Stella

I don't know about superglue (I would assume it is toxic, people try to stick their dentures back together with it and it can have ill effects). Use aquarium silicone. You are using it to glue what to what in an internal filter?

oh, ok..... guess I was wrong... woooo look at all my fish that DON'T move their eyes...

Hi Markoshark, Yes indeed I am female. Always been into insects etc! I did kill a spider today, but it was in the surgery and was a whitetail (all other spiders get captured and released!). Hey, I seem to recall you from some native fish threads. Do you still have any? I am coming up to Auckland next week specifically to do as much native fish stuff as possible. Visiting people/places etc

I would love to know what they were doing.... seems really bizarre behaviour to me. Why would people want to kill them? I have a daddy long legs in the corner of every room (nearly). If the webs get icky I brush them down and the spiders start again. As far as I am concerned they are there becasue there is something for them to eat, they are living fly spray!

Well, that is the question: how many fish can move their eyes? Is there a general rule of the type of fish able to do this? I was quite surprised with my new torrentfish that they can move their eyes and look around a little. Actually now I think of it, the bullies can move them a tiny bit to look downward... not as distinctly as the torrentfish. Both are bottom dwelling fish. I was in the pet shop and saw a pleco move its eyes, also bottom dwelling.

It is great to see more and more people getting interested in native fish! Bullies are great fish, they can be real characters and are really active. They may not be too visible in a pond, often they hide (though commons are often seen in the open during the day) and they are bottom dwelling. What is the bottom of your pond like? Typical pond sludge would be entirely unsuitable for bullies. They like rocks to perch on and caves to hide in (even if they don't use them much). They can be territorial (sometimes insanely so, my redfin has 3/4 of the tank for him, the other seven fish largely live in the other 1/4... I am getting him a new home) but usually it is not much of an issue. HaNs is right to watch for whitespot/ich. I find bullies tend to settle easily, and start feeding within hours, but native fish seem very susceptible to ich when stressed.

gone in ten seconds!! Though i guess following the same 'pre-packaged' idea (to avoid overfeeding issues if getting someone else to help) you could put your live food in meal-sized pots and put them in the fridge, which slows down their metabolism so they live longer in a small pot. But the others are right, they will be fine for a week or so without food if you can't/don't want to get someone to feed them.

I like naming things.... not all my fish have names, some I can't tell apart yet, but so far I have: Ian the Inanga Ronnie and Reggie Cray(fish), names after the infamous Kray brothers Crawford the Crayfish Rufus and the newly arrived Ruby Redfin The three bluegills were going to be either different words for blue or names beginning with Bl.... but I kinda forgot to finalise them. I should! I do actually use the names. There are far more without names though.

Hi Repto, I don't know anything about UV sterilisers, though I assume they sterilise using UV? Whitespot is a big problem for natives, but I don't think I have ever had a spontaneous case. It usually affects recently-captured fish, the stress of adjusting makes them vulnerable. I have rarely had a problem with it, but most of the fish I have taken into captivity myself have been bullies, and they are just so cruisy. Though the temperatures must be watched very carefully on any native, too warm can make them vulnerable to whitespot and fungus. This is the first health issue I have had with the fish in a very long time. Hopefully I caught it early enough, but they will look a mess for a while.

Hi Mark, I went through all my McDowall books to find that reference, then i realised it was a photograph caption on the book with that exact title... He has written (in chronological order... I am having a geek day!) New Zealand Freshwater Fishes (a natural history and guide) (the reed feild guide to) New Zealand Freshwater Fishes Freshwater Fishes of New Zealand (reed nz nature series) He doesn't make it easy!! Interesting about the red colour, I hadn't noticed that bit, though the other books refer to an orangey-ness. My extremely limited practical experience suggested that small fish were dark and light fish pale, but undeniably grey. I have named them after their scientific and common names.... Hmm, I think they might have re-organised them... according to the first book the family is Mugiloididae, but according to the second book they are Pingupedidae.... Google confirms this. I was going to call one Mugiloid, but maybe it shall now be Pingu.... I don't know that I could bring myself to call one Pingu!! Anyway, for obvious reasons the other three are Cheimarr, Foster and Torrie. I am yet to have a way to tell them apart. Maybe the deceased one in the jar of ethanol shall be Mugiloid! Being expired and all!

I am going away for a week and am getting a friend to come and feed them. He is rather fishy I am trying to put a bit of weight on some of my fish, and my new torrentfish have ich so he is going to do waterchanges and keep medicating them. If I was getting a non-fishy person to feed my fish I would get small zip-lock bags and make set portions and write down very strict instructions, as well as show them how to do it (reduces worry for both parties)

Well the torrentfish have got ich (whitespot). I noticed it pretty early on, but now one day on I can see sooo many more now large enough to be seen. I have them in a 0.3% solution of salt, which seems to be the most recommended one for treating ich. It works out at 3g per litre, or 1/2 tsp per litre. I have always found it hard to find something fixed like that for using salt (usually it is 'use a whole lot') and now I have all the info so I can add it to my book, so it is not all a bad thing. Still I wish they hadn't got it. The two little redfins I caught with the torries haven't got it. Bullies are just so sweet at adjusting! They behave normally within the first few hours. Also I got a 300lt/hr pump off trademe. It is tiny and hidden between a couple of rocks. The torries are most impressed, though I think it should be 3000lt/hr: they are inclined to wedge themselves between the rocks as close to the outlet as possible and VIBRATE in the flow! :lol: I am going to get a 550lt/hr one to use in conjunction with the 300lt one. I think they will approve of 850lt/hr!

I am traveling from Palmy to Auckland on the 19/20th Jan and returning the next weekend, 26/27th. The whole point of the trip is for me to meet as many native fish and native fish people as possible. I don't care if you are obsessed or just have a minor interest and one tank of common bullies.... Also if you know of anyone I should get hold of or places to visit, particularly public displays, no matter how small! Thanks heaps

I would love to hear from people who have had them before about what they are like in the aquarium, behaviour etc Thanks

hehehe, I had recieved some hassling that I just had lots of plain brown fish. Now I can say that I have grey fish too! They are gradually getting a little more active. They are out a bit more tonight and chasing each other a little. They still rock :bounce:

Hi Wok, Given that they actually have no idea how torrentfish breed, except that they have a marine stage and the juveniles return with the whitebait.... I doubt that they will be breeding...! Just did a really gentle drain-and-fill waterchange and given them some bloodworm. The big one is out and looking unimpressed and the others are poking out now and then. I am trying to keep still and not scare them.

20 degrees at the moment, should be lower. Will be easier to do that when I have some proper lids and can have fans on them. Currently using ice.

Cool, thanks for the tip! I imagine it would be hard to spot that on these guys, being so grey and hard to focus on. I noticed the redfin in there had a small patch of fungus when I got her home. I gave her a salt dip and put some salt in the tank. It is looking much better today, nearly gone. I may add a little more, torrentfish can handle their salt. What natives did/do you have?

So exciting, I have wanted a torrentfish for so long!! Never seen one before now, but they look fascinating in the books. They are a native fish and are not found anywhere else. The only freshwater member of the blue cod family. They commonly get to 10-12cm but are known to around 15cm. They live in open-bedded, braided, gravel rivers in the swift torrents and riffles. They are actually quite common but because of where they live you tend not to see them until they are in a net. My friends and I found these in the Ohau River on Friday. The river was so alive, so many species of fish and invertebrate! I came back with four torrentfish (6-10cm-ish), one 13cm dead torrentfish now in ethanol (it was found dying), two female redfin bullies, two shrimp (one is 'pregnant) and a 20cm eel (temporarily). We caught many more fish and a couple of other species. They all have this pattern of three stripes at the back and one going the other way over the eyes. They are quite timid at the moment, I understand they take a little while to settle into captivity. Even so they will still probably spend a lit of time sheltering under rocks from the current. The bullies I got at the same time seem quite relaxed, they settle so quickly. Yes there is actually a fish here! Its eye is slightly to the left of the centre of this photo. They are so well camouflaged, and simply pretend to be rocks when nervous. They can sit perfectly still for an incredibly long time. They swim a lot like the bristlenoses. Quite startlingly so actually! They eat invertebrates that move around over the rocks. I will be feeding them frozen bloodworm and whatever live food I can get my hands on. To keep these guys you need a lot of current, rocky hiding places and the dedication to keep the water cold. Large versions of these photos, a couple of other torrentfish ones can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nznativefish/Torrentfish

Thanks, the Dalton'sstuff is what I was thinking of. So, for a NON-PLANTED tank, what it is like using this sand? Obviously no undergravel filters. What about gravel vacumings? Any issues with getting stagnant areas? Thanks

I think it depends on if it is anchored (like in the pic) or 'free-swimming'. I think the unanchored one is the one you are thinking of. Also known as hair algae?

Personally I am trying to encourage this stuff. It anchors well and can form lovely flowing carpets and make the tank look more natural. Just another way of looking at it...

My inanga hang out looking at me. The mudfish come out of their hiding places and stare at me if I sit in front of them for a minute. A million years ago I used to stand to one side in front of my goldfish tank. They were all looking at me. Then I would move to the other side and they all came over to that side.... (I had really interesting teenage years....) If I moved a tank within a room they would all sit there staring at the part of the room that was newly visible to them. Maybe fish just think I am freakish..... or I just give them something less static to stare at.

Crayfish have a 'quota' of 50 per day per person, usually for eating. Quite how you would find 50 I do not know! Not where I look anyway. Quite safe to take them, but as always, NOT from protected (DOC etc) land. NOT from areas the iwi have exclusive fishing rights (Taupo, Te Arawa(I think, sp?) and of course preferably from where the population seems healthy. Legally you need DOC permission to return things to the streams they came from (risk of introducing diseases). You are allowed to take them for aquariums without a permit. I got the full legal stuff done for me through DOC recently, but I need to trawl through 10 pages of legalese before I can come up with a simplified working guide. There is some interesting (if complex) scientific papers on nz crayfish on google scholar. A little on how they breed and the differences between north and south. I imagine the tech (nth of auck.) would be farming north island crays and therefore legal gymnastics would be required to get them down there, but I will find out.

I have a 10cm desk fan resting on carefully spaced lids so it can blow in but not fall in (unless I am really careless, like I have been four times so far.... get an RCD switch!) I guess it depends on how your lids work. Even in a rented house you could use some of those removable Command hooks to suspend something like that. Might work for my mudfish tank.....