Loopy

Didn't you see them last time Wilson? Have only had them about a week now. Mr L

YAY got more photos! I don't think there is any chance of mistaking them for something else now. Funny thing is they don't seem to have grown any longer from when they started free-swimming! They still look to be about a centimeter long. They just got fatter! While i was downstairs taking photos i snapped a couple of pics of my other new interest. Red rainbows :bounce: And Threadfin rainbows! :bounce: Never had rainbows before. Very cool fish the reds have great personality.

I also have an ex-library copy of this book for sale. Got given it but i already it. Will probably let it go on club night to the best offer. All the photos are black and white but it is one of the best books i have seen. Is even better if you have one of Axelrods atlas's to compliment it.

Sounds like a great idea! I have a bunch of angels that need homes! and possibly a zebra danio or two

how about the upside down catfish (synodontis nigriventris) my book say it is from the "congo basin".

Carriej1 themselves i doubt have any but i know that a family member used to breed some stunning orange/gold/yellow sailfins with the red eyes.

ask carriej1 on trademe

Yep there are still about 16 -18 of the wee guys. :bounce: Getting close to our 30 days too :bounce: :bounce: Been wanting take take a photo or two but hubby has got the camera in his car and he is never home when i get a chance to take photos :evil: They have filled out heaps! But it is hard to keep track of them since they are very high strung wee guys. They freak out if you walk past the tank too suddenly, infact any sudden movements and they go nuts especially when i upset them in their hiding place which is a big clump of java moss. Very very skittish little guys. Been dreaming of big tanks and a school of 18 silver dollars doing the conga line :lol: Would be a very impressive sight i think.

Just an idea but how do you think the cafe might like the idea of instead of buying the fish, offer to fix/repair/nurse and maintain the tank for them? Perhapes you could come to an arrangement where you could do their water changes and stuff for unlimited coffees! I would imagine that going to a cafe to chill out and relax with a coffee and stare at some fish for a while is an appeal to some of the cafes customers and perhapes the regular customers and the cafe might be a bit attached to their funky pets, I know oscars are so cool they can be hard not to fall in love with!

Hi janelle. Really sorry to hear about your minnows. Can you give us a few details about the tank itself too? Perhapes what filter you use? any changes you may have done? Any new plants, ornaments, fish? how often do you normally do water changes? I will have a flick through my books to see if i can find anything useful but i find it can be so hard to pinpoint what is wrong with fish a lot of the time.

I wasn't the slightest bit surprised when i popped in to Organism on saturday morning to get a water test done and found wilson there. Careful wilson or they might start charging you rent! Really looking forward to our get-together. I think i had better stay far away from the petshop crawl though. I can feel hubby thinking about making a rule of no more fish :oops: I succumb to temptation far too easily.

Opps did a double post :oops: Can you imagine what size tank that must be?? Found my new wallpaper for my desktop. Gonna wearout my scoll button :lol:

Gotta say i like the effect of this one! Like a fresh snow fall! Still looking through them all though. Wicked link!

might be interesting to give them a prod. When i read your first message i thought could they be aborted guppy embryos? What colour the bubbles? are they all the same size or different sizes? When guppies get stressed they can abort themselves. perhapes while getting used to their new tank they got a bit spooked and aborted? how many females have you got? If you haven't got any females then don't worry about this idea! :lol:

darn thing plays dead right at the front of the tank. i have had him for coming up a year and he is in a tank in the hall so i am walking past him all the time and i still panic and think he is dead or dying. Flipping worse attention seeker that my 2 and 4 year old girls!

Thank YOU! For all coming and being so enthusiastic and supportive! I am glad everyone enjoyed themselves. Next meeting should be even better i hope!

*finally* managed to get another photo of the baby dollars. They are all growing well and they are all very much the same size, no runts! The coolest thing is they are starting to look like miniature silver dollars. They are starting to get the head profile and filling out in the body. I moved them up to a 2ft tank so now they can erratically dart with out braining themselves on the ends of the tank. That is one problem with silver dollars, They just randomly dart all over the place at the speed of light without really looking where the are going. :roll: Fairly certain we haven't lost any but they like to burrow into clumps of java moss and hide so i can't count them very well anymore.

My guys had to be painstakingly trained to eat shell on prawn chunks dangled from a string. Thankfully I didn't have to train them Their previous owner did. One of the three puffs is a freak of nature and happily takes pellets but the other two won't even look at a pellet, They are *far* too good for such inferior foods! i wonder how the little mini mussels from the beach would go as puffer tucker? Could be a good excuse to got to Sumner........

Pun excused!!! :lol: Now you understand why i would love to find a way to get some of these guys! I have had the Dr axelrod mini freshwater atlas for a while now and you know how you flick through the pages and sometimes a random fish just really catches your eye? The aulonocara is one of those fish.

I wish i could start another tank up. BUT winter is coming = jumbo sized power bill! We don't have a fishroom each tank we start has a heater in it and the power bill well.....$$$$$.... :roll: We usually TRY to cut down on some tanks over winter. HAHAHAHAHA! MTS won't let us! We already have 2 meters x 60cm x 60cm 660L tank with the severums and silver dollars. 4ft 200Lish small community 3ft divided 150L Angel breeding tank 3ft 150L display tank with BGK and a couple of others 3ft 125L Puffer tank 2ft 60L Angel and danio growout tank 2ft 60L Silver dollar fry grow out tank 8L danio spawn tank 5L kribensis growout tank I think that works out to be about 1218 liters of water that we are heating the hard way Got plenty of spare tanks though! :oops:

Thank you Afrikan. Your opinion along with everyone elses is just what i wanted! I try to give my fish a variety of foods. They get pellets specifically for cichlids, a cheaper pellet, spiralina discs, lettuce, duckweed, java fern, frozen mixed veges, shelled shrimp and shell on prawns. I dont feed red meats to my lot, though i probably would if i thought about it. :roll: Shrimp and the pellets are the standard daily foods,

dont be too disheartened Milet. Have a look here: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/imports/animals/standards/fisornic.all.htm#partd I hope that puts a smile on your face

I advertised asking for small cichlids. Ideally hoping for apistos of some sort but have been offered one cichlid which has always been nearly at the top of my wishlist! Aulonocara Hueseri! Problem. I don't know diddly squat about african cichlids! :oops: Questions. 1. If i raise young fry in pH 7.6 - 7.2 water will they be ok? I don't want to start a new tank for them. The whole idea was to get small cichlids who could handle the chemistry of our main tank. but i would really really really like to try some aulonocaras! 2. What brand pH kits do all you african keepers use? I have like 3 different types here and they all only go up to 7.6. If africans are to be at 8._ how can you test the water to find out? 3. Can i keep africans with severums and silver dollars? Would i really be pushing my luck too much? The tank they would potentially go in is sitting on about 7.6 pH at the moment. oh dear i could have sworn i had more questions to ask than that!

Have you got any photos of your puffs? Or do you know the scientific name? "figure 8 puffer" is the common name to a couple of quite different species of puffer including the palembang puffers that i have got. Once you know exactly what you have got then you can research much easier

No don't put apple snails in with convicts. Apple snails actually taste quite nice as far as fish are concerned. And most cichlids and platties just constantly pick at the snails making them miserable. Really not fair on the snails if they can't be relaxed and feel safe in their enviroment. The happiest apple snails i have seen are ones in fry tanks or in tanks with only a couple of very quiet fish like tetras (tetras, if i remember correctly are less likely to hassle apple snails than fish like cichlids, danios and platties) Or if the snails are kept on their own.