Stella

Why are you worming your fish every few months?? What do you think is reinfecting them?

Sigh, five native fish species. Those that aren't categorised as threatened are in the gradual decline category.

Ew, and ow! What else can you use that is antibacterial? I would use 1tsp salt per litre of water in the mean time as that is antibacterial, but not sure how that sort of fish goes in salt. If you use another med just be careful not to mix them! Good luck...

wow, neat photos! There is a beautiful native one, Melanopsis trifasciata (meaning: brown, three-stripes!). It is... brown...with three stripes around it. Quite smooth, short cone, white mantle, thick shell,thin operculm, 3cm long. Lives in estuarine areas. Is ok in all salinities and seems to do ok in tropical tanks but quite sensitive to cyanobacteria toxins. They are definitely in Lake Onoke (Wairarapa) and Raglan. I would love to know of any other places they are!

I had a canister filter die a while ago and I finally disconnected it and drained it yesterday. I TOTALLY agree on the smell!! (mmm decomposition!) My filters usually have a few tubifex and some snails living in it, but not many.

Hey, that is a seriously awesome tail shot!! I think that shows your camera DOES cut it, but the model was not. I have a fairly ordinary digital camera, few years old, 7 megapixels. I will take hundreds of shots and delete most of them (fish keep moving!!). Eventually you get some good ones. Tis a nice way of spending time with your fish

You really shouldn't have to clean out the filter that frequently. The bacterial colonies are the main 'filtration' component, and they like to be undisturbed. Doing it that regularly won't let them establish properly. My canister filters would get cleaned every 6-12 months. The clogging is weird. And the bad smell is NOT good. Presumably plant remains are getting in? What is the inlet to the filter like? A coarse filter sponge attacked so you can slip it over the inlet will help stop solids from getting in. Filters really shouldn't be seen as mechanical filters - the less muck that gets into the filter the better it is for the bacteria and it won't clog.

HAHAHA a vaccine for MTS! Love it!! Definitely a cool shady spot if you want to do natives. No direct sun for temp/algae issues (remember to think about where the sun is at different times of the year). Air movement at the water surface helps a lot with evaporation-cooling. Bullies, inanga nad crays seem to deal with temps a bit better than the others.

I think the top photo looks like a tubifex-type worm. The bottom one is a flatworm. I really wouldn't worry. There are so many small invertebrates in aquaria that people don't know are there. The vast majority are harmless. As Nymox said, they are there because there is food, and the food is fish/plant waste. That makes them useful. A lot of people freak at finding unexpected critters. Remember, the aquarium is not and never will (or should!) be a sterile environment. Yes, fish eat mosquito larvae and almost any other critter that lives on, in or near water. If it doesn't taste good, they spit it out. They didn't spend a couple of billion years of evolution eating Wardley fish flakes You will probably never see a parasite off a fish. They live inside and release eggs to the outside world. Seriously, just see these things and say 'hey, I am doing a good job, my aquarium actually supports life!' 8)

wow, that is AWESOME!!! Some serious rocks there

It looks very good. Raises lots of serious ethical issues. Boys are just totally wusses! Girls have been wearing trousers and changing their own tyres for the last hundred years. Boys still refuse to wear skirts or admit they have emotions! :roll:

it comes about through too much nutrient and not enough waterchages. Manual removal and stepping up the waterchanges can do the trick. And/or blackout as recommended above. Try solving the problem before you hit the symptom with expensive drugs (sometimes you do have to resort to drugs, but I prefer hitting the problem first)

a snail, being a mollusc, dwells in a shell. Aquatic molluscs tend to be called shellfish.

is called ovoviviparity - 'egg-live-birth' They develop first in eggs inside the mother,then hatch and are born alive. Someone here had an interesting video of their blue tongue giving birth...

Wow, so is the water filled right up to the 'lid'? Would be neat getting to see the fish from above like that. Presumably you need some pretty effective turnover and oxygenation going in there. What is the hardware and various tank measurements? I would get seriously sick of trying to reach through to the front to maintain it. Very interesting, thanks for posting!

NIWA was doing some work on which native aquatic plants would work in tropical aquaria (more info somewhere on the FNZAS site) = a bunch of plants new to the trade + no importy costs + absolutely no risk to NZ biodiversity Why is everyone so keen to import these *risky* expensive exotics when there is so much here that they have no idea about? :roll: sigh

what are you going to put IN 15cm of water??

all fractions are serious. Especially when multiple!

hi Cam, Nope, no male. I think he would have had a thing or to to say about her spawning without him if there was one! Tis good that they can release eggs like this. One of the other galaxiids, the inanga, can't and usually dies (before or after they pop!).

Still want a flounder, not sure where I would put one though. I could cope with a tiny one... For the Turangi aquarium I will be needing some, so at least I will get to find and enjoy them even if they are not in my own living room! (why do you ask? have you seen some?)

very cute, and happy birthday! Am guessing that your birthday dinner is/was takeaways in front of the fish tank

Even if I did have a boy, I have no idea what would happen, as they are supposed to spawn at the water's edge during floods. Maybe the eggs need to be out of the water to develop higher oxygen? And any fry would most likely die as they couldn't go to sea... NOT THAT THAT WOULD STOP ME TRYING! Sadly I really don't have the room for another giant. And not going to borrow one due to disease fears (I am so attached o this fish). Now I know about this daylength cue, I am tempted to try it on my mudfish. I only have three and they are also sexually monomorphic, so who knows what I have, but it would be great if they did breed. Will also try it on my shortjaw kokopu next autumn when they should be reproductively mature. Peter, looking at the awesome condition and growth of your bullies, I would be astonished if you DIDN'T have babies!

ok, she is STILL laying eggs.... that is over a week! She is a lot more svelte, looking like she hasn't eaten in a few days (when in reality she hasn't eaten in a few weeks!) She had bit of an infection around head,looked like columnaris but was very small and slow growing. She was breathing faster and generally lying around doing nothing. I was worried that she might have an infection in her gills. I salted the hell out of the tank and tonight she is showing signs of behaving like a normal fish again. HUGE RELIEF! It does seem excessive, spawning for eight days...

New Zealand native biotope, no plants

Damselfly larvae. Really cute when they swim. (Damsel flies are the ones that rest with their wings pointing folded up, dragonflies rest with hem flat and open) Dragonfly larvae are REALLY chunky.