Gatito

Milet, you could hire kapo's kids to get them for you

Maybe they were all on the nearest footpath - don't they do that when it rains? start a worm farm

Hopefully they're getting faster! I haven't ended up putting anything in with Vegas

awesome!!! so cute, we used to breed axies when i was a kid, i think we just used bbs until they grew... google is not helping me help you... i would call a clever pet store or someone that raises them, might be quicker than waiting for replies

Don't know much about the tester - i use the chemical test kits, but the seller has 100% good feedback, so less likely to be a rip-off merchant

Thanks Ron, am wanting to up my knowledge a bit before i get them, but will keep that in mind

i'll just have to do my best Am i better off getting a number of them, or just a pair? or get a group and then move the rest on when a nice pair/trio develops?

rocks catfish or anabantoids

oooh, don't do what i did and leave too much cucumber in the tank while ur at work :roll: . Right when i first started in tropical fishkeeping i did this - would have been ok if i hadn't put in too much for them to finish off!! Came home to cloudy smelly water... never did it again

That's quite sad. I've seen "balloon rams" for sale and thought it was just another variety, but for people to be breeding for this and encouraging it isn't right IMO. I wish it was more well-known for those new to keeping them - i had no idea, only thought it was weird that they were quite similar to the blues :roll: Looks like it's just blue rams for me then I liked them the best anyway

spa pool ocean or river (swimming)

Awesome, thanks for that Alan, will do so once i'm all set to go I can't find anything online about the balloon ram resulting from a deformity - can anyone direct me to some more information? Sounds interesting, and I had no idea!

Oh, are they? Lol, maybe i should direct more research to the history and less to the husbandry How did that (the baloon) happen? Also, does anyone know - are most LFS stock from NZ breeders?

I am interested in keeping both blue and balloon rams, and maybe the gold and other varieties if I can find any information and the fish themselves. Am currently doing my research before looking for nice stock, as I would like to try my hand at breeding them once they’re established. If anyone could offer some advice or share some wisdom, that would be great. Also have my ear open for breeders with nice stock – unrelated pairings would be great. Do they pair permanently, or just for each spawn? Depending on that answer, will keeping different varieties together risk hybrid spawns, or will they pair with their own and stick with them? They’re gorgeous fish, my main interest is in husbandry for now, but would like the fish I get to be ideal for breeding if/when I go down that path. Should I be getting a bunch of juveniles and waiting for them to pair up? Thanks!!

looks great to me!! Can i borrow the pretty white/yellow stripy fish? He'd look great in my community tank (j/ks) :lol:

Hey guys, i found one of my big females floating dead last night. Haven't had her for long, and she was pregnant but not far along. When i took her out i noticed that the.... don't know the name... orifice from which she gives birth... had a swelling, or something poking out, i don't know, looked blocked? I gave her a very specialised and professional post-mortem poke in the belly, and a clear, thick orange gel bulged out and then came globbing out of this.... orifice. Got too grossed out at that point, so not sure if the orifice split open a bit or if this stuff just came out from the pressure. Was this jelly stuff the beginning of little guppies-to-be? Same colour as you see in their bellies when they're pregnant, before it gets darker. Why did she die? Something went wrong? Age? She was big, but not as big as i've seen females get - i have slightly larger ones...

didn't see them, but i will have a look...

I just want to say it was great to see/meet all the new members, and old members that have been away for a bit. Awesome!!

welcome fishychick, good on ya for not getting discouraged!!!

welcome

I don't see anything wrong with handfeeding. I did it with flakes for my wild mollies, just because once they got used to being in a tank, they got SO tame, and it was awesome having 30+ fish swarming my hand and nibbling me too Now i hand-feed my community tank about 2 times a week - i just hold a block of frozen bloodworms for them. Mainly because I want my clown loaches to be tamer so i can hand feed them, especially once they're BIG. And the gourami are cute - they use their little frond things (name for the fins escapes me - TGI Friday!!!) to touch my fingers. Silly mollies just nibble at my wrist and ignore the food :roll:

i'm sure there'd be a demand if you did

run Glow or shimmer?

awesome, very helpfull thread

my fine wool just sits on the very top getting very dirty. I haven't had any flow problems yet No expert myself, but it's worjking for my tank