jamal

Maingano! Finally!I have been trying for months to find out their name, ironic that i did when i wasnt trying. Always the way. Your setup is brilliant :)

OK, i feel like such a freak because i came home and there is no sign of ammonia burn at all??? I could see what i thought was a tiny bit of ammonia burn yesterday but now my fish look normal again. Could it disappear so quicky or was i seeing things? Anyway, yeaterday for the first time in 3 years i got my siphon working! So i sucked out some bloodworm and fish waste (im surprised that there was not very much at all) and feed my fish only a tiny bit of food, put in some more ambulia (3 good sized, vigorous stems which are now bare stalks) and i still have lots of val. and milfoil which the fish hate, and did a good-sized water change. Fish still very happy and have this beautiful and stunning glittery shine on their fins. They look soo much happier and more active, and i can tell they have grown. It will take a while for them to outgrow it wont it? KenR60 wow 18 hours! Breeding paradise fish sounds like fun! Good luck with them. MelbBill i removed some bloodworm (70%) and i think my problem (if there ever was one) is resolved, but i guess it can't hurt to siphon out poop! Terribletegs ive done a water change and i think its under control. Thanks everyone! Japelno

o oh. i have just noticed a tiny bit of ammonia burn on both my fish. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!!! I have tonnes of plants, all healthy, the pond is full of bloodworms i probably don't even need to feed them they have enough food. Its like a sustainable ecosystem now so why the ammonia burn?? please help me and my fish Japelno

Thanks so much peeps, very helpful links. My fishys love bloodworms, they used to be in the old pond. I ended up putting the fish in the pond anyway as the water in the other one was just getting too hot. As soon as they were in they were visibly happier, cruising around and searching for food and ..... THEY SPAWNED!!! They spawned on the third day of being in their new home. Soo sad because i have no room to keep even one (i doubt any would survive as i have nil experience with fry), but in a few years time i hopefully might have enough room to keep a few. Strangely they are not picking at the plants now in there (milfoil, ambulia, val, banana lily, fringe lily) and are not even eating the eggs, so now i will feel even worse if the eggs hatch and then the fry get eaten! There must be at least 150 in there, so maybe they're tired of eating their children!? Spawning means they're happy, right? Both fish were ravenous and swimming around in search of food but my female is acting a bit agitated and about once every few minutes she will sort of shake a tiny bit? i don't know what this means but i will do some research. She was acting normal until they spawned, i hope she's just really tired, my male is fine. Thanks guys, Japelno.

THE POND IS FINISHED, matured and ive found some things i dont like the look of. was all set to put the fish in until i found these jelly-like worms, clear, but you can see some veins or something?? They are attatched to the cord of my pump, maybe eating the algae off, and when i (eew) pulled one off the pump it was anchored to it with a string. When i looked closer the strings were all over the cord, like spider web. Then i noticed some white insects walking on the water and i thought maybe these could be their larvae??? And finally i noticed a few tiny beetles running across my rocks on the bottom. I managed to catch one as it went up for air (im assuming) and it looks brown and light brown mottled and runs as fast on land and then it flew away. More disturbing i found one of the jelly worms sucking my banana lily (i was wondering why its leaves were turning yellow and slimy for a few days now). I have no plants in the pond aside from the lily and my rocks came from under ground as i was digging (dont worry i soaked and thoroughly washed them). I live nowhere near any bodies of water so how is this happening????? Is it safe to put my fish in? i cant find any info on it. PLEASE hELP ME MY FISH ARE ROASTING IN THE OLD POND ABOVE GROUND WITHOUT A PUMP!!! thanks, japelno.

HI everyone. just wanting to know if anyone would have an idea of roughly how long this pond will be suitable for my fish. still in the process of digging, and hoping ill never have to do it again! thanks, Japelno

Thanks MelbBill, i think i will start off doing 20l and modify that slowly until i find the right balance. Thanks everyone!

I hope my fishes love it, i mean they've got to, its such an improvement on what they have. Im so excited! Hehe, my banana lily has just managed to survive a year and three months. At one stage, it had no leaves at all and pieces of it were scattered everywhere. Only a few weeks ago it began to show that it was actually alive by sending out about a dozen new leaves in about a week. The only reason it has leaves is because my testosterone filled male fish was chasing my roe filled female around like mad so they were occupied, but she can hold her own as she is bigger and has a much larger mouth and when shes had enough, she will ram him in the side! Ah, fish love. Last time i managed to find some duckweed i put it in, came back half an hour later and it was gone! Um, does anyone know how often i should do a clean/water changes e.t.c. ??? Thanks, Japelno.

:) OMG! At last! my parents finally said yes to a pond! Its 150l, round, black and soo much larger! Im so happy! So im going to put in lots of oxygenators and i already have a marginal and a banana lily and ill try to get some duckweed and try to protect it from my fish. Japelno!

Thanks MelbBill I really cannot thank everyone who has helped me enough. Thanks a million, Japelno

Hi peeps, MelbBill, my two fishes haven't had any illnesses other than ammonia burn but since the last intance of this (about 6-7 months ago) i have increased the frequency of their water changes and i think so far so good. Yes, my parents are supportive to a degree, they wouldn't have let them get all crispy in the air and when it rains while i am at HS they cover the 'pond' with a tarp tied to 2 trees. I know they would never knowingly hurt them, they just don't know much about my fishes needs. I hope i don't see your nasty side!! I never knew Tosakins could drown, it is amazing how man have crippled goldfish to this extent! Brad, I promise i won't get slack on their water changes ever! I sure do talk to them (probably more than i should, once my neighbour was on the other side of the fence and heard me telling them how gorgeous they are, he gave me the weirdest look!), they are so friendly! When i clean the 'pond' out they swim around my hands (probably looking for food as i hand feed them), when they were small one in particular used to weave in and out through my fingers! it was so cute! now they attempt to suck my fingers off and play under my hands. I'm working on varying their diet, they get a lot of insects (mosquitos, christmas beetles and they leave only the wings, little moths, spiders and lots of ants) but i do think like MelbBill that they need more greens. My water conditioner brand is Vitapet (eew) but it does say it removes chlorine and chloramine and i have never had any problems with it. So, if my fishes don't show any signs of ill health, i think ill keep them! Thankyou both so much, it is such a great feeling knowing that there are experienced fishkeepers ready to help! :D

MelbBill, My fishes do get a few shelled peas now and then but are not really fond of them so i will try some zucchini tonight and hope they like it more. I cannot believe i even thought of a snail, it would be sucked out of its shell in a matter of seconds! I have some algae i leave on the sides of the pond and it is quite hard for them to eat it off so every second night i scrape off a little and add it too their fish food, is doing this OK? they really like eating it. About their growth rate, i'm guessing they are about 1.5 years old so if they stop growing will it cause them harm? (sorry if im going on about this growing thing i'm really worried about stunting) I don't think there is any chance of convincing my parents but i will try again. If i fail (99.99% chance), should i keep them and go along with the ususal routine, or should i try and give them away? What would you do in my situation? Thankyou so much, Japelno

HA! seen soo many female paradise fish and a huge tank of Endler's! All those rules, legislations e.t.c make my head hurt. MelbBill, hmmm..... i do 50% water changes on every third day, i don't have a nitrate test kit because i have no money. The temp..... i don't even have a thermometer, but it feels pretty low when i get home from HS, but then again it is in the shade then..... but it is in almost full sun at other times when i'm not home. I'm guessing 22C is the max. But my fishes are still a poop factory! i hardly feed them any fish food but a lot falls in, e.g lizards (about the only thing my piggy fish won't eat, but that doesn't mean she hasn't tried). But something that concerns me is that they have not grown for a while, are they stunting? I had an idea the other day... will a snail or two eat their waste, or just make more? Do you have a success story with GFs in similar conditions? Thanks peeps and fishy criminals !

WOW! Really Rod? i never knew that! Thanks! KenR60, i think she may need a heater if she opts for the pond. Plus she told me its 42l not 50l so thats even worse. Marianne, my friend told me that when she asked at the LPS they said she could keep him in a 5l tank! Luckily she knew better than to trust those horrible people. Is it really too small? KenR60 said his males only grow to 10cm.... Anyway, Rod, does that mean could keep 2 single-tailed goldfish in 40l if you did really frequent water changes? (im trying everything to help my fish in their awful situation) Thanks, Japelno

Thanks KenR60! wow! ten degrees! i thought they were tropical too Ghengis!. She has this little 'pond' thingy outside, (i don't know the exact capacity but i'm guessing around the 50l mark) and is thinking about putting him in there (much, much prettier than her tank) but was worried he would not be able to overwinter out there without a heater. Would he? (i am assuming KenR60's pond is larger and deeper than 50l) Thanks, Japelno