Stella

Uplands and Cran's should be fairly easy to distinguish around 5cm-ish. Uplands have orange spots, and they are clear individual spots rather than irregular blotches or slight swirls, which is what the Cran's have. Girls of either species are usually less distinctively marked than the males, but I find that uplands are usually pretty distinctive, even down to quite tiny sizes, whereas Cran's and commons are much more tricky.

Yup, koaro (not exactly the hardest test, but extra credit for enthusiasm!) I think it was just on DOC land (maybe some Ngati Rangi land, not sure, I was having concussion issues then). Twinkles, we did some work in the Mangapurua, finding shortjaws, longfins and (we think) Cran's. Then dropped the ute in the Ruatiti stream, which kinda ended the Wanganui work for us Was supposed to be working in taranaki this week, but that has been cancelled due to atrocious weather :an!gry

Does anyone know if the caudo (Phallocerus caudimaculatus) is or was ever in the aquarium trade in new Zealand?

beautifully spotted female upland!! :love:

So I am currently working for DOC as a short-term contractor doing native fish surveys in Taranaki, Ruapehu and Wanganui, mostly aimed at finding large galaxiids. They are *paying* me to do this :rotf: :cofn: So my friend/coworker and I figure out interesting sites to visit, check out access during the day and either spotlight at night or electrofish, or both. Last week we were in National Park, around Whakapapa Villiage. Not many fish to speak of (trout, trout, trout, trout, though rainbow trout are quite different to the browns I am used to), but there were blue ducks in nearly every stream we visited - incredible critters! And we saw wild deer (my first time), a train going through the Raurimu Spiral, and a gherkin slug, which seriously look like one of these split lengthwise and stuck to a tree: Around Ohakune the week before we did actually find a couple of fish worth writing home about: (ten points to whoever guesses the species correctly) Next week we are back up in Taranaki, so hopefully there will be more fish.... once the forecast thunder storms pass! :facepalm: (one from last time, so well blended in with the beautiful spotty taranaki stones:) My co-worker has taken over driving since I rolled our last brand-new rental ute down a 100m cliff into a stream... And this is my wonderful cosy home for the year: (the van, not the carrot.) Though currently in disgrace after she died in the middle of a set of traffic lights in Wanganui last night. :an!gry Anyone here happen to be an auto-mechanic? It is the alternator or charging circuit. :facepalm:

I find there is a lot of variation in crayfish temperament, some are really bold, others adventurous, hell-bent on escape, timid, secretive, aggressive, or invisible.

Have a chat to someone at your local DOC office and see if you can get hold of their 'Seeds for Success' manual for starting community groups. I haven't read over it but it looks like a fantastic resource and apparently every DOC office should have a copy. Great work, good on you!!

.......hello :oops: Am travelling around at the moment and somewhat sporadically online. Am happy to help where I can but I recommend you ask things on here so others can answer also. Koura are fascinating animals and would make a really good classroom pet. Have a search through the archives here, a lot has beeen said about the housing and care of them.

:facepalm: note: "hopefully"

huh, interesting. based on the photo alone, it does look like a female upland because of the less-prominent orange spotting on the face. But then the location makes it less likely. Hang on, just checked out the NIWA fishatlas, plenty of records of uplands around there: http://www.niwa.co.nz/node/90782 Good point about the fin spines, but they can be varied apparently. I would err on the side of upland female, pending more photos How long is she?

wow, that video of the kiant gokopu eating needs the 'Jaws' theme - I love the way they flash in and out of the shadows! They have certainly grown heaps since I saw them last. Impressed with the 30cm wild one. I have not seen ones that big in the wild yet. (Last week we caught two 20cm koaro, will hopefully get around to downloading my photos one the weekend and do some uploading here

Nice! Captures 'lurking in the shadows' really well

That is exactly the way to do it (btw the red plant is Azolla, a native fern that has a nearly-symbiotic cyanobacterium living under its 'scales'. The fern uses the cyano for nitrogen and the cyano uses the Azolla for a nice safe home. Very cool plant.) :thup:

I can't really remember... they tend to take to it though. Just saw the video - nice rocks! Do you have a plan for escape-proofing? Bullies don't climb but they are inclined to shoot up the sides and land on the wrong side of the glass. It looks nice with the rock sticking up, and with just bullies you could escape-proof it by putting a 5cm internal lip all the way around. the top.

After 24 hours it is more impressive that a fish ate anything rather than a problem that they haven't. It is a pretty stressful time and new foods may not look, move or smell like food to them. I would often use frozen bloodworms as a way of getting the fish interested in feeding, especially if there was a current swirling the worms around - they look, smell and move like normal food (bloodworms are midge larvae that most small freshwater fish will have come across). However bloodworms that are not eaten just decompose and cause problems, so be really careful with only melting a few of the block at a time. Live food of course is ideal. I have had a mudfish eating beef heart from my fingers within a week of being captured. Other fish are much slower to get the idea. Trial and error. Generally once one fish gets the idea the other fish will learn from them. Looks like you may have a convenient 'leader' there

awwww thank you Am definitely on the mend. Still get the odd side-effect but mostly that is when I do something stupid, like dancing with someone who does Ceroc (spinnnnnnnn....) :nilly: I am actually 32, though most people I meet think l look 24. Because of the swelling a nurse in the hospital thought I was 18! Weird... And I only found out that native fish existed seven years ago.... I get obsessed easily :oops:

Colder water means less active fish. It is so much harder to find natives fish over winter. I suspect it is day-length cues that affect breeding, if that was part of your thoughts.

happy first weekend after the first new moon after the Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox! :cofn:

er... http://cheezburger.com/6061345280 not made a LOL before..

Fantastic! :happy2: Am bringing all my kickass spotlights, so we are sure to blind anything within 100m. BTW you can drive the 4WD. I killed the last one I drove... :oops:

Wow, that second picture is fantastic! Submit it for next month's Photo of the Month competition Ages ago I read up on peltiers for cooling aquaria, seem to be a few who have done it. Not sure about on here, but there is info online. He looks like he has plenty of room in that tank for the moment, just make sure you are doing lots of water changes to compensate for the size of the tank and the number of flies that fish is inhaling! (I am traveling around the country for the next year doing various fishy things, I may have to visit your fish and go fish hunting with you!

AKA common river galaxias or Canterbury galaxias. Google scholar will likely be your best bet for information. Unfortunately there isn't much in between the scientific papers and the 'wot fish is this 101'. Also make sure you check out your library for R.M. McDowall's books on native fish. And the archives here. I don't think we have ever talked of these chappies before, but general natives info is relevant to all species, and of course anything on koaro more so. (and my book) Sounds like he is a fast wee learner! Does he have a name yet?

Excellent point. I have only skimmed through this book in a shop, but it struck me as an absolutely amazing combination of story and fact, heaps of info and well aimed at getting children interested in nature and learning: http://www.trademe.co.nz/books/children-babies/educational/science-nature/auction-462930006.htm

And word from on high is: Excellent