chopper

I have a question, can bully species hybridise? ( I don't mean populations of river Commons whereby some fish have Marine larval stages and some have freshwater which can cross, I mean actual species)! I guess this question is really for Stella or other people who know a lot about bullies. Im assuming they can but do they do so in the wild ( has any evidence been substantiated)or has it been recorded in captivity for that matter. I am no way going to attempt this if anybody is wondering! I assume Crans and Upland could and maybe Common. And also Common and Giant? But I am only guessing. I surmise some of the species don't in wild due to the specific environs they inhabit eg swift rapids, geographic isolation but is it possible in captivity? I know certain other sleepers do both in captivity and in the wild eg members of the Dormitator genus, but has it been recorded ever in nz Eleotridae. Also i have another question . I was cleaning out my bully tanks a while back and placed a common in with an upland in the same bucket ( my uplands and commons live in separate tanks). They started circling each other flaring up their fins and gills and opening their mouths then had a full on rumble and proceeded to bash the hell out of each other until separated. The Upland was a male and the Common a female , I know this as I have bred from them ( not hybridization) and the Common female was smaller but dominated the Upland male. Has any one seen this happen before? It wasn't a brief skirmish it was full on! They weren't really protecting an established territory as it was in a bucket and neither was breeding so wasn't super territorial. I found it interesting that the smaller fish won and thought whether or not do Commons surplant Upland from their territories in the wild? For surely if they fill the same ecological niche a more aggressive species will annex a weeker one given time. Yet they are both recorded living in same areas in wild. I suppose the weeker fish can always swim off in the wild though? Any thoughts on this and the above questions?

I have 3 breeding units of 5 tanks each which I breed different fish in and one unit is solely set up for breeding bullies. I have found upland bullies to be very easy to rear. I remove the eggs from the tank ,this is done after you can see a silvery appearance in the eyes of the fry developing in the eggs for a few days, and place rock etc containing eggs next to an air stone. After they hatch and their eggs sacs are absorbed I start dumping in water from my goldfish ponds about a litre a day, ( I used to have an elaborate system of siphons and taps feeding from header tanks but found this a waste of time). After about a week I start to introduce micro worms into diet whilst still feeding pond water. Instead of microworms I initially tried Artemia and daphnia but these I think are a pain to culture( though I still use them sometimes for other projects) compared to ease of microworms . To ensure the worms don't just sink to the bottom I let them drip slowly from a teat of a baby bottle over an air stone then they float around in the water column. The bullies actually munch quite a few from the floor also. After another week I stop using the pond water but rely solely on micro worms. After a few weeks I start to add white worms to diet. As the fry are still small at this stage I mince the white worms through a sieve , they eat them from the floor of the aquarium also. Then I slowly start to remove micro worms from the diet slowly increasing the amount of and size of white worms in over the ensuing weeks. I also feed mosquito larvae at this stage as a diet of pure white worms isn't completely nutritional( though that's debatable depending upon sources referred to). When feeding on white worms they bulk up really quick. After about 3 months after hatching they are around an inch long and baby bullies and can be fed as usual for bullies. This will depend however on temps and frequency and type of food Whilst raising the fry I made sure to carry out the following practises: - raise the fry in shallow water so they are close to food supply - its OK to just use an air stone ( but i would use sponge fry filter if this is your first time )so long as you do frequent water changes ( I do 33% per day). - Make sure air flow to stone isn't to great as fry don't like getting buffeted about. - don't use substrate have only glass so food doesn't decompose and you can see what needs to be siphoned off - when siphoning if you accidently suck up any fry just put it back in and it should survive - as they get larger deepen water level, split up fry into other containers( if one Lot dies you have backups) and add filter, ( I used corner filter with me missus tights I stole( she went ape when she found out!) put over it to stop fry getting sucked in), also its good to increase diameter of siphon tube for ease of cleaning. Flow rate of air stone can also be increased. Other stuff, - if you don't have much money here are some money saving tips If you you dont have aquariums spare go to bunnings and get fish bin, Tupperware containers they work just as well. - you can make most of your own filters from buckets, jars etc. Just buy the motor pump. - hoses for filters, air pumps etc can be modified from irrigation equipment as can taps, connectors, the list goes on Note: if it gets warm were you keep them get a chiller or make your own( mine live in an area that stays very cool all year so it doesn't stress them), as native fish don't like higher temps. Also: if you want to rear some but don't have breeding pair, go to a stream etc in the breeding season and you will find swarms of fry in shallows, net these and try with them( that's what I initially did), but this will only work with upland, crans, common( some pops) and tarndale( but this one shouldn't be tried ) I used trial and error over many years to figure out method which best suits me. I have dozens and dozens of fish books and thf, practical fish keeper magazines' which I researched to find the breeding and rearing methods of cousins of our native bullies (PhD thesis are a good source of info too). But today's internet is far more accessible and has far more info from people who have far more knowledge than me, including many people here on fnzas.There are many other systems which others including fnzas members use that work just fine so do what's best for you I just put this on to help in future if anyone has difficulties raising bully fry. Final note : what to do with all the bullies you now have? Let them go?! No, its illegal! Sell them? No, it illegal! Eat them? No, too small! ( I haven't actually tried this if you were wondering, but once did it with a whole heap of huge goldfish and they tasted pretty good)! Feeder fish? I've done it but prefer not to! Give em away? Yip that's the best way. Or if ya like me convince ya missus or mister that you have too many fish and not enough tanks and if they comply get another tank ( or spouse if they won't)! Cheers

Tried these guys several times over the years but no luck.

Cheers. I have never seen Bristol's myself so thought I would ask as I have been after for a while but no luck. don't want the calico comets they have at pet stores, want proper Bristol's. Failing that a good London would do, i may have to create one of those ( I have the stock and knowledge) but a bristol would be difficult to pull off.

Are these in nz? If they are where could one acquire some?

Also with regards breeding. Morphed can breed.Morphed can breed with unmorphed. Morphed Can breed with morphed ,and as we all know unmorphed can breed with unmorphed.

If they have albino in their genetic line they can(which off course stems from the distant cross).albino axolotls are white , golden or can be a very rare copper colour.There are also many other genetic variants that appear to be albino but are not true albino.For example a albino/xanthic cross!Also axo's can change colour with different light conditions and an increase of riboflavin in their diet and gut loading their food before it is consumed.

I have kept axolotls for over 2 decades and have accumulated much information about them.Axolotls in captivity have only distant genetic similarities to wild idividuals.Individuals imported to france in 1864 where distributed along with their offspring throughout france and then europe and subsequently the world. mutations such as we see today are unknown in wild populations .luecistic was the first mutation recorded early in France. Albino is a result of a tiger salamander cross. an albino tiger salamander was found and introduced into the gene pool.Therefore the nz population has an american connection, perhaps via Britain. Thus the nz axolotl population isn't really the same as the almost extinct population found in lake xochimilco. Additionally metamorphosis in wild individuals is almost unheard of, being much more talked about in captive populations. There are numerous reasons for this not just to do with those out lined above and not just to do with iodine.

Get an olive rockfish these things are bullet proof. They can cope with a wide range of conditions and I quote ; this species is tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions. It is found at the upper tide level in conditions of extreme temperature, oxygen and salinity variation, and it can tolerate stagnant and fresh water ... and is the only species of rockfish that ranges into estuarine areas, quoted from The RockpoolFishes Of New Zealand. No need for chiller with these things as you can read from the quote above. I have kept them in the past with not a problem. They are very ferocious though and very predatory and will wipe out most species in your tank. Mine even bred in the tank.

Right I got his email and emailed him last night and he responded this morning. He said it wasn't a giant bully in the true sense but a giant as in gigantic or enormous , way bigger than the normal bullies you catch. He said he was eeling and a mate tried to spear it but it got away but they went to the spot later and caught it. So all in all it was just a monster common and it wasn't written up as it wasn't during a surveying trip.Sorry about the hassle, I apologise for my mistake! Funny thing though me mate despite all his qualifications can't find a job so works at an overseas equivalent of mitre10.

Choice thanks for that info blue ether. Yeah they are yanky forums I have looked at. Some of the Aussie sites are good though as they have similar fish species to us. I will keep the torrent fish only with bluegills so maybe some worms will reach the bottom but most of the bullies I have rush to the top when I open the lid to be fed by hand so they will probably pilfer much of the food .

I read about the heat out put of submersed pumps so its good to know you think the same. I feed ox heart to my other fish sometimes but have read on overseas forums it is too fatty over long periods and is bad for fish. I feed earthworms (I have mother loads in the garden) and hear they are a good staple diet supplemented with other tidbits. What are peoples opinions.Would torrent fish eat these?me bullies go nuts over these as well as the stream critters I catch and the bugs I breed in my ponds.

He told me the bully was huge and I am inclined to believe his identification considering he has 2 masters degrees and a Ph.d in ecology and has done numerous fish surveys. I will try and get hold of him and try and find out where he found it and more about it , maybe he has changed his opinion since and it was real huge common.He hasn't lived in NZ for a longtime and roughly caught it about 10yrs ago.

What about Australian gobiomorphus?You could ask on the Aussie forums if you want to include those! Also a compadre of mine who used to sample fresh water inverts and fish for one of the uni's caught a Giant bully way up in the Canterbury foothills miles out of its range once . Not sure if this is any help to you but i thought I would post it for peoples interest any way

As I am in the process of shifting all my tank occupants about i have several tanks with nothing in them and was thinking of trying to capture a torrent fish aka shark bully.I have never had them before and was wondering if its good to use a wave maker in their tank instead of pumps with a high flow rate? When I kept blue gills I had big pumps in the tank . In the long run I am attempting to get as many bully species ( i know a torrent fish is not 1)in my tanks ( in different tanks) ask i can, I doubt I will be able to obtain a tarndale though! I am a big fan of bullies and have had most in the past but not all at once.

Float switch would be good , just like your toilet cistern. I started hooking up the drilled overflow piping tonight , will drain into big tubs if they overflow. Hooked up a small pump to see how long it would take to move water between tanks and the thing fried itself. Which is annoying so will have to get a new one. (Had a pump once which had a loose wire i didnt know about. I put my hand in the tank to move something and got a zap, the fish were swimming around like normal though.) Yeah rockfish are pretty choice and get quite big also. I had them breed once but couldn't raise fry. They a pretty resilient able to with stand low oxygen levels and high temperatures so no need for chiller in summer. Used to feed them on mussel meat, prawns and fish as well as the young of other fish I bred.

I was thinking of something like that Living Art but was unsure about substrate levels , cheers! Not sure of tank size yet as I have many. I do have two 2ft tanks which are already drilled and this will save me get any of my other tanks drilled . So i will experiment with the 2 footers first before I go any bigger so will have to keep the amount of occupants in them to a minimum. Might put crabs in one and fish in the other. If it works out OK I might try out keeping olive rockcod in another tank of similar design. I have had these in the past but not in a tidal tank.

On Sunday I went on an outing to procure some giant bullies for my bully collection as i dont have any giants at he moment . I went to a few places and found some very young bullies 2cm long in a stream running into the mud flats ( I am unsure what they are at this stage so will grow them out to find out).I took my son with me and in addition to the bullies I found that when we arrived home he had brought with him several estuarine triple fins and mud crabs from one of the other locations we visited.My son wanted to keep them so i returned for some water from where we caught them and I setup a different tank for these. I was thinking of setting up a tidal tank perhaps even using 2 tanks running into each other one at high tide whilst the other at lower etc. I have used surge buckets in marine aquariums but not tried to create tidal flows in an estuarine tank does any body have any good ideas?

Interesting article on bully migration http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/8/49

I have kept numerous species of bullies over the years and still keep them now. I started keeping them when I was about 10yrs old. what I liked about them as a child was their territoriality when breeding. In my naivity I placed a giant bully or a very large common bully (back then all fish looked bigger then they were and i couldnt tell the differnce between the species when young) i caught in with some large goldfish in a 3ft tank. The bully set up shop under a large rock and then proceeded to shred the goldfish. Thinking my axolotls would fare better I placed it in their tank and it wasted them also. Having no where to keep it or no way to keep the other fish from its regular beatings I decided to let it go. Since then I have learnt much and keep all the species I have in different tanks.

A fella got busted for having a carpet python a few years back. Here is the link http://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news ... n-Feilding . So I suppose that they are not all rumours.

I have heard that a couple of fellas who had monitor lizards and chamelions in the past.

I asked my LFS proprietor about his oddballs and if he had any but he wasnt impressed!

If you google some of the uk exotic pet websites and online forums you will see that nz animals appear from time to time! This guy http://www.martingoss.co.uk/index.html has tree wetas , tunnelweb spiders, peripatus , nz mantis every now and again. So i guess some one is smuggling them out. Also this one http://www.bugnation.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=13489 shows that they are being sold over seas.

hahaha i saw several of these things in one of my tanks about 2 weeks ago and thought nothing of it! I have never seen them before and I havent seen them since ( i assume the filter sucked them up). . I do have several ponds and troughs in the garden which i fill my tanks up with from time to time so i assume that is were they came from! And these ponds/troughs themselves are filled from time to time with critters i catch from the rivers dams etc so i guess it came in with that. There must be more in the garden so i will have to have a look sometime when i get around to it.