Stella

:slfg: :oops: Estuarine areas, and very-lowland streams I think. I haven't been able to find out much about them, not much work been done on them. The distribution of the family is bizarre - Mediterranean, Asia Minor, New Caledonia and New Zealand?? And our species is endemic. Would be great to see some phylogenetic work done on them, see if they are indeed in the same family or if it is convergent evolution. And if they are in the same family how long ago did they diverge?

ah that is the clever thing about these guys - their shell is seriously thick, they have an operculum (cat's eye) which securely closes the door, and they don't stick their 'foot' out much beyond their shell. I doubt that crays could do much to them.

Ummm coastal from Hamilton.... ish. West coast. The Melanopsis lay a lot of eggs when you first take them into captivity, but I am not sure if they need estaurine conditions to grow or not. Would be awesome if they could be captive bred as they are beautiful snails. Very sensitive to cyanobacteria toxins though. Actually I wonder if that could lead to loss of them in the wild? I had Potamopyrgus snails in my tank but never saw them as they lived underneath the gravel. Only knew they were there when I sucked them up doing waterchanges. I can't remember if the populations was killed by the cyano toxins or the eythromyacin to kill the cyano. (At Te Manawa there is a great big child-climbable fibreglass Potamopyrgus with spines.)

hmmm I hadn't thought about snails. (Definitely a fan of getting other native critters in there though!) Are you meaning the Melanopsis trifasciata snails? (They are up to 25mm, dark outer with a white mantle, an operculum (thin brown 'cat's eye'), and a smooth short cone with three dark bands (tri-fasciate) around it.) I would love to know if they are in the Manawatu estuary, or anywhere nearby. The only sites I know are Raglan and Lake Onoke. We are trying to keep it to animals collected from the Manawatu catchment, but it would be neat to have them if they are local. Should definitely get some Potamopyrgus snails (standard stream snails) but they are tiny and tend to live within the gravels. Should also get a bunch of shrimp from time to time, although they will get eaten. What do you mean by the native slugs? [edit]

LOL I am sure something could be arranged! I am not involved with this aquarium, but any trip anywhere must involve a fish hunt

ooooo may have to orchestrate a trip up that way in summer! :spop:

wow, perhaps it is actually mirrored, or mirror coating? No normal aquarium should reflect like that on the back wall when looking directly through it! How is having a tank that looks a metre wide a PROBLEM?

off a knife, straight from the jar

thanks, that is the one! (they also did the acrylic for the National Trout Centre native tanks.)

The tank was made by a company in Napier, I can't remember the name just now. Also the top bracing is not strips stuck on, but a whole panel from which several large port-holes have been cut, through which Foxjxa can climb when she wants a swim I think it would have to be filled with hot lead for it to bow! There is a massive chiller set to 14*C for the moment, and a great big sump and filtration system installed by Mahurangi. The next lot of fish have been in salty quarantine for a week and are looking REALLY good. With any luck in another two weeks there will be four big banded kokopu, 12 bullies and 3 smelt added to the tank :happy1:

Anything shiny (eg laminated black paper, or a black polythene garbage bag I used once) risks creating reflections and drawing attention to the background. Cardboard does risk getting water marks on it but is cheap and easy. Mcrudd's polyphene sheeting looks ideal!

pixie cuts rock I went short last year and it is SO convenient! Can't quite do what I want as my hair is super thick, but have learned to cut it myself with a razor comb, which I am really enjoying (though knowing when to STOP FAFFING is a problem). Today I accomplished the vacuming and got a whole heap of stream inverts for the new native aquarium at Te Manawa. nom nom nom!

If there is plenty of tiny food they can reproduce all over the place (they do it by budding off). I have heard of hydra being a problem in fry tanks because the tiny fry food encourages hydra growth, and they can eat very small fry. Not sure if guppy fry are small enough, being live-birth they are probably big-ish, but someone here should know.

Yes, redfin female (diagonal stripes on the cheeks give it away). There seem to be an awful lot of redfins in there! Will be interesting to see when they settle if the other species are just hiding now or if we overdosed on redfins! Ah well, redfins rock Neat seeing the fish all excited over their bugs. Though I think you were the most excited of all!

hydra rock! Here is one of mine after ingesting a baby daphnia (its tentacles are really short as it isn't 'fishing')

Aw cute!! Nice photo! Shame they are such a pest to our native birds, lizards and invertebrates. Like stoats - utterly amazing animals but a big problem outside of where they evolved.

Aw, black cats are wonderful! My Nelly, I have had her for about five weeks now and I am utterly besotted:

Well, the first batch of fish went in today! Most exciting :bounce: Foxjxa and Peter putting in the first inhabitant: Lefty the Crayfish ...never has a cray been admired with such enthusiasm After the three koura, next the bullies and kokopu went in Look, FISHES!! The fish were all really active for the next hour, though I expect them to go quiet for the next few days or so while they settle. In no time the bullies will have sorted out their favourite rocks and the tight kokopu school will probably break up a little as they relax. Then in three weeks time the next batch of fish (from the spotlighting above) can go in!

The spotlighting trip last night was great. None of you slackers turned up (though I will forgive on account of the short notice). The photos don't show all the fish but are representative. 12 bullies (redfin, Cran's, common, upland) and 5 smelt (one died today, smelt are so tricky!) 5 banded kokopu - these should look great cruising around the tank! Little monster fleet. One very surprised poached trout, who was released. and a basket fungus - how cool is that!! also saw a bunch of perch and troutlets, a couple of eels and the biggest crays I have seen in my life! All in the massey University grounds.

Photos from Stoning the Aquarium, Part II Overview Looking down the right 'wing' and the left wing And the lovely Foxjxa herself, for scale!

It is something like 7m long, ending with a pool and viewable from all sides. Actually, it starts with a waterfall and two smaller tanks then flows into the main stream. Hopefully the lighting is being sorted soon and we will boost the fish numbers up and it will be a showstopper (is shortjaw kokopu, koaro, torrentfish and bluegill bullies)

6cm.... are you sure it is an eel? I thought they were longer when they get to freshwater. COuld be though, I don't have much experience with them. At that stage they are incredibly good climbers. Will quite happily climb vertical surfaces, so you need a good lid, or preferably a tank with a internal lip all the way around AND a lid. It would probably eat small live invertebrates at that size. And you are unlikely to see much of it as they burrow under the substrate, often with only the head poking out.

Can I just point out, for those posting links to images, here is how you insert the photo into your post: Right-click on the image and select 'view image', you will see a page with only the photo on it. Copy the url (address). Hit the Img button above where you are writing your reply, [img.] will appear Paste the url between the two parts Bingo! Easy peasy pretty picture