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Chris said... > I was wondering if you can get these in NZ ? Not an option as far as I know. Wish they were available, they're good for killies too. Andrew.

Caryl said... > Personally, I would not feed them. I'm with Caryl on this one. Nothing worse than coming home to find your auto-feeder has broken and dumped the lot into the tank on day 1... Since they're well past being baby discus, a couple of days with no food shouldn't hurt them at all and, as Caryl said once again, might make them a bit more enthusiastic about other foods when you return. You'll probably find your tank really clean too... Andrew.

Ira said... > I'm just curious if anyone can identify a plant I've found in my pond. It's not Hydrodictyon reticulatum is it? A weed algae. or perhaps Chara? http://www.niwa.cri.nz/rc/prog/aquaticp ... ged-18.jpg or Nitella? http://www.niwa.cri.nz/rc/prog/aquaticp ... /submerged Really, more info is needed (ideally a picture). Andrew.

Rob said... > Yip clay hoplos are the 'other' hoplos (Hoplosternum littorale), > got both of them up at Hollywoods one time, haven't seen them > anywhere else. Excellent! I hadn't seen them for so long that I was concerned they'd been lost from the hobby. They're easy enough to breed and being smaller are more suited to the average community tank, IMHO. > I'm definitely aware of your acquisitive nature when it > comes to Killies and you're definitely top of the list for > where the first younguns go. I'll look forward to them. Will probably be passing through the Waikato in November... Andrew.

Aqua said... > Does anyone know if Indian Fern can be grown out of the water? It will produce aeriel leaves (fronds, I guess, being a fern) sometimes but as far as I know needs to kept very humid so I'd guess it wouldn't do well out of a tank. Andrew.

Rob said... > 2 clay hoplos These are the 'other' hoplo? I used to breed heaps of both kinds but haven't seen any of the smaller browner version for the best part of 10 years. I'm happy to have recently got some young of the more commonly available species and look forward to breeding them once they're older. > 3 logsucker fish You made that up! > 6 Normans lampeye killies + young Excellent! You know I'm keen to get some of those! Glad to see you're getting a few dwarf cichlids. I know how much you love to hear 'breed those' so I wont actually say it, I'll just think it... Andrew, with tank space to spare...

Folks, Scattered in 40 various sized tanks (mostly smaller killifish tanks) there resides at my house (non-human population shifts from day to day, depending on what's breeding): 2 Axolotls (Actually, Angs) an unknown number of WCMM 3 Corydoras paleatus 4 Otocinclus spp 2 adult angels 100+ angel fry 6 Hoplo cats 7 Corydoras melini 2 Bolovian rams 4 clown loaches 5 Ancistrus 8 Harlequin rasboras 3 Emperor tetras 4 SAEs 2 Bettas 4 paradise fish 2 Medaka 2 leopardfish 2 rasbora spp. 5 albino Fundulopanchax gardneri an unknown amount of regular Fp. gardneri an unknown amount of Aphyosemion scheeli 3 Epiplatys annulatus 2 Epiplatys dageti a dozen or so Aplocheilus panchax 5 gold Aplocheilus lineatus 2 gold Aphyosemion australe some Austrolebias nigripinnis a pair of Madagascan rainbows 6 Odessa barbs (hopefully one of which is a female) 5 snakeneck turtles, some frogs and newts a dozen or so goldfish in the swimming pool 3 cats, 20 or 30 rats, 2 people and innumerable odd plants... Andrew.

Chris said... > If you go into Jansens Mt Eden, they have a tank with Coldwater > guppies in it Just make sure they're *not* Gambusia. This is one fish that has, as far as I can tell, *no* redeeming features... Expect guppies that have become acclimatised to cooler water to be less colourful, to eat less, to be less active and to breed less often than their warm water cousins. They'll live longer though and generally be hardier. As with most things, there are pluses and minuses... Andrew.

Aqua said... > Just wondering who out there has got into the breeding of guppies? Our own beloved Cees is quite into his guppies, as is Peter Mcleod and various others. There are *many* websites out there. If you want to try a cold water, guppy-like fish, you might consider the leopard fish (Phalloceros caudimaculatus) which are sometimes available. Andrew.

Nico said... > Finally managed to purchase another Reliant thermostat > unit, and replace the faulty one, but my question is; is > there anything else on the market in which I can controller > the temperature better with my set-up. Let face it the Reliant > thermostat is a bit of a hit and miss with the temperature controls. I use Reliant thermostats on all my heating pads (including tanks in the fishroom, my snakeneck turtle tank, and Nepenthes terraria indoors) and find they do a pretty good job at keeping the temperature where I want it. Every couple of years one kharks it but only once have I lost fish because of it and that was about 5 years ago. Any other temperature control method ('electronic' thermostats etc) seem a lot more expensive and hard to source and/or replace. YMMV, though. Andrew.

Hamish said... > ... and there once was a male guppie ... Over the weekend, I bought 6 young Hoplo cats (Hoplosternum spp). In the bag there were also 2 guppies that somehow swam into the next while the catfish were being caught and which were designated 'freebies'. All the fish were released into my community tank, the hoplos are swimming about happily but the guppies instantly vanished upon release and have not been seen since, despite some searching. I think they must have a virtual tank somewhere that they can teleport to when they feel the need. Having said that, I did lose an Aphyosemion scheeli in the same tank for a couple of months and then he just re-appeared so maybe they let killies in to virtual-guppy-world too... Andrew.

Fiona said... > ... I'm looking for a very large, tropical aquarium, filled with > shoals of brightly coloured fish, to shoot for a video project... You might want to check out one of the bigger fish shops to see if they have good display tanks or know of any of their customers who may be able to help (perhaps 'afterhours'). A fish shop might be very keen to help, for a bit of 'free' advertising... Andrew, in Palmerston North, where there is one shop that would probably be able to help...

Folks, Got mine yesterday. Like the new format and style, good job Caryl. The photos really add to the overall impact. I'm looking forward to further issues. Andrew.

Jodi said... > I am setting up a tank, but the flouro light (single bulb) > I've been given is not as long as the tank. What sort of > plants (cheap and available) would be good to grow in > the dark corners? How deep is the tank? Whatever you get, be sure to use a new tube. Tubes lose a lot of their output as they age and you'll be needing as much light as you can squeeze out of the setup. You might want to paint the inside of the reflector with white paint as well if it's not already. Andrew.

Goldie said... > .... I could not get to that site .... That's because there was a 'full stop' at the end of the URL. Try: http://www.geocities.com/i_lovebeer/index.html Andrew.

Caryl said... > ... the vital dangly bit... You've got to love these technical terms Andrew.

Nooboon said... > I have very short, dark green algae growing on the older > leaves of my plants. Does it look like the last photo here: http://www.floridadriftwood.com/algae_i ... ation.html if so, it's probably the dreaded 'black beard/brush algae'. Seems to be a problem when there are an excess of phosphates, from what I've read. There is much info about it in various aquaria sites, such as: http://www.manateemiddle.org/pollutions ... page23.htm The best critter to eat it is the Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) which are obtainable from time to time. There are some fish that look similar but are less effective, have a look at my SAEs on Sunday. Andrew.

Rob said... > You're looking for a brick red coloured clay (yes clay, so if > it's moist it will be reasonably sticky) not just a reddish dirt. The stuff I saw in WA was in little weathered nodules that would've been ideal for aquaria I reckon. Anybody tried baking the clay to make it less likely to cloud tank water? I'd be interested in hearing the location, if you don't mind e-mailling me Rob. Andrew.

Aqua said... > ... they'll still be better for my plants than plain old > gravel though aye? Yep, most likely. > I need a new plant now as well I'd recommend some other sort of 'sword' plant, one of the Echinodorus. > I'm pulling the PEACE LILY out as soon as I've got a > new, terrestial home for it! It'll thank you for it, I'm sure. While you're at it, keep away from Syngonium species as well: http://paul.aaquaria.com/ProfilesHome2/ ... synog.html as they're commonly sold as aquatics. Andrew.

Pegasus said... > Don't know if it will help, but a lot of the garden centers > are selling 'Plant Tabs" ... These are *not* laterite though so don't confuse the two. Andrew.

Caryl, > We are currently updating our list on this site. While you're at it, you might want to update: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/aquarium-world.0.html Was looking for your home address yesterday... Andrew.

Pegasus said... > ... it's so easy, with no copy or paste to do... I never said it wasn't easy, just that I didn't like it. > I got basically the same answer Because, it's true. If Cees asks me to use the 'approved' technique then I'll stop using the '>' if and when I post. Andrew, stuck in his ways... ;-)

Oscar Sheila said... > ... why don't you use the quote system that is already there? Because I like plain text whenever possible. Andrew.

Aqua said... > Does anyone know if these are available? Laterite is sometimes available in the LFS but is generally very expensive. When I was in Western Australia I saw heaps of it all over the place (a lot of the plants I was looking for grow on it) and was very tempted to bring some home, but of course resisted... My understanding it that its very rich in available iron and that's what makes it useful in aquaria. Andrew.

Aqua said... > Has anyone used lily plants ... Define 'Lily'... There are lots of plants called this. Until recently a cabbage tree (Cordyline spp) was considered to be a type of lily. If you mean the water-lily type plants, then try the reasonably regularly available 'banana-plant' for this effect although I don't know often they flower in aquaria. Andrew.