Snorkel

Yes, said creek is just a couple of k's from the sea. Your a powerhouse of knowledge on these fish! I just gotta get clued up with a trip to the library soon as. A giant bully! Thats exactly what I thort it was when I first seen it! Haha. The others I'm not sure yet, but most likely "common", as thats what they are. About 50-60mm in length and real characters too! Two are darker, almost black, with a hint of a stripe on the dorsal. Imagine a 240mm bully..... just imagine that....

Have you worked out why this happened?

I can count 6 spines in the first dorsal. Definately 6, would be hard pressed to claim 7. The fish has settled in nicely, but has not started to feed yet. It was caught on Sat. night, so I'm not too worried yet. It is in a 300liter 1500x450x450 tank with approx 10 other much smaller bullies that have been in captivity for a week. The small bullies are all feeding well and are interesting, cute little fellas. I found them in in slow moving creek that drains a small local impoundment in a urban area here in Whakatane. The water quality is really bad, fouled by ducks, wild goldfish, road run-off, etc. Interestingly, out of the 10 bullies i caught, 3 had a mild case of ich! The big boy was found with its head very close to the surface and I positioned the scoop net ($5.00 wharehouse special) behind it slowly and I knelt down and gently touched it on the head which caused it to spin around and quickly take off.... straight into the waiting net! Anyway, it seems to be doing fine and has taken to captivity surprisingly well so far. I'll keep a close eye on it, try and get some decent pics, and keep ya all posted. Snorkel out.

Sometimes, if the filter hasn't been cleaned in a long time, it only takes a short powercut of an hour or so, and when it starts up again.... poison spews into Ya tank. Sadly, I learned this the hard way. I would hate to think, how many fish have died at my hands over the years.....

Olly, gill fluke kills baby discuss. Furan capsules are the go. Get some and give it a try. I was amazed at the results.

Classic!

Closer shot......

Thank you for that info. Very interesting. I'll give it the good treatment dont worry. Now to get Mc Dowell's good book.

Thank you.

This is a bully I caught last night in a slow moving local creek. Hard to measure but somewhere around 130mm in length. It was much bigger than the other bullies that were there, anyone know what it is and how big do they get?

Looks good mate. Thats gunna be just right fo what Ya got in mind.

Something quite large and interesting was the requirement. Black widows are neither.....

Kissing gouramis!

A red tailed shark! Geophagus Surinamensis!

Hi, good on ya for loggin on! Red tail sharks are one of my all time favourite fishes. Never could resist 'em!

The "one who knows all about fish" should of known that you always need a spare!

Lots of good advice there Stella. Hey mate, the filter thing has a grey plastic top that you just pull upwards, then reach in and pull the sponge out. Give a good clean to start with or even buy a new one (twin pack @ about $20.00). When it has been running a while and is actually working, just rember that bacteria live in it and dont be too hard on them when Ya clean it.

I used this substate for years, had no trouble at all with it. Around here the streams are full of it. They use diggers to get the stuff out. Its free! It works good and looks good. Go for it! Must be some of the purest water in the world I rekon... Pumice substrate.

Yeah, thats nice. Great effort!

You gotta good deal mate. I rekon you should keep the heater, it'll come in handy down the track raising brine shrimp or something. Wash ya substrate in a bucket, not the sink! Hey, I've got a filter like that too. They are good for years of use. Ya get at the sponge by pulling off the top. Shrimps, bullies and koura like a bit of wood in the tank too. Look on trade-me for a flourescent light the same size as ya tank and build a hood out of cheap ply or something and You'll be all set. Oh yeah, chuck the snails out. They can be really hard to get rid of later on. Hot water should fix the eggs.

I used to raise discuss. At 2cm in length they used to die off untill i "discovered" furan capsules. They get a thing called "gill Fluke". Large ones can live with it but juveniles die from it. Feed 'em anything they will eat chopped up eartworms, beef heart, shrimp, anything at all. I didn't think they grew that much on brine shrimp and got them going on other foods as soon as I could. Make sure you siphon out waste/uneaten food. Remove any dead ones pronto. Feed them as much as you can, grow them fast and big. They are cool fish too raise.

Yes, there will be shrimp there. Go for a look at night with a torch. Whitebait (inanga) spend the early part of their lives at sea. It is almost whitebait season. Get ya net out!

Paul, I saw eels, gambusia and shrimps in there millions, a couple of bullies, and wild goldies. Anytime you wanna go for a look around just sing out. I'm thinking the same thing as you, a local stream in my tank.

It joined its sick mate in the compost bin. "Stop the spread" and all that. Dont worry theres plenty more where that one came from. I wont be catching anymore from there. Incidently, these wild goldies are found everywhere in this area but no-one seems to know much about them. Sullivans Lake looks desserted of fish in the day, but take a look around the edges at night and it teems with gambusia and shrimp. I am keen to have a look around some more local waterways with the lite. It is fascinating.

The wild goldfish are noctornal, during the day they must hide from the Giant Cormorants under the weed to avoid being eaten. At night they are simply caught by placing a scoop-net in front of them. I caught one and kept it for 24hrs in my 1500x450x450 tank. It seemed to take quickly to its new surroundings. It was 300mm long and heavy for its length. However it was not an ideal situation and I soon changed my mind about keeping it. JC360, you were right, a much larger tank is required! A pond would be best.