me love fishy

Um your angel could have eaten the neon?! sometimes I misplace fish and they are hiding, but its been a couple of days, I would seriously check around the tank and see if it jumped out.

for real!!! My cats would be majorly upset if they lived in Canada, they love their cat bikkies. :lol:

Hiya Once you have been through the cycling process, which can take a couple of weeks or so, be aware that with small tanks (one of my tanks is a 60L, which I consider small) water quality can change quicker than in larger tanks, so small frequent water changes are a good idea. And with a 34L tank even when fully stocked with fish you won't have heaps of fish in there, be careful of overcrowding, so choose your fish wisely. Good luck with your tank, fish are such cool pets but do require more work than you initally think, all the best and just keep trying there is always more to learn with fishkeeping, I've had tanks for 4-5 years and I am still learning. :lol:

How are your fish today Morgie? Did you worm them? I have seen that sunken belly look in some of my fish before and wormed them with worming treatements from the LFS. I have had mixed results, but had a plec survive this. Good luck

I have found that Melafix can help with fungal infections like finrot and mouth fungus and helps heal wounds. Don't know about using it for ich, but you have to be careful with the other stuff that turns the water blue as some plecs and neon tetras don't take to well to it, well that's what I have found anyway. I often add melafix to my water though as a preventative for things whenever I see one of my fishies scratching and can't say for sure but I have had a lot less diseases since I started doing this, there may be other reasons too though, like experience I guess.

How long have you had your tank? Cos you also need to add some stress zyme or cycle to the water to help keep good bacteria in the tank. I am too much of a wimp to put any of my fish out of their misery :oops: , so can't help you there, I have seen very sick fish recover and also fish that didn't even seem sick dead the next day, so your choice really. But definitely get the stress zyme and aquaplus or similar from your lfs and add to your water as soon as you can. You might want to take a sample into the lfs and get them to test it for you first.

Thanks for the advice guys. I went to the website and it was very useful. I also read somewhere that it depends more on the surface area of your tank than the litres. I guess I will combine all advice and then see how it goes, if the tank looks crowded or the fish start to get diseases then they could be signs of overstocking. Will be awhile before that would happen anyway as I only have two gouramis in there at the moment :lol: Cheers guys

Hey ChrisMack I did see a puffer at Pet World on Ferry Road a few weeks ago, may not be there now, but they might be able to order you in some?

I always thought algae was just part of fishkeeping really. I've never managed to get rid of it completely even with plecs in the tank I still have algae to a lesser degree. Its not all bad though green algae on the bogwood looks quite cool I think 8) and as long as it is kept under control is isn't too bad. I usually just take off the worst affected leaves and scrap the glass to keep that clear. Anyone else ever have major success in getting rid of it?

Yeah agree Catbrat. I often use Melafix if my fish show any sign of distress to try and preempt any disease and my plecs never suffer for it.

Cool guppies, really nice colourings. I have had quite a few in the past but my only livebearer (as of yesterday) is a yellow platy girl called Bonnie. No swordtails either, really lacking in livebearers at the moment. I don't have a lot of luck with guppies they seem to die really easily. Keep posting pics, its always good to look at other peoples fishies!!

How are the new neons Tigerson? Did they survive? I guess its just the frustration of fishkeeping, sometimes you have no idea why they die and as some fish are hardier than others even when they are the same species you never can tell. Honestly its a mystery sometimes why some survive when others die. Anyway hope your newbies are alright and loving their tank

Hey Shelley Another cool pet shop with heaps of fish stock and some different ones than usual (sometimes) is Pet World in Christchurch on cnr Ferry Road & Smith Street. I got two glass angels from there, hadn't seen them in any other pet shop in Chch and I also saw a puffer fish suitable for a tropical tank. They also have the usuals and they are pretty reasonably priced too. I agree about plecos, I had a bristlnose plec for 3 years, he was great, called sucky (surprise, surprise) was gutted when he died, had a heater malfunction and temperature went up to 38 degrees while I was at work, came home to him and all my neons dead. Luckily didn't kill all my fish. I now have a female bristlenose plec called scraper, she is just as cool, not quite as territorial about her spirulina disc as he was though!! :lol:

Cool tank hummingbird Thanks for the advice about cardinals instead of neons, maybe angels aren't out of the picture altogether, but will have to see still really, really want discus, so may have to bypass the angels.

thanks for the advice Dan, but I already went out today and bought a couple of golden gouramis, the lfs said they are reasonably hardy so we'll see. If they die then I think I will wait a little and then go with your suggestion Dan. I looked in a book to work out the ratio of fish to litres and it suggested 1 cm of fish to 1 litre of water, so at least that gives me a guideline and anyone else out there who is also wondering. Cheers and happy fishing

Thanks Shelley I would rather have discus than angels as I like the look of them better, I have also heard that angels and neons don't really go together, so might avoid angels altogether as I do want neons, of some kind. I have got a male siamese fighting fish in my small tank, this is my third one and I really like them. I have found that they can be shy at first (who wouldn't be after being kept in a tiny glass tank with only gravel as in the lfs and now in a much bigger tank with others and plants!!) But after a week or two they really come into their own. I have actually found them to be very friendly and had one that would let me stroke it and would come to the front when I called out to it. Maybe it was just greedy and wanted a feed :lol: But I think they are pretty cool and no more territorial than others, generally peaceful but won't take any crap from any other fish. My current one is such cool colours, almost mauve. Anyway cheers for the advice regarding angels and discus.

Hi just reading this topic, are discus and angels really not compatible together? Shame if so. I am setting up a new 4ft tank and wanted to get both. And if not which would be more compatible with other community fish including smaller fish like neons and larger ones like gouramis?

Hiya I have got a new tank which is 120cmx70cmx35cm(already have a small 60L which I have had for 3 years). I have had my new tank set up for two weeks with heater, filter, lights, plants and decorations and have added stress zyme about 3 times over this period and will add more today and do a partial water change. I think its time to start adding a few fish to help with the cycling. I want to put tropicals in and already have tropical fish in my small tank, so I am familiar with a few of the smaller varieties. What I would like to know is how to work out how many fish to put in my tank I know it has something to do with surface area but can't remember how to work it out. I would also like to know if a couple of golden gouramis or angelfish would be hardy enough to cope with being the first fish to help with the cycling process?

sorry derr, yeah 5 ft high might be a bit of a wayward guess but it is higher than a normal tank, so the glass would be maybe 3 ft high, with the stand it would be a bit more than 5 ft as the top is at my eye level.

Hi guys I have just bought a new aquarium (I already have a small 60litre tank), my new aquarium is 4ft long about 5ft high and 2 ft wide. I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on what filters, heaters, lights, air bubble makers etc are the best for this size tank, as I only have a small tank at the moment I am not familiar with all the choices for a bigger tank so would appreciate input from anyone. I was also wondering if anyone had any cool theme ideas for my tank, I don't have any ornaments or even gravel for it yet, but it will definitely be a tropical tank (would love a marine one, but can't afford that!). cheers and happy fishkeeping