Stella

woohoo Romeo, that is great! Snorkel, whitespot is annoying to eradicate but should be gone for you by now. The main thing to remember is that in cold water it takes MUCH longer than in tropical. It usually takes about three weeks for a light dusting to be killed off. They can ONLY be killed in the free swimming stage, not at any other point in time. This is their lifecycle: [list=]attached to fish fall off fish mature in gravel hatch into billions of free-swimmers attach to fish. In cold water this takes about a week to complete. If they don't attach to a fish they die in about two days. It is also possible for them to attach to a fish's gills and are thus not visible. So it is important that you keep treating for AT LEAST one week after the last spot falls off, if not two in a difficult case. The other thing is native fish often come in with parasites *under* their skin that look similar to whitespot but are non-infectious and non-damaging. They are just part of a complex lifecycle and after a few months or so they pass out of the fish. There is a photo of this here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nznativefis ... 4014438146 Excellent info here on whitespot, complex but dispels a lot of the myths: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml I hope that helps, whitespot sucks

duuuuude! nice! I have been taking heaps of photos of my fish today, particularly the bluegill bullies. I swear my camera has forgotten how to take photos... I need a decent macro lens.

What sort of fish is Mr Fish? If a goldfish then look up 'breeding tubercules', it might be normal

ummmmmm..... yessss........ that's right..... Actually, I am FINALLY sitting down with my book after a three month hiatus. Am working on getting The Guru's suggestions into the text. Half the time I am working on actually *reading* them... I am surrounded by a sea of books and open tabs in my browser and having a better time of it than I thought. I am being forced to PROVE that I am right! mwahahahaha! Ok, so where am I at with the Extremely Brief Guide To Native Fish for the magazine? The galaxiids one was last, right? I have two others to write, one on mudfish and eels, another on torries and smelt, I think that covers them all..... When do you need the next one by?

If you have an external filter or similar, put some sort of fine sponge etc over the inlet. It will clear the water faster without clogging your filter.

I used to have an outdoor spa pool, we thought it added maybe $10-20 a month. I really am tempted to get one of those meters. I am so damned Scottish when it comes to my electricity bill I am unemployed as of today, so it is bit of an outlay, but might save in the long run.

:oops: I thought I had exhausted the glossaries at my disposal. Turns out I didn't first check the biggest book on my lap..... Fry: Newly hatched fish at about the stage when active feeding replaces nutriment from the yolk sac Larva: The youngest life history stage, after hatching of the egg, usually with obvious structural and shape differences from the adult. (NZ Freshwater Fishes, R.M. McDowall) Ok, so first they are larvae with the yolk sac, then they are fry, but probably not for long. Then juveniles.... So yes, Navarre, you are right

I knew this.... what is the difference between the terms 'fry' and 'larvae'? I know one is the earlier stage with a yolk sac, and one is free-swimming a bit older, but it is bugging me now which is which. Google is not helping. Thanks.

/fed

haha, for a change! woohoo they have hatched!

Romeo, good that you have the Aquarium for advice! Awesome fish, neat that you got to see it. Ian, I want to come up and check out your sites! I wish i could re-organise my tanks a bit, but it is unlikely to happen. For a while i had nearly every native species locally available, but it was too much work at the time and the tanks were too small. Now I have mostly less common fish (mudfish, all the kokopu, torries), but these threads about bullies make me want to do a tank just for them. Common as anything but FABULOUS little fish!

Cool! I love the 'leopard print' description, that is so accurate! DavidB covered things pretty well. Flake will mostly be wasted by them. THey will eat it if hungry enough, mostly they will spit it out in a billion pieces. As David said, frozen bloodworm etc are good, and they are easy for newly-caught fish to identify as food. Don't worry if they don't 'get it' immediately, they will eat when hungry enough. They can go a week or so without eating. I find bloodworms are not nutritious enough. My fish all get ox heart and they are doing so much better. It may take a while to get them onto such a different diet, so stick to the bloodworms for a bit. Ox heart is great for getting fish to feed from your hands. They will settle faster if things are less scary. Walk very carefully near the tank, don't throw the curtains open dramatically. These things do make a difference. As they are hanging by the powerhead outlet they may like a little more current. See how they go over time. Inanga don't like it swift, but seem to appreciate a little current. They are drift feeders. They do exactly what you described while waiting for food to come downstream to them. Inanga are midstream fish, they don't hide much like the others. Always good to give them the option, but if there are plenty of caves for your cray then it is sorted. Whitespot and columnaris are the main ones natives get. Have a look at the whitespot section on www.skepticalaquarist.com Very good info as there are a LOT of pervasive myths about it. Both are treatable with salt. 1/2tsp per litre for whitespot and 1tsp per litre for columnaris. As David said, there are many others too, but these are definitely the two you come up against most. David is right about not using salt as a preventative, but focusing on water quality. Having added more load to your tank, the biological processes in the filter etc will take while to catch up. Do some extra waterchanges over hte next couple of weeks, but as gently as possible. Just drain and fill from one corner so they don't freak out. THey are pretty much full sized at 10cm. In the wild they have a one year life cycle as the die after spawning. In captivity... well I had a three year old very elderly inanga, but I have seen a five year old 15cm inanga! Some do well, others get egg-bound and die. Tis pure luck. Hmm, ok so I just meant to write a short post....

................................... You might find they are a bit harder out of water. You get a whole lot of extra stuff from the film of water around them. Worth a go though. Apparently the eggs have a tiny sticky 'thread' at one end, this is what sticks them to the rock. But the rest of the egg is not sticky, which is why the eggs are not stuck together sideways. PETE.S, GET HOME, BUILD YOUR BULLY TANK AND GET THEM SPAWNING!!!!

yes, get one of those meters, then show them just how much their electric heaters suck down compared to your tanks!

yeah, sometimes you get the odd exception to the rule. Then again I have not actually kept giants. I was told that by some people who should know. Sometimes it is conditions that make a fish stroppy, change something and they settle right down. Do bullies give a good nip too? I got a really good bite from my mudfish last night! They can hurt if they try to. The whole bite-and-spin thing is disturbing when it is on the hand that feeds them....

aw they are so cute! They are pretty close!! PeteS hatched my last lot of bully eggs, and I think the eyes only showed up in the last week before hatching. We found the freshly hatched brine shrimp seemed a bit big for them. I would be seriously considering feeding them pondwater next time.... They are *SO* tiny when they hatch. Oh, and they seemed to take a couple of days for them all to hatch, though fungus from eggshells killed a few. That is an *amazing* photo. What do you think about possibly having it in my book? At the moment I haven't got anything near that good of eggs with eyes...

NICE!! I am still frustrated that you couldn't show them to us when we were up last year. There is another trip in the pipeline, so maybe we shall have to visit you again Just out of interest, how does one keep such critters?

Those are your ones from the museum, right? I love closeup photos of bullies' faces, they look so sculptural, and there are usually lots of surprising bits. Lovely fish and great setups Anyone near Auckland with an interest in natives, make sure you go see them!

Don't other eggs show the eyes as the fish get bigger? It is neat when fish hunting in spring and summer lifting rocks and finding the odd one with hundreds of eyes staring back. Must give them a hell of a fright! Caper, this is how they do it: Usually the male establishes a nest under a rock. Sometimes, as Snorkel's have done, they do it on top*. The male becomes very defensive over his spot and will chase everyone else away. Eventually he cons some poor girl into parting with her eggs. Unlike goldfish et al, where they just 'squirt 'n' mix', the female very carefully lays her eggs forming a tightly packed single layer. The male alternates between guarding and individually fertilising each egg. This can take all night. The female then leaves and has nothing more to do with the process. The male keeps guard over the eggs, biting off any dead ones so live ones aren't affected by fungus, fanning them with his fins to prevent silt buildup and to oxygenate them. He will also still be trying to get other females to lay her eggs in his nest. When the eggs hatch, usually at around three weeks, the male has nothing more to do with them. Depending on species, some fry go out to sea for a few months, other species remain inland and can be seen in the still edges of stream and lakes. Sometimes the males aren't that dedicated. My upland male slowly ate all his eggs over a few days... Also I am not sure how much/if any cannibalism goes on of the fry. They turn black when they are being dominant or competitive (they are making a visual point). Even when feeding, or interacting with other fish, male bullies might quickly darken up. The 'typical' breeding look is to go very black, like a black moor goldfish, but with a brightly coloured stripe on the first dorsal. It is possible this stripe acts as a species identifier for the females. But as Snorkel's photos show, they can be anywhere between pale and black. Depends on how much of a point they are making. This is not well known, but *female* bullies possibly lose all their colouring and go bright yellow. If you want to see bullies spawning, and the only reference I know to this happening, find the school-aimed DVD "Guardians of the Mauri". Funny little story about looking after streams, but halfway through is the most amazing footage of Cran's bullies spawning. *I am guessing your fish feel REALLY safe to be nesting so exposed. They have done studies of predator responses affecting nest selection. When they can smell eels they choose nests that are more enclosed. Given the option they like bigger nests so they can have more eggs, but it depends on the strength of the male to defend it. This probably means that females will choose males with bigger nests as they are more able to defend the eggs.

hehehehe I can so relate! Sometimes i wonder if writing the book was merely the excuse to justify having so many fish! I do think torries are one of the more demanding native fish to keep, but lovely wee fish. (BTW Pete, I love your sig line! Mudfish *do* rock )

That is an AWESOME fish! I have never seen such a big one despite my best efforts Apparently bullies that size, and particularly giant bullies, don't play well with others. Tank mates are viewed as lunch. Then again it would be a pretty cool pet on its own, and probably become quite tame with the right treatment. That aside, ethically it is preferable not to take the big fish. They don't transport or adjust to captivity as easily as juveniles, and their removal has more of an effect on the breeding population. Yay for the excitement of native fish hunt syndrome bring on summer! :bounce:

I believe there are special traps with bait that are designed to target cockroaches. Little issue then of it affecting your pets. Or YOU for that matter!

oooh creepy! awesome though! What sort of habitat does this fish come from? Obviously are shaped like that for a reason.

In typical Stella style I got all enthusiastic then put it off until the last minute. I hope someone is able to translate quickly, as he is leaving tomorrow! This is what I want: "I have really enjoyed working with you over the last two years. You are so much fun and I have learned so much! Who now will look at me funny every time I hiccup, or raise their eyebrows at my interests? You have been unquestionably the best dentist I have worked with and and it will be hard finding another to trust to work on my teeth. All the best to you and your family on your next adventures. " Thanks in advance.

well, pretty much every fish has its own chapter.....! The snout bumps are nostrils. They have four.... Also the lower jaw is VERY undercut. You can't actually see it in the photo. What looks like a big protrusive lower jaw is actually a big fleshy top lip. The lower jaw fits neatly into this. Really cute when you actually get to see it! This means they are better at getting food from below them. They did SUCK at getting food from the water column initially and often missed, but they are well practised now The fat top lip is actually very very similar in function as the rubbery end to a blue duck's beak...