Abigail

thanks aussiegreenthumb!

Hi everyone, if anyone has small friends or relatives who are interested in native fish (or who should be!), I have a new book out about them. Available from: http://papawai-press.myshopify.com/prod ... ber-mcewan

All you good people who are into native fish may be interested in a couple of children's books recently published about some of our favourite natives - whitebait! Might make good christmas presents for any kids you know who are into native fish (or who aren't yet :-)). One of the books (the Whitebait Wriggle) is illustrated and in verse, telling the story of a group of whitebait journeying upstream and finding homes - enjoyed by all ages. The other (What's that in my Stream?) has a non-fiction format, with lots of interesting facts and great photos - perhaps best for ages 5 and upwards. The books are available from http://www.papawaipress.co.nz - I'd post cover images but I haven't worked out how to do it.

Hi, I'm hoping to contact the member called flatfish - I'd like to get hold of an electronic copy of your thesis if possible. I had a hard copy at an old job but left it there. I like to quote your Wairarapa - Taranaki migration (hopefully I remembered that correctly - hence why I need to check the original reference)! My email address is [email protected] Cheers! Amber

hello preacher :-) Your pond sounds fabulous - I wish we had a pond, or better still a stream in our backyard... The one we ate was 380mm, I'm not sure about size compared to saltwater flounder (many species in NZ) although my guess would be that salties are much quicker growing due to greater food availability in NZ marine environmetn vs NZ freshwater environment but thats just a supposition Thye may very well take crays when they are big enough - we thought shrimp would be a goer as well so brought back a bunch of mysis with him - they gradually disappeared (although there are other fish in with him) but we saw him miss them on multiple occasions... He probably was managing to catch the odd one or two though...

hes the coolest of the cool fishbreeder :-) all your q's should be answereed in previous posts - except how big: not sure, McDowall (1990) gives max size of around 250-280mm but maybe they are river specimens? Plus it is an old ref - the largest we found in Lake Wairarapa was 380mm total length

oh and yes they can change colour also although not to a huge degree. Ive got a vid of us tormenting a poor wee flounder in the wild by transferring him from a white bucket to a natural substrate - pretty awesome to watch but vids are 30plus MB - maybe I could put stuff on a cd for you next time I'm up your way

Sorry yes he's 60mm just a wee fulla :-) they are algal grazers in the wild so not sure if a big chunk of ox heart would be what the doctor ordered :-) Although, from memory (which means I'm probably wrong), A. said that his used to take bloodworms You should have no trouble finding the giant otoliths as their skulls are "normal" - wouold be interesting to compare age/length of wild ones with those that have been fed up on oxheart...

The mullet is maybe 60 TL? He's going back though in the next couple of days as we haven't been able to get him to eat. In retrospect, next time we would get at least two as we think hes stressed as he has no other mullet to school with (there are some inanga whitebait but hes not too keen). A. has kept greys successfully before but they were living in a group Go the book - looking forward to seeing it :-)

hello Navarre we feed whiteworms and other live food - he has only been in our house for maybe 3 or 4 weeks so much left to establish in terms of feeding regime - seems that it really does need to be moving for him to get his stealth on... No, fw should be fine Pretty sure growth research hasn't been done (correct me anyone plus give me reference :-)) my guess is that they will be quite slow growing although depends what kind of trophic level and temp etc they are living in... We actually have 3 adult flounder heads in our freezer until we learn enough about their wacky skull configuration to suss out where the otoliths are!

Paul-R dont eat this species they dont taste very good (we ate the bigger one in the photo above although I wont be doing so again, but mostly due to the rate that the Lake Wairarapa population has declined - feel a bit guilty now but at least I can pass on the recommendation to go for other flounders (salty ones) for food!

(I hope i got the quote function right) fine to med sand/gravel from the Lake he was living in, plus large cobbles a broken piece of terracotta and a stick - so far he hasn't sat on the stick but if he does it will be a good day :-) there are macrophytes in there as well but they're mostly to try and get his tank mate (grey mullet) to eat something

thanks for posting pics Stella! although a still does him no justice - seeing him in action is priceless, when he's eating he sticks his wee tail up like a cat :-) and just before he pounces, his whole wee body goes rigid, its hilarious and wonderful :-)

I just had a cool idea - theres a variety of substrates in the tank and he moves around so I get to play the fabulous game of "where's the flounder?" (his other super power is camo) I could take pics of him in different positions so you guys could play too :-) hmm although it would involve me having to learn a bit more about photoposting...

hello livingart, sorry I didn't see your post. also sorry because I think this may be what is referred to as "hijacking a thread" I'm a bit inexperienced with "foruming" so big sorry if Ive been rude! No idea how to post a pic but I'll send one to Stella in the hope that she'll do it for me :-)