Raybin

apart from the initial question - can anyone help me source some mysis shrimp or equivalent (must be marine) to start a culture so I dont have to use the cherry shrimp?

space tanks whatever else is not a prob. this method doesn't seem to require a "massive lake" seahorse.org - Raising Mysid Shrimp as a Home Aquarium Food had considered cherry shrimp but dont want to fork out excessive amounts of money for enough to fill my massive lake or enough that they are producing large numbers of harvestable babies and prefer a marine species as being fed to marine inverts might give the cherry's a go if I can get them at a decent price. Any other suggestions for feeding pygmy squid??? and yes they do take the cherry shrimp

Where can I get some, or equivalent, to start this happening? cheers guys

nice pic man, any chance you feel like posting some pics of your setup, filtration and sponges

thanks mate, I am on top of the biology, was just looking for any specific experiences, success or fail. I am not keeping a full reef, mainly sponges (other inverts will come and go from the system) and it will be lightly stocked. All good regarding the chain, I will be the start and end

thanks mate what shops stock it so I can pick some up tomorrow. I had a bit of a search and its getting pretty good reviews. Do you know if it comes in larger sizes? Have a 3500 litre system to dose...

I have read what info I can find on the net and looking for any personal experiences in keeping them happy and growing? thanks

sorry to harsh your buzz but its probably not worth the effort and costs. If your that keen then I would start with what species NZ quarantine allow in. I have no idea on specifics but i'm pretty sure that they allow alot more in, just think you will be able to own L46 Zebras and alot more plecs ALOT cheaper than here. Stay on the board and send us pics to make us all jealous. Then look at what they require regarding getting your fish inspected here before they leave the country. If you just want a phone number call NZ quarantine. Those hard working guys on channel 9 who confiscated that banana that some guy was given during his flight on tuesday night or what ever night it was. Truly awesome TV. The whole idea sounds a bit hard really, I mean are you going over setting up house, buying and cycling some tanks and then having someone send your fish over?

lol, much better fleshed out that way than the green grass theory

sorry could you explain this a bit more, it doesn't make much sense. Rain is caused by evaporated water, nutrients (and any dissolved solids) dont evaporate, its why saltwater tanks need topping up with freshwater and water changing with salt water. Rain may collect extremely small amounts of nutrients as it condenses and falls but how could it possibly contain more nutrients than rainwater that has runoff down a catchment, been held in a dam and then pumped to your house?? even if you test the TDS, kH, phosphates, metals, whatever and compare rainwater and tap water, the tap water will have more. Regarding your green grass, wouldn't that be more likely due to the volume that comes out of your hose compared to the sky? There is not enough info to give "the answer" but these things happen, algal blooms occur and die off very quickly, in commercial aquaculture, especially hatcheries that use ponds put alot of effort into culturing their plankton blooms. They actually develop different fertilizer ratio's for the different plankton communities that occur at different times of the year. It could be a bunch of things, even something as simple as the pot is now getting more light for some reason.