Stella

Your other fishy could possibly be an inanga - the dorsal fin at the back of the body suggests galaxiid, and the spots look inanga-y (maculatus=spotty!) Curious water colour - heavily tannined or night photo?

ooooh damselfly! Am so proud :happy2: (after looking all graceful the damselfly promptly fell over and made a real arse of itself trying to get up again :roll: ) Damselflies reproduce thusly: The male places his sperm packet in a pocket under his thorax then grasps the female around her thorax using special graspers at the end of his abdomen. She bends her abdomen up and takes up his sperm packet. They then fly to the water's edge and she repeatedly pokes her abdomen down against roots or vegetation, laying eggs as she goes. Sometimes they will reverse right down into the water, submerging the female. They spend a lot of time finding the right sites for their eggs, the male grasping her the whole time. The reason he keeps hold of her is so no other male comes along and mates with her, usurping his sperm and paternity. It is lovely sitting by a pond watching the damselflies laying eggs.

Beautiful! Was this someone's usual spot for eel feeding, or an impressive fluke?

A stream near you They are pretty ubiquitous, and the bully you are most likely to see out during the day. I barely know when Blenheim IS, but I think Carly lead a spotlighting expedition there a while back, she may be useful for ideas. To be honest, just go looking! Particularly at night with a torch.

Yes I am a bit concerned about the temperature if it is in all-day sun. They should look to planting small trees/large shrubs that will bush up and provide shade. Lots of ferns etc around the edges would be good, and I really like Blueether's suggestion of the Azolla and Lemna for surface shade. Do a search for Preacher's various threads about his native pond, probably lots of inspiration there. Upland bullies are a great idea, especially as the non-diadromous bullies seem to come out during the day, and they will likely breed there. Non-diadromous galaxiids would likely be a waste of time - they are pretty small, making them hard to see. Also many of the species are geographically restricted and at risk. They would probably not breed in a pond. I would suggest inanga or smelt as a schooling out-during-the-day fish, and maybe a couple of banded kokopu though they would be less visible. I wouldn't worry about providing current for these species. Those that do really like current would be pretty hopeless in a pond.

Well, I did go for a paddle (beach shoes ROCK in streams time time of year) but it is possible to fish there without getting wet, just see slightly fewer fish. Given the current rain and weather forecats, I daresay the Turitea will be a lovely raging brown murk by the weekend. So how did you catch your koura? Dipped your toe in then squealed when it bit you? Maybe that is why you don't want to get wet :lol: Didn't you say you caught some bullies too? Did they not go home with you?

Nice gravel! From TUritea? Always thought that stuff was pretty. Hmm, plants the koura won't eat... plastic ones? Ponga? Leaf litter? I could give you some Nitella if you want, I think the koura could do less damage as it isn't rooted as such.

It does work well, just expensive to run when you are a student with minimal income... It needs to be on much of the time during this sort of heat. Problem is once you turn it off the heat leaches in from everywhere and it quickly gets hot again. I also have silver insulation paper that they use as underfloor insulation taped to the windows in that room. Coupled with the fluorescent lights I am surprised I haven't been searched for suspected drug-growing, but it reflects out the sun well and helps keep the room slightly cooler. edit: a friend installed an air cond system in his fishroom. Living up in auckland and with the number of tanks he had it was necessary. Worked brilliantly.

Probably just old age, it can be hard sometimes to culture them. Also I don't think they are fans of the tannined water from the peat. BTW the tiny damselfly larvae you found were probably hatchlings, maybe the eggs came in on plant matter you put in the tank? I have some in my tank - terribly cute! And my first actual damselfly adult hatched today! I didn't realise there were any large larvae left. A proud moment

Dear boy, one stands on the bank, with nets on long handles, and catches fish while trying to ignore the sounds of possums screaming blue murder. We left at 10pm.

Sadly no. I had a major disaster last year and all the inhabitants died It was pretty horrible :tears: In a way it was useful, as I just didn't have enough time to keep up with all the tanks, but I still miss the torries and shortjaws. FuglyDragon - impressive flow in that tank! I haven't tried anything with tubing to draw water from the far end. The problem with this system is every bend and length of tubing slows the water down. Also I imagine it wouldn't have a huge effect on reducing swirl. Then again I haven't tried it. I don't think swirl is a huge problem for the fish, as it gives them places of varying current so they can choose where they want to be. It was a shame with the riffle tank that the pumps increased the temperature so much (7*C in winter!) so I couldn't have the pumps on over summer.

Come spotlighting with me Males are lovely, but inclined to be rather stroppy. It is nice to have a couple of males as their behaviours are more dramatic, but with equal or higher numbers of females to pad it out a bit.

Wow Caryl, impressive fantail!

So I went spotlighting last night (I know, I am sick and shouldn't go out, but I needed to. Am paying for it today) Caught a bunch of crays and came home with the two smallest ones (about 4cm body length). Cute wee guys with lovely patterns: Also got a ponga frond. Been quite a while since I had one in the tank, but it looks so lovely - adds good texture and fills vertical space. It is a bit lurid green at the moment, but should brown off nicely over the next few months. Planaria are so crosseyed and cute!

Ah right :oops: I gave up before then as I couldn't see much, just re-watched. I do like your combination of sand, stones, wood and leaves. It looks really nice! Love the fat little inanga posing at the end.

Dude, you need a light! I do love the way torries move.

I went there tonight, that beachy area between the first two bridges. (Yes am still dying, but I had to get some thesis pilot stuff going, pneumonia or no pneumonia.) As always, HEAPS of bullies (mostly redfin I think), loads of troutlets, about six eels and we caught five crays. 8) I tell you, night is the best time to go. Even electrofishing during the day doesn't catch much. I took home the two smallest crays, both about 4cm body length. Will be nice having some crays again Also got a ponga frond to put across the back of the tank. Is violently green at the moment, but will brown off over the next few months. I am sure the labrador will look great in your tank

Oh what a beautiful stream! :love: Looks like a good spot for banded kokopu, and the streams up your way seem to have lots of them. If you don't have any nets yet, check out the $2 shop or similar. Their butterfly nets can work really well. A long-handled net and the handle end of another net are my main spotlighting tools, after the spotlight of course. The trick is to put the net next to the fish then shoo it in with the handle. Though I guess you have already read that in my book... Sweet, future posts shall consist of page references! :lol: Go on, go tonight! :bounce:

Wooo, someone thinks I am a youth! :happy1: I would like to have a proper web page/site about my book, though I have no idea about how to create one. Would be handy to have something to direct people to. Facebook is a handy (if annoying) platform for all us 'yoofs' that use it

Yeah that is it. I find crays over 7cm can become quite dangerous to bullies, and under that it is important to make sure the bullies are bigger than the cray (of course they may grow at different rates). Huh, good point... Basically I have no idea... I would guess easily up to 10cm, probably quite a bit more. I think I would up having trouble finding a decent authority on the sizes, and whether the size stated was body length or people truthfully exaggerating by including the nippers in the length (head to tail is the more realistic measurement). Also lake koura are bigger (I think?) than stream ones, and the southern species is bigger than the northern one.

I am wanting to set up a thing on Facebook for NZ native fish enthusiasts to share photos, trips etc etc, like the New Zealand Carnivorous Plants one. That one seems to be a 'group' so I set one up. However people seem to need to ask to join my group, which I as admin needed to approve. And it seems with a group you can't have group albums etc etc. So I set up a 'page'. OK, now we have albums and stuff, but I can only post as group owner (not me) and my posts go to member's walls, but other people's posts won't go to my wall. Maybe a group is what I want? Then when anyone posts something new it goes to everyone's wall, which I like the idea of. Argh I am lost! Can anyone advise?

Yes, they have spawned twice (that I have seen) but the larvae need to go to sea to develop... not much sea in my tank. Took a while to find the thread you mentioned, till I remembered I had hijacked one of Codking's spawning threads: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=48367&start=0 (same common bully pair in this thread) I find bullies easy to photograph as they sit still on the substrate. Anything mid-water is a nightmare. Even so, with bullies I still wind up deleting the majority.

I met a goldfish that was found lying on a pile of turds sieved out at the Fielding sewage 'treatment' plant. It survived. The surprising thing is it is a kinda fancy one with headgrowth - wouldn't have thought fancy goldies were at all robust. I have two 4ft, a 3ft and a 2ft tank. They get weekly waterchanges and algae scraped off the glass. I guess it takes about an hour a week. Draining the water through the hose takes a long time for some tanks but I can just leave them to do their thing while I go off and do something else. The siphon breaks when the right amount of water is removed.

A few photos of my 4' tank in the lounge. Just the two common bullies in it at the moment. I got them when they were maybe 5cm long, now he is 10cm and she is 8m, both seriously chunky! (female on left, male on right) For anyone trying to learn their bullies, note the black 'whiskers' under the eye and the tapered heads. Other species don't have the whiskers (except for the odd difficult Cran's) and have a much more blunt head. This tank is a bit bare at the moment. My giant kokopu died a few months ago and have been taking my time to decide what I will put in it next. I think I will go for a small school of smelt and a crayfish. Possibly also a small banded kokopu - the smelt will look pretty and fill the tank while the banded grows and by the time it is big enough to start causing problems, the smaller smelt would have started dying off. I may leave collection for a little while yet, not good moving fish into captivity in this heat. Yes P44, there are actual plants in this tank..... There is a tangle of Nitella in the back (a native branched algae that looks like a plant) and a native Potamogeton in the front. The Potamogeton was growing really well in my critter tank and I popped a bit in there to see if it will cope. It certainly won't survive a future crayfish, but the Nitella should be ok.

LOL very good point! Under 20*C is preferable, under 18* is ideal. That said mine are mostly around 20-22* at the moment. NOT good, but I know these species are slightly more tolerant, and these individuals are healthy and the aquaria are well-maintained. If they hit 24-25 I start freaking. That temp long term or above that temp as a spike and you start to get deaths and diseases. High temps have two effects. Warm water holds less oxygen - obviously not good. Also the stress of the lower oxygen plus increased growth rate of potential pathogens means they can get sick more easily. Think of it this way: you probably have cold viruses in your nose right now, but because you are not run down you are ok. Bring on winter and our bodies get run down so we are more open to infection.