pearlyred

Just the other half-dozen tanks you'll soon have. But seriously, I'd definitely go with live plants, nothing looks better and yes they help keep your tank stable. As far as substrate goes, I like the black sand in my tanks, looks way cool and gives a great contrast against the plants. 215L isnt bad for a first tank, you can get a few fish in there. Pick easy ones to start with and don't add them all at once, you need to allow your tank time to cycle once it's up and running (you'll find plenty of info on this on the forums) LS

Yes they are all sold seperately, or you can buy them all together in a Freshwater Master Test Kit. Works out cheaper that way, with over 700 tests in the box. I think Animates charge around $70 for it. You might get them cheaper of TradeMe. Regards Lee

I'm suprised the pet store told you not to bother, selling test kits is easy money for them. Some people don't bother with them and never have any problems. But, for someone new to keeping fish they can be a really useful tool to find out whats going on. Especially whilst you are setting up new tanks, adding fish etc.

The important ones are Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates and PH. For Ammonia and Nitrites you want 0 ppm. These are lethal to your fish and anything over this and you can start running into trouble. For Nitrates aim for as low as possible, but you should be able to go up to 30-40ppm maybe without harming your fish. But still, aim for 0 here too. My tanks seem to sit at around 5ppm with no intervention from myself. The fish are quite happy with this. Regards lee

Clown loaches are very prone to white spot, they're quite fussy about the water conditions they live in. But.. stress causes white spot and just the stress of moving to a new home is enough to cause it. Usually happens. Wouldn't worry too much about it, just get it cleared up, make sure your water is nice for them and you should be ok. Personally I wouldnt go tooo hard out with the treatment on them. Regards LS

We always do the treatment at 50% of recommended dose when we are doing our clown loaches. They are sensitive to that treatment due to the lack of scales, along with our ghost knife etc. Regards

Hi Lynda, Yeah they're totally gorgeous. It's easily my fav fish. From what I can find they're actually classified as Botia Kubotai, but the shops still sell them as Angelicus. They were only discovered early last year (And of course we're filling our tanks with them already - humans!) Got it from WetPets PNorth actually about 6 weeks ago I thinnk. Nice and close for you, give em a call and see if they have any more. Regards Lee

We had one like this too. Eventually he got some sort of fungus growing from his mouth, kinda like cotton-mouth, though this looked more like it was growing from INSIDE of him, not his lips. He died too...

Hi Jack, I guess you could take out the babies if you want to breed the snails, but if the fish are enjoying them why bother? They're a delicacy. Personally I feel being overrun with snails (it doesnt take long) is one of the most ANNOYING things. LS

This is my current favourite fish, wish I purchased a couple weeks ago. He/she is still pretty shy but comes out from under its rock for a play a wee bit. It's gorgeous. Hard to get a good photo of though. Thought I would share as I cant find much about them on the forums. Anyone else keep these?

Hi B&K, No I'm stilll not a member of the club. Havent had time to attend any of the meetings yet so seemed pointless. I think the danios would probably be fine yeah. As for the hap and firemouth, I'll probably let them get a bit bigger (theyre about 1 1/4") and then sell/swap em. Havent actually seen cockatoos lately, pretty sure there were some at the LFS in the past though. LS

Hi guys, i decided over the weekend on impulse to use my spare tank as a dwarf cichlid tank, so went out and got some new fishies, except i didnt do my homework first (which i usually do). I think i was slightly misinformed and so I ended up with 2 kribs, 1 albino krib, 1 firemouth and 1 giraffe hap. From what I've read since then, the firemouth and the hap are not going to be suitable for a small happy tank. Theyre going to get much too big for this 110L~ tank. So im figuring i'll need to get rid of those two. What else would it be safe to put in there? Cockatoo apsito maybe? they look ok. Some rams? Also, you reckon some giant danios would go ok in there?, i'd quite like to move them out of the tank theyre in if they can hold their own. And are there any loaches/plecs that would go well in there? I know BN's would be ok. Cheers LS

Wow thats pretty big after two weeks. What is it you're feeding them, BBS? We have some guppies that are also two weeks old and they are nowhere near that size yet. Apart from BBS what other foods would you guys recommend for feeding young livebearers? cheers lee

If you like the look of them GT go ahead and have a go with them. We may just have had some bad luck with the ones we've had, I don't know. They do seem to suffer from fungal diseases a lot though.

Don't think so paul, we got the danios and platies from you

Hi guys, one of our swords has been giving birth for the last couple hours, heres a few shots of the action.. Mum just before the birth.. Look close and you can see the fry coming out.. Pop!.. These are all between 10 mins and 2 hrs old, from above.. Same again, side on.. Looks like she's still going, think we've got about 30 so far.. Lee

I think it depends on the particular fish, as with most things. We have a male betta in with 3 angels and they all get along fine. ----- LS

Looks like im about to lose a danio. She's swimming round at a 45 degree angle, and getting more sideways as time goes. She's not so much swimming as jerking forward. Looks like its gonna be too late for her, but does anyone know what could cause it, and is it preventable in future? cheers lee

Hi there, Gouramis are nice, but they aren't the easiest fish to keep. They seem to succumb to a lot of diseases, mainly fungus type things. Many of them seem quite picky about their water conditions so I dunno if they'd be great for a beginner. We've had a few and personally i won't get any more. They're just too much trouble to me. Just my two clicks anyway.. PR

Hi Chakuna, Does your dad have a digital camera at all? If he does maybe he can help you take some photos of your tank, and you can post them here on the forums. People may be able to help you better if we can see what you've got there. Glad the guppies are doing ok.. --------- PR

Shae, got any pics of the completed room with tanks yet?

Just wondering, does anyone know of a list that contains all the different tank themes (is biotopes the right word here?) that are possible, along with a list of plants/fish found in each? Ie, an amazon tank, or an african tank etc. Or is it just a matter of finding one and then researching different fish till you come up with a list from the right place? cheers LS

I'm now the happy owner of: Zebra Danios Pearl Danios Leopard Danios Glolight Danios Need to find some new LFS's to search for different ones What are these blue zebras? Mine are bluish but i thought that was just a trick of the light type thing, are they actually different? -- lee

Also, do any of these eat snails, or is it just the loach family? We still have the snail problem in another tank, and i dont want them spreading to this one too

Hmm, could get a cory yeah, if i can find one thats a little unusual We have a bronze cory in another tank already. Lots of personality, but ugly as. I love the look of those wee panda catfish, but you need a group of them so i read..Shame. B/N is also a possibility yeah, not a huge tank, so something smallish would be good, thanks paul. -- lee