M@.

a life threatening waste of energy! the SA females often eat the males after mating (NZ ones don't)

Supprisingly no! its not for lack of trying on the koura's part (he cracks me up!) had three shrimp in the old 20L tank for three months, and he didnt manage to catch any. Hard for me to keep track of numbers in this new tank, but think they are all still there :thup:

Thanks guys! yea I wasn't too happy with the layout till I got the ponga in there. will probably move it all around before too long, but need to at least pretend to focus on work for the next while :rolfl:

Hi guys! figured it was time to sort out some images so hopefuly this works! all just taken with my phone, so not fantastic quality sorry! so this is the old tank (only good photo I have, got the diatoms under control and the snails got put in as a koura snack just before the photo :oops: ) and here is the new tank! (900x400x400) so stocking is: 1x Banded Kokopu, 1x Inanga, 1x Koura, 3x redfin bullies (1m, 2f) and maybe 15 shrimp managed to get most of the occupants in one pic Male redfin bully. Love his colours! and the view from my seat! (a bit glarey) one more of the male and an old older one of the koura Let me know what you guys think! Thinking I should probably try and get another Inanga for the one to school with, but he seems pretty content by himself? (wasn't trying to catch one, but he swam into my bucket as I was filling it with water to transport the other new additions!)

I was looking at these ones the other day http://www.airpumps.co.nz/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4 all except one below the $500 mark (including three Resun ones) think they are all for smaller tanks than the one on trademe is capable of though. anyone know what the Hailea ones are like?

So... leaving the water to stand isn't really a good thing / doesnt work? If you just put it in straight I guess it would over time anyway though? in that case what is the best way to treat your water if you have inverts (shrimp and koura) when they are supposedly adverse to dechlorinators?

Chlorine is supposedly very unstable in water, so for my natives I leave the water I am going to use in a bucket for a day or two. no problems so far! you can keep common and red fins together, will let someone else speculate on numbers, but I would say 3-4 in a tank that size wouldn't be a problem I personaly would lean towards getting the Inanga as whitebait, so they settle in better, less envirionmental impact etc

Sorry, need to stop the passing comment thing :smot: feel like I might get told off for thread jacking soon Research! http://www.shine7.com/aquarium/chiller.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect Ill admit, I had to look it up range from $8.50 - $35 on TradeMe

Now thats an interesting idea, anyone tried this before?

cool, didnt know about the FB page

pretty crappy situation, doubt we would have any here http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/news/male-seeking-female-must-want-kids,1079,NS.html

Just found this thread: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=49251 some good food for thought. I could adjust my water flow to accommodate the banded as well, but have a pretty dodgy lid at the moment and want to see how my temperature pans out with my tank in a new location. Might look at them in the future, but at the moment Im really after some red fins! :bounce:

No I hadn't, but now I have! (was that the link you meant to post?)

Just did a google search, there is quite a few species of bully in the lake, including Redfin and Blue Gilled :oops: havent figured out how to post images, but would be interested to know if you think thats what they are, or if they are something different Edit: Just realized I was looking at a management plan for Te Urewera National Park, rather than just the lake!

What kind of colours? would have thought they would be bullies of some sort... Being a lake they probably wont be Red Fin bulies though, which are probably the only ones that could be described as colourful

Should go for a spotlight! I find thats the easiest way to find out whats hanging around. Let me know what you find! Totaly fair enough! my Grandma's batch is in a similar situation with people from a camp using it as an accesway to the beach (when there is plenty of legitimate options around) I heard a horrendous story of 100 year old 'tame' eels being killed with a nail gun somewhere up north a few years ago

Wow, supprising about the Koura! Every muddy tricle of water I have poked my nose into seems to have heaps of koura in it... What is up stream of your property? Cool about the eels, I used to feed some where my parents used to live, took a while for them to figure out where the food was comming from :gigl: They were in Waipapa stream near Red Rocks, so it has a fairly healthy catchment, if a bit bare. I didn't collect anything but assume you would be able to as it isn't DOC land, etc. Also, after reading through the sticky on this forum, it sounds as though you would be able to get the adults at any time of year?

I had a look in a nearby stream on the weekend and found it was full of Koaro! very exciting for me as I hadnt seen them before, and they look so cool! Has anyone kept them before? Would they need a riffle aquarium or spend most of their time hiding? (the ones I caught were all hiding under rocks in quick flow areas, although I did see something bigger swimming in a pool) Also, I have one banded kokopu at the moment, I guess they wouldn't realy be compatable as they have quite different environments. Has anyone kept them together before? lastly, I assume I am correct in thinking that you can only take galaxiids (any age) during whitebait season?

Yea, I had a look elsewhere on the net, and a few people seem to have the same problem. Was only a veeery slow leak though, so the Vaseline sorted it

Hi Based on your location, I think someone has told me about your tank :dnc1: they were very impressed! I’m a bit of a rookie, my plant knowledge extends to bunging them in and seeing what happens. Tends to work our most of the time though! For native plants, I have some Glossostigma - it isn’t doing very well in the tank it is in (think the substrate is a bit too coarse) but does really well in my pond (probably due to better light and sand substrate). Another native I have is Riccia http://www.fnzas.org.nz/?page_id=2379&PID=RF1&EM=1 It grows really well if it has enough light, but needs to be tied down if you want it as something other than a floating mat, as it has no roots One thing I will say is with Koura - be prepared for frustration and re-planting! My one loves digging them up and nibbling on them. Try tying them to rocks/driftwood, or wedging them between a couple of rocks that are too big for them to move.

Thought my work might have 'food Lube' They didn't, but got some vasaline from the dairy instead. Fingers crossed, but seems to be working! Thanks heaps for the replies!

true? I was thinking being petroleum based it would be a bit risky for the fishies?

good idea, I was thinking vasaline might work but didnt think that would be a smart move. Did that sort it out? where did you get it from?

Hi Guys, I am setting up a new tank with a used 405. Filled the tank up yesterday and left it running over night, this morning there is about 3-5 litres not in the tank! (luckily I have the filter sitting in a 60L container incase something like this happend) It looks as though it is the main seal round the top of the canister that is leaking, rather than the hoses. Is there anything I can do to easily try and sort this out? (like maybe thread tape or something?)