aspiringAmano

Pegasus-cool-saves me alot of hassle-I just thought you couldnt get them. David

The length of block life depends on how high the setting is-for a 55g probably 4-6 months,though I've had them last longer-they seem to be very conservative on the box.I would think the best thing would be to buy several blocks at time of origional purchase,thats what I did with the last set I bought. David

Type in Carbo-plus to any search engine and you should get a bunch of hits.It is a carbon block that generates CO2 by electrolysis-no risk of CO2 dump and fish loss(my main reason for using them) David

I dont know how it would work as a private party,but I have a contact here in california that can get me a sister product much cheaper than the Carbo Plus-exactly the same idea but instead of $150 for the unit and $50 for the block and holder(US) it would be more like $85-90 for unit and $30 for block.If it is possible for private people to ship this kind of thing to NZ and enough people are interested I would be willing to Buy a bunch of them and send them to you guys. David

Very nice Tip pegasus! You should post that on the planted tank section of Toms place. David

Warren I copied your tank stocking levels word for word and included your filtration and waterchanges that you mentioned,and posted them to a board that I have frequented for some time that seems to have alot of very knowlegable people. I wanted to know what their thoughts were,and to let me know if I was way off base regarding your levels-I also included the context of how i found out your levels from our series of posts in this thread. The replies are pretty much universal that (a)your tank is way over stocked,(b) you must be a rich guy to afford all those fish,©your tank probably looks spectacular with all those fish. God only knows what they would say to the stocking levels that you and your friends consider "heavy" David

warren-I'm not hacking off anyone legs or attacking anyone-and if you feel this discourse is clogging up this thread I will be happy to continue it on another thread. I find it impossible to believe that your tanks are 5-6 times the plant density-several of my tanks without weekly major pruning become impossible to move your arms in and light will be blocked to lower levels-maybe it is my pics arent good and have given you a false impression there are more pics at http://www.sfbaaps.com under the member name Oliver-dont know if these will make much difference but the members of this aquatic plant society-including Judges and participants for both of the AGA contests have seen my tanks several times and their standard responses are "Wow-lots of fish-very heavily planted" I'm going to check the general consensus on a few other boards I post on;but I dont personally think that 500 neons equal 1-1.5 discus. David

Warren-your tanks are far from lightly stocked-they may be so to you and the other people you know who massively over stock tanks,but to the vast majority of aquascapers they are way at the outer limit-regardless of filtration.I think it would be prudent if you are giving advice on stocking planted tank,or any other tank for that matter,for you to qualify that your ideas of lightly and heavily stocked tanks are not within normal fish keeping parameters.I just find it strange that you would give advice stating that planted tanks shouldnt have many fish,when you yourself keep so many. David

Keep us posted of what you are doing-it will be interesting to find out. David

And your they guy saying to lightly stock planted tanks! Holy Mackeral!-if you posted that you had that many fish on one of the american boards I am a member of they would have a fit and you would get so much negative feed back.Better clarify your parameters of heavy and light fish load or people like me will get the wrong Idea,as i did. David

I am sure there are other strains out there that would not only be able to maintain the quality of your stock,but possibly even improve upon it.Bringing new blood in could be a good thing(look at the Brittish Royal family :lol: ) David

On other boards that I am a member of Moderators will step in an move topics that are posted in the wrong section,and add a post to where it has been moved to.Maybe if a post is deviating a moderator can decide to retitle the thread from that point on and give a link-I think it would be difficult for people to do themselves though as quite often a topic will simply drift into something else over the course of several posts,to where it isnt noticed and therefore able to be stopped. Just a thought. David

Hey clothahump {insert maniacal laugh here} I'm taking over the worlds aquatic forums! Glad to see you here! David

I wonder whether the repeated inter breeding with no "new blood" has bred in an aggressive streak to your females.It would be interesting to take females from the same brood and bred some with brood mates and some with new stock,continue this for a couple of generations and see what happens to the aggressive tendancies. David

There is a definate subspecies of Bettas that are the short fin males and they do have increased aggressiveness.I am interested as to why your females are so pugnacious-I have never heard of anyone else having this problem-will your females fight to the death? Do they bully other fish? David

Will do andrew David

I have never heard of this before-again;I have had short fin males mis-represented as females and lots of trouble ensues,but females are normally considered comunity fish and I kept them as such for a long time. I do keep a single male in a few tanks as I no longer breed them. David

Where in the UK? I am origionally from Scotland. David

Just a thought-if as a group you wanted to get some eggs you could have them certified and then sealed-that should appease the pesky beaurocrats. I didnt actually get them from Wright-but he is a member of the Aquatic plant growers society with me. David

I am alittle surprised by you stating that the female bettas need to be in their own tanks-are you sure you havent been getting short fin males(the most aggressive betta) mixed up with females-they look Very similar.I have kept 30+ females in a 55g with no problem-stores routinely have more than that in a 20g here in the states. I bred bettas and the interesting thing seemed to be that the brood could be kept together with no problems even a 1" but if you separated them and then put them together there would be fighting. David

For whatever weird reason my fish are quite camera shy It would take WAY too long to list all of the fish that I have but as an example my 45tall has 3 large pearl gourami,4 large&1 small boesmani rainbow,6 corys,30+ white clouds,6-8 shrimp,4 ottocinclus,hundreds of snails. This would under most peoples levels be considered heavily stocked. My 75g has a large angel,4 large madagascar rainbows,4 macullochi,6 rainbows of unknown species,5 large pearl gourami,shrimp,8 ottos,hundreds of snails I dont go in for the big fish such as oscars in planted tanks as it doesnt create the aesthetic I am looking for. David

Pegasus-you stated in an earlier post on this thread that you would like to grow plants semi-comerically-well if this is the case(obviously dependant on species) most modern growers grow their plants emmersed,not submersed as most hobbyists do-this gives much faster and more robust growth,but also different leaf forms and changes in appearance. If for example you want to grow crypts you can simply get some clear tubs,put sand/laterite/flourite,whatever your choice is,stick a few pieces of rhizome in the substrate,cover the substrate with water and cover the tank with cling-film with little slits cut in the top.put in a window and shortly you will have a bunch of crypts-repeat lots of times to make your fortune David

Warren-I have to take issue with your statement that a planted tank will not support a very big fish load even when matured-My tanks are all very heavily planted and a stocked significantly higher than they would be without live plants.A planted tank offers the ability to stock an increased load as the plants are using up the excretia from the tanks inhabitants-the bioload in my tanks is incredible;what with high fish numbers,shrimp and snails-indeed I often attribute this high stocking level as one of the reasons that without CO2 injection I am able to grow as lush plants as I am. David

I have sparkling gourami,paradise fish,pearl gourami,betta splendens,and have in the past has honey dwarf gourami,along with a variety of the different color variations of dwarf gourami. On a side note I was appauled some months back when i visited a local chain petstore named Petco (they normally have good plant selection) As I entered the store I noticed the normal endcap display with all of the tiny cups with Bettas in them-only this time the idiots had filled them all the way to the top and put lids on them! :evil: :roll: I quickly removed all of the lids-the bettas that were still alive were frantically trying to get air at the surface.It must have happened recently as there were quite a few still alive.I was very angry at the senseless waste of life-I gave the staff a piece of my mind and left without making a purchase. David

Have you thought about ordering some eggs online and starting breeding colonies in NZ? The subspecies of Walkeri that I have is no longer available in the wild-a Parking lot now stands in its natural habitat! David