preacher

Lol Stella, I see one Lamprey and you envy me? I envy you... you've seen far more things than I have. I just happened to be in the right spot, at the right time, normally I wouldn't go out with the river so high cos' you don't see anything. Bear in mind that estimate is a GUESS given it was wriggling and curling up so much, but it was certainly 50cm+. Thank you friends, it certainly was a beautiful creature P.

Rough size, 70 - 80cm long and BE U TI FUL. Now if only I had remembered that blasted camera... P.

Well done! Yes a gorgeous Lamprey Eel P.

Went out looking in the Hutt river tonight, bit silly really because its very full and very fast. But hey, who cares. I am SERIOUSLY glad I did, though I could kick myself for forgetting the camera again.... Why is it when you DON'T take the camera you can almost garuantee seeing something cool? I know what I saw so I don't need it identified. But can you guys work it out... Clue 1. Its an Eel. Clue 2. Long, silver blue. Clue 3. No Front fins. Clue 4. 7 holes behind its head, no gills. Clue 5. Circular, sucker mouth. I thought it was a stick, except it was clamped to the ramp of the weir at Silverstream being pummelled by the fast flowing river and I wondered why it wasn't being washed away. I tried moving it and it wriggled. I tried scooping it into my net but the darn thing kept sucking onto the rocks. Eventually I got it to let go long enough to lift it out and was very surprised, it certainly looked like no eel I had ever seen before. After a close (and wriggly) exam I let it go at the top of the weir and it sedately swam away upstream. I can't wait for Xmas when the river will be low and slow again. Peter

Outdoor pond, you will probably find you don't need much at all. I found they were quite happy to take crushed up goldfish food when mine were 3cm long. P.

Why bother with whitebait, plenty of bullies around. But seriously, I can't imagine anyone bothering with the effort when you can go to a local shop or breeder. P.

I wonder if it would be possible to organise a 'spotlight' nighttime tour after the treatment it over P.

Well I put the lil fella in the smaller top pond where I know there is one sizable bully (10cm?) and several others the same size or slightly larger than that one. I assume they are Crans too since they seem to have grown up from the fry. Theres a small crayfish or 2 in there with them. All the Inanga and Goldfish are down in the big pond below, I've seen the Inanga climb to the mid 'mudflats' but never seen them make it up the small waterfall. Given its only about a 10cm height I have no doubt they could do it I tidied up some of the plants for the spring growth due soon and found a Frog under a log. Another nice surprise It would be great fun to take you to Silverstream, I haven't been in a while being Winter. I am hoping the excavation work the council was doing hasn't damaged it. P.

Crans are the ones that don't go to sea right? P.

Way cool, I suppose they are too small to photo (HINT HINT) P.

Hey Stella, great to hear from you. Its been neat following your adventures with that big girl of yours! I'm so jealous... but then my Ponds not big enough for a fish like that Though I dare say she would love all the plants hanging over hehe. October last year : Taken today : October : Today : October (taken from the top looking down) : Today (looking up from the bottom) : The Bully : Take care Peter

Drat, how do you do those images again... See if that works...

Hey all, about 6-8 months ago I found a bunch of bully fry in a drying up pool. I caught what I could, released most back into the river and took a bunch home. Most got put into the pond and I believe a couple survived. Some got put into a large container but I thought they had all died since I never saw them again. However since it was full of snails and bugs I left it alone at the bottom of the garden. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... 040872.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... 040873.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... 040874.jpg Its been basically left untouched all this time, I've looked in it on occasion to see how the snails n such are doing but never seen anything else. Till the other night... As I looked into the bucket I caught a flash of movement. A small 2-3cm bullie! Just the one as far as I can tell, but what a survival story. No pump, no filter, nothing but the bugs and worms in the tub and whatever falls into it, hot weather, cold weather... you name it. I figure I will have to catch the little guy and put him in the pond with the rest of them though. The ponds doing well too. My Inanga are loving it, the bullies seem happy enough, don't see too many of the crays about but the shrimp are all over the place. I did have some tadpoles in there but they seem to have vanished. I hope to get some more plants up around the top pond this spring, try and reduce the leaf litter falling into the top pond seeing it clogs it up in winter. What can I say, you guys make them tough in NZ! Peter

For another question... How bigs the tank? I hope its BIG P.

Cool pic, where did you find him? P.

Thanks Stella, just goes to show you can't always believe what you read huh. My Inanga are almost 16-18 months old now and dowing well. They do show a knack for escapism when I flood the pond, though I haven't seen them climb into the top pond. That would be so neat. I have seen them happily wriggle across wet rocks to get back into the pond if they escape onto the flooded grass. Bullies, shrimp and Koura all seem happy. My frogs have vanished with the arrival of the cold weather but still got tadpoles swimming about. I was out one night looking around and saw a Koura reach out the water to grab a large pond snail and drag it away into its lair.. So I know there's plenty of food for them in there

Yes, the fish go down to where the rivers/streams meet the sea and spawn there. After a while they hatch and the fry swim out too sea. They return as 'whitebait' to the stream/river they spawned at.

Ooops, sorry Stella! I missed your post. Back then maybe 6-7mm long. They weren't very big at all.

Hiya all, now the weathers trying to sort itself out I have been hunting a bit more. I found some bully fry in a shrinking pool by our local bridge again, no many this time I suspect most got washed away earlier. I also revisited my little cray spot after all the recent rain, lots of activity and their eggs look like their getting ready to hatch. The other night I saw my own big cray in the shallow part of my pond, I picked it up and noticed it tucked its tail right up... A quick peek... Baby Crays! Wow, I don't recall seeing any eggs last time I checked... what a surprise. Happy hunting! Peter

No worries Skippy, it is highly unlikely anyone would. Still, there are people out there who will do anything to make a dollar... Maybe I should charge to do tours hehehe P.

I have removed the info as requested. I don't want it spoiled either Preserve what we have and enjoy them. I know several spots for crays locally. Though not in the numbers I have seen in this pool. Silverstream is a favourite, but Skippy's found that one :evil: There are Australian frogs in a pool up Akatarawa valley (I was paying a visit there last night hehe). Trout in the bush in at a nearby Dam and stream. I believe there are large Kokopu there too, not sure what kind though. I have seen 2 at a distance, one chasing the other, a long time ago. P.

Edited at request of members. They are located in a small pool about 20min walk into the hills on the left of Totora Park. I am happy to take people to see them. Peter

Awesome, cheers mate! I hope to get back this weekend if it's nice and take some daytime shots to show you what it looks like (instead of that poor night time shot). The stream itself is very shallow and wind's about 10m into the bush before it vanishes.

Hi all, it's amazing what you can find out there... Sorry the photo's aren't embedded. I have tried for 2 days but it doesn't want to let me Near to where I live is a logging road, which also serves as part of a bush/river walk. I have been up this road a few times, and recently noticed the sound of splashing water off in the bush on the hill side. I walked into the bush to find a little waterfall, a shallow 1m pool, a smaller pool going into a very shallow stream. The stream itself goes no-where, it eventually just soaks into the soil. I haven't had a chance to get some daytime photo's yet. I returned a few days later at night to see what I could find... Aside from a wall of glow-worms, I counted at least 30 crays, ranging from tiny 1cm long babies to several monsters about 14cm long (minus claws). Two of those monsters were girls with lots of eggs under their tails. I hadn't thought to take the camera, so I went back Monday night.... The waterfall on my nighttime excursion. Some smaller Crays. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09080.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09085.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09081.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09089.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09090.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09091.jpg The claws on this guy were almost as long as he was! http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09093.jpg Here he is hiding under a rock. P.

I would imagine it's a Bullie, there's usually lots of them about at the base of the wier, not so many up where the shrimp are. You can see some really nice sizes around there too, 10cm+ if your lucky. When the rivers nice and low and creates a calm spot at the base of the wier it really comes alive with Bullies, Eels and Shrimp. From memory it was late December last year when the whitebait were all over the place. I have seen junior trout and a large Kokopu in that spot before.