Stella

Oh yes, that's right, exotic species are of course so much more important than our own unique native flora and fauna! And money is much, much more important than anything else in the world. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: (I have seen the film, very interesting issues there. But we don't have to save one exotic at the loss of a native, it is possible to achieve both.)

Mine arrived today too, thanks! (Apparently people with dist mite allergies have a higher incidence of bloodworm allergies. I have heard of it being so bad in some people that they get a rash if they dip their arm in a tank that was fed bloodworms a few days previously!)

Great photos! How do you take them? Flash? Angles? etc?

I have a 3 watt LED spotlight (Energizer) and a 1 watt LED headlamp (Kathmandu). They are really seriously bright and light up for a long way. The spotlight has a seriously narrow beam due to the reflector. I disagree with Ira, the LED shouldn't do a narrow beam of light unless it is focused by a reflector. Oeminx, what make.model is your torch?

Many pet shops sell them. The problem is they are largely taken from the wild for sale, which is illegal. I am not actually sure what the law is on taking freshwater shellfish for personal use. The crustaceans one is a bag limit of 50 per day per person (which technically covers koura, daphnia and copepods!) I would suspect there are no freshwater mussel farms, as they are not even sure of their total lifecycle. At one point they are a fish parasite! They are either on, or nearly on, the threatened species list. I know they are in the Wanganui River. I know not where. Unfortunately I will be in the middle of nowhere those days, would have been keen to meet you!

Yes, I am very proud of the fact that I have crabs 8) After nine months you would think I would have tired of the joke... :lol: I tried keeping peripatus recently, but I just didn't have access to suitable food. I regard all the daddy long legs in my house as welcome guests, but that probably doesn't count as pets. OH! That's right! I used to keep bag worms! (bag moths, case moths etc) They were cool. I had heaps and was obsessed about them in my 10-yr-old way

I wish! I was going to, but have to go to an all-weekend workshoppy thing with Forest & Bird. While I am sure it will be interesting, I am rather annoyed it is the same weekend. I love excuses to dress up (despite evidence to the contrary at your party...)

Doesn't having to fill them with commercial foods and vitamins kinda take away the POINT in feeding live foods??

last time we talked about meetings we decided most people would be free most sunday afternoons...

Imsmith, I was just about to say the same thing! Brookey, I am really enjoying your enthusiasm for your fishy and just want to commend you for going the extra mile and not giving up, despite all the difficulties you have had. Has Mr Fish had a tank with plants before? Maybe before he would have liked to hide behind something if startled, but couldn't so he didn't. Maybe he is finally getting to behave like a fish? I agree with the suggestions to take the plants out and see how he reacts. The spot sounds odd. It would ease your mind if someone could have a look for you. Probably nothing to be worried about (it isn't spreading or anything). That is one of the handy things about having your hometown on your profile, you get an idea for who is local to you and you can get real-world help.

Will be interesting to hear how the insurance thing goes. And do you rent or own?

Good idea! Thanks Tell your wife about the friend of mine who had his mealworms in a polystyrene container in the hot water cylinder. They munched through it and the problem wasn't discovered until she found all the sheets, towels etc were full of bran and mealworms....! Then there was the time they have guests and she brought some icecream to the table, opened it in front of everyone, and found it was actually minced meat-based fish-food! I do pity the partners of fish-nuts....

Getting more keen on the mealworms. I think I could fit a couple of bins on a shelf above my hot water cylinder. Would keep them warm and dark. I like the simplicity of bin + bran + mealworms + time = fishfood No faffing about with cleaning or feeding etc. Is it ok to do it in a large bin with a LID? Or is airflow better? Just not wanting adults to escape. (would drilling holes in the lids provide air without letting the adults out? do adults fly?) And I read years ago about people cutting the heads off them before feeding so they did not eat their eat through the stomachs of the fish Is this true?

I run the plastic all the way out of the box and tape it down on the outside. If they run out of food they tend to go exploring up the sides and this stops them from disappearing down under the plastic.

Thanks for all the ideas! Ian, yeah I am planning to have a drip plate (thanks for the right words!), and the system will be wet-dry for the majority of it (probably a bit waterlogged at the bottom, but still flowing) Thanks for the link.

Interesting product. Just thinking, they sell similar shiny silver stuff as wrapping paper... don't they? Probably cheaper and work just as well. Great idea though! Could be good for my guttering DIY lights.

Water flow shouldn't be an issue at all. Water quality probably was the killer. Filters shouldn't be cleaned out too thoroughly, but regular waterchanges are vital. If he is not going to bother with that, he shouldn't try again. Swamps should have good water quality generally, just because they don't look pristine to us doesn't mean they are unhealthy. (they also live in rivers, lakes etc) Check the tank, if it doesn't have a wide internal lip all the way around, get one put on as an absolute priority. Saves it turning into a carpet eel if someone leaves a lid off.

Glad the plan is coming together now, and that you aren't put off natives! Koura are quite vulnerable when shedding. Quite a tricky maneuver and vulnerable to predation. Booo for evil troutlets Fun to catch though. How big were yours? Mine were about 5cm. At least this way you know the pond will be clean of whitespot, and just make sure any new additions are quarantined (possibly in that level of salt) for at least two weeks before going in. You don't always get diseases cropping up over adjustment time, but quarantining is a hell of a lot easier than sorting out the problems. (I learned the hard way twice)

When I was in bunnings last I noticed they have a white reflector spray paint (reflects at night like cat's eyes). Would that be awesome to coat the inside of the light fitting or hood with, or doesn't it really work like that?

PM-ed

aw go on, s/he has FINALLY got something to grow in their tank, at least you could give it a more impressive/satisfying name! Must look cool waving in the current anyway

Good on you for doing some research Something on the head I wouldn't be swabbing with anything. Too close to gills/mouth/eyes/nostrils. What are you trying to get the gravel out for? Why is this not one afternoon of effort as opposed to taking a number of days and stressing your fish out more? Fungal infections (particularly saprolegnia) are usually SECONDARY infections. Sap. just affects dead tissue. In the case of injury, there was a big of dead tissue the sap wanted to feed off. In the case of bacterial infection the bacteria created some dead tissue for the sap. Real sap will NOT spread to living tissue, but follow an underlying bacterial infection if it spreads. The thing is the sap. is really VISIBLE so it looks like it is the root of the problem. I have never heard of that med, but I would recommend using something that was both antibacterial AND anti fungal. Someone else might be able to suggest something here... Congrats on posting your first pic! Welcome to the wonderful world of showing off your fish to people who understand

Actually now I am interested in the panels being held on by magnets. I assume you mean those cupboard-latch type magnets? How to you get a grip to take the board off? Are there handles or ledges etc?

ah yes, on the internet you can never start something fabulous then run out of steam, hide it in the garage and slink off onto the next project... Let this be a lesson to you all! :lol:

yeah and the huge buggers are probably female longfins that should be going to sea to breed at the end of their lives :evil: Because of commercial fishing there are hardly and females left. They live in the streams much longer and grow much bigger, so have a higher chance of getting caught. This means we have a SERIOUS population skew. Some sampling of rivers have come up with around 500 eels caught, *5* of which were female. That is NOT sustainable as a fishery or as a population. Chances are trout etc have bred prior to being of legal size. Eels breed once at the very end of their lives. Chances are they are already screwed as a species but we won't see it for a while yet because they live so long (a two-foot eel is probably 20 years old and young at that). Habitat loss is a big factor, but commercial eeling is mostly to blame. Back to keeping them, get a screw-top aquarium! Excellent escape artists, as HaNs said. Yes you can take them from the wild. You can not sell them unless you have a license to sell them and the buyer has a license to recieve them (the buyer then sells to retailers etc). As for setup - eels are lurkers. Lots of places to hide: Pilers of wood, rocks, vegetation, low light levels. They can become quite tame, but can also be very inactive.