ajbroome

Frank said... > ... thinking that there were no good pet stores in wellington ... There aren't, IMHO. > ... but if you are ever in Christchurch I can point you in the > direction of a number of good pet stores... From my experience, Chch and Auckland are the only places in NZ with a couple of decent shops. There are others scattered around the country but not several in one place. In general people will have to make do with what they can get locally. Here, in Palmerston North, I'm lucky enough to have a good (but not perfect)00 shop nearby. The next closest good shop is several hours away (Tirau, Hamilton or Tauranga) then Auckland. All IMHO of course. Andrew.

Peter said... > Still getting lots of eggs and still fungusing. Some things to consider (which may or may not be obvious). If you're getting fungussed eggs, one of two things could be happening. Either the eggs are dying after being fertilized or they weren't fertilised to begin with. Do you see any sign of development in the eggs? How long after laying are they fungussing? Infertile eggs *will* fungus no matter what the water conditions. There are several factors that can affect egg health and fertilisation success. Such as maturity of the breeders, water quality, diet of the breeders, light, water chemistry, compatability of breeders? Maybe you could try different combinations of adult fish. If there's a dominant male who is monopolising the female(s) but he happens to be infertile (for any number of reasons) then you may get a very low fertilisation rate. My feeling is, that if you're getting the odd viable fry then you're not far away from getting there... Keep at it. Andrew, with some N. guentheri fry...

Folks, Yesterday I found 4 Otocinclus (probably O. affinnis I guess) at Wet Pets for $13 or so each. Bought them and they now live in my LF-WCMM tank and seem quite happy. They've made a small but visible dent in the algae already. Also bought 10 'Harlequin' Rasboras (R. heteromorpha) for my new community tank. $4 ea seemed reasonable. Needed something swimming around in there while I'm finding time (and finances) to finish it Wet Pets also had some almost adult Ancistrus available for $10 each. A bit more than I was hoping to pay but I figure 4 should keep my big tank clean-ish so I'll need to go back at get some at some stage. Thanks to all who offered suggestions and advice. Andrew.

Stephanie said... > I am having some difficulty locating the kind of gravel that I want. Have a look at 'Placemakers' and hardware stores like that. They often sell gravel by the sack. I've successfully (and frequently) used fine gravel (not crushed) as is used for road making. There must be somewhere in Wellington where this stuff is yoiked from a river... IMHO, the finer (3mm or so) and darker the better. But, I don't always follow my own suggestions - depends what's on hand and how much of a hurry I'm in I've probably got some buckets of 'fruit salad' gravel if you wanted to come get it. Andrew, in Palmerston North.

Caryl said... > I would not have thought the cat would be a problem > as it lives down the bottom (mostly) and the WCMM > babies will swim around the top of the tank. I mostly agree with Caryl. The catfish will probably get a few eggs, the adults will probably get a few but there'll be plenty to go around and the adults will keep spawning anyway... WCMM fry are very small though, it can be a bit of a trick to spot the first one. Usually they're found stuck to the glass near the water surface and look like little slivers of glass with two black dots at one end (the eyes). It's not unlikely there's some fry in your tank already... Andrew.

Folks, Has anyone been here and seen their (supposed) Arowana pond? http://www.bromeliads.co.nz/exotica.html Andrew.

Caryl said... > Plans are well underway for the FNZAS conference 2003. Sounds like you've got it well in hand. In case you haven't been informed, I'm secretary of PNAS (gotta change that acronym ). Send any info to me at 15 Rata Street, thanks. Looking forward to conference and a few days in Chch afterwards. Andrew.

Richard said... > I am in Sarawak (East Malaysia)... the city's name > is Kuching... it is at the northwestern tip of the borneo > island... Ah, yes, I know it. Been meaning to go there myself one day. I met the guy who runs this place: http://www.malesiana.tropicals.com.my/ when I was in the US in 2000. Have bought some stuff from them since then. Seems like an interesting place to visit. Andrew.

Kriber said... > ... was wondering what their eggs look like as this morning > I noticed 8 and 14 little clear circles within a larger oval shape > about the size of a little finger nail. Yep, that sounds like them. Ramshorn snails can be rather prolific but are (relatively) easy to control digitally (ie, with your fingers ) I found that apple snails kept the population of ramshorn snails down by eating their eggs. Because apple snails lay their eggs out of the water and have a long incubation time they're pretty easy to control too. I now use ramshorn snails in all my killifish tanks and get enough eggs and fry to keep me amused. Andrew.

Richard said... >I am currently on holiday in Borneo at the moment... What part? I grow lots of plants from that area... Andrew.

Cat said... > ... you arent a fish keeper unless you have at least one busted tank!! It's a curse, but it does happen from time to time. My worst was a 4 x 2 x 2 ft that went bang back in the late 80s. Made a mess of my parents lounge. My new tank survived the latest 'quake so that was a good test for it It now even has some plants in it, courtesy of Len Trigg. Need some more though... Gotta chase up my lights too... Andrew.

Folks, I see they've got a digital pH meter as well... Andrew.

Cat said... > ... he was an extremely aggresive fish ... I saw this fish. It is *the* most aggressive discus I've ever seen. Would try and bite you through the front of the tank. I think it may've thought it was an oscar or giant gourami... Andrew.

Cat said... > The 'guy' I am referring to Andrew is the guy (cant > remember his name ) that was selling his large blues > and yellows. Ah, that'd be Rhys and Gidgett. The people with the big Malamute? They have some nice fish. > .... selling his large blues and yellows. They'd (IMHO) go well with your tangerine Ps. zebras Bear in mind they'll need a decent sized tank when they mature. Andrew.

Rob said... > I think allowing fish to mongrelize is not a good idea I'm *definitely* with Rob on that one. Andrew.

Cat said... > I intend to 'pick' as many peoples brains as possible or > that will allow me! Always a good plan. > I talked to various club members on the weekend and got > quite a bit of info but each person seems to have different > ways of doing things and all their tanks are so beautiful. That's because everybody has a different set-up, and requirement from their tank. The trick is to find some baseline that works for you and then tweak it to optimise things under your conditions. > Andrew did tell me which fishes live together but I was busy > doing other things that I clean forgot which was which. Perhaps > he will be good enough and kind enough to tell me again. From your other message... > I currently have a few small tangerines and jewels > and, in another tank. four firemouths. You could have a non-rift (I've decided to go back to the old way of describing 'African Cichlids' as either 'Rift' ie from the Rift Valley in East Africa - in practice this means fish from Lakes Malawi and/or Tanganyika - or 'non-Rift' which are fish from everywhere else, including some from other parts of Africa such as the jewels or kribs) tank containing the Fire Mouths, the Jewels and maybe some other cichlid of a similar temperament. You could put your Hoplos in with them, a pleco and maybe some sort of larger non-cichlid like some rainbows. I'd use another tank for the tangerines since they're classic 'rift' fish (in this case from Lake Malawi). They can be mixed with 'Electric Yellows', Melanochromis auratus and so forth - which various people in PN and elsewhere breed. Personally, I wouldn't mix fish from Lake Malawi with those from Lake Tanganyika and I wouldn't mix either with what I'm calling 'non-rift' fish. I wouldn't use anything smaller than a 4ft tank for either of the above. I have several books you could borrow, Cat. > As these fish all seem to like different conditions which would > be ok at 7.6 or thereabouts and which need higher? All the fish above should do fine at around pH 7.6. You can add some limestone rocks to the 'rift' tank to keep the pH higher as well as increase the hardness but it's probably not necessary with fish that have been tankbred for so many generations. > Or I can ask the guy when I collect the babies. Which guy? Which babies? > ... most of my fish are quite plain... You've got some nice fish there, Cat. Did that new spawning of angels survive? Bred those Hoplos yet? > ... but still beautiful to me... That's the main thing. Andrew.

Caryl said... > I don't think my cactus is a cactus as it is not prickly. > Must be a succulent. Quite possible. > It's sort of shaped like a flower with lots of smaller identical > 'flowers' growing all around the edge. Like a Sempervivum? http://courses.nres.uiuc.edu/nres243-24 ... rvivum.jpg > The other plant is a Venus Flytrap. They have a really nice big clone available down there. My partner has one and it has huge traps. There are several types from several suppliers available in NZ. One of the biggest (if not *the* biggest) wholesalers of VFTs lives just around the corner from me. He typically has 10s of 1000s of plants at a time... > It was a hard decision as there were several interesting > looking ones to choose from. Let me know if you want to try some other kind of CP and I'll bring some down to conference. If you have any questions about growing VFTs or other CPs feel free to contact me offline. There is a really good FAQ at http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html The main thing to remember is plenty of sun and leave them sitting in a tray (inch deep) of rainwater. Andrew, off topic.

Caryl said... > I bought a carnivorous plant there Oh yeah? Which one? > ... a cactus... Picked up several cacti and succulents (un-named, although one is some sort of stapeliad - a new interest of mine) over the weekend as we did a tank crawl with the Taranaki club. Andrew.

Interfecus said... > ... . Please could people suggest places in or very near to > Wellington where I could get a replacement bulb. Are they > more expensive in pet shops than specialised lighting stores? > Also, I'm about to install new lighting underneath some shelves > with my fish tanks underneath. Anybody know where I can find > flourescent lighting encaps? Try these people: http://www.ideal.co.nz/public/branch.asp?ar=wellington I bought a double 3ft fluoro fitting, with reflector and tubes (cool whites) for under $100 on saturday. They stock all manner of fittings, tubes etc and can quickly order in stuff they don't have on hand. They were happy to sell to the public. All I have to do is wire in a power lead with plug. I also bought other tubes and starters from them at the same time. 4ft cool white tubes were $10 and 4ft grolux $20 approx. Andrew.

Macka said... > Any help would be appreciated. Copper (as copper sulphate) would almost certainly kill them, along with any other invertebrates in your tank. It's dangerous and toxic stuff (to fish etc) so be very careful. A pale blue solution, added dropwise to the tank can work. Chuck a couple of sacrificial snails in, when they die - stop dosing. Be sure to do water changes ASAP to dilute the copper again... YMMV. Andrew.

Terry said... > This is sounding a bit like a comittee Ah, committees. Where minutes are taken and hours wasted... Andrew.

Macka said... > Just making me have nightmares about the move... I moved last year (in July, the middle of winter). Took me a week, didn't really lose any fish despite some pretty serious neglect. Only had a dozen tanks or so, so that wasn't too bad. Moving 200+ pots of plants was exciting though. I don't plan on shifting again in a hurry. Andrew.

Kriber said... > What about an algae eater a.k.a. sucking loach (Gyrinocheilus > aymonieri)? No, I don't like them. They get nasty as they get older and while I don't expect one would harm my WCMMs I still don't want one. Besides, I want something at least potentially breedable Thanks for the suggestion though. Andrew.

So, No one has heard anything about Otocinclus at low-ish temps? Anybody breeding Ancistrus spp at the moment? What about peppered cats? BTW: Aqua, you know Corydoras (in this case, C. paleatus) are general 'scavengers' and *not* algae eaters, right? Andrew.

Macka said... > There is other colour forms? (apart from green and gold) > If so how many? Does anyone know? Have a look at: http://www.aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/ ... everum.htm http://www.virtualseeds.com/description.html I still like the regular green ones... The 'Turquoise Severum' is apparently another species "Heros appendiculatus" vs the common "H. severus" Have a look at: http://www.amazonian-fish.co.uk/images/ ... ulatus.jpg Andrew.