henward

I have had extensive experience with pacus. LOVE THEM but cant keep them after 2 years. you can stunt their growth, and they dotn grow bigh, thats cruel, and while stunting, means starving, theywill kill and eat anything they can get. reed hook pacus are a better option i reckon, why not bring those in. Reed hook metynis, also known as a red hook pacu - growns to only 40cm. i have seen in thailand, pacus that grew to a massive size! dwarfs even a GAR and Redtail cat! pacus are huge. i had one 60cms, ate 2x 1 foot plecos, and tried to eat the heater.... discovered heater cos i upt my hand in tank and felt a sharp tingle:) they also eat mice, even rats.......... anything really. bringing them in is fine, but they should have a warning. most of them will end up dying im sure, or put down or maybe released in western springs perhaps? yeah, it is abit stupid selling them, but then again, alot of people buy arowanas and put them in a 4 or 5 foot tank, thinking its fine, 1 year later, its too big, and advertised on TM.

thanks fraser.......... i know where you live 8) mmmm i wonder if there is a special for a dozen eggs....... :evil:

what do they use to flush, maybe just extra pressure?

red, red tailed arowana yes, its a gold variant but not as high grade meaning scales only up to 4th lines of scale.

i had trouble getting it to load here photo bucket it was on 'small' but wouldnt load still...

thick mor so than long like silvers. fat body. Lights power glows to tan the fish and bring out more gold. Link here: resizing the photo would mean comprimising the quality. Really annoying how we have to have tiny pics http://fishkeepers.co.nz/forums/viewtop ... =20&t=3203

giant gouramis love them. but you will no doubt have the husk of the peak at the bottom of the tank rotting away - and they are a pain. but nothignw rong with peas in fact, its really abit of a super food

sounds like the wood is enchanted. perhaps it gives +2 to strength and dexterity ok.. dont know answers

i reckon locusts are hardier, thats why they are a pest:D and they do get to size quickly. but like they said, both of pros and cons, i just choose locusts as it suits my lifestyle and situation:D

some swear by crix, some locusts i have tried both. I prefer Locusts. locust breeds like crazy they are easy to keep in terms of heat, just permanent heat will let them thrive, no thermostat needed - and locust babies are hardier than crix. They immediately eat greenery wtih in a few hours of hatching. Down side of locust is that they require fresh greens as much as pssible. I found they grow way way faster on grass than bran flakes. i do have bran in case they run out. key to locust is that DO NOT ever let them run out of grass and they will grow rapidly. Make sure wtih locust that you clean up the poo and left over grass, beetles can infest this and fungus can grow. but that goes with out saying just clean the tank! Have a front oening cage for locust, i found if you dont they fly out when you catch them, instinct is that they fly upwards. CRIX. more nutritious apparently, also you can gut load crix wtih ANYTHING you want! as they will eat anything. i found they needed more temp regulation, as well as the babies are extremely fragile. I had hundreds hatch only to die 2 days later. Crix also eat their young, so you must separate. Take eggs to hatchery so adults can keep laying is the easy way, Locust can live together - thats why they are such an afflication in some countries, they are prolific

ok when it comes tob reeding, i know discus everyone says use BBS to feed babies and slowly take them off it and intro pellets. discus eat the mucous also... thats different. hwo bout cichlids. more so Oscars, Flowerhorns, texas, etc they dont have the mucous what do the babies eat? Do we feed them BBS too? then intro pellet or can we get into pellet straight away? I remember i had some fh babies, and i fed crushed pellets, it ate them but should i have fed bbs first before pellets? or for cichlids, is it ok to feed decap BS egs or small enough powdered pellets?

yes true im not really arguing in this regard, i guess my optimism and excitement got the better of me never purchased, didnt lose anything and like you said, maf can come look at my old boxers if there are reptiles in there no worries. i have nothing to hide.

too right p44, dont do it at all! agreed actualy ironically enough, i called the 0800 maf number - and i asked if itw as ok and they said YES! if its on trade me it should be ok. was the exact answer... none the less, it was ok:) so i did my homework as being a collector like alot of you - we do have to practice due dilligence.

a Licensing system, similar to models around the world works. Definately. it has to be a Self funded and revenue neutral endeavour for the govt. For example: a person wants a lizard. He pays for quarantine - pays for inspection, rego fees, and monthly inspection - if it disappears he must report. Inspections happen like clock work - wtih out fail, Funded by the Hobbyist. I would pay for this...thsi would work. But - its just not something maf prioritises. I sit on both sides of the fence. I love exotics - Everyone here knows that. But .... if they did say that whats in the country stays that way anything new will go.... then you will see a massive surge in smuggling for those few months to increase the types in this country. That would bring in problems in it self. Even registration and self funded revenue neutral or even profit for the govt would mean that they spend money initally to set up, and there is the return on investment factor they have to think of. if you think about it, really, how much money would they make. In NZ, how many people would actually pay for this? i bet you can count it - as it is that little. its not worth it. The end of the day, we have our natives.... i dont particularly like them, but each to their own - if you want other things.....perhaps move to canada where you can pretty much have any animal you can want! fish, reptiles, the lot. You can buy an arowana from singapore.... and no quarantine straight off the plane take it home in canada. Reptiles too. NZ is NZ, what makes this place good is what also makes it annoying and sometimes bad.....(my proverbial BS for the day:) In this article, Haisley has failed to disclose the source. If you know the source is legal.... then why not disclose it? Its obviously illegal. Do you know how many people got roped in to this? I can tell you - MANY. I personally - and am not kidding as i have the search warrant at home. was raided by maf, underwear drawers searched, everything searched - just because he emailed him and phone him about the frogs. What did he say to me? "MAF visits there all the time and seem the frogs and said it was ok" LITERALLY this is what was said. I can speak of this as the case is finished in the courts - and as we can see publicised now. Then MAF raids my house, looking for these frogs.... I agreed with him that iw ould buy 2 for $500 dollars thinking it was all legal and fine wtih MAF as i was led to believe. then one day i get 2 uniforms and 3 maf enforcers climing on my gate like some movie - which i msut admit, was kinda cool! but anyway..... Smuggled or not - they were not meant to be here right? Thats the key. Haisley was discharged without conviction - even though he pleaded guilty. As NZs court system allows, if someone pleads guilty - and puts a case why they shoudl not have a conviction as serious as smuggling wildlife - then they get away only with a 10k slap on the wrist... I was interogated by MAF - I was also going to be a witness in court. In the process, Haisley has spokena nd bad mouthed me with all the leopard gecko breeders in this country (i bought mine off him too) that they should not deal with me at all. This is unfair. What am i supposed to do when maf and cops knock at your door. I told the truth of what he said to me directly. I didnt lie - but haisley expected me to cover for him? FOR WHAT? !?! WHY?? when i was just a buyer of supposedly legal animals. He even called me to harass me and i had to get MAF lawyers to inform him that it is obstructing justice what he is doing. There are 2 leopard gecko keepers in this forum that used to regularly talk to me - and now they dont even answer basic PMs..... lesson is - if you are gonna sell an animal that is borderline ILLEGAL or SMUGGLED 1) dont do it on trademe 2) Dont lie to people that its legal because by law - people who are told its legal cannot get in trouble, only you can get in trouble by misleading them. There is of course a common sense factor such as drugs and things like that, everyone knows thats illegal. You know, after the raid, i had a solicitor review maf acts and laws. When interviewed by MAF, you actually dont have the right to remain silent. MAF in essense have more power to extract info than cops in some cases! I guess when your countries economy is predominantly Agri - thats what happens:) wow that felt good to get that off my chest!

just teh festae but i have a spare tank, this FH is fantastic, has very defined dots, 8 to 9 including the head spot. defined, no carry over from one spot to another. i believe its male. also, it will have a big melon on its head - can tella nd its still smalish. very good colours, good condition. might have a second look this weekend and get it. dont want fh that have 'lines' instead of spots really.... the spots is what does it for me:D festae eating already, cleaning up after the black aro chews up its food lol i am gonan give it the henward treatment and enlarge it quick

makes sense. just annoying i want to knwo fi mine is fem or male lol fair enough, must be unreliable if most dont find it to work well as a method of sexing. looks nice though!

thsoe products base their dry bacteria on similar principles to yeast, except it dosent work as well as yeast raises bread:D to be honest, i wouldnt bother. better yet, fill tank, run filter and put a few pieces of shrimp in there or something to cause amonia spike.....eventually the bacteria will naturally occur and you will have a stronger colony that dose not fluctuate in performance. something you can set your watch to!! like feeding a big ball of beef with out worrying

yeah, looks awesome anyways! i just wish the one i got looks like that lol

but then again this one is a contradiction. both have bars and are well coloured

less colour is male same here aswel confused. david has one that looks like that, and im sure its a fem. i want a fem! i hope mine is a fem.

that looks like a female. apparently females have the black dorsal fin and black anal fin. thats what i read anyway. i got a small one today, lucky dip, see what happens. that isa nice festae

turn the heater on, if its a big tank, the heat will go up slowly, slow enough to aclimatise them. all you can do is reduce stress, and wait and see

how many bichirs in teh tank total?

9 gallon...wow ........ abit small.... you are abit limited. small amounts of waste will be alot in a tank like that. maybe a few neons and plant it?

if your gonna spend anything around 3000 to 5000 on fish get a high grade arowana, a nice chilli or VIP red Or a gold head!