PeteS

I would like to obtain a springtail starter culture. Thanks Pete.

Here is a link to an interview with Peter Wilhelmus from NZ Clearwater Crayfish Ltd that was on the Radio NZ program Country Life tonight http://tinyurl.com/ljeny3

The big larvae could possibly be Oniscigaster distans or O wakefieldi which is a mayfly.

Depending on your tank size I would use froze water bottles from 1Ltr to 3Ltr size. You can also use fan on your tank or an air con unit if you have to cool a fishroom.

My black mudfish were on holiday at Stella place while I was overseas recently. When I finally moved them back home they came with a leaf litter substrate, before I had them in a tank with the glass bottom painted black with bits of wood to hide under. The first thing I notice was there behavioral change as stated by Stella above. They are much more active. They do seem to love swimming in an out of the leaf litter looking for food, in this case white worms. They swim pass the water fleas with out eating them :-(. Not sure what the water chemistry is like at the moment. I use rain water for water changes. I will need to dig out my test kits to check.

Polystyrene balls would not work they would have no structure when wet and form a big mass at the bottom of the filter which would clog quickly. You need a cheap media with structure and hire surface area for the water to flow around. How about using the large expanded clay balls used in hydroponic.

Once again you have had such a cool! experience Tuataras are so cool, but I so want to go spotlighting for mudfish You with out your camera in hand I does not happen.

I wish my mudfish were big enough to bite me :-) Then again they could be as I have not seen them for three weeks

Cool photo Stella as always. Nice fat fish also, nice clean rock to NZ native Fish Rock

Carnivorous plants are cool. I grow them in old fish tanks inside, some grow outside in full sun and some also on window sills depending on what type of conditions they like. I'm going to the International Carnivorous Plants Society Conference in Sydney for a week then over to Perth WA for two weeks looking at CP's in the wild. Should be fun Supasi, Good to see that you are into native CP's and native fish. I have seen four types of sundews (Drosera) around MT Ruapehu, plus one bladderwort (Utricularia).

Cool fish. I saw the one's they have in Animates.

Yep is was a great trip. The banded kokopu were so cool and all those glowing crayfish eyes were amazing. We also saw a few whitebait in the Himitangi Beach stream. I wish we had seen some mudfish, but hay we can always go back again. The Native Fish Hunt Syndrome is taking over.

Stella, I must have a closer look at those worms in your mudfish tank they could be a form of tubifex. Some interesting links: http://tinyurl.com/6zgdy8 http://tinyurl.com/6x6adr

I would go with some form of tubifex or close relative. Tubifex are normally red like the ones in your photo.

Not sure on the legalities of selling live tubifex worms. It is illegal to ship them between the north & south Inlands due to the possible transfer of Whirling Disease which affects trout. This is why the pets shops stopped selling live tubifex because the were sourced from the south inland.

Well fossil hunting sounds like excellent fun too. What did you find ?

Well the Native Fish Hunt happened last night. The weather was fine, the sky was clear with heaps of stars to be seen out at the Kahuterawa stream area. The three of us myself, Stella & Olly went. Museeumchick was sick sorry you missed out. The first stop was at the Turitea stream by Massey. The stream was up but not as bad as last week and quite clear. We went to our usual hunting sites plus a new one. These sites are nice gravel/sand beaches that give good access to the stream. This is where we found a number of bullies sitting on the bottom. Stella caught a few of these bullies, one of which was a nice fat common bully. Olly next showed us a spot at the Massey Vet pond were he thinks a giant kokopu hangs out. We did see some eels and unidentified fish. We then drove over to the Kahuterawa stream to the Black bridge track area. We had a quick look in the Kahuterawa stream and found more bullies. We decided to spend our time in a small steam that runs into the Kahuterawa stream from a long side the Black bridge track. We had found shortjaw kokopu here before but none this time. We did see some eels, trout and two koura which was quite good because the stream was in high flow mode. Once again those that went had a most interesting time. Looking forward to the next Native Fish Hunt :) BTW The light saber competition was a draw mine was longer & stronger but Stella's went forever. I have upload some video clips of the trip to Stella's NZNativeFish YouTube channel.

The electro fishing video has been uploaded. http://www.youtube.com/user/nznativefish

Yes Stella is the one to talk too. You will need to catch the whitebait during the whitebait season (Aug-Nov) and keep them for your display. Or obtain older fish to show the public what whitebait turn into i.e. three types of Kokopu, Koaro & Inanga. The main thing you need is some way to keep the tanks cool over the summer and heaps of live food or beef heart to feed the older Kokopu etc. I looking to forward to see how your display turns out. Good Luck.

Hi museeumchick, There is a good spot to find Koura in a farm stream between Aokautere & Ashurst. It also has heaps of Upland bullies.

It's nice to see the fish move around the tank. But your closeup photos of individual fish are great. Like the mudfish in this link http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/a-few- ... 33134.html

Hi MiNcIE, How much do you need and what grade? Bunnings & Oderings sell a very fine grade in 1kg bags for under $10 from memory. You could try Manawatu Hydroponics out at Awahuri Rd Feilding.

Its with great sadness that I read this. Trevor as a great supporter of the NZKA for many years as well was the Upper Hut club. Every time I would visithim I could not escape from his fish room with out hands full plants or bags fish to take home. It's sad to see all that fishy knowledge pass with him. Deepest sympathy to his family. Pete NZKA157

On the way home tonight from work the Turitea Stream by Massey was a bit high & murky. But things can change in twelve hours. We could go Native Critter Hunting up the Kahuterawa track if you are all keen. Stella, Yes the spotlight has been on charge, I have heard that the duration of the spotlight is better then the size of the spotlight beam, :-P :-)

Stella you can use my Youtube account until you get your own. Looking forward to Saturday night.