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 :-)

whiteworms and other live food that moves but not too fast :-) He's cool at the moment but he's in with only pelagics, not sure how he (or they) would go if he was with other benthics....

cool, youd want to see him hunting its AWESOME he's like a wee predatory flying carpet :-) re black patch, I have no idea if it serves any potential function - something for you to look into maybe, give you an excuse to feel up your fish more often :-)

Hey Stella! hows it going? We have a juvenile black flounder at home at the moment - he is without a doubt the coolest fish I've ever watched in a tank!

that black patch is quite common on the bigger bandeds and shortjaws - not sure about giants though as I haven't seen enough of them...

Hi livingart, its a good-lookin banded, they show quite a lot of variation re patterning type, extent etc :-)

Oh, I wasn't sure we knew it wasn't found in the vicinity of a stream... In that case it could be minor..................... I'm back on the fence but still leaning towards aquaticus :-) No its not Uliodon sp, body shape is totally different

Hello :-) based on that photo I would say D. aquaticus before I said minor... Agree with livingart, house separately. You could set up a neat tilted terrarium with water in one end so to observe aquatic feeding...

Hey Stella, its me, Amber I finally gave in and signed up :-) I fed her adult mealworms mostly as someone was growing them in the control temp room next door (lazy) but she got a few isopods here and there as well, never got her to eat a snail... Did you not meet her when you came to visit? davidb, I wish I was yooouuuu :-) are your water spiders aquaticus? I been working in a stream thats got heaps and heaps of Dolomedes III, they're pretty impressive looking spiders!

koi taste SHOCKING... I've tried a couple of times and haven't managed to get far beyond a few bites - its mostly the smell and they do have heaps and heaps of tiny bones. Such a shame as a decent size koi could feed a whole family!

Hello fellow spider fans, I had the pleasure of keeping a female tunnelweb (P antipodiana) in a terrarium for about 7 months last year - she was so beautiful and it was just fascinating to watch her eating, digging and spinning :-) She successfully mated with a male I popped in and raised some wee fellas up to the stage where they were just beginning to venture out of the tunnel and check out the world. All was just great to observe :-) I'll try and post a pic of her