Shelley

How cool is that! Unfortunately I couldn't see the pictures.

Good luck Phillz...and good on you for giving it a go!

No I don't. My digital camera (or maybe it's just me) doesn't take particularly true-to-life images. But our girl is very much like Billaney's girl under the heading of....errr....I think it was "my breeding bettas" except her tail is more rounded. I will try and get a better picture of her this week when I have more time because she is a beautiful girl (maybe)

Great pics. We have been trying to work out if our female swordtail was regnant or not as she was getting mighty fat, and we thought she had a dark half moon shape shade around the vent area (but not a definite spot like the guppies get)....she SHOULD have been pregnant....we have 2 male swordtails......but she has been with them for months and although they have showed interest she never appeared to change...anyway....she started to look more like a platty with quite a belly on her and we were hopeful. I did the water change a couple of days ago and found a baby in the tank! I was just yelling out to Maree to come quickly......when a gourami said "MMmmmmmmm! breakfast!" ...and it was gone....we have hunted for more babies, but there are none to be seen.....and the female sword looks like a female sword again and not a platty...bugger! missed it!

Very cool indeed! What a groovy fish! Love the plecs (while small...ugly suckers when they get beyond 6 inches!) also love the corydoras. Welcome to the site and good luck with your fish keeping

I really love my bettas, but I am now down to one aggressively amarous female. I have lost 4 male bettas since starting this hobby and they have all been beautiful boys, most of them becoming very tame. I haven't been able to keep them for much more than 2 or 3 months at a time, obviously I have kept the boys separate. The first boy I lost after a water change despite being careful to keep the water to the same temperature and adding aquaplus. He just went into a sulk and died. The other three all at some point spent some time with the female and like I say, she was quite aggresive, but it was after separating them (2 to 3 weeks after) they sucumbed. Water quality has been pretty steady, PH 7.4, ammonia nil, nitrites nil, nitrates around 10. Temp ave 27. partial (20%) water changes weekly. Food is generally thawed brine shrimp, occasionally blood worms, sometimes flake. I would dearly love to breed these fish, but given the fact that i am down to one female I don't fancy my chances! and I am reluctant to buy more males if there is something I am doing wrong to hurt these beautiful fish. I was keen to buy some other females also, but wasn't sure if miss bossy boots might be too tough on them if she considered them competition. She is only aggresive while in the mating mood. Is it at all possible she might be a male? she has a very rich blue colour, but has the typical spade like female tail, and I am ALMOST convinced she is a girl, but certainly she would eat those boyfriends for breakfast given half a chance...and has been known to give the guy the hint by building her own bubblenest. any help gratefully received.

We have two small honey Gouramis, and I have noticed that on one of them their eye seems to be puffy. Compared to the other eye it is higher...(kind of like its been blown up?) and kind of white over it... sorry not very good at describing it. It seems to be swimming around fine. But im getting worried. Can anyone help?

Phillz...he is absolutely beautiful!

Absolutely gorgeous! Your female looks very much like ours...I was going to post here to ask if there was any possibility that she might be a male! Definitely that 'spade-like' tail....but that gorgeous rich colour like your girl...and VERY aggressive when she becomes amorous.... I introduced her to my remaining male fighter (her in a net breeder compatment while they said hello)....and I never let her out because she was all fired up and ready to go and he wasn't in the least bit interested!...Then SHE began building a bubblenest in her little net breeder...she is definitely ready for some action, the one male betta she 'mated' with....i wasn't sure if they were mating or fighting to the death...she was VICIOUS!.... he didn't die at the time, but a couple of weeks after he succumbed. (Although he seemed to enjoy the rough treatment at the time) Just the fact that a) she is such a glorious colour, b) she built a bubble nest herself (to give him the hint) c) she has been so aggressive when with a male fighter made me wonder if she might in fact be male. She LOOKS female...she doesn't have the super long trailing finnage...and in fact is almost identical to yours. I have been feeding her on brineshrim to condition her but think I may need a more manly fish to cope with her stroppiness! DON'T want to lose anymore male fighters

How can you call a bronze cory ugly? They are the cutest wee things (in an ugly sort of a way :lol: .... but my favourite corydoras are the peppered ones.....I just love them!

On most of the filter intakes in my tanks I use a piece of net curtain held on with a rubber band as I have lost MANY fish the way you describe....and I don't believe they were all weak or unhealthy fish. I have not lost a fish via the filter since....but yes, once they have been grabbed, they are pretty much goners, and it isn't very nice to see. Sure hoe you have some better luck soon.

You haven't actually said what your ammonia levels are. Mine sort of fluctuate between the first (clear) reading of 0 and the very next (only slightly discoloured) reading of 0.6) I DID find that my nitrite readings ALWAYS sat at 0.05....and then ran out of test kit and the new kit (which was so much easier to use) has always said the reading is 0, so I wondered if the kit might not be that reliable. It sounds like you are keeping on top of the water changes....I hope this sorts itself out for you, it would be such a shame to give up this beautiful hobby.

I've been real busy lately so havent been in....couldnt log in just now either....but then remembered my 'P' key is dodgy and I have the letter 'P' in my password, lol..... so here I am...just wanted to say congratulations Caper on the new tank! You must be so excited...I bet Sam thinks it is pretty cool too to have the tank to himself.

When I say they 'caught' them....I mean they caught the fish in the tank and put them in a bag for me to take home....and emptied the tank to make it easier to carry. They were just 'ordinary' fish....some nice gouramis.....and a few other fish...very few survivors from that lot. As for the tank repairs I took my tank to a glass specialist.....not all of them do fish tanks but this place do actually build them so I trusted them to know about silicone with fish-friendly silicone. Looks like hubby has just lost his job......no more fish for us for a while

Don't know if silicone is the same as 'glue' or if it is an extra used to just seal the tank...but i bought a tube of special (aquarium safe) silicone from Mitre 10 for about $11.....and attempted to seal the tank myself...and made a dogs breakfast out of it, lol...and ended up having it professionally sealed for not a lot more (Not sure of actual cost but paid less than $40 for one tank to be fully sealed and a repair on the central glass of my main tank as well as a piece of glass cut out of part of the lid on my main tank.) The professional job looks great! (mine looked very splodgy and messy and didn't even do the trick.) Ring around for prices quoting the measurements.....I was shocked at how much various glass companies differed in their charges but wouldn't hesitate to encourage a professional job next time....

I bought two tanks on the internet along with a box of assorted goodies/filters etc....went to collect them and the bigger tank had the fish in it which the people caught and gave us.....there was water under the tank and they said it doesnt leak, but as the lid is just a sheet of glass that sits on top, the condensation dribbles.....anyway....I got them home and went to clean the bigger tank by tipping it on its side at the sink.....and I thought I heard a small crack....but nothing appeared to be cracked....cleaned up the tank, put in stones and plants and water....and the next day noticed a small puddle....i mopped it up and later that evening noticed a small puddle again. I wasn't convinced it wasn't the condensation, but made a mark on the side of the tank....and over a couple of days it dropped by about 2 mm......so i ended up just keeping a towel along the base and changing it daily as it became wet...which looked gross...... anyway. I am so glad I went and had it fixed. We weren't without it for long, and I now feel confident the tank is safe and good to hold fishies . It is cycling now and I am looking forward to putting my honey gouramis in there along with a few other little favourites.....in time.... My daughter is due home from a trip to Christchurch with my mother today where they have been checking out the fish shops! She had strict instructions to bring home some nice gravel for the main tank so we can start getting that set up again....I have a feeling she may be going to get my another female fighter as well.....a belated mothers day present. I gave my mother money to buy herself a pair of blue rams for a late mothers day present for her.....but apparantly they are out of stock.....such a lovely hobby!!!! wish I had more money! lol

Flaming heck! Imagine doing the water changes in that! Or what about collecting the dead neon on the bottom?

Very cool......just had 2 lots of guppy fry over the last fortnight...previously i have tried raising them in a searate tank but found I killed them with water changes and various other things....the first lot of the latest batch were a real fluke...I had had the mother in the breeder because she looked like she was about to pop and finally let her out....THEN she popped....only about 12 survived....I am not sure how many she had but she was a small fish herself. I never saw her eat any...but anyway, the important thing is....the babies have survived much more readily in the tank with mum and aunty and dad....and a flaming grwat kissing gourami!...They seem to have a sixth sense when a mouth is coming and dive for cover...however they are getting more bold now. The other female popped yesterday morning....approx 12 babies in the breeder....and i fished her out as although she still looked fattish she appeared to have stopped popping...and i was worried she would eat the lil babies.....anyway...she went on to pop out about another 10. I am chuffed to bits with my 20 odd babies a time.....so to hear your numbers over 100 is absolutely mind boggling! I am feeding liquifry to the new ones...and thawed brine shrimp to the bigger ones....dad and the gourami have gone to start cycling another tank to give mum and aunty and the babies a bit of a break....like someone else said earlier.....how old are the babies before they start playing mummies and daddies?

Good question.....I would have thought the area would have to be dry?.... oh...and i am fine thanks Caper

LOL Shilo......wouldn't you guys much prefer a stroll through animates? The eel put me off big time!

Do you have any large pieces of driftwod in the tank? You know the stuff that is darker than the ordinary stuff you find on the beach.....I think it must have been treated to get rid of the salt content and maybe weighted (???) to stop it from floating......my mother has just removed a large piece of dritfwood from her discus tank as it made the water very murky....still doesn't account for why your water should be clear initially though.

I had the crap water from hell too in my tank....do you by any chance feed cucumber? I know people have done so here and heartily recommend it, but that was the start of all my troubles and the water quality was disgusting (although PH was consistant at 7.6)...I lost a lot of fish and in the end shifted all fish and plants elsewhere....dismantled the tank....thoroughly cleaned the stones...sent the tank away for some basic repairs while it was empty....and some adjustments to the glass lid....and now have it back all ready to start from scratch.... my daughter is off buying stones tomorrow...I have plants on the way....and shall start the long drawn out cycling process.....the filter has been working in another tank all this time so should have some yummy bacteria building....Anyway...the upshot of it is, I will not be feeding cucmber again. My knee jerk reaction to your post was to wonder if you have been overfeeding...presumably feeding time is between the crystal clear and the murky 9am....they are sleek well conditioned fish....are you feeding live foods or dried foods or a bit of both? The tank can get mucky quick with live or thawed brineshrimp/blood worms etc.... (seems odd that the water settles to crystal clear and then becomes murky afterwards.) What a cracking sized tank!!! How absolutely wonderful! Did anyone see the marine tank on trademe for about $26000? 9 ft long!

If push came to shove you could probably put the fishies along with the heater in a bucket (???) and cover with a towel....for an emergency stop gap....more inclined to think at THAT hour of night you just spilled some water.....it's not like you have done anything dramatic to the tank in the last 24 hours or so for it to result in a leak....and you have got polystyrene underneath now ..... i sent my tank away to be re-sealed the other day and I am very pleased with the job....so great not to have uddles of water and know my fishies are safe....and it didn't cost much either.

Oh Varina...what a sad start to a beautiful hobby....don't let this put you off....just think of it as a steep learning curve. I have had a lot of losses since I started too and it is upsetting. I think a lot of pet store owners just don't KNOW the information they should.....which is where the bad advice comes from.... Daily water changes...yes 20%.... will help. I use a product called 'cycle' too...and another product called "aqua plus (water conditioner)" which are wonderful products...perhaps the store you got these fish from might hold your fish in a spare tank for you until you are more ready...or swap/refund the bigger growing fish for some test kits (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate....and no, nitrite and nitrate are not the same).....perhaps they might also give you some of the water from their tanks which might help the cycling process. However given the fact they sold you all those fish all in one go when they knew this was new for you would make me a little wary of trusting them. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

The final update on a sad story . William died a couple of days ago. I hadn't had the chance to come in to let you know it has been SUCH a hectic week. Thanks Caper for all your help you have been an absolute angel.....I have decided to call the next new female fighter I get 'Caper' in honour .... The GOOD news is...... I got my tanks back from the repairers...a lid repair and slight alteration for the BIG tank.....and a reseal for the smaller one...I am so rapt with the job...cost less than $40 for both....excellent service. I am going to REALLY take my time to set these two tanks up and make these my two most special tanks....the lounge one is great for relaxation, and I love having the kitchen one so I can talk to somebody intelligent while I slave my tripe out in the kitchen....it will have mostly 'blue' fish...although I wouldn't mind putting Nigel my flame red fighter in that tank for a bit of contrast along with some neons. Starting from scratch with these two tanks....armed with a whole lot more knowledge. YESSSSSSS....so looking forward to having my fishie fishie fishies back to normal.