ajbroome

Caryl said... > If you need a hand, let me know and I will ring Terry! I know Caryls e-mail address, so could e-mail her so she can call Terry... See, we're a helpful bunch. Andrew.

Folks, I'm looking for suggestions as to an efficient algae eating fish for my un-heated, indoor, LF-WCMM tank. Because of where it's located it gets a bit of excess light and this (combined with the occasional overfeeding of livefood) is causing a bit of algae to grow. It doesn't bother me overly, but I don't want it to get out of hand. I want something that isn't going to harm the plants (Valisneria and Java Moss) and/or fry and ideally something that I could eventually breed. I'm planning on putting in some peppered cats (anybody breeding these at the moment?) as well. I'm wondering about the cold tolerance of Ancistrus spp and/or Otocinclus spp? Any other suggestions? I'm avoiding using snails at this stage. There is a piece of driftwood in the tank so a Loricarid would have something to entertain itself with... I realise that many species may be fine now but may not do so well over the winter although the tank is in the lounge and therefore will be kept a bit warm. I guess I could always drop a heater in there in winter. Anybody breeding anything that may be worth trying? A friend in Auckland is breeding Sturisoma at the moment but I feel they'd be too big for this tank... Your suggestions are welcome. Andrew.

Caryl said... > You're expecting wine AGAIN!!?? I know *I* am! Yep, I'm planning on being there. Probably followed by a trip to Chch for a few days. Andrew, waiting for June...

Shilo said... > ... - its all in the amount of water storage you have. Spending vast quantities on water storage is included in my definition of 'fuss' > ... does the PH from a town supply ever change? Don't know. I don't possess a pH kit. Or any other kit for that matter... Generally, in a decently buffered system, you don't get big pH shifts. Frequent water changes fix most problems with water quality. Andrew.

Cat said... > ... I have had more babies than when using the LFS filtered > water (at $1.00 per container x 5 containers per week!). I also don't buy into the 'Palmerston North tap water kills fish' theory. Where-ever I've lived in town, over the last 15 years or so, I've used water straight from the tap for my fish. This has been with killies as well as more typical 'community' type fish - even discus. I've never had a problem I could attribute to being caused by the tap water. I try and do a minimum of a 25% change per tank per week and I generally have more fry than I can easily cope with. Good food and regular water changes are your best friends when it comes to fishkeeping. Andrew.

Pegasus said... > If you were not on town supply what would you do ? > If you were not on town supply, would you still be keeping fish ? I'd probably still keep fish but would modify both my techniques and the fish I chose to keep. Luckily many of the killies like soft acid water so I'd be OK with those. Some of the other species would require me to fiddle with their water and I'm not all that keen on doing that so I'd perhaps give them up. I like to do plenty of water changes with a minimum of fuss so anything that made my life more difficult would be a serious issue. Also, often, people on 'rainwater' have limited supplies since it has to be used for the house, garden and so forth. I'd probably limit the number of tanks I had so I could be sure to keep doing their regular water changes, even when it hadn't rained for a while. Andrew.

Aqua said... > ... it was Java FERN!!! Java fern is easy enough to grow too so shouldn't be anything like that price. Generally, if it's doing well you can supply half the world with the excess every week... Andrew.

Leeves said... > I want to set up a rain water collection unit. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think there are many cases where using rainwater in a typical aquarium is justified. IMHO, it's just too prone to problems. Better to stick with tap water. Others will disagree I'm sure. Andrew.

Aqua said... > Hollywood Fish Farm ROCKS!!! > > I was shown them today, and that's where I bought the > peppered cat from. The staff were extremely helpful, > and definately know what they're on about! Yeah, they're one of the shops I visit when ever I'm in Auckland. Jansens just around the corner is also good. Andrew.

Aqua said... > I bought a peppered catfish Seems to be settling in > well, so I'm happy They do better in small groups so you might want to get another one or two or three or... at some stage. No need to get them all at once... Andrew.

Caryl said... > Pardon my ignorance but by "chat room' do you mean > just typing or can we talk using microphones too? I meant 'just typing' but who knows what's possible these days... Andrew.

Cees said... > I have worked with that chatroom script before. Works fine, > easy to setup. Figured you'd have it sussed. It seems pretty easy to use from a 'chatting' perspective too so could be a good way to go. Later, Andrew.

Cees... > I could probably setup a 'chat-room' for that one occasion as well. The UK Carnivorous Plant forum has just installed a 'chat' site. It seems to work well. Have a look at: http://www.cpukforum.co.uk/chatroom/index.php Talk to Andy ([email protected]) about how easy (or not) it was to do... Andrew.

Dennis said... > Coming down that way at the end of the mouth > to go to the Aquarium and look around napier > if i have time may look around the shops. The Aquarium makes the trip worth it. Napier is a nice city but doesn't have any decent fish shops any more, IMHO. You should make the two hour drive to Palmerston North and visit Wet Pets. Then it's only a 5hr drive back to Tauranga via Taupo etc... Andrew.

Aqua said... > I want to use the largest one (about 56L) with some nice > fish! Only problem is, I don't want to go troppo yet... Tropical tanks are really no more difficult to look after than coldwater ones... > Can anyone recommend good coldwater fish that have a > reasonable amount of color & movement? There are lots of fish that will live in an unheated indoor tank. Many of the fish we keep as tropicals actually come from cooler waters than we give them credit for. My favourite page on the subject seems to be down at the moment... http://www.aquaria.net/finart/finart.html You could try Peppered cats, zebra danios, rosy barbs, paradise fish, rice fish, guppies, variatus type platys and various others. All are cheap and readily available from your LFS. > The WCMM are lovely, but they're going to have a tank to > themselves... If they're by themselves you'll almost certainly get fry after a month or so... > ... or possibly share it with a school of leopard fish... Not sure > on that one yet... The leopard fish will most likely eat any WCMM fry, but will probably produce fry of their own (they're livebearers, like guppys). > Amounts of fish as well? In a tank of approx 24 x 12 x 12 inches (assuming UG filtration and regular water changes etc), you could (relatively) easily have 4-6 peppered cats, 6 or 8 zebra danios, a pair of paradise fish and maybe a few rice fish. Not added all at once, of course, but rather over several weeks so the filter could cope... Just my opinion, of course. Andrew.

Leeves said... > the tank is 1750x600x600 so what would be a safe amount of > water to transport? That's, what? 600L? And you'll be transporting 2 x 50L (probably significantly less, more like 2 x 40L)? That's not a huge fraction but as I said before, you don't need to fill the tank all the way on day one - as long as filters and heaters are working. And you'll be adding the filter and water from your old tank? That should help.. > ... i do intend to keep the fluval external canister filter "live" > what would be the best way to do that ? You could just set it going on a bucket of tank water once you get it home. It should be OK as long as there is oxygenated water flow over the media. > oh and the gravel bed too though he was using an under > gravel filter. Will this get completly disrupted in the move > if the gravel is totally taken out of the tank ? You're going to continue with the UGF? I would. It should be OK as long as you get it going again as soon as you can (ie within a few hours) and don't let it dry out. Bear in mind that this shift is going to put a strain on the biological filtration of the tank and therefore the fish it contains. Don't add any new fish for a few weeks and keep a close eye on the behaviour and condition of the ones there. Do as many small water changes as you can from a couple of days after the tank is set up. If you have test kits, use them and be prepared to do bigger water changes if things start getting really out of hand. It should all be do-able, as long as you're careful. Andrew.

Folks, Go here: http://www.neodat.org and enter the genus names of fish you're interested in, in the various database searchs. Hours of fun and enlightenment. Andrew.

Macka said... > So what did you all think? Please let me know curious of others > opinions Some nice examples of the various species. Mmmm... frontosas.... ;-) Andrew.

Aqua said... > Who would I contact RE: joining clubs in AKL? http://www.fnzas.org.nz/clubs.0.html Andrew.

Aqua said... > Do you know of anywhere in Auckland that'd sell them? Jansens in Mt Eden have apparently had them in during the last couple of months. Andrew.

Dennis said... > how many fry u got at the mo? I'd guess 30 or 40 although I've started seeing more appear in with the adults... Andrew.

Dennis said... > where do u get them from have not seen them in the shops They pop up from time to time. They're one of those fish that are never imported but people tend to keep for many years. Wet Pets, here in PN, usually have some. Andrew.

Aqua said... > I WANT SOME!!! > > Now that I have 3 tanks, I can afford to have hybrids This fish are not hybrids, but rather a 'sport' or mutant. > I know this post is a little out-of-date - I'm just hoping that > the offer is still here! I've currently got 30 or 40 fry on the go. Once some spares become available I'll let people here know. As a matter of interest, I visited my buddy in Wanganui a couple of weeks back and fished around in his ponds. None of the WCMMs I caught were long finned... The ones I have at home definitely have fins that are all twice as long as regular WCMMs. I can easily compare since I have both. I wouldn't say mine have fins as long as this: http://www.h-nds.de/fische/tanichthys_albonubes03.jpg but they're deFINitely longer than this: http://www.wiljo.nu/images/fisksidae/ta ... onubes.htm I'm very interested to see what my fry look like when they get older. Andrew.

Aqua wrote... > > minchton wrote: > > By leopard fish I presume you mean Cordo. No one I know, other than Mitch, calls it a 'cordo' which is presumably a corruption of 'caudo'. In NZ it's generally known as a 'Leopard fish' as you said. > Any further infor? I know NOTHING about these fish... Use Google to search for 'Phalloceros caudimaculatus' *not* 'Gambusia affinnis holbrooki' as some people would suggest. They're completely different fish despite looking superficially similar. As a start, have a look at: http://users.cybercity.dk/~cft2740/phal ... _retic.htm They're neat little fish which will happily live in an unheated tank indoors all year round. They may be a little susceptible to frosts if kept outdoors during the winter. I've bred heaps of them over the years but only have two females at the moment. Planning on picking up some males at some stage soon. Andrew.

leeves said... > ... . The problem is they used to contain chemicals of some > description I am guessing that it was gasoline. I'd avoid using them. To me, it's not worth the risk. Not much point going to all the effort (not to mention the waste of the rinsing water, be careful where you dispose of it if it's got hydrocarbon/chemical residues) if you end up poisoning your fish. You wont know until it's too late... You could try and borrow some fishboxes from your LFS and line them a plastic rubbish bag. Or borrow clean containers off a friend. > I need to transport as much of the existing water as possible > to seed the tank when it reaches my house then fill with new > water as well as water from my own existing tank... I'd be more concerned with shifting the biological filter alive than moving the water. In most circumstances even a big change with clean water will do no harm if relevant parameters are matched. If you need to, you can half fill the new tank, it doesn't need to go right to the top on day one... Just some ideas. Andrew.