Dawn

Not unless you're thinking of cleaning out the tank EVERY day! When you say the sponge filter is noisy - is it a corner sponge filter run by an air pump? If so it's probably the pump that is the noisy part! I don't think you mentioned what size your tank is did you? You can get some really cheap small internal filters that are very good and not too expensive but it all depends on the size of tank what size you'd need.

Oh my goodness, no my bottle doesn't say that - oh cor I don't think I'm going to use it again!

I picked up a new algae destroyer at my local pet shop a couple of days ago, I haven't seen this one before and wondered if anyone else knew anything about it. It's called 'Algae Destroyer Liquid' from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc, an American company. It says it's an environmental hazard, hazardous to humans and domestic animals, discharging it into lakes, ponds or flowing water. It is also a violation of federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labelling! After all that I was really hesitant to use it but after paying $27.35 for it I wasn't going to throw it away (besides that's against the law too!). So in it went but I didn't realise it was so viscous and it didn't dissolve straight away - one of my angels thought it was dinner and took a big slurp of it - oh oh I thought that's him done for - but so far he seems okay two days later. It remains to be seen whether it will get rid of the black hair algae though - some of the stones are still covered in it!

A 250ml bottle cost me $23.25 but that was quite awhile ago, it's probably gone up since then!

But getting rid of black hair algae is NOT it's job! It is only recommended to double dose to get rid of the algae. It's normal job is as an organic carbon source for the planted aquarium. Double dosing does not harm the fish either.

I don't know what the others think but I wouldn't if I was you. I've just started a new 215 litre tank a week ago and one of my other three tanks had white spot so I didn't use anything from that tank just in case. If you don't have another tank to seed the bacteria from you could purchase a bottle of 'Cycle' or something similar, keep it in the fridge after you've opened it. I've seeded AND used Cycle but I notice today the ammonia is starting to creep up although not too bad at present. I was always told not to do water changes until the cycling had finished so as not to remove the bacteria that was already there! Anyone else have other ideas?

Hollywood Fish Farm told me to double dose with Flourish once, I did and it turns the algae white & kills it. It didn't harm my fish but at the time I just had platies & guppies mainly! But I'm afraid it all came back again eventually! Since then I have managed to keep it more or less at bay by dosing with Aqua Master Algae Cure every two weeks and picking out the gravel it grows on and putting it in the sun for awhile.

Yes I have seen them, absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately I don't have salt in any of my tanks - yet!

Thanks Ira and Kim, yes that's him! No they didn't tell me it grew so large, oh well you live and learn. Alan 104 - thanks also. Yes I did realise it's not an ancistrus, I've already bred those and have hundreds of them - had to get rid of the parents before I became too overloaded with them! And no I didn't think it was the yellow ancistrus that Kim is breeding, I'm off next weekend to get a couple of those from her, looking forward to that - will you be there on Saturday Kim? For some reason I'm always drawn to yellow fish, probably because it's my favourite colour, couldn't pass up the yellow catfish when I saw it! He is a delight to watch, constantly on the move but as you say I don't really see him doing much work - mind you it's a new tank so there isn't any algae yet!

I bought a golden catfish yesterday and forgot to ask if they knew the latin name of it - I've looked through all my fish books but can't come up with anything that looks like it but I feel certain that it's nothing fancy - it only cost $6.95. Just looks like a catfish, a long slim body, colour is a bright yellow all over with no other markings/colours, moves very fast and is definately not afraid of sitting on top of the Kribensis' home within cms of the male! Can anyone name it for me please or do you need a photo?

I doubt they do Warren, at least where I bought mine from didn't! That way they can sell you more when the others have frozen to death in the winter! Now, don't anyone YELL at me - I'm not saying ALL shops are the same, I'm sure they're not.

I would Alan except that they will eventually be going into another tank which is 25oC, this one is for my Cichlids. I just thought getting the new tank was a good opportunity to get them accustomed to warm water slowly. The water in the new tank is a little cloudy at the moment, hopefully that will wear off in a day or two.

I started a new tank last night so I set the heater at 20oC to start with and left it overnight. This morning the thermometer read 21oC which seemed to me to be about room temperature so I transferred the Zebra Danios to it -they couldn't believe their luck! I've now upped the heater to 22oC and will leave that for a day to see how we go - so far so good. Thanks to everyone for your help.

Thanks Alan, will do. I filled and started the tank last night, put plenty of water from two other tanks plus filter pads and about half of the ceramic thingis from them plus a good dose of Cycle so it should get a good jump start bacteria wise! Can't wait to get my Jewels now - have put 6 Zebra Danios in it in the meantime - they never had it so good, have gone completely mad!

My new 215 litre tank has arrived. After it has cycled etc would it be okay to put a pair of Kribensis in with five juvenile Jewel cichlids. There will also be a few Bristlenoses, Neons & Glowlights. The Kribs haven't started breeding yet, probably because the tank they are in at present is too small, but when/if they do will the Jewels be safe? Or will it be the other way around - will the Kribs be safe from the Jewels as they grow?

I don't know about that make Phillz, I usually use 'Antiseptic' from MasterPet and up until now have always had 100% success with it. White Spot broke out in one of my tanks last Saturday after I moved my Platies twice in two days! At the moment I have the Platies, three Gouramies and a whole lot of baby Bristlenoses. I've dosed the tank everyday for four days so far it's only the Platies who have it, it's gone on the ones that originally had it but it's constantly showing up on new ones every day - so far the Gouramies are okay and the Bristlenoses have been as busy us usual every day - you can't really tell if they have it or not. However, after upping the temperature and doing a large water change yesterday I dosed the tank with some MelaFix this morning instead and now all the Bristlenoses are just sitting there looking quite stunned - still alive though! It's quite a funny sight really if I wasn't so concerned - looks like they're all sitting on the rocks sunbathing! Where have I gone wrong? The MelaFix use by date is Nov 2004 so I would have thought it would still be okay, maybe not.

Okay thanks Caryl and Ira, I won't worry about it then. I think I've read so much over the last few days that I'm starting to get confused about which ones like acid and which ones like alkaline - time to stop reading and start doing....

Thanks Shae, I'll give it a go then. Haven't decided what tank to put them into yet but the temp will be about 24oC or so. I bought them from a Pet Shop in Auckland, had never seen cold water Danios before or since. When I originally saw them I thought they'd be good mates for my goldfish, now most of the goldfish are gone so wondered if I could convert the Danios and start another tropical tank.

Does anyone know if I can change my cold-water Zebra Danios into Tropicals without harming them at all? I have half a dozen of them in a tank that I want to change into a heated tank and wondered if I did it very gradually would they be okay? Anyone tried it before?

Thanks for that Daniel, it doesn't look like I'll need it after all. Ira, thanks for your comments also. I did say my PH went sky high when I added the KH buffer, well over neutral although I try to maintain it at about 6.8 - 7.0. So if I leave the PH a little acidy what sort of KH reading should the cichlid tank have if I just have the Kribs? I was really asking how to get and maintain a good KH reading without the PH going too high - or am I confused and don't have to worry about KH?

Hi Folks It's been a while since I posted here - at least 18 months or more - but I'm still into my fish although the goldfish are long gone and have been replaced with tropicals. Now that I'm an old hand at breeding mainly Platies and Bristlenoses I've decided I want to be more adventurous and go into Cichlids. After reading up a lot on them I thought Kribensis would be a good one to start with so purchased myself a pair about ten days ago. I first put them into my community tank but after observing the female trying to attack some of the baby bristlenoses I thought I'd better get a new tank and put them by themselves! I have a new 215 litre tank coming but while I'm waiting to get it and for it to cycle properly I've put them into a small 34 litre tank in the meantime. This tank only has about 7 small bristlenoses in it - the smallest one of which I found dead a few days later - is this tank big enough for them for a few weeks do you think or should I put them straight into the cycling tank when it arrives in a couple of days? I'll be using water and filter pads from my other three tanks to start it off with so it won't be brand new! I've read that you should also have some 'dither' fish, ie Rosy Barbs which are too fast to be caught, in the tank with them so they don't take out their aggression on each other. My tap water is very soft and my KH readings are always very low, about 20mg/L, but whenever I add a KH booster of course the PH goes sky high! Someone recently recommended using Argonite which I hadn't heard of before. I've also read that there is a special gravel for cichlid tanks and wondered if anyone knew if it was available in NZ and if so where? I'd appreciate your comments on any of the above and if you have anything to add that might be of help or that you think I should know please fire away.

Sorry Blueram I have only orange/red tails & very few males anyway. My main female died so I mainly have platies and as soon as my dh finishes putting up some shelves in the garage I intend to start a proper breeding programme.

Hi Brian Thanks for the reply but in the six short months since I posted my query I've sold all my goldfish and gone into breeding platies and guppies - not that I originally intended to but they had other ideas! I now have a 90 litre tank chock a block full of them, mainly babies of all sorts of sizes. In fact I'm hopelessly over stocked and they still keep coming - what amazes me is that the older fish aren't eating the babies - they are all getting on quite famously. I don't suppose you want a few do you? Selling VERY cheaply....

Hi Disneyworld Not sure if you were replying to me or not - if so yes I've definately gone tropical too! One tank with 5 tiger barbs, 5 green tiger barbs & 5 golden barbs. And yesterday I bought yet another tank for more....

Ira, you weren't wrong about the amount of salt after all. While at the fish farm today I had a look at the aquarium salt packet and it said '1 teaspoon per gallon' - so your reputation is still good. So if the salt stays in the water forever how long do I leave him in it? He's still his same lethargic self but is managing to eat a mouthful or two. In fact I think he's either lazy or rather backward as he'll take the food if I put it right in front of his eyes but only one mouthful at a time - after that he doesn't bother going to the bottom to look for the rest. Don't tell me I'm going to have to hand feed him twice a day!! Bill - thanks for the article on the cichlids. I don't think Prince Charming is bloated or anything, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps he was starving as he wasn't quick enough to get the food when he was in the big tank. I have him by himself now so we'll see what happens. Today I fed him thawed frozen bloodworms which he seemed to enjoy but he completely ignores all the ones that have fallen to the bottom of the tank! Perhaps he really thinks he is royalty.... I think it's just a matter of wait and see now, I think I've done everything I can.