Mikey

Agreed! The ebbs and flows of nature huh. Nice looking lizards you have there

Nice work! I'm glad you survived to share these photos with the world. I had one bite a toe once.... yup, they bite, and hard.

I'm no expert, however I have 10 Black Neon tetras and 10 Glolight Tetras. From observing them in my tank they pretty much snob each other and stay in their own schools... occasionally they make a super school, but even within that they are still pretty much in seperate groups. Only time they truely mix up is during feeding time.... then's its all on all I know you said not neons in your above post.... but what about Black Neons? I find them to be a cool looking fishing and they aren't a dime a dozen like the traditional blue ones.

Strangest I had growing up was snails... went out found some in garden, bought them inside and popped them into a small tank.

Not only those with children, but those that have been children.... most of us should know this book Awesome cake... I am impressed!

Heh, call me old school but I just read books. Good old fashioned paper and ink.

Interesting thread, and some great photos! I originally read it as pet trapdoor spiders :facepalm: and was wondering how you guys got them into NZ and what birds you were feeding them haha it has been a long day! Supasi... Peter Jackson may want you to keep that tank as is... as setting for a scene from Mirkwood in the Hobbit... when they are taken by the spiders, it looks pretty scary and ominous looking

Heh, living in Auckland with our lovely humid days would give it a better chance then :rotf: But the plan is that it doesn't escape in the first place... no random aquatic creatures shall roam my halls! :sage:

Haha, my money is on the cray... probably saw the cat and figured it would pick a fight! How long can they last out of water? This is something I haven't found out...

Completely agree with the assessment of the rock on the left, it is the wrong type of rock to be with that gravel etc, it seems to be too bright, as said above it is only there at the moment because it is weighing down the wood because it is still a bit bouyant I really like the way the one on the right blends in, so I will try head out over the next few days to find rocks a bit more like that one. And yes Stella I have used the "bury and sprinkle" technique on the right rock, I use the method in my tropical tank as well, I reckon it makes the rocks look like they belong really well. Haha yup, I got a little frustrated with the rocks I had on Sunday so ended up leaving the tank as is... I will try some different positions with the wood when I play with the rocks next. 100% correct. I do have a lid sorted... just haven't had it in the photos, it is pretty much a solid mesh lid with small enough gaps that cray cant get out, but airflow etc will pretty much be unimpeded. I wonder what the cat, dog and baby would do with a cray charging them. Dog would probably freak out and run off, cat would tap away playing with the cray until it got a nip and the baby would probably pick it up to examine closer before trying to put it in her mouth :facepalm: Thanks for the thoughts, I'll get some more rocks have another play and update you all soon :bounce:

Right, the weekend has been and gone... and I got some stuff done on the tank. Gravel has been rinsed and put in, Wood is scrubbed and in both look good in my opinion. Rocks.... struggling a little bit... most of the ones I got from Taupo aren't quite doing it for me, They are either too big, wrong shape, or they look weird, like they don't match the rest of the tank. The one on the right hand side of the tank I am happy with so that will stay... one of the left is essentially just weighing down the wood atm... the rest I have removed while I think about what to do... here are some photos: The random piece of Fern was me testing how it works/looks/and how much shade it provides... I like Fern being in the tank, so along with the rocks I have some playing around to do before I am happy. I have found that I probably won't need the lights... the last photo was taken without the lights on, and I think it looks better, and you can still see into it easily. I'll leave the light attached and use it when/if needed. I will attach the filter this week, planning to have outlet on left hand side and inlet on right hand side... get a bit of flow going from left to right. So any thoughts/comments from you guys about possible rock placements and the tank in general would be cool.... otherwise, watch this space for the next update. Cheers

Nice tank :thup: I like the piece of wood up the back in particular. Where'd you get the chiller from? I am starting to look at them and they are pretty pricey!

Only update since the last at this stage was I head into the bush found some recently fallen tea tree branches which I hacked up and bought home.... so have peeled some of the bark off and have it soaking. The weekend is pretty much upon us, I am hoping to get the gravel, wood and stones in and have the filter set up and going by the end of the weekend... so hopefully I have a nice update for all on Monday with photos of the set up etc. Then in the next week or two after that I can go capture the occupant. Watch this space! :spop:

Sheesh... you have a busy boy there! What are you going to do when you end up with a couple of dozen happy healthy bullies? Is it a man cave if there is no tools or entertainment? I can't see the tool racks or TV screens in the photos :rotf:

That would be the simplest solution

I wandered into Mitre10 Mega yesterday and managed to locate a decent size bag of gravel. It is a larger grade than anything i've used before (8-14mm grade) and from what I can gather it has come from the Oreti River in Southland. So i'll use that and see if I like the look. Hah... I had more than a sneaking suspicion you might support me in that idea, I wonder why? :slfg: I must admit when I first saw it I wondered what the heck was going on in the head of the designers... but then I saw the bullies and how much they seemed to be enjoying swimming and "jumping" up, down and through the set up, and how visible they were to observers because of it... I ended up standing there for quite some time watching them in action and I left convinced that it is a good set up, so it was worth the nightmare effort you had to set it up

So, while I was in Taupo I found some nice rocks and bits and pieces to go into the tank, didn't really have time or tools to hunt down gravel while there, so I think I'll just head to the LFS this payday and buy a bag of gravel, then I can get the tank set up and filter running this weekend! I will see how we go in terms of the suggestions above putting Bullies in there as well, it isn't a massive tank, so I was thinking of leaving it at a really low stocking level to minimise potential issues. I could always keep a couple of bullies in this tank with Koura while they are small, and as the cray grows up, move them into the bigger cray complexs I have planned... hmmmm things to think about and consider :cofn: The other long term thing I have been thinking about is actually getting rid of the south american fish in my tropical tank, attaching a chiller to it and going native on that tank as well. :smot: National Trout Centre visit Got back from holiday last night... had a nice relaxed time... went for a visit to the national trout centre just outside Turangi... the Native Aquaria there are fantastic! I would highly recommend it to anyone going through that way. Thank you Stella for recommending it! Several big tanks full of all sorts of fish, plus a stream with perspex sides which runs down the middle of the room, torrent fish and bullies playing around in there. Information sheet that is supplied is really good as well and includes "bad fish" as well which is handy to know what is good and what isn't. I liked the bullies tank the most, there were several out and about and climbing up and down the rocks that they had set up for them. No photos I'm afraid, the camera was left on the bed back at base :facepalm:

As said above, some brilliant photos of the new additions! I guess this is why they throw so many eggs out, better chance of some of them surviving... safety in numbers and all that jazz. Good luck with the survivors feeding and getting them bigger! Thanks for updates

Bit of an update on how the weekend went Painted the back of the tank black: Cabinet constructed and good to go: Light installed and working well, it is a LEO LED light, there are three options, first is only white LEDs on, second is only blue LEDs on, and third is all LEDs on... you can see the difference in the photos below: You may notice the tank is empty... that is because when I went out to get some gravel and stuff I hit a bit of a stumbling block.... the "gravel" in the local streams closest to me aren't stone, they are all weathered clay and sandstone. So I need to go to some other streams to see what they have. If no luck then I'll just head to the LFS and pick some bits and pieces up. So that's the progress thus far... pretty much ready to go, just need to attach pipes to filter, get some gravel, rocks and wood and then will be good to go. Next update will be early next week, as I'm heading off on holiday tomorrow. :happy1: Who knows.... maybe I pinch some gravel from Taupo region while I'm down there haha. Cheers.

Soon to be a proud father of a bunch of fry huh blue? Good luck!

Yup, got all my temp control techniques sorted, I have done some testing of the different areas of the house and the spot it is going into doesn't heat up at all over the day and the tank water temp doesn't fluctuate much at all... I also have the mesh lid set up which will help a lot. Yeah I did some searching on growth rates and stuff :smln: Found some information on a commercial growers website on the sizes they are getting over time. http://www.clearwatercrayfish.co.nz/koura.html they reckon they are getting to 15cm or so over a three year period... that is with them going hard out trying to get them to grow fast... so I figure if I get a little one I have a few years up my sleeve. Agression wise I won't have a problem cos the Koura will be by itself, size wise I have longer term plans to move said cray into bigger tank when needed. I have been thinking about the ideal tank for a decent size cray and was actually thinking a good size turtle tank might be an idea due to crays liking a large tank footprint. You could set up a cave complex under the basking part... and on top of it... plus turtle tanks tend to have bigger footprints than your standard tanks... so you could set up a really cool multi level place for crays to hang out in... thats my thoughts at this stage anyhow Bring on the weekend! I'll get photos of my progress up in the next few days with an update Cheers

I guess all our suspicions have been confirmed then... it's a Giant. Looks like you might need to be setting up another tank later down the track Blueether... or else the Giant will just nom everything else. And Stella... it is awesome how you can explain the patterns on a fish using text characters |..||.|.||.. Nice work.

After a few months of me talking about it... it is finally happening... I'm setting up the 60L tank for a Koura occupant. I have been doing research and planning into how this is all going to work (mainly using Stella's book and various internet sources), working out a good location for the tank and procrastinating about tidying up the spare room where I am going to put it. I finally got off my backside last weekend and there is now a tidy room with a spot for the tank stand. So the set up will be: 60L Tank - I have recently painted the back of the tank black, and it is ready to go Aqua one CF500 external filter - Not 100% necessary in a Koura tank but I figure the flow it gives provides a more natural living environment within the abode LED lights, only going to be a low light level to help replicate the shady forest stream that they reside in, and I have found that a few LEDs shining into the tank is much easier to get right rather than a full tube set up. Mesh lid, (similar to the ones on the exo terra set ups) this will help with temp control as it will expose the surface to the air, while also being small enough to keep the occupant contained... no Prison Break: Koura Edition in my house! :thup: I am thinking I will have a bed of gravel, built up towards left end where the filter output is, and then will set up a bunch of rocks in random configuration using tips from Stella's book to get the natural look. I am thinking of having the wood set up so it is towards the right end of the tank... I will have a play and see what looks good. I've got the tank, filter, and a stand. The stand will be built this weekend, I will be raiding a local stream in the next few days for some gravel, rocks and wood. The LED light I will buy from Hollywood fish farm, they have a nice small unit at the moment that has blue and normal LEDs on it, you can turn the different colours on independently or at same time, I figure this will be pretty cool for getting different looks in the tank. So, it is all underway... further progress updates and photos will be forthcoming in the near future. Cheers! :happy1:

Agree with comments above, awesome photos, tanks and fish. Thanks for sharing! :thup:

I felt like I played the game with the boys... was all over my lounge room at various points of the game... if we had those nerves imagine what the players had! Jealous!