heather

I tried to get the glazier to do it, but he would have had to send it to Hamilton and it was going to take two weeks!

You need a plumbing outlet rather than Mitre 10. Go to your local Mastertrade and ask for a 'tank fitting' - in the States its called a bulkhead. Hansens make tank fittings and there are other brands around as well. Mastertrade stocks Hansens though. I found that Mico and Plumbing World (at least where I am) didn't carry much in the way of PVC fittings. I used 25mm fittings and the tank fitting and the elbow was just under 9cm from the glass. The fittings for 40mm will be bigger but you should be able to trim some off the elbow but that still won't get you the 5-6cm you are looking for. I don't know of a shorter way to do it. For drilling the tank I went to Super Auto Cheap and bought a $20-$30 rotary tool with accessories that included a diamond bit. I took the tank outside, put it on the ground, ran the garden hose on it with one hand and drilled with the other. Minutes later I had a hole. No practicing. Maybe I was stupid and just lucky but I had a hole and a rotary tool that has proved really useful for other stuff as well.

It looked a lot like this http://www.solodvds.com/aquarium.asp?Name=Barrier+Reef+Chromis&link=Chromis&ID=30 But I don't rememer the black lines on the tail, and the yellow didn't extend as far back and the black band was thicker. But apart from that...

It could well be. It was very similar in shape to a chromis or anthia.

I can't remember if there were any there or not. But the next fish up in price was $35ish and they weren't chromis.

It is not the black cap gramma and its not the Talbots Damsel (thanks KP). It's actually rather pretty, at least its more interesting to look at than a green chromis. Maybe it's a juvenile form of something?

Has anybody been to Wonderworld Rotorua lately? There was something labelled 'Black Cap something', but I can't find anything out about it. They were about 1 1/2 inches long, were white with a yellow cap on top of a black cap over the head area. And were less than $20 each. Anybody know what they are?

Can it be a good idea in fuges though? Or does it eventually escape into the display?

Wish I had read this the other day! My Amazon Sword started a spike just before Christmas and I let it grow out of the tank. It got to about 80cm before it stopped growing any taller and it's still flowering. The cat chewed off the end so I'm guessing it would have got to over a metre tall. Anyway, it started another spike a few days ago and as I was loosing too much water from having the cover open I cut them both off. I didnt know Sword's grew new plants from spikes I thought it was from runners. If it grows another spike I will know what to do now.

So how many would you say is too many HandS?

I will be checking out the Akl shops in a couple of weeks and will see what I can find. Keyholes sound good but would have liked more colour. Apistos look good but I dont like their aggressiveness. Decisions, decisions.

I have got 2 bolivian rams (1xm, 1xf) in my 4ft amazon tank at the mo. They are the only cichlids in there. I want to add something else that is intresting and colourful. Any ideas or suggstions for another sort of dwarf (or something different altogether) or should I just get more bolivians?

But as your mum is buying it, then get the fuval cause you want her to have money left over for other pressies!

The top picture is the left half of the tank with some sort of Amazon Sword (it currently has a big flower spike poking about 15cms out of the tank at the moment - dint have a pic yet). The bottom picture is the right half of the tank with a java fern tied onto the log with nylon. It used to be twice as big but gave it a big pruning a few weeks ago. The other plants are straight vallis, dwarf vallis and hairgrass. The only lights I have are two 36w 6500k Phillips flourescents. They are on from 9.30 to 9.30. There are another two flourescents the same in the hood but they arn't working (I need to take them apart and redo the wiring). There is also a fair bit of sunlight from 4pm to 7pm. I really really really need to rehome the redspot to get it looking really good though or at least to where i'm happy with it.

Here are some recent pics of mine. I have a big pleco that messing with the plants a bit and he needs a new home. When he is gone I want work on getting good coverage from hairgrass in the foreground and/or some glosso.