Stella

A giant bully that far inland and upland sounds extremely unlikely to me. Unless it was identified using DNA, it was probably an enthusiastically misidentified common. If I am in coastal reaches I will never say that something is conclusively a giant or common, but is probably X based on a whole range of features, unless it is over 17cm (giant) or has a colored dorsal stripe (common).

Torries are awesome! Not su that a wave maker would suit them unless it was not making waves. They like a reliable flow and I think waves would confuse and tire them. Torries are very sensitive to raised temperatures, and most submersed pumps can be bad for increasing the water temperature. They are also a little bit tricky to get enough food to in a community tank. They have quite 'tight' tummies and the fins obscure them a little, so it can be easy to not notice that they are being underfed till they get really skinny and start getting fluffy patches. They should have a little round tummy after each meal. You can tell if they are hungry when they start sucking rocks like an algae eater! As usual, ox heart is a fantastic nutrient-dense food that all natives love. Hey blue ether, can you look up in my book the calculation for the amount of volume turnover for a riffle tank? I loaned out my last copy...

Wow, what a vivid blue stripe in the first pic! Is he normally blue like that? Redfin males are usually a blue-green, and I haven't seen any colour variation other than intensity. The other bullies can have quite varying colours, especially uplands (orange, green, hot pink, clear, yellow!). I love you story of dangling over the bridge to catch him. That is true dedication to native fish geekery

Ooh exciting! She sure got fat quick, and it looks like he has a great cave. Remember the babies won't survive as they need to go to sea, but the adult behaviors really are amazing to watch! Also they are starting rather impressively early in the season. You could probably expect another two spawns from her this summer.

Ooh what an exciting idea! Keep us posted :spop:

something like that! It makes sense that at least NZ native fish would have such high tolerances as each species can wind up in such widely differing habitats. Even for the non-diadromous species, there is often a lot of variety (apart from the dune lakes galaxias/dwarf inanga).

Very nice! Regarding pH, natives are found in extremely varying pH. The same species may be found in a peat swamp or in limestone streams. There is a paper that goes into the pH of places giant kokopu were found, I can't remember the title but it should be in that endnote stuff I gave you.

Interesting updates on the shrimp! I can't answer your question about how long they hold for, but if anyone has access to a copy of the nz Crustacea book, it is probably in there. Fascinating book, recently republished. Regarding the kokopu, it is pretty normal for them to sleep all day hidden away under a rock. They are nocturnal after all. Some will be out more, some go through stages of sleeping lots. What amazes me is just how hard they are to rouse when asleep. One of mine slept wedged up against the glass. Nothing I did could rouse it during the day, including tapping the glass or shining a light in its eyes. Well, it might eventually respond, but it took ages. However if she went into the same place in the evening (her active time) she would freak out immediately if I walked past. The trick with getting fish active is to feed them around the time when you want them to be active. Though it can take a while to train them into this. I had visitors one day who we there to see my fish. I showed them the apparently fishless riffle tank, then said to watch as I put food in. Nothing happened..... :facepalm: do that in the evening and there is an instant feeding frenzy!

That is how they should look. LOL fi5hguy! Not sure where you are located (it is really handy to display your location) but if you check out the native aquarium at the te manawa museum in palmy, you will see one of the fattest banded kokopu in the history of kokopu! He was always and aggressive feeder, and can't do much about slimming him down without affecting all the other kokopu.

Interesting mullet! Could you post a bit about what they are like in the aquarium? And fantastic looming kokopu in both videos. I love the CC's on the main kokopu's flanks.

Gambusia make such a satisfying pop! 8)

Interesting, so she came into berry *after* she put in the tank? So far, people's experiences are that berried females die within days of coming into captivity (unknown why), but I don't know of any that are known to have survived being in berry in captivity. The larvae won't survive, as they move to estuaries after they hatch, like the whitebait etc. It will be very interesting to see what happens to her!

shaddup :phb:

I don't recall having any issues with uneaten food in that tank. The torries were unbelievably at sniffing out scraps of food, and I fed them slowly so most got eaten before it hit the ground. (some needed to hit the ground - torries are absolutely pathetic while trying to learn how to take food midwater, their little jaw is so undercut). Koaro are one of my big favourites, but they are very difficult in aquaria, mainly due to being insane escape artists. I put two koaro in that riffle tank, which had a 5cm lip all the way around. They escaped the first night - crawling up a freaking powercord! They are also very sensitive to raised temperatures. I don't think I would try keeping them again till I have a kickass system that circulates from a stream or huge rainwater tank, to buffer the temperature. (and, like, a house. I live in a small campervan, hence being so quiet here these days.) They can be quite timid, especially initially (expect any newly captive koaro to stay completely hidden for at least two weeks). Koaro can have very different temperaments - some are very timid, others are fine, and others are so aggressive that they have to be kept in permanent solitary confinement for the safety of others. Regarding your legal question: *technically* the whitebaiting laws only relate to the 'juveniles' of the five diadromous galaxiids. Biologically a kokopu is a juvenile (i.e. not sexually mature) for two or three years, but no one in their right mind would call a 12cm banded a juvenile! My recommendation to anyone is that if you want to take a group of *whitebait* then make sure you know and follow the laws. If you want to take post-whitebait (adult shape and colouration is starting, does *not* look like a whitebait) then you don't need to worry about the whitebaiting laws. In addition, ethically, avoid taking adults, large numbers of anything from one site, any fish from small populations, or anything you are not prepared for at home.

Oh that looks great! Ponga fronds are such handy aquarium decor. Nice healthy fish too! :thup: Hmmm, they need to start making anti-reflection thingys for aquaria. Damn that would be revolutionary!

I had some bullies turn up once that must have come in as fry when I dumped some aquatic insects in a tank. I was astonished to find them later - there had NEVER been fish of any sort in that tank!

Nope, I haven't had them spawn, though I had two pairs for several years. I don't recall hearing of them spawning in aquaria, though I don't see why they wouldn't. I have had common bullies spawn repeatedly in aquaria, and they are also diadromous.

Well done! Tis a rather loose clump of eggs. Did she fill it in over time or did it remain that loose? (I would love to know if they lay them tight-packed right from the start or fill in as they go)

That. Is. Spectacular. :thup:

that evil owl is creepy! Though I see it as a combined evil owl and Thai figurine. That last spider is interesting.... not entirely sure what it is.

:rolfl: (woo, people still remember me here! I haven't been around much since having to pack up the aquaria) Absolutely fantastic post, blueether, and what an amazing stream! We should go there next time I visit

ooh cool thanks! I haven't seen photos of feral guppies before

I wonder what these are exactly? Hopefully some idiot isn't selling gambusia again. Good to see another natives person on board! Our natives section has been a bit quiet recently, but will instantly perk up when people post questions and photos.

At least you only have one kokopu - they get extremely aggressive when they become sexually mature (2-3 years) and at feeding time, so far more space is needed to accomodate them. A 3ft tank that was also fairly wide and deep (eg. 45cm in each direction) would probably be ok, but a classic 4x2x2 would make your life much easier - the large water volume has a more stable temperature and water chemistry, and also gives you more options for layout and Driftwood of Awesome Proportions. Length over height is definitely the way to go with natives, but front-to-back depth is important as it increases the ground area. Banded kokopu will definitely use the height if it is available, but it isn't as important as the other two. (Banded kokopu are gluttons and grow incredibly quickly. I didn't realise that I was underfeeding my first tiny kokopu till I saw some of others of the same age that were eating the more nutritionally dense ox heart. I swapped mine onto that and they doubled in length and trebled in girth within a month or two!) It can be difficult keeping koura and bullies together, as they are both ground-dwelling species and bullies taste good. Koura rarely actively hunt fish, but may accidentally stumble upon them and cause injuries or even kill them. I found that koura over 7cm were more risky. Make sure you don't get any bullies that are smaller than the koura as they are at most risk, and providing a large complex of caves will both keep all three of these species happy AND reduce the risk from the koura. Looking forward to seeing what you create!

Does anyone know of any sites in Taranaki with koi or gambusia ('mosquitofish', or anything that looks like a wild guppy) I have just started a fish surveying contract for DOC Taranaki, and the pest fish component is looking for koi and gambusia. There are a few known sites in the area, so at this stage it is still possible to eradicate them from most of the area, which is rather exciting. These fish are pests because koi can change the habitat in lakes and streams from plant-dominated to muddy or algae-dominated, which has big effects on the food-chain, and gambusia are aggressive little sods and highly invasive - they spread easily and rapidly. It is illegal to possess either of these species, but there is no risk to anyone coming forward - we just want to get rid of them.