Galaxiid

I had one that routinely had blue armpits. Maybe I should get myself one of these

The eel has grown since the video! He's around 40 cm now and so active that sometimes when he's impatient for food he actually climbs out of the tank at me (no proper lid at the moment). It's a pain in the butt as if I don't catch him before he's more than halfway out he ends up on the floor. :facepalm: I'm sure you can imagine what you get when an animal that produces a lot of slime when frightened comes in contact with a difficult to properly vacuum, waffle weave carpet. It is rather difficult to rinse fluff off an eel. :lol: Mine used to be rather shy too, but I think because the tank is no longer in a corner out of the way and that I study next to it has made him accustomed to people moving about and even the odd bump.

Ah but people go crazy over diamonds. Which start off small, drab, colourless and difficult to find

Lucky devils. Hunting out a spotlight on the net as we speak

The first is the second! There was a bit of colour changing there on the part of the fish.

Wow, I'm feeling really rather welcome it is really great to see that there are a bunch of people interested in natives too, nobody I have talked to anywhere seem to have any interest.

Got the photos working, click the thumbnail to get the photo. Stream where I kept seeing the kokopu and used to hand feed some large eels. I miss this place so much now I love in the wilds of concrete jungle. Bad photo but obviously a shortie . Yeah it's in a tank, as soon as I figured out what I had it went straight back. In the bucket just before release. One of the other inhabitants, over a meter long. Used to feed this eel by hand every so often. It rather liked being rubbed and it became so used to me I actually lifted it out of the water once and it didn't mind a bit. They are so very soft. :love:

It is so good to see all those great big shortjaws! Seeing these photos makes me keen to go collecting bullies again, or even just to spotlight .

blueether: I knew of 3 individuals. Two were large (20cm+), the larger of the two was closer to 25cm, that is the fish in the Youtube clip and in the photos. The other was smaller around 15cm or so. The larger fish were quieter while the smaller one was rather nervous. Stella: Thanks for the PM, I'll have to flick them an email. I was working on a map and on dates and specific locations of the sightings. Plus the photos. crazy4crays: I don't think I have any spare, sorry Youtube clip of Shortjaw Kokopu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArY02SJ_sQA I tried posting the pictures but I kept getting an error message :facepalm:

I am looking for someone who is interested in Shortjaw Kokopu populations. I have contacted DoC about a small population I have found in Mangawhai. As far as I can tell they are not "supposed" to be living there. The really interesting thing about them is that the river system that they are in doesn't run to the east coast but instead runs into the Kaipara harbour. DoC unfortunately never got back to me about it and this was more than a year ago. I must admit I am a little worried about them as they don't live in a river system that is really Shortjaw friendly, as it runs through open farmland and the local council has seen fit to irrigate a farm with sewage from Mangawhai, the run off from which goes straight into this same system. If anyone has any ideas of who I could get in contact with so they can get surveyed or something can you post something here? I also have pictures if anyone is interested. I am really sure that they are in fact Shortjaw Kokopu.

My fish keeping adventures started when I was quite small and I got a tank with goldfish for Christmas. I had them for years. I have always liked to watch animals of all types and the tank soon became home to native fishes and other freshwater critters caught from a creek down in the back paddock on my dad's farm. Now I live on the North Shore and I am currently studying at Auckland University. I have a number of tanks now ('cos you can't stop at one amiright?), though only 2 are up and running. One 200L, housing a Long-finned Eel (who due to it's companion eating tendencies is all alone) with fresh-water shrimp and mussels (things that cannot be eaten). And a 40L with 5 Inanga and yet more shrimp. These are going to be expanded soon when I head back up north to the folks'. I want to collect a couple of Bullies of different species and some of the invertebrates. I'm also looking to add a tropical set up at some point with some South American species and perhaps another with mbuna cichlids. I am also tempted to create a native salt-water set up based on rock-pool species. So yeah colour me obsessed I'm looking forward to being able to talk to other fish people, the original attract to this site was because of a nasty white spot infestation (something I have never had happen before) but we managed to beat it, and nobody died! The eel in action before the killing started and everyone were friends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp54JGdH8ZM