Rob

MAF are reviewing the list of fish species allowed for import into NZ. As part of this they are undertaking a survey of what's already here or has been here in the last 10 years (with a strong indication that this will form the basis of the new import list - if we can't prove that it is here or has been here then we may loose it). More info can be found here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fish_study/ The proof needs to be a signed photo, correctly identified (scientific names - not sure what this means for the L-numbers), with a book reference (including page number). You don't have to own the fish - it can be of fish in shops (in which case you'll have to get the shop to sign the photo as well). We all enjoy the huge variety of catfish available - so we need to document the ones that we already have to make sure we can still get them. Also does anyone have a copy of the Aqualog, All the L-numbers book (this may be the only reference available to us to use for some plecs). If people need a book reference for non L-number catfish I should be able to help with Baensch Aquarium altas references (I've got the first 3 volumes plus the photo index of all 5 volumes) We don't want to duplicate each others efforts so perhaps post here what you can get photos of.

Yip - definitely the Goldfish bowl on Heaphy Tce. It looks small but he packs in a good range of stock and is very knowledgable. If you were happy going further afield then Tropical Blues in Tirau is also worth a visit.

Are all varieties actually banned throughout NZ? I know that V.gigantea is and that Environment Waikato has banned any species of vallisneria (but that's only a regional thing). The National Pest Plant Accord (www.biosecurity.govt.nz/ pests-diseases/plants/accord.htm) only mentions V.gigantea. And the reason for the ban in the Waikato seemed more based on peoples irresponsible use of vallisneria rather than it's invasiveness (since economic gain could be made by selling vallisneria people were deliberately establishing it in locations it wasn't already, also they were exporting hornwort contaminated vallisneria to the South Island and they definitely don't want hornwort down there - best way to stop all this, ban vallisneria in the Waikato - there was talk about a nation wide ban being considered though).

It is becoming difficult to find in stores though - my LFS can no longer get it - seems that it didn't sell that well and has become a deleted line for some wholesalers.

They could well be females full of eggs - not the same as being pregnant though - since during spawning the eggs are scattered about the place at the same time as the male releases his milt. There's only a limited number of fish that give birth to live young - guppies, platies, mollies and swordtails being the most common ones.

Stu - I don't have any gold nugget plecos. Jammos - I'm not really attempting much with Plecos at the moment, there's some corys I'd like to get going and also some small rasboras - but finding time is difficult.

Scientific names will help your web searching: Clown syno I'm assuming is Synodontis decorus. Chocolate cat (chocolate with caramel stripes?) - probably Platydoras costatus. Crocodile cat (some sort of suckermouthed whiptail thing?) - likely to be Rineloricaria (or Hemiloricaria) lanceolota. Featherfin syno (starts off cute little striped thing and then develops a less appealing spotted pattern) (Synodontis eupterus) Sorry can't help on the network syno. Planetcatfish.com should have some helpful info though.

I've had some success with plecs - have in the past successfully bred Spotted clown plecos (Peckoltia brevis), Butterfly plecs (L52) - hoping to get them going again, banded whips (Rineloricaria cf eingenmanni), common ancistrus (which the federation lists as Ancistrus lineolatus - haven't looked into it to see if this is correct), Colombian plecos (Loricaria sp "Colombia") - which are kind of cool in that they're lip-brooders. In the close but no cigar catergory (ie spawned, hatched, died) are Crocodile cats (Rineloricaria lancelota ?), Twig cats (Farlowella sp.), Royal whiptails (Sturisoma panamensis) and Rubber lipped plecos (Chaetostoma cf thomsoni).

Freshly laid cory eggs are quite soft but after an hour or two they should be firm enough to handle. You can either pick them off in your fingers or carefully scrape them off using a knife or razor blade. Yes - I would put them into a container of tank water - I'm not sure about the inflow/outflow - I agree that having fresh water going into the container is a good idea but how do you actually get the flow and I'd also be concerned about hatched fry disappearing out the holes - I'd be more inclined to set up a gentle air stone in the container and do water changes with water from the main tank. Remove any eggs that go white - they're infertile or damaged and will just fungus and pollute the water.

Hi Shae, have a look at the thread here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=5135 to figure out if you really have borelli or if they're 'steel blue' apistos and go from there.

The glowlight danios are definitely here and have been bred in NZ too.

@ Kribkrazy - there's the original male hidden away in the 5' discus tank and then the 11 or 12 remaining offspring with the young T-bar cichlids. @Catbrat - tank's 2.5', 28dC, 5.5pH, caves are bamboo tubes with an internal diameter of 3.5-4cm, spawning occured two or three weeks after I'd increased the filtration (and current) on the tank and could have been the trigger, these offspring are now pushing 10cm long and will be 2 years old in july. I'm not 100% sure on the sex ratio.

Yeah - I've also got some (12 or so). The offspring of my original spawning have now started spawning themselves - unfortunately the male abandoned the eggs (my fault - I hadn't realised they'd spawned and was re-arranging the tank) - I'm attempting to get them to hatch without him - I'll see how I go.

Just a note about the June club meeting - because of Queen's birthday and the FNZAS conference that weekend the club will be 11 June (NOT 5 June)

Hi Matt, Tropical blues in Tirau still had 4 of them on the weekend (no sure if they're still there though) - one definitely had the dark adominal bar that Alan's link shows.

I agree with Plantman - it's green pine tree (Mayaca fluviatilis). Caryl's comment about rotala is also correct in a way - there is another plant sold as RED pine tree that is Rotala wallichii.

As Alan says you could register them as Ancistrus spp or if there is a species that you've come across that is close but not exactly then we could register them as Ancistrus cf species. The 'cf' implying that it's very similar to the species named but not exactly the same.

Hi Stu, I don't recall anyone having bred these before (haven't got the database in front of me at the moment). Also we'd have to decide whether the hoplogenys is accurate or if there is another species that is a better match for the fish.

Are we talking true albino (ie with red eyes) or the golden guppies?

Looks like a puffer of some sort.

I suspect that they're Anomalochromis thomasi - the African butterfly cichlid (or diamond cichlid) - see what google throws up searching for that scientific name.

In the past I've bred sterbai's, pygmies and bearded - all the others are still on the 'got to get around to try them' list. The one similar to sterbai is C.haraldschultzi.

While it is a member of the Poeciliidae family - it's never (according to fishbase.org) been listed in the Poecilia genus. Gambusia are also members of the Poeciliidae family - I sincerely hope they aren't able to be imported in under the generic Poecilia sp.

I've had a look on the import standard and can't see it listed under that name or any synonym.

I think that Midas had enough concrete to get his to sink, I found that I ended up dissolving out some of the polystyrene with acetone so that it would actually sink.