InsaneDevice

Thanks for the reply. Yep sold as blues. I am just wanting to be sure, there is bit of confusion between the two . With the water temp at around 26 my hengeli don't seem to enjoy it as much. Was going to move the rams into a larger tank once they matured a bit. But if the current fish don't enjoy the higher temp, then I will set up and cycle the new tank asap and find some other tankmates who like the higher temp

Is anyone able to ID these rams for me? I know they are either Bolivian or Blue, but given the difference in preferred conditions I would love to know for sure. They are juveniles, with smaller of the 2 being just over 1" The pictures are poor I know, cannot seem to focus on the fish . I will attempt to get better photos throughout the day. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the replies, Yeh I've checked out that page a lot, along with pretty much every other forum thread that Stella has contributed to. There's a lot of awesome info out there but it's just stuff that's region specific that is hard to come buy. I have been toying with the idea of collecting the less established fish in the region from other areas where their stocks are much healthier, not strictly a regional biotype though... In regard to the no releasing after catching, do you mean that if I net a fish to photo and ID it, that I then cannot put it back in the waterway even if I have not handled it? I will be using a catch and release specific net. I have seen threads on spotlighting here where photos show the fish in someone's hand, I assume it is then being released after that. I will make a point of researching the legalities more as I am definitely going to be doing everything by the book. And cheers binu, definitely excited to see what I can find around Okataina

Hi all New face here so go easy :bggrn: After setting up my second tropical tank I have become mildly obsessed with the idea of setting up a native tank. My plan is to do a biotype of the Rotorua area, but I have found that information on species and populations present in the area pretty slim. I have been out for a couple of spotlighting missions in local streams with low/no trout populations but have been unable to identify any of the fish I have seen (my stalking and netting game is severly lacking). I am a while away from even beginning to set up the tank, as I really want to ascertain what species are in the area with a healthy population. The only thing I have on the definate list is Koura, I will be taking these from Lake Tarawera (with Iwi consent of course). I suspect I have seen Banded Kokopu in the Puarenga Stream, but I know it is unlikely that I will be keeping these as I gather they do not have vey established population in the region. I will keep exploring streams in the area and hopefully get some positive ID's So this is where I hope you guys can help I would love to hear from anyone who has explored the area, or knows what species would be ethical to capture and keep in an aquarium. My next plan is to head out to lake Okataina and explore some of the tributaries. I will be taking photos if I manage to catch anything and will post them up here if anyone is interested. Long winded post but any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Shaun.