Stella

Wheeeee! Grammar Nazi! (and I couldn't be bothered listing all the missing full-stops)

wow, what an experience! Neat photos!

Good one! (apart from all the spelling/grammatical errors ) The surprising thing is it is these kids that had so much freedom (and survived and learned so many skills from it) that are smothering their kids with cotton wool. (Dimsum, yeah the dinosaurs were freaking awesome, though being ectotherms you couldn't warm your feet in their dung while walking barefoot 10 miles to school in the snow)

:lol: awesome! This will help me finally decide what to have for dinner

LOL oops! (Did it survive?) I have not had a bully truly escape on me so I don't know how good they are at surviving out of water. Bullies are not real climbers like some natives are (damned koaro). But they will skitter vertically up and down the sides of the tank, and escape can be a side effect of this. I was watching one doing this then suddenly plop! he was on the wrong side of the glass looking rather surprised! I have also seen bullies in a 20lt bucket jump at the sides. They will get up to two body-lengths up the side and stick on, but fall back down after a few seconds.

I like it, Zev! (Sorry about the scratches... must be time for some shiny new tanks! I paid $20 for a couple of off-cuts from a signwriting place. Drew some templates, traced, cut and stuck Really easy if anyone else gets inspired.

no to worry, you will have to go hunting again with a camera!

LOL nice one!

:lol: oh Zev I am completely cracking up here! :lol: I think it might be a little beyond my literal cut-and-paste ability There was going to be a big fish on the bonnet but I ripped it I have more grey but no more blue, so I might do a big one front and back.

mmm, thinking now, Supasi possibly had a female and Carlos had a male! Funky

BLUE?! Wow, never heard of that!! I had a look in the NZ Freshwater Crustacea book and it didn't mention it either. I don't supposed yo got a photo? I hadn't read the shrimp section before. Turns out larvae only last about a week in freshwater, but can go through several moults when in sea water. Nice to have that one confirmed.

OK, so I am just learning to drive and have a lovely new car: But it is a bit plain and I know I am totally going to lose it in supermarket car parks etc. And I think of it as my work car,as I got it in order to do various native fish stuff. So I got some coloured vinyl to go with the interior: And cut out kokopu silhouettes in three sizes: And fished my car! They are actually more subtle than it looks, and the colours are more obviously grey and blue (not all one blue-grey!). I also want to get a didymo sticker for the back. Unfortunately I can't put the vinyl darwinfish on the back (I got it a year ago!) as it is white... like the car. Thanks to Livingart for the inspiration from his son's zebra van!

Thanks for the photos! Definitely a bully..... Definitely not bluegill, upland or redfin. It could be a common, giant (if you are near an estuary) or a male Cran's. Did you happen to notice any colour in the dorsal or anal fins?

woohoo!

Morcs, sounds like you have an excellent attitude for the job! And congratulations on it!

awesome Romeo! Definitely a giant or common. That tapering head is so distinctive! The flecked sides could indicate a giant, but the main indicator is in the number of spines in the first dorsal: giants have six spines, commons usually have seven.

Very interesting thread. It should be remembered that there is a HUGE amount that pet shop staff need to know. Fish (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc) Birds (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc) Cats (all breeds: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc) Dogs (all breeds: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc) Rodents (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc) Turtles, Reptiles, Other (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc) plus: Sales Customer service You get the idea. I do not envy petshop staff! So really it is so surprise that people may not know everything. I think there would be few people here that could answer every fishy question with confidence and accuracy, let alone do that for every common pet type. But that said, every single shop has this issue, and having instore specialists (fishos and petos!) and a comprehensive manual makes an enormous amount of sense. Managers that are experienced only in managing is a perfectly sensible approach. However they must be aware that their subordinates might know a lot more than they do about animal welfare and should listen to them (and not just bleat about time/cost).

Eheim is good and lasts but is expensive. Make sure you take things out of the box and see how east it is to dismantle and disconnect/reconnect to hoses without getting water everywhere.

AWESOME!!! I actually say in my book (not yet printed) that fish hunting is a great way to find holes in your gumboots I am going to be in Whangarei the last week of November (freshwater sciences conference). Would you like to take me fish hunting and I can give you some identifying pointers? I *might* be able to tell what it is if you upload/email some blurry photos

ooh, Repto what is the link?

aw man, I will be out of town! Definitely do something in December

I love the "trio with ornate". Looks so much like the talking goldfish in Monty Python's Meaning of Life! :lol: Interesting about the colouration. Sounds likely.

Well, it all makes sense with evolution It is further for the upstream bullies to go to sea (even thought these catchments were fairly short), and the fry that hatched in the lake may not have caught the right currents to go to sea and so remained in the lake. Those that found enough food survived, most probably didn't. Over time, more of the fish that spawned in late winter or early spring would have had surviving offspring, and the would have developed a higher incidence of the 'spawn near spring' genes. Over more time some fish start spawning *in* spring, and their fry survive much better. Then later fish wind up spawning in summer, and their fry just rock with the food supply, so their genes take over. Lo and behold! Directional evolution leads to summer spawning lake bullies. And because they spawn at a totally different time, they can no longer spawn with the diadromous fish. Because they can't interbreed, new mutations in either population stay in that population, so they become genetically different. Wheee! Evolution! As the line goes: "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" There are other instances of 'landlocked' fish that used to be diadromous. A study of river-living giant kokopu showed that some had never been to sea, despite having the opportunity. Though landlocking is difficult for some species, and impossible for others, hence the general lack of native fish above hydroelectric dams.

Ah, good point Phoenix. Natives like their ground area, and a large water/air surface is important for oxygen levels and the hood would get in the way of heat loss. It could be treated like a standard 2ft tank, but it could only be very sparsely populated. Next tank? (and thanks, Caryl! note: she saw the tanks when they were in a right state too!)

Is that out of the water in a net? Beautiful