Newbie introduction

Good day/evening

My name is Ettienne , new to posting but not to the forum. I have been a member for quite some time and spent most of that time hopping through different forums from DIY to breeding guppies.

I have been enjoying the hobby for approx. 2 years now and still enjoy every moment of it.I currently have a 540l tank housing 2 tiger Oscars , one black (18cm) and one albino(22cm), as well as 6 solver dollars .
My second tank is a 350l and is home to two famale green terrors ,who have both laid eggs and I am yet to find , yes I am looking,a male to add to the duo.

In the outside room I have a 250l tank that is currently housing 6 angels ,of which type I do not know, they were an addition to a tank purchase.
Might be an interesting breeding project in the future.
Also in this room are 4 60l tanks which I am using to breed guppies (with lots of help from this forum) , my cull quality guppies obviously are a treat for the Oscars.I have been unsure of what line I would like to breed and what traits I would like to improve and thus I have only started with a dedicated line this month. Looking forward to how that will progress.

I also have 3 smaller tanks approx. 30-40l in which I have red shrimp, and a little surprise passenger one blue shrimp that arrived in the tank where the angels were kept. I still need to get some more moss for these tanks but Secunda is a small place quite some distance from a decent store with variety or any live plants for that matter. I do not know of anyone that would/could courier to Secunda ,nor do I know in what condition they would arrive. Maybe some input from the more knowledgeable members?

I have two black tubs set up for guppies to breed outside ,during the warmer temperatures, just as an experiment to see how well it goes first time round.These tanks are not heated but do have sponge filters in.a also looking still for some floating plants for these tubs that would create coverage as well as hiding spots for the fry.

I guess that is it for my introduction , I look forward to reading many more posts on this forum as it is an excellent source of information.

Ettienne

 

Welcome Ettienne. We are all keen for some photos

 

Hi and welcome. I have lived outside Secunda on a farm for years. If the wind blew bit funny the whole farm smelled like fart from the sassol gasses.

I have fish outside as @ reedfish mentioned. I started a bit early this year, so my tubs are still heated, but heaters are comming out next week.

I have guppies sword tails mollies and platties outside. Only have fry from guppies sofar.

My dad still stays in Kinross, and also have 3 tanks.
Theres a petshop in Evander where he buys his stuff. Not sure of theyre details though...

Quintin

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A7-30HC using Tapatalk

 

Welcome to the forum...

 

Hi and thank you to all for the welcome messages.

To all that have referred to mts , yes I've been hooked and I always on the lookout for even more tanks. I always have some extra media for when the next tank might be acquired , and I quite enjoy planning what will be in the tank while it has no fish in and just cycling.

@Reedfish I will most definitely be contacting the sponsors and getting some information from them, thank you.

@Fishlips , ahh the smell... Haha I have to agree with you there , though these last few years it has been much better with the new government requirements for emissions. Do you still live in the area?
I would like to have a look at that petstop in Evander some time , did not know they had one.
As for the tubs , this will be my first attempt and thus I would not be as adventurous and stick to one or two tubs with guppies. The tubs have not been set up the best it could and im still looking to improve on it over time.

@MariaS I do love my Oscars , extremely messy though but that just means water changer on water changes and gravel vac really well. Keeping the gravel as clean as I would like is a real pain at times. With proper circulation in the tank though I get most of the heavy waste to be moved to one side of the tank and it's less of an eye sore and easier to clean.

To all that have requested pics , I will upload as soon as I know how to do that haha, that's what I get for not posting before.

Thanks again to all and have a great Friday!!

 

Hi, no i dont stay there anymore...

Fish outside is fun and grow super fast too.

Just lost 1 since i setup outside, and that was a mollie. I dont know where the platties are at though, hiding under green water.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A7-30HC using Tapatalk

 

These are pictures of my Oscars and silver dollars tank as well as my green terror females tank.a Apologies for the TV glare in the last photo and the little net in the first one dropped in just before i took the photo and I wasn't getting my arm wet just for the photo.More pictures are sure to follow.

@Fishlips I have had one loss thus far as well , but the good news is that I have counted 15 new and unexpected fry in the tub. I believe the green water is extremely good for the fry. Do you induce this green water , what is the "secret" to getting this to happen. I found the pet shop in Evander , to my surprise they had a few items that were not available in either of the shops in Secunda , thank for the tip. Though the story is in a dodgy location and the fish variety is not much to be mentioned I can see myself going back there to collect one or two items that are priced slightly better.

@MariaS I have tried the crickets and just did not like it at all , got grossed out for some reason. Tried the worms and the loved it , gobbled them all up in a split second without even one speck wasted. Will definitely be looking for a steady source of the worms. I might even treat them with some shrimp , sounds like a great idea.

@Reedfish , water changes once a week on all tanks ,except if fry have just been born, anything from 20-50%. For my smaller tanks I have water in a 250l container ,which is circulated with a pond pump, I fill it up and dechlorinate after every weekly water change so they just need some heating by the next water change. I do skip on the filters some times and do them every second week. Haven't had any problems as of yet and hope I won't have any in the future.

 

Im not to sure where the petshop in Evander is, but last time i was at 1 in Evander it was close to checkers, a block up or so.

Dr Bosch in Secunda only has goldfish according to my dad.

That place is in need of a good petshop... years ago there was a nice 1 in the Sunlum center, but i think they closed down years ago too. My first goldfish came from there.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A7-30HC using Tapatalk

 

If you want plants just check betterweather, they courier and have what you are looking for.