Stella

Thanks DavidB, but it was caught in the manawatu (place called Horseshoe Bend near Tokomaru, no idea what the river is...), perhaps a tad far from the south island... I think it is probably a cran's or common. I lean toward cran's, but haven't really looked closely and got the books out yet. I have a couple of massey freshwater biology experty people coming over tomorrow night, hopefully will get a proper id then. (Am writing a book on keeping natives is aquaria and they are going to check out my fish and my book! exciting Thanks for the compliment on the photos. I seem to be having good luck taking photos of my fish (or maybe it is chance: take enough photos...). I even was asked for a couple of crayfish photos that were used in a display at Otari (wgtn) in the weekend! I didnt get to see it, but am kinda buzzing aobut that. Stella

Ok then, how's this? ;P http://picasaweb.google.com/stellamcq/NZNativeFish (yes I have two web albums, am going to favour the picasa one and get rid of the other soon) Stella PS thanks Fishboi, I don't mind you posting the photo at all. I have read the instructions and tried and failed to do it before....

note the link in my 'signature' below

I have four giant kokopu and three bandeds from Charles Mitchell (along with inanga, crays and assorted bullies I caught myself). Really intersting guy, I hope to meet him some time. They are all this year's whitebait and starting to look really beautiful as they take on the adult form. What are you wanting to breed them in captivity for? Stella, obsessed with native fish

well, one species lives in very turbulent water, the rest in streams and rivers (some in lakes). From what I see in my tank they are not fans of current. THey are weighted to sit on the bottom and can often be seen getting pushed over by the current. Stella

ok, not working, can anyone help me with what I did wrong? Sorry, I did read the instructions....

I have native fish including bullies. These guys have two dorsal fins. For the last five minutes it has completely driven me nuts - what use could two dorsal fins possibly have? (havent attached a pic before, hope this works.... Anyway, this is a male upland bully showing his two dorsals, the first has a pretty green stripe) Stella

Hi Electricfish, One might also ask why it is so important to keep tropical fish warm? Thier bodies are designed for those conditions and the stress of being outside of that can make life less comfortable in the least. The warmer the water the less disolved oxygen in it. Fish evolved to live in cold water need more oxygen than those in tropical conditions. If it gets too warm they usually die by asphyxiation. (Same probably goes for tropical fish, if it gets too warm even for them, they will suffocate.) This is compounded by: As it gets warmer ammonia toxicity becomes much more of a danger. The lifecycles of bacteria, pathogens and parasites speeds up, creating an imbalance (sudden influx of pathogens to a stressed fish makes it much more likely to get sick) Goldfish can stand a much wider range of 'cold' than my native fish, but remember if the tank is warm (tropical) you will probably need to have fewer of them to prevent overstocking, even if the stocking levels was fine at cooler temperatures. Having lost coldwater fish to the heat before, it is VERY critical this time of year for me. Stella

but outside of the tank?? I have powerheads and they are definitely internal, most pumps I have seen have a grill for inlet and tube hole for outlet, and I havent seen anything that is designed for external use at the LFSs. Stella

ok, it may have a more technical name than that... But I need something that sits outside the tank, tubing goes in one end and out another, just pumping water. It is for my chiller. The pump it came with (second hand off trademe) is NOISY AS HELL and regularly develops this awful rattle. Am also wondering if there is something in the garden irrigation market that might be cheaper than aquarium specialty?

cool eel!!! So, details! How did yo ucatch him? What requirements does he have? etc etc etc! :bounce:

Something like 15 years ago my very visually impaired grandma had this clever little device that told her when she had poured enough water and then milk into her teacup. It was a simple battery powered thing that hooked on the side of her cup with probes and an alarm thing that went off when water contacted them. I have often thought this would make a lot of sense for reducing the spills when siphoning or filling tanks. Probably dirt cheap, but I wouldnt know where to look. Google presumably...

well, I haven't had any HUGE spills like you guys. But this is my record: 1. Forgot about siphon, lost a bucket or two onto the carpet of the flat I was *just moving out of* 2. Forgot to aim hose at tank before I turned it on, then took a while to get back inside to check on it. 3. Forgot about siphon, lost a bucket or two onto carpet. Now, that is a totally unimpressive list, but when you think I managed to do all those in the last MONTH, it gets rather embarassing. Stella

oh man! no more nice tasty mouthful when I over-start the siphon? takes all the fun out of water changes!

all given to a new home

Interesting thought! It seemed to be al the rage a while ago, but not a problem I have heard about much recently. I guess it just became default that you don't drink out of streams, you don't think about it now. Could be an interesting issue for those of us doing native tanks. For instance two weeks ago I got some redfinned bullies from a stream, brought them home in a bucket of stream water, added that to their quarantine tank, did a water change later on sucking on the siphon tube to start it.... Kinda creepy now I think of it!!! Not a bug I want to get.

I know there is the private trade and exchange forum, I am hoping I wont get told off for putting this here, but natives have been talked aobut a bit here and I might have a better chance of connecting with someone interested. I have five inanga (whitebait) from this year's run to give away. I have suddenly run out of space! They are fairly undemanding natives, and can be a good way to get into them Free, but the 'buyer' must pick up from Palmerston North. And as much online support as you can ever want from me! Stella

I have never used a fan, was to worried about moisture build-up, especially as we owned our own home. Well, since he dumped me a few months back and i have returned to renting I don't care so much and thought I would give it a try. Ok so it has only been two days, but for the first time in two weeks the chiller is off and the temp is a few degrees below what it needs to come on! It is not just a break in hte weather either, it has been similar temps inside over the past week so far as I recall. I'm impressed!! (I have been using a scientific thermometer I borrowed off a friend. It is amazing how many degrees out some of my other thermometers are... even the chiller is out by at least a degree.) So I dont understand a lot about electricity, but the fan is 20 watts and the chiller is 190 watts.... I think I would rather have the fan going 24/7! Quite a relief as I am getting some kokopu on tuesday and was stressing about getting it cold enough for them. Stella

muck, they just eat microscopic muck. put some rocks in from the creek and they will eat that. They take ages as they are so tiny. Shrimp are so cool!!! zooming about, little reflective eyes. Stella

As of yesterday I now have both books :oops: I thought the bigger one was much bigger.... it is a bit more user-friendly, and it has several photos of each fish, and the little maps of the distributions is really useful. It has a bit more info at the start though I havent read it yet. If you can afford it, go for the bigger one. If you cant, the smaller one is still really good. www.reed.co.nz Stella

AWESOME!!!!!!!! I love the pic of the cray's head. That is so cool Looking forward to an overview pic of the whole tank! A quick look in my books, it could be a common or crans bully... don't know either of them too well. At least that narrows it down to two... So good to see others doing natives! :bounce: Stella

>What do you use as a chiller, (brand, make etc) and what is the wattage? Aqua Medic: Titan 150 Power uptake: 190 watts Cooling power: 180 watts It does not have its own pump, so that is seperate. >I'm curious to know if the running costs would be the same as a tropical tank. >You'd certainly be winning as far as lighting goes. I want to know too! The damned chiller has been going constantly for the last week. I am freaking at what my power bill will be. Anyone know how to work these things out? How is tropical lighting more expensive? Tank has far too many power cords coming out of it.... power head 301 powerhead 201 chiller chiller pump transformer for chiller (wrong plug holes, I dunno, was off trademe) lighthood (2foot 2tube) All for a 4ft/220lt tank.... sigh, at least the fish love the current! And at least the fish are free! The tank etc took up a big chunk of dividing property in my recent breakup. Fish keeping is not cheap!! Stella

put polystyrene sheets on the back and sides of the tank, slows heat exchange, both heat in and cold out. As far as i am aware crays don't have serious issus with heat. I had a horrid temp spike one day, got home and the tank was 29 degrees late that night. All the koaro were long gone :'( but the cray, inanga and bullies were acting normal. Convieniently for the cray, it will be colder on the bottom of the tank. I used to use 3lt bottles in my slightly-over-two-foot tank, yeah, looks hideous, but it did the trick over the hottest parts. oooh, this might work nicely: Get the 3lt bottles, fill with tank water, top up tank. Keep bottles in the fridge. Rotate so you fill an empty bottle and empty a cold one into the tank periodically. Keep quite a few in the fridge so they have time to chill. Bear in mind not to do such big volumes as to quickly change the temp - also stressful. That could work nicely on smaller tanks. The problem with heat is not so much the *temperature alone*, but the effect it has on other things. The hotter it is the lower the disolved oxygen. Coldwater fish often need a higher level of disolved oxygen than tropicals (tis what they evolved with), so when it heats up they are most likely to die of asphyxia. If you fish are seriously stressing in the heat, they may be gasping at the surface. The other issue is it increases the amonia toxicity and increases numbers of bacteria/pathogens/parasites by speeding up their lifecycle. A coldwater fish may be placed in the fridge when sick to slow down it's metabolism and that of the enemy disease, it can buy time when treating. (apparently, don't sue! ) Stella

BTW, I also meant to say I am so pleased to see this new forum!!! So much stuff is focused on tropicals it can be hard to find the right info. Stella

Coooool! So good to see another cray! Go nuts making caves all over the tank. The more they have the safer they feel, the more natural they behave. Don't bother with plants, he will uproot/destroy everything in time. Grow green algae Keep a pot in your freezer of small mixed frozen vegies. I have peas, corn and carrots. Such a convienient way to feed them. I have also found they like green beans, cucumber and ..... something else... They will go nuts for a worm, but it is a long slow death. And mine gets bloodworm that falls to the ground. In the wild they are 95% vegetarian, though my last one just ate three bullies... :evil: I will keep my new one alone, less stress! Good on you, they make wonderful pets! Stella (ooh, I have just uploaded a short video on my photobucket site of the cray 'dancing' or attempting to climb the glass. It is 2mb though.)