Hazara

I found it gets worse after about a week. Recommend antiflamme as mentioned and arnica.

LOL yep, I sleep in the knife drawer :-? Mods delete this one if ya want..

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7764864/Student-sold-banned-algae-on-Trade-Me Jasmine Maxwell - had a qualification for biodiversity yet still imported & sold moss balls. Crying about a 250hr community service sentence - surely that ranks up there with trying to smuggle out green gekos?

Tough little buggers ay... he is the only fish left from my tank that had the fishy in my avatar photo.,, Dont mess with a bristlenose :nfs:

Over 7 years ago.. I know because they were born just as my oldest son was.... My pair of bristlenoses had kittens. A year later only mum & son were the owners of the tank.. We moved from CHCH and everyone including Mum & Son lived for 3 months in one of my 25 litre brew barrels - mum didnt make it, and some others didnt transition to the hard water we have here...but the boss did. About a 2 years ago he went missing... was gutted as my children were bought up knowing what a plecostamus was. I have since had all the wood from the tank outside and blasted with the hose.. then left for a day to dry to try & kill cyano. An hour ago, after yet another tank changearound 2 days ago... there he was.... couldnt believe it. Honestly havent seen him for over a year.. anyone with a bristlenose knows they make their presence known.. Best guess is he has been stuck somewhere.

Stella - I didnt realise that was your effort, It looks like an internet random pic.. I'm hoping you guys arent Jinxes I had the surf up the Waipara a few times, the new truck is a "little" heavier.... have had it across to the "rocks" a couple of times, last time I dug out a fossil I found in the rocks... Just an update on the little feller, it jumps out of the water to take flies from hand now (if its hungry) - it spends most of the day in just under half the depth of tank, and interestingly at night when I flick the lights on or sneak in with a green led torch - it's still active. It's real fun watching it try & grab flies on the surface that havent been completely stunned... they reflexively jump and he gets more aggressive... When fed flake food, it takes a minute before it clicks there's food then starts snapping at anything floating past and then starts gulping at the submerged ponga fronds for caught up pieces.. Ps - My 7 year old has named it... after so much effort and so many names (I originally called it a Koaro) - he has called it.. "Canterbury Galaxis"

LOL I'm not even happy with the photo, it's out of focus up the nose end :facepalm: Feel free to give us a shout if your coming through North Canterbury, I wont claim to have knowledge of the waterways - but if you give enough warning I could contact the landowners & see if we could 4wd from the Waipara Mouth to SH1.. The boys & I have seen some cool fish in the past, there's heaps of pools depending on the time of the year - it can run dry in summer. IIRC the green LED light we have was the best, but the HID spotty has a 5 metre cable on it.. I can get to a farmland creek, but have never seen anything in it but we could always go up the "hill"

@Stella - yep, have plans on buying your book - will just have to wait a while: the kids have chewed up their birthdays for the year :cofn: and no, it doesnt have a name yet - but looking at the middle picture below a few spring to mind. Here's tonights video, I tried a little harder & put some torches on top of the tank (it's never had lighting before and got a little spooked). Would like to get a bigger tank, but this one fits perfectly in the kids room on a shakey proof table thing - not sure how big these fellers get yet... Will also start looking into reducing the summer temps a bit, perhaps a peltier on a timer? This was after already eating 2 flies - it just wouldnt go near the top with the lights on.. but you can tell it's not too worried. (click to play) Managed some stills too..

WOW thanks so much! That's greatly appreciated Stella, I'll keep you up to date on how it develops. Tonight we can fire up the google & see if there is any information, but from the lack of a friendly name I guess not! It's gotten to the point where it recognises me or the motions of a fly being put in the tank & gets quite aggressive! I have a suspicion it wont like tankmates much.

Oh bugger, sorry to hear about the (accident?) - Stella, I sent you a pm re: the location.. I just tried to video it, but I only have a DSLR & had to lock the focus because it was so close... It's really getting around now, this was just after eating 3 flies Click picture to play vid

LEGEND - thanks fishkeepa http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-science/freshwater/tools/fishatlas/species/koaro Blueether - thanks for the link.. I have bookmarked it.. another possibility - but it was only about 400 metres asl where he found it.. http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-science/freshwater/tools/fishatlas/species/canterbury_galaxias

I honestly wouldnt know the difference from an inanga, glaxid or any other natives... My boy "rescued" this feller from a shrinking pond at the river while we were camping a few weeks back - it's taking flies and seems to be getting friendly.. But would love to know what it is so he can do a school project on it. Thanks in advance!

Yeah I was a little, earthquake factor I was thinking - Have had a cousin lose a very beautiful and well stocked tank that was built solidly. Do you cool your tank at all?

Good on ya, so am I: and thanks for the meat idea, I'll give that a go - they have made their little territories in the tank and defend them... the kids love watching them having a go at each other. I'm surprised they also are seen in the upper levels of the tank in some plant matter that I'm sinking. I have also thrown aphids in there - I havent seen where they went, I think the tadpoles found them. @Joe - thanks for clearing that up, I've always called the ones over a couple of inches long bullies, but for some reason never the millions of little ones.

Thanks guys - that looks easy enough, might even be able to use the leftover of my brews as food for them :thup:

Yeah mate, but I have already said I dont have time for brine shrimp... I have had whiteworm cultures before but never looked into microworms... got a link? Might try the old wheat & water in the hot water cylinder trick....

Well, I left my 190 liter amazon tank for that same time with nothing more that an extra big feed the night before, those poor buggers were starving when I got back, all dancing around the front of the tank... cruelty - nah just neglect, it's a different class. My boy learnt a solemn lesson last year when his pet snails all died in jar he left in the sun - man they were gross... but I suppose if I go on any further you will have peta on me... I have other stories of child destruction of animals.... Anyway, apart from the daphnea idea that you clearly missed from my first post... any better ideas on what to keep these fellers happy?

Okay mate, and I'm sure your idea of re-releasing animals into the wild is a smart thing to do...., and by far the best decision.. but clearly I had a reasonable idea of what I was doing even tho I was preparing my son for the worst. So what did you feed your juvenile cockabilies?

They are in a 20 liter at the moment, when they morph, I intend having a small pond under my ferns for them to try & carve out a living in...

:sage: So... as a kid your parents never let you have a small pet that was out of the ordinary... I feel sorry for you, to love and lose builds character... They had a better chance in the tank than they did when the motorbikes started ripping through the puddle... unless you are on about the fish? They have a heap of cover, and have survived a damselfly larvae too for a few days.

WOW your not from Canterbury then...

We set up our campsite just before Xmas, and the boy caught some tadpoles, we took em home and biffed them in a tank. I gave them a ground up pleccy tab and left them alone for 9 days or so as we went back camping. Fully expecting them to be little fuzzballs by the time we got back, I told the boy he could have 2 cockabullies to replace the expected to be dead tadpoles. Anyway, got home & the tadpoles are 4x the original size and growing daily with more pleccy tabs. Just wondering what I can add to the tank to help the little fish survive - I know as older ones they can take flake food, just not sure about these ones.. they are about 10-14mm long.. Dont really have time to grow brine and dont have a source of daphnea either...

Thanks kiwip, is there any really quick & easy way to test?

Would Dacron be suitable? Shewho has a bit left over from cushons etc, I was thinking of shoving it in my cannister to replace the 8 year old munted bit of wool that's still in there.

I wouldnt be surprised if there's new species evolving in the back of my tank... It's taken me a year to get around to fixing up the lighting, and my filter isnt filtering very well (where can I get replacement wool?) Anyway - here are some quick snaps, not my usual standard but if you want me to try harder no probs..