Bertron

Hi Welly Fishkeepers. I live on the South Coast and my great pond snails (Lymnaea stagnalis) were all wiped out when a rogue wave displaced all my pond water (most of the goldfish were saved ) . I was wondering if any of you have some to spare? I'm after large ones as my goldfish are a decent size and eat all of the small ones. Alternatively does anyone know where to collect some wild in the Wellington region? Cheers Bert 🐌

Did you find any in the Wellington area in the end? I'm looking too.

Hi All This chap came as part of a group of Sterbai. Now it is bigger it's clearly not one. Does anybody know what it is? Cheers Bert

Are there any NZ native leaves that can be used as a substitute?

To Swag: I cannot remember exactly where I got the shrimps in Hawke's bay, it was on the way to Taupo from Napier, I think its called the Esk river... there was a caravan camp there and I drove through it and just ran my net along vegetation at the stream edge, managed to get 4 or 5 shrimp there. Sorry I cannot be more specific. It was not more than 15km from the Napier coast though if that helps...

I have had a look in my local stream, but with no luck. The best place I have found around Wellington was in Silverstream, but last time I went there it was lifeless, although there had been council earthworks going on at the time. Do you have freshwater shrimps in your tanks?

Well the nitrates and nitrites were all low, and now after a jolly good vacuum and water change the phosphates finally are down. I even found another kuhli or two (have 5 now) Will monitor weekly and then get some new fish after a month of stable readings. Maybe my new fish brought in some disease with them...

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I have bought some additional nitrogenous test kits and will have a go at those tomorrow morning. I did buy a few new fish recently ( now all deceased) so maybe they brought something in with them, although I lost a couple of kuhlies before they arrived. If the water has acceptable levels of other contaminants, I will keep monitoring and lay off of buying anymore fish for a while. I have already checked the water I was using to replace the old water, it was approx 0-1ppm Phosphate Will keep you posted on my progress, thanks again for the advice

Hello, recently I have had several fish die in my 25 litre tank, these include 2 bettas (females) 4 kuhli loaches, 4 corydoras. I have 10ppm levels of phosphates, having changed 25-30% of the water several times and added phosphate absorbing filter media i still have high levels (5ppm+) . My next course of action is to pull out all the plants and vacuum the tank. Does anyone else have any ideas on reducing the phosphate levels? I have read mixed information as to whether phosphates are lethal to fish, could it be something else killing them off? I have not had this trouble before and have had the tank for 2 or 3 years? I only have 3 kuhlies and a bristle nose plec left now Any wise old owls out there with some advice please??

Does anyone know of a closer site to central wellington where one can catch shrimp? Trekking out to Silverstream gives my shrimp a rather large carbon footprint! :oops:

When putting mine in my aquaria today they all looked clear. (the pregnant females had some goldish banding on them vertically down the back and horizontally across their body segments, but no bluish tones. Skippy got the real blue one, so I'll ask him what colour it was today.

Last night I was out catching freshwater shrimp (Paratya curvirostris) with Skippy and we came across a couple of blueish female ones with eggs. One particular shrimp was quite blue in colour. Is this normal? I haven't seen it before.

Hi There Where did you get Kingston from, would they be ok in a 80L community tank?

Hi Milena Be careful no one is watching if you take driftwood from island bay. Its now a marine reserve and you aren't supposed to take anything, not even stuff off the beach! Cheers Bertron

I have a common Bully in a community tank, but as he(she) is getting bigger he is starting to eat the neighbours! Does anyone in Wellington want to adopt him? He is about 5 cm long.

I would say they would be fine with the algae eater. Mine live in a tropical tank with 3 bettas and a bristle nose plec. I have found a good place to get them, you need to go when it is dark though. The wier on the Hutt river, near the Silverstream exit of SH2.

Hi there, I have been looking for freshwater shrimp in the Wellington area for my aquariums, when I lived in Hawkes bay I caught some up there. Now I have another tank and wanted half a dozen for it. I tried silverstream and some streams in Karori and happy valley but no luck. Do you know of any good places to catch them?

I didn't lose any shrimp until I had had them for about six months, the ones in the cooler tank were the first to go. They seem quite happy in the warm water. Have you heard of anywhere to catch them in the Wellington area? I have tried a few streams, I have dredged up lots of insect larvae and a few bullies, but no shrimps.

I have tropical and coldwater tanks - 26 degrees and 22 degrees respectively. Both tanks have shrimps in them, but I now have another new tropical tank I would like to put shrimp in.

Does anybody know where you can catch Paratya curvirostris in the Wellington area? I have some in my aquarium, which I caught in Hawkes bay. They are great at keeping it clean. However I have another aquarium now and wanted to catch some more, but I have moved to Wellington and do not know where they can be found. Can anyone help please? Cheers Bert