Snowman

I've got a few different types of loaches in my community tank(haven't got the ones you're asking about Eric) the only ones that seem to upset the apple cart are the Angelicious, i've noticed one of them chasing the yo-yo's, striatas and queen loaches and one of the queens has a nibble missing from the dorsal fin, they dont seem to bother the clown loaches but the clowns definetly aren't out as often as they used to be.

A lot of it comes down to getting the fish here and then our governments idea of protecting the country, some fish have to go into quarintine for up to 6 weeks with regular vet and MAF (ministry of agriculture and fisheries)inspections. Its a huge risk say import 10 Zebra Plecos that may cost $150 each, then if maf decides they have a disease kill them all. A lot of fish still come from the wild.

I know what you mean, my fish are living and breeding well but i find the challange is keeping plants alive LOL was tempted to go for fake plants but like the fact that live plants use up the nitrate and phosphates in the tank (if i can keep the plants alive long enough to use the phosphates i wouldn't have a black beard algae problem but the BBA covers the leaves to quick)

I'm picking it must be an American site as i would give my right arm for a pair of these.

The thing i don't like about under gravel filters is that any waste, excess food & in my GBA tank courgette stays in the tank, i much prefer to get unwanted gunk out of the tank.

Its a hard one with air bubbles, i found out that having more bubbles will oxygenate the water more but the more bubbles you have the quicker the CO2 dissipates so if you have live plants too many bubbles may cause a lack of CO2. It will be safe to remove it, the fish won't even notice.

You could try them on some shrimp pellets, thats what my GBA eat first between that, Nutrafin bottom feeder tabs (second to go) and pleco chips (think they have spirilina and wood in them) and they have a chew on the driftwood. I do recommend feeding shrimp pellets in a container of some sorts, i use a rectangalur glass dish about 80mm tall so the shrimp pellets don't end up in the substrate. Are you feeding them some veges like courgette or cucumber? my GBA go through a piece about 40mm long cut in half every day.

They have a legal obligation to provide a guarantee, i would start by aralditing the locks in their doors, then when they get that fixed you araldite the door itself, what goes around comes around and i usually make it so LOL i got some real nasty and expensive tricks but as they say.... pay back is a bi@#$ LMAO

Basically impossible, you cant import them anymore as if i recall correctly they are getting to be a rare species in their homeland, Kim who used to be at Pupuke Aquarium was baby sitting one and someone else posted they had a female but i'm not sure if they were going to try to breed them, Zebra Plecos are an awesome looking fish but they were around $400 each i think, i would love to find a pair and breed them but they are scarcer than hens teeth. So for us unlucky people the pic is as close as we get to them

It's not a stringy poop is it, i've seen some real long ones from my standards and GBA.... if not BIIK (Bu@#ered If I Know) scratches bald spot on head & ponders...

From what Maurice (AFA) told me you can import them but they must stay in Quarintine, you are allowed to spawn them and sell the fry but never the imported fish, so basically once it has spawned either keep it in Quarantine or cull it. Seems rather wierd to me being able to sell the fry but not the fish ..... but then ...when has anything our govt has done made sense LOL

Personally i would go in & cause mayhem & scare all their customers out the door and see how long it took for them to sort the problem out. I wouldn't leave until they did, and i'd love every minute of it LOL If their other tanks are out of sight of the staff i would enjoy going around and super gluing all the lids shut LOL :evil:

Very cool tank, but if i had $20,000 spare i can think of quite a few ways to spend it LOL, a fish room springs to mind

I know of quite a few people that have Aqua One tanks from the 620, 850 980 and yours is the only one i've ever heard of that leaks. Does it have Aqua One written on the lid as from what i could see of the pic you posted it didn't look like an Aqua One, it should have what size it is on the left hand bottom of the tank.

I use a 10 ltr watering can as well, i use an old 3 ltr orange juice bottle (water blasted inside to clean it out LOL) of hot water in and top it up with cold no Stress Coat or anything else just straight tap water. Seems 30% hot water 70% cold gives mine a temp of 25 deg, depends on how hot your water cylinder is of course

Ummmm Aqua the 620T isn't a Via Aqua tank it's an Aqua One I have an AR850 and they are an awesome display tank, depending on how much it is you may want to price one up + freight fromhttp://www.petplanet.co.nz They are by far the cheapest and even with freight may work out cheaper, as an example they do my 850 for $650 and another well known LFS has the identical tank for $900 LOL

It's tempting to buy them even to give to Hollywood to ensure they actually survive, i agree with the closet thing but make sure there is only a tiny hole to breathe as i would hate to see the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels in such a small tank with a tiny filter, 4 oscars and a large pleco (grits teeth and wants to rip fools head off) :evil:

Just sent him a message "Hi, i'm not surprised the oscar has damage, for 4 oscars i wouldnt use anything less than a 5-6 ft tank, at least 600 litres, you need to sell off these fish seperately as that tank will hardly take 1 adult oscar, 4 oscars in there is just cruel! " Some poor person with no experience will buy this (although if he paid $330 for it new hes dreaming if he thinks he will get $250, tank is way under filtered for 4 oscars) and then wonder why the fish are dying or killing each other. Feel like complaining to Trade Me.

Definetly put her in something by herself for a while as the stress makes them susectible to diseases and other problems, either another tank or one of the breeding nets as the nets give them more room and the male can't see her very well, are your water conditions within acceptable limits e.g. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, a 20% water change and some stress coat may help.

Welcome to "the" site Raven, it seems to be as addictive as fish but immensely informative, friendly and usefull.

I used to breed angles, put two 45's in a tank and got a 90, then bred two 90's and got a 180 :roll:

There are plenty of fish that would love to have that many mossies for dinner, guppies, swords, most fish. My angels would have a field day in there and probably explode LOL

Where abouts did you buy your tank and fish from Varina? They should know better than to seel you so much stock for an un cycled tank.

Hi Penejane, when you say you have cleaned the filter do you mean cleaned the impeller and around where the impeller locates, it is also important to clean as much as you can of the intake and outlet, you can buy a small brush witn nylon attached that is used for cleaning the inside of pipes that i find usefull for getting into tight places. How old is your filter ?

Would the snails do anything to Black Beard Algae or am i hoping for to much?