Hilary

Hi Guys thanks for the info about your filters. I think I'll see how theAquaclear goes for a while, the only complaint I have about it is that it ate Gary, my applesnail. We found him the other day, partially sucked into the intake pipe grill thing. Otherwise it seems to be doing the job well.

Pegasus, I didn't like reading the truth in your post but I appreciate your comments and concern, you have made some good points there. A few years ago my daughter, then around 10yrs old, was constantly nagging me to let her have a cat. I didn't want one so for about a year I kept saying no. Finally I gave in and took her to the SPCA to see what they had, we took two cats home that day (they were brothers and had to be adopted to the same family). I thought, 'what am I thinking? I didn't want any cats before this.' My daughter is now 15yrs old and we wouldn't be without our very loved cats. Basically, I'm the sort of person who doesn't realise what I've been missing until I get it, then I wonder why I didn't get it so much sooner. I am a Christian and in the same way I believe God matches children with their parents, I believe He also he does that with our pets. I also know my limits and only want one more tank right now so my balas, etc will be happy. This will fix the overcrowding problem too. I hope this isn't too much rambling. Caryl, I will look into canister filters, I haven't done much research on them as I have heard bad things about the reliability of Fluvals. Is it true that with canister filters you don't need as high flow rate? I have been looking at 6-8 footers second-hand, 8ft would probably be my upper limit for the space I have for the new tank to go in.

Caryl Yes I know they are full at the moment, I do 20-30% weekly water changes, I am currently running an AquaClear 500 on the big tank, a Nathura PF1 on the 76L and an air pump running small filters on the two small tanks. What would you suggest as a minimum tank size to get? My lfs said a 6ft would be fine for the balas and his tankmates. Does this sound right? We have concrete floors so no problem with support. Pegasus, thank you for your wise diagnosis, you're absolutely right I really need to find out what size tank to get soon so I can buy one hopefully this weekend.

First of all I'd like to say, I love Kiwi humour! This would be the biggest thing I have missed about NZ since moving to Aus. 2.5 years ago. I started keeping fish a few months ago, before that I totally wasn't interested in the 5 gouramis and 2 corys my husband was guilted into taking on by a family member. He wasn't taught much of anything about keeping fish, like cleaning out the tank etc. He did his best with them but over those 2 yrs 2 of the gouramis died, 1 just disappeared and the other one died from what I now think was fish TB, and one of the corys died of unknown causes. It never occurred to us to look on the Net for fish info and help. It hit me one day that we owed it to these fish to actually look after them, not just keep them. I decided to get a new tank and new fish friends for them and do whatever I could to make them happy. My husband gave me the go-ahead and now we have 72 fish. I research the fish before buying them so I know what sort of things to expect and how to care for them. We are really enjoying our fish now. We have: 6 litre (1.5 gal) divided: empty ATM (had 2 bettas in it but felt sorry for them) 11 litre(3 gal): 8 guppy fry I am babysitting for my sister who doesn't have accommodation for them yet. 11 litre(3 gal): 1 male betta splendens 76 litre (20 gal): 15 neon tetras, 6 x-ray (pristella) tetras, 5 zebra danios, 5 leopard danios, 4 kulhii loaches (1 black), 2 bristlenose catfish, 4 corys, 2 dwarf gouramis, 1 male betta splendens, 5 rainbowfish. Dwarfs and rainbows were moved here from big tank this week to make room for new bala. 190 litre (50 gal): 10 tiger barbs (5 albino), 2 angels, 2 silver dollars, 3 bala sharks (2 small, 1 6-7inch), 1 pearl gourami, 1 3-spot gourami, 1 golden gourami, 2 bristlenose catfish We will be getting a bigger tank within the next couple of weeks but don't know how big to get - any suggestions? The only fish that is big ATM is the one bala we were given unexpectedly(?) last week. The other fish are all small and growing, except the pearl, 3-spot and golden gouramis and one of the corys, these four are about 6ish years old. I have decided to use AquaClear 500's on this new tank, how many would I need for it? I plan on moving everyone up a tank, would this work? Both communities are getting along fine so far. I am thinking of using the 76 litre tank as a hospital tank. Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated.

Aingil How's it going with your silver dollars? Hopefully you've got them eating, otherwise they'd be more than a bit sad by now. try dropping broken-off bits of algae pellets in for them, my two find the ones I put in for my catfish. The SD's nibble around the edge like a spiral until it's all gone. They love them! I've had my SD's for about a month and haven't had a problem with them eating plants - I think if you feed them enough they don't need to eat the plants. Also there are certain types of plant they wont eat, not sure what they are tho. I have read they are 'voracious eaters' but mine don't seem to be that hungry (I feed my fish once every day or two). Mine are about 5-6cm incl. tail. Silver Dollars grow to the size of a dinner plate. Woohoo - I can't wait!