HummingBird

So in your first post in this topic you deny there being any cruelty in nature, then you take an about face and admit that there's cruelty in nature. Whether or not this cruelty is a 'nessesaty', as you put it, is irrelevant. Necessary cruelty is still cruelty. Re the Camels - If you want to get pedantic, I used the word may, so it was a hypothetical statement and I never said the hypothetical camels were "perfectly healthy". Also the 'untammed'(sic) animals aren't working together to create and regulate an ecosystem, they're out there to eat anything they can.

It almost sounds like your tank is completely uncycled. Wouldn't surprise me with the ammo-lock in there, nothing for the bacteria to eat.

I don't think Jude meant to say that nature was cruel, but that causing intentional unnessary suffering is. Vultures may peck Camels to death in the wild but you don't have to give your pet Vultures live Camels.

Don't know how sound the 'one bite' theory is, I mean who's to say that being swallowed alive and slowly dieing in another fish's stomach acid is preferable to being torn in half and dieing comparatively quickly?

I agree with James here, there isn't much of a difference between feeding the malawis a goldfish or a betta. Same level of cruelty.

Yeah I should have done this a while ago too... Name: Eric Wilson Age: 18 Occupation: Mini Golf dude Sex: Male Book: Anything by Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov or Arthur C Clarke Car: White AW11 MR2 Hobbys: Fish, computers, reading, sleeping Family: 2 parents, 1 sister Other pets: Grey Cat - 'Gizmo' Location: Highland Park, Auckland Favourite food: Steak

Depends how big the tanks are and how much surface contact you have. But it'd be doubtful.

Just caught the guys hanging out on the back of my internal filter, guess they like it because it's a tight, dark place with lots of flow.

Here's one for $50 on trademe: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 789977.htm

If you actually do have Black Beard algae on them though (I've had this before) make sure the phosphate level of the tank is 0 (I used a phosphate remover resin) then double dose the fertiliser Flourish Excel and the algae should turn red/pink and die.

Plantman from this forum keeps ones he catches from his local stream, they only survive in cold water though I think, I put some of his in one of my tropical tanks and they just disappeared. There are a ton of snails in the tank so I'm assuming they just ate the bodies.

Does he sit around all of the time or just some of the time? I had a fighter similar looking to yours that was quite old and he sat around a bit but was perfectly healthy. Could just be that he's old, keep an eye on him for more symptoms though.

Give me a buzz when you've got some spare daphnia Wok - feel like trading some for some baby platys or guppies? :lol:

Yeah I've got a slice of cucumber (the courgette I had was rotten :-?) right outside the castle and another halfway down the tank, there's also a ton of algae on the glass because the tank's near a window, I was going to clean it off today when I was doing the water change but when I saw the fry I decided not to. I'm almost 100% that he/she is the only survivor of the first spawn, took a good long look around the tank and it was the only one I could see.

There's four in the tank that I got off you, three females and one male I think. Sounds definately like that other one's from a previous spawn then, can't believe I missed that. The other B/N won't eat the fry will they? The only fish in the tank apart from them is an African Butterfly fish, and he sticks to the surface almost all the time.

Float the bag for about 10-15min until the temperatures in and out of the bag are the same, then every 10min put a cup of the tank water into the bag. This slowly adjusts the pH and whatnot so they don't go into osmotic shock or anything.

My Angels just started laying too

I'm not normally inclined towards resin castles, but this tank has two because I figured that they're tight, enclosed spaces that the B/N would like to breed in, looks like I was right 8)

I was doing the water change my 2ft that has my Golden Bristlenose in it when I noticed the resin castle in it was a bit dirty, so I took it out to clean it. I flipped it upside down to make sure there weren't any stoways in it and sure enough there was the male, then he moved a bit and I noticed the wad of eggs he was guarding Of course I immediately shoved it back into the tank. A little while later I noticed a little baby sucking its way around the castle, not sure if this is one that's already hatched or if it's from another spawn, because it's fairly big (How big are they when they hatch?) anyways, here's a pic I got of it:

The only mosses I've got are Java and Erect, and you've already got them. Good luck finding some though!

I've got a pair of fully grown Angels in a community tank with Cardinal Tetras, Siamese fighters, Clown Loaches and Bristlenose Catfish and I haven't had any problems at all with them, they pretty much keep to themselves and ignore everyone else (except when they breed - then they defend their territory rigorously). Angels might be ok with your other fish but they definately will eat anything and everything they can fit in their mouths (mine occasionally get a baby guppy snack).

Common plecos are, as long as they're acclimatised to the colder temperatures. Dunno about any other types.

The directions on Flourish Excel say to use it daily. Don't think it contributes to algae though, it's mostly carbon isn't it?

Catbrat had some a while ago that died: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/dead-q ... t4704.html

Somebody on this forum had some Queen Arabesques a while ago that died, so they must be available in NZ somewhere.