preacher

Oh no! My favourite fishing spot has been rumbled! Let me guess, you found them at the top of the wier in the shallow part to the right. Did you see any whitebait? I went a week or so ago but the river was still too full from all the rain. I plan on paying a visit tomorrow night when I finish at the hospital at 11. Then I plan on going to a nice little waterfall near Totora Park in Upper Hutt that goes nowhere I found the other night and take some photo's of the huge crays I found there. 2 of which were packed with roe. P.

Where abouts did you go looking? Down Wellington City, Hutt Valley or up the coast? P.

Hmmm, I wonder if a population of diadromous Bullies got 'land locked' by an earthquake or something would alter their breeding habits according to the food level? It's amazing how some species exhibit behaviour that appears 'unlearned'

Lol, I don't believe it! You have some new fish for what? 24? 48 hours and your breeding them already Stella! That is so cool! Did you know they were egg bearing when you caught them... Speaking of which, being Galaxiids shouldn't they spawn in Autumn like the Giant Kokopu you have? Or does this mean that the Kokopu has spawned at the proper time.... curious... Peter

Lol Stella, no I haven't seen one (I wonder if they are in the Hutt River...?). Bullies, Shrimp and Eels galore but that's about it usually. Mind you it's just too wet and rough to see much at the moment. How big do black flounder get? I suspect my wee ponds are a touch small... P.

I hope they do Stella, that would really make my day. Have you made any plans to get a black flounder yet? P.

Oh boy, that must be a huge relief. I remember seeing her when I came up your way last year, what a beautiful fish. Pity you don't have a boy too Do you know of any aquariums that have a male? Is artificial fertilisation a possibility? What an awesome opportunity that would be to see a hatching in the tank. I guess I will have to be patient with my little bullies and hope Peter

Cool, so when is it due on sale... Strip in Inanga... that sounds fun... I might have to get back to you on that one As for the fry, no they came from the river. There was a pool that had been cut off and was drying out in the summer heat beside the local bridge. I had gone down there to think after the wife and I had a 'discussion'. I returned later that day and the next and caught huge numbers, releasing most into the river and taking a tub full home. I had just lost almost all my fish to whitespot so I doubt they had bred, all my new ones were babies in a tub. From memory I put a few last babies I caught out the river into the top pond by themselves and was pleasantly surprised they survived Fingers crossed they breed this year P.

Hey Stella! Great to hear from you. Hows that book going.... Well they haven't exactly been getting a lot from me! To be honest I completely forgot about the ox heart, I found it in the freezer the other day a little worse for wear.. I assume they have supplamenting their diet on the Goldfish granules I toss in every other day when the weathers nice but aside from that... their eating something! Interesting... I did have an Inanga carrying eggs a few years ago, from memory it was in December/January and it got very fat with eggs to the point it split and died. I will have to keep an eye on them and see what happens... From memory we decided the little ones were Crans. Its so cool the way they have grown from tiny 1cm fry to 4-5 cm in like 9 or 10 months. They love hiding themselves in the mud on the bottom. Peter

Hiya all, hope you all had as great a day as we did in Upper Hutt. I took the opportunity of the nice weather to drain the pond, clean the pump and check out my fish This was January last year... http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09002.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09003.jpg Now here in October after a major mid winter clean out and re-organisation... http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09025.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09026.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09027.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09028.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09029.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09030.jpg and my lovely fish... 10 Inanga, I was surprised to see they have almost all grown to 8-10cm in a year. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09002.jpg I was very pleased to find I still had 4 Crays around, mind you that's just what I saw. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09009.jpg A big surprise was my Bullies were still kicking! I hadn't seen them in months. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09012.jpg This one's huge, it's about 10cm long (nb thats a fishermans guess http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09013.jpg Smaller at around 7-8cm http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09018.jpg The last 2 are about 3-4cm long. I wonder if they escaped the top pond... I moved them from the bottom pond to the top one where I have about 4 other small bullies. Lots of shrimp... http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09015.jpg I can hardly wait to see how much growth I get around the pond with Summer coming. Peter Makin Upper Hutt

12 years! Way cool. How big are they now? As Stella says, its next to impossible they are Inanga but it would be great to find out what they are. A photo would be awesome! Is the upper fin near the tail or more middle of the body? Peter

Now that's a cool fish! I hate to think what my wife would say if I ever put one of those in the pond! No chance of that mind, I would be happy just spotting 1 in the Hutt River. It amazes me that I never saw this species mentioned on any of the native fish sites I visited when I found my first fish. I'm guessing most people think Flounder = Salt water. Did I see my name mentioned there Stella :oops: Unfortunately with all the heavy rain we've had down here of late I haven't really been out to feed my fish other than just a few sprinkles of Vitapet Goldfish granules. Mind you, the few times I have got out at night talk about active! One thing I have noticed is the way the galaxiids school in the evening (esp if I have the pump switched on and the waterfall running) then late at night they are hunting all over the place. Abigail, how big was the flounder you ate? Do these get as big as Saltwater Flounder? I wonder if they would take a small Cray if they were big enough? I would have thought Shrimp would be on their menu.

Hi Stella Great to hear from you. I had assumed the Bullies were just Common, but I take it they goto sea too? My ponds got a bit overgrown with plants so I took out all the fish, stripped it clean and redid them both. I was very pleased to find that I did indeed have 2 bullies from the fry I found in the river. I also had about 6 or so smaller bullies in the lower pond so I put them all together in the upper pond. Some of them do seem to have that blunt faced look of Crans though. The Galaxiids are doing great, Still only about 8cm long and I haven't seen any doing the floating on the wood trick so I am guessing that was likely low oxygen in the water. I wonder if they have a higher oxygen requirement than Bullies since they are alot more active than Bullies which tend to just sit on the bottom and wait for food? It's been very wet down here too, the rivers generally been too high to go to my favourite spots. P.

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If no-one else wants him I am sure it would be happy in my pond with the other bullies etc. Peter

Wow, I've never seen my fish so active. Being in the pond I thought they would need a while to pop out and investigate. Talk about a fish magnet! I took the frozen heart and tried the fine side of a cheese grater thinking it would need to be small for them. That didn't work at all so I switched to the coarse side. This produced small worm like pieces which I thought would be too big. Boy I was wrong. The Inanga shot out as soon as it was in the water and tore into it, chunks 'n' all. I thought perhaps the goldfish would be into it too but they didn't even bother. Have you tried a bit of Ox heart in the wild as a fish attractor Stella? Or are my fish just super hungry cos they are certainly growing well. I have seen 2 small bullies in my top pond since I put the fry in a couple a months back. Both about 2cm now and lacking any real markings so I assume they are girls at this stage. P.

The shrimp seem happy enough. I put them in the upper pond as the bottom one has an abundance. I transfered one of the crays from the lower pond to the upper since their excavations provide cover for other species like the bullies. Don't know if its still up there, I haven't seen it in a while, mind you with the duck weed and the lily its hard to see anything much. The shrimp in both ponds are very active though. P.

Well at least one anyways. I have so far spotted 3 fry in the pond that got caught by accident over a month ago when I was out hunting for shrimp. I wasn't sure what they were at first but one has doubled in size and is definately a bully. I haven't seen a lot of my fish of late, lost one goldfish to a cat? and one Galaxiid to a goldfish (I think it was dead already mind). The other Galaxiids seem to be growing nicely. Not much bully activity, but then the pond plants have exploded with growth and covered the pond nicely. I suspect its just too warm for them to be active much except in the dark of the night. Oh well, at least they seem happy. P.

If you want to see your fish in the pond take the torch out at night. My Inanga/Kokopu are extremely active on the surface at night. I haven't seen my bullies for a while, but then my plants have put on a huge amount of growth this summer. I do see my crays occasionally, and I have at least 3 tiny wee baby bullies (at least I think their bullies the biggest is little more than 10mm long!) They must have been in the water when I caught a few shrimp my top pond. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09002.jpg

Im not working yay!!!!! Peter

Well I am on evenings at the hospital all week so I will definately try back there. Its wet out tonight but it should be a bit better later on in the week. Did you get my email with the photos attatched Stella? I sent it last Friday like you asked. P.

Well bear in mind it was dark, I didn't have a ruler and was looking at this beautiful fish with eyes the size of dinner plates I can't be sure on the length of the kokopu but it wasn't no titch thats for sure, I held it in both hands and it still overlapped. My 2 hands together are roughly 20cm. It was definately a Kokopu, the first 2 fish I caught in the river well over a year ago were 2 10cm trout. I quickly learned they weren't the Inanga I thought they were, doh! As for the bite, it was about a 1cm square chunk taken out of its back just up from the dorsal fin. Nicely pink raw. It was definately a chunk taken out rather than a scrape, but im hardly the expert. Im guessing it may have been exhausted from flapping about trying to get up the wier, which is why it didn't put up much of a fight. When I put it in the river above the weir it just sat there near the bottom while I looked at it. It didnt even bother to swim away, though it was gone later when I looked for it again. P.

I have been down to the local Weir each night over last weekend and been amazed at the sight of a river alive with fish. The water was filled with baby kokopu/Inanga swimming about. Eels of varying sizes from tiny shoelaces to monsters the size of your arm. Bullies, shrimp... The best part of the weekend was the second night. I was scanning the water when I heard a flapping behind me, where the Weir comes down and meets a concrete step it forms a small channel along its length. There in the turbulant water was a big grey shape, I wasn't sure if it was a trout or something else. When I walked up to it it swam back n forth along the channel before settling into a small hole. A beautiful 30cm? Kokopu, my guess an adult Banded from its colouration (bearing in mind thats by torchlight). It certainly looks like the one on the freshwater fish societies website. It had suffered a small bite to its back and was trying to swim up the Weir. I was amazed it allowed me to not only touch it, but it just sat there as I picked it up and put it into my net for a closer look. After I took it up the top of the Weir and released it back into the river. My one regret is I didn't have my camera with me P.

I've noticed them bury themselves too, especially in the pond despite the rocks that are there for cover. They seem to flick their tail to stir up the silt to cover their movement then fly over to a spot near rocks or wood and lie on the bottom then wriggle. Those insects are wierd! Anyone know what they are? I am assuming some sort of damselfly type since they are similar to dragonfly/damselfly larvae. I love the way their backs open and close (I assume some sort of gills). P.

Well I am guessing my pond should be overloaded with food at the moment then given its green state... P.