordtails trying to pull the hairs out of your arms.

How long has the tank been setup and what size is the tank? What type and size filter are you using? What numbers of the other fish are in the tank and do you have live plants to help soak up some of the nitrates? Any shop that knows it's stuff should know that Ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings are the first things asked for in trying to diagnose a problem in the tank, i know there are some Master test kits on Trade Me at the moment sold by Pet Planet that are about the best value around. Personally 3 weeks seems quite long between water changes, i do 20% weekly in all my tanks, if the other fish are looking uncomfortable at all water changes are the best way of diluting excess chemicals.

Can't name names but someone on here has true albino guppies, red eyes and all. He would proberbly swap for a couple of zebra plecs but isn't keen on parting with them as you can imagine.

Got mine yesterday and the year book. First one since i joined AFA : -)> Thanks for a great mag Caryl

Sorry to hear about loosing the GBA. I and a mate i sold some to have had the same thing, fish get to mid size, look happy and healthy and then die for no apparent reason, water is mint and all other occupants happy as larry. I chalked it up as another mystery of fish keeping, i'm starting to think every tank has a "Bermuda Triangle" in it at some stage of its life in which unexpalinable things happen.

Hi Carla, i don't cook the courgette as such but it does get soaked for an hour or two in a bowl of hot water to leach out some juice and soften it slightly, i cut out the seed part and weigh it down with strips of lead through each end. Sometimes they go mad on it and there is basically nothing left in the morning and other times they will hardly touch it,i wonder now if it's an age thing where they prefer younger less ripe courgette. They seem to get bored of the same diet after a week or so. I started giving them shrimp pellets which at first they scoffed down but after a week they had lost interest in it so i gave them bottom feeder tablets, same thing, went mad on them for a week or so then lost interest so i chop and change it now, they always get pleco chips though. Hope this helps : -)>

You could try sending an e-mail to Michael at Pet Planet, they have the cheapest Aqua One tanks in Auckland and could easily freight it to you, I was looking at an AR850, Pet Planet had them for $650 and a local LFS wanted $900 so even including freight it may be cheaper than buying it locally. Tough Tanks custom make tanks and stands but wooden stands and hoods so they don't have the built in light and filter which would bump the cost up, very nice looking just depends on your budget.

2ft should be ok but keep an eye on water parameters, you will need more or bigger tanks if they do spawn, misnoma off here has had 2 spawns with around 100 fry per spawn. I have around 70 GBA's in a 3ft but will need to move some soon as they grow because of the waste they produce and so they can get enough to eat. They have 3 containers with dry food and 3 pieces of courgette spaced evenly apart so that they can all eat at the same time (usually after lights out).

The tank should be big enough but bigger is always better, personally i would use a 3ft as if the eggs hatch you will rapidly run out of room, having a pair is no guarantee you will get eggs but we live in hope LOL Age wise it's hard to tell, a mate has a few but there has been no sign of eggs yet. Main thing is to have a nice small cave type structure or ornament that the male feels comfortable and safe in, just big enough for the 2 of them to fit in. Mine spawned in a small helicopter that i didn't think they would both fit in but somehow they did, must have been a very tight squeeze. Thats the size of it compared to a couple of rams so it is quite small. Thats the eggs just on the edge.

Hi Devon, i only know of one person with Albino guppies and i've already tried to buy them off him, he just laughed LOL Would be cool if someone from here knew of someone breeding them.

LOL Mention it to her and you should at least get a discount on your next purchase and yes she is very on to it, first time i went in there she confused the h#ll out of me with all the scientific names etc LOL Mentioning it may also avoid the same thing happening to someone else.

I would keep an eye on them and if they seem to get distressed do a 20-30% water change, if it was me i would probably do a 50% water change to put my mind at ease. Main thing is checking to see if they are stressing.

I would definately take them back and tell them what you have found about the danios on the net and that they gave you incorrect information, ask for Rebecca, shes the owners daughter and runs the Albany branch. They should at least either give you your money back or a credit (on a heater maybe) there's little difference between tropicals and cold water, about the only differences are tropicals need a heater and there is a much better range of tropical fish available.

Whilst checking water parameters in your tank it doesn't hurt to check the water coming out of your tap, it can explain a lot of wierd readings and puts your mind at ease that the water you are adding is safe for your fish.

Hi, not sure what it could be but i'm sure a bit of Melafix wont hurt if you have it, i would also be doing small water changes every second day. Any idea what the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are?

Sorry to hear about loosing the goldfish Caper , really sux when you can't do anything to help them. I hope the other inhabitants are ok, and don't feel bad you did everything you could for them.

From what i understand they should be off for 8hrs or more for the plants to rest LOL Guess that means you can have them on for up to 16 hrs a day the, you may find the fish are happier being able to rest in darkness for 8 hrs as well.

Cool, definetly leave the algae, i give my GBA tank 2 hrs more light than the others to try and promote alage growth as it seems to be their prefered food and they grow way faster. I put 3 GBA in my guppy tank (now nearly guppyless tank as i'm reminded constantly by that cheeky bu@#er Niloc) about 3 weeks ago and they are growing nearly twice as quick as my GBA tank, i have been feeding them ummm... nothing, but there was quite a bit of algae in there and they are constantly munching on it. The rocks that had a good coating of algae are now bare in places but they seem to be loving it.

Oops four LOL Brain goes into rest mode Frday night and doesn't restart till Monday morning. They should be safe with the other fish, make sure there is planty of food in there as they don't seem to like to travel to far to find it, i now have 3 containers in my tank and it's working quite well, and a couple of bits of courgette of course. The fry seemed to love shrimp pellets but make sure they are in a container with reasonably high sides 50-60mm or it will make a mess in your substrate. Glad to hear you have a female

Had a crack in the bottom of a 3' tank that dropped 160 ltrs on the floor in 20 mins. Lost 99% of my guppies (about 180) Replaced ithe 3' with a 4' tank

Awesome, is that the two you got off me? they are about 5 days old if they dont have any egg sacs, when they first lose their egg sacs they are about 10mm long, this one looks a little bit bigger than that so could be a few weeks old, they will probably spawn every 3 weeks or so, hope you have some spare tank space : -)>

I would use fresh water so there is less chance of any nasties being in the water. You would need an air pump (get a pretty good one for $20-$30) and the corner filter, these usually come with filter wool and you can fill it with whatever media you want for extra biological filtration, a mate uses quite a few in his breeding tanks and just uses some substrate for a bio filter and you can pick them up for $6 or $7 so pretty cheap filtration.

I would go for an air powered corner filter so there is no excess water flow that may stress a sick fish and it would also be suitable if you have fry in the tank.

I have 2 of these and they are one of my favourite loaches. Personality wise they are similar to my Zodiac Loaches. 1 is quite shy but the other one is always out and about, it's also very fat and loves chasing the other loaches. I have watched it fight with the other Angelicious and with the Queen Loaches and it is only out ranked by 2x3" and 1x6 1/2" Clown Loaches. Your right about the lack of info available, the only info i have found is at http://www.loaches.com I'm wondering if the fat loach is carring eggs but with no info available i guess only time will tell. An awesome fish that i would highly recommend.