Mikey

Bit of an update. I have now identified both Koura as being males, and my wife has decided to name them :facepalm: She has named the big one Hone Te Koura because when we first got him he would "chop" out all the gravel holding down the big piece of wood so it started floating. The little one has been named Billy T Cray, it is easy to identify Billy T Cray because he is always running around with his black singlet and yellow towel thrown over his shoulder cracking jokes. :rotf: I must admit, I like the names for various reasons I was doing a water change the other day and they both came charging out to see what was going on, Hone decided to attack the siphon which provided much entertainment to my 16 month old daughter who was watching daddy trying to gravel vac with a determined cray attached!! I'm not happy with the lay out of the tank, I see other peoples tanks, and display tanks at public places and know mine can look better, all I have is a random pile of rocks and a couple of bits of wood... so I'm currently working through some ideas on making the tank look better, and also be better for the inhabitants (present and future). I have been out a couple of times to the local streams to see what is around, and definatley looks like I only have a choice of common bullies, shrimp and banded kokopu that could inhabit or possibly be ok in the tank. bearing in mind commons get a bit bigger than redfins etc, would I be ok with two common bullies? or would I have to limit to one?

Cool vid... bees didnt stand a chance What's with the random goldfish?

Looks like the giegameter from Ghostbusters Nice find!

So far so good... Looking forward to seeing the tank as you start filling it with flora and fauna. You going to be using any driftwood in there?

Nice looking tank and really cool layout with that driftwood.... nice work cuzzie. Has the big girl released the young ones yet?

Absolutley awesome! I just spent a good chunk of time just staring at these photos... hate to imagine how long I'd sit in front of the real thing! :nfs:

That is choice! Thanks for sharing!

Tank is sitting at 21 degrees or so at the hottest part of the day without cooling... the crays don't seem to notice. Apart from that it normally hovers under 20 degrees (18-19)... I am looking at a chiller though, bit easier than worrying about bottles/water changes and fans and stuff. Means that when I start upping the stocking level on the tank temp wont be an issue. The big cray was up on his manuka trunk again the other day trying to get a moth that had landed on the surface... so I got some tweezers and pushed said moth under water to the cray... he grabbed the tweezers with Chelae and ripped the moth out and start munching it down then hungirly looking at the surface. I then proceeded to spend the next hour knocking out the numerous flies that are out and about at the moment and feeding them to the crays with the tweezers... Cockroaches, earth worms, flies, moths have all gone in on the end of tweezers and ended up in the mouths of hungry crays. So it seems I have a pest disposal unit in my house again... havent had one since my last frog died. Whenever the crays see me approach with tweezers they come running out and try jumping up the glass to hurry me up. Cheers.

Heh, nice one. What were you feeding them?

I was thinking the same thing.... chunk of tail gone, and no trace in enclosure...

There would be discussions in team meetings about what fish people want in the tanks

Um yeah.... about the lack of moulting pics... you can blame the ladies at my house for that Daughter was doing something very awesome and cute, so my wife decided to take a movie of it... using our digital camera.... 15 mins later she had drained the batteries... but she didn't recharge them, and we had no other AAs in the house so when I saw said cray moulting I went and got camera, pushed the power button and... zilch, nada, zero activity. :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: I now have a spare set of AA batteries sitting at home in case something like this happens again. Have you never seen one moult Stella? Hopefully I get to see it do it again some time.... the big cray was lying out in the open when he did the first one, so I'm guessing he might do that again.... I'll stay frosty and share pics/video if I can get it. Update on the tank, didn't get to go out after hockey last night to get Bullies/Shrimp... ended up playing extra games so didn't get home till late. Ah well... the weekend is fast approaching!

Sounds like fun Stella! :thup: Ditto to most of the posts above, there is a spot on up our driveway that you would be able to park up on, and last I checked the amenities were all still working. Even have a spare room with a bed in it if you need a sleep in a proper room for a change Good luck on your travels... we expect updates :sage:

Hi, and welcome to the Native house

Been a couple of weeks, so here is an update on the tank: The two Koura are settling in very well. They have been eating pretty much everything I throw in there... Mysis Shrimp, bloodworms, peas, courgette, JBL novo tabs, ox kidney, trout pellets, so getting them to eat hasn't been a problem... next thing on the menu is earthworms... so we will see how they like that. Both have moulted over the past few days and have re-eaten their shed shells, so they seem to growing and doing everything right, I freaked out a little bit the first time I saw it happening... came out Saturday morning and found the big koura lying on its side with funny colouration, twitching... upon closer inspection I saw it was working its way out of the old shell... so I sat and watched... pretty fascinating to watch it work its way out! The little one stays hidden a lot more than the big one... the big one is out and about and visible most of the time... seems to like climbing the wood and picking bits and pieces off it and nibbling on it (photo below). I suspect the little one is hiding from the bigger one.... although they were both out and about yesterday during water change... the little one landed piggy back styles on the big one and it was amusing to watch the reactions of both of them once they realised what was going on... they flicked away, the big one landed on the gravel vac and proceed to try cling on for dear life. They are most interesting aquarium inhabitants, and I am very pleased with how it is going, here are some photos: The little one going rock climbing: The little one close up, so you can see carapace pattern: Big one up the branch on the right hand side: And the two of them together.... the big one isn't that much bigger, but this photo makes him look a lot bigger due to the fact he is front and little guy is further back: Tonight after hockey I'm heading out to try get some Bullies and shrimp... as I know they are locally available. I haven't been able to find anything other than banded kokopu in terms of galaxids in the local streams, but there are a few more I can visit. So probably be an update of the hunt tomorrow Cheers.

Oh yes... still a big part of society today.... if you don't drink people look at you strange and start trying on the peer pressure. Good on you Josh and Sam... welcome to the "weirdo" club of people that can enjoy life without getting hungover

Imagine rolling out of bed in the morning, all groggy and going to put your shoes and socks on and finding that in there :rotf: Don't you mean wing lizard?

I liked the bully at about 2 mins that starts darting in front of the big Koura..... messing with him... and was it me or did the little blue Koura on the right seem to be going after another bully? :nfs: Thanks for sharing.... I have tank envy right at the moment.... looks great and you have some awesome occupants Looks like occupants are all used to being out and about during the day too. :thup:

Need to up the flow... Torrent fish obviously isn't working hard enough in the current flow and is putting on beef :rotf:

Thanks for update. You have a good little eco system going on there... Seems the Koura are doing really good as well :happy2:

I am very impressed with the range of skills on this forum

NZ Native keepers need to work to keep their tanks cool. Common Options: a) Get a chiller... would it be weird to have a chiller on a tropical tank b) Air con the room to appropriate temp (expensive as you have found) c) take lids off and point fan at water surface d) insulate sides and back of tank with poly to restrict heat transfer. e) freeze water in plastic bottles and float in tank during hot times. There are pros and cons to all of these options... some works best in combination, i.e. insulate sides and put in water bottles. Although I don't know how accurate the water bottle idea would be for a tropical tank... you still want it warm, just not steaming hot... whereas with NZ natives we are look at staying under 18 degrees or so. Hope you suss it out Cheers.

Heh fair call... you did well enough for a relative newbie to correctly identify it though... so can't be all bad. Interesting that it was so close to trout... seems you have a good population of giants down there which is encouraging! Thanks for sharing Oh.... and well done on catching it in the first place!

Looks busy Will be good to see this when the plants get a bit bigger. One suggestion from me would be to dig/bury the airstones into the gravel... you will still get the bubbles, but you hide the bright blue stone from sight. I did this on my tank and it added to the "natural" look of the tank. Thanks for sharing.

Heh.... I jumped into this expecting to see a thread with pics of fish to identify... Not hard to post images, just link to another host.... and I have no issues with extra security measures meaning we get hacked/ spammed less etc... getting hacked less suits me fine because then they can't get the personal information that is actually stored in peoples profiles etc. Personally I find it quite easy to push the shift key to get a capital letter in my password, and the number pad is just as easy to push. :slfg: :rotf: