willyp123

Hey guys, So im shutting down my native tank - just dont have the time to run it anymore and kinda lost interest in keeping a big tank. Whilst im keeping all my gear so that I can get back into in the future - i need to get rid of all my inanga (30-40). If anyone wants them - let me know. Cheers

You're welcome to use some inanga of mine and my redfin bullies for photos, planning on getting some more bullies and smelt as well so you could grab some from me at some point too. There's a couple of good streams nearby as well which im happy to trap/net/spotlight with you if you're keen or loan you the use of my equipment.

Cheers mate, i'm still debating on what more to do with it

For some reason I can't see the native fish section unless i'm logged in - not sure if this is intentional or not

Not sure, probably 40ish

Hoping to get some smelt in there too, substrate is a mix of coffee and black grit from stone and water world. And maybe later

Hi Guys, A couple of months ago I started working on my new native tank. I bought a secondhand tank on trademe - which turned out to be junk and the only half decent thing was the stand (the silicon state was terrible and lied to about on trademe, the top brace was cracked). So I got a new tank built by Tanks2U and then ordered some new aquarium lights online. The tank is 1220 long, 450 deep, 600 high. It's about 330L. I was fortunate enough to go up north to see Kiwiraka a while ago and managed to grab some awesome aquarium rocks, found a piece of driftwood at the beach and got some nice gravel as well. I've been wanting to use a 3D background for a longtime and I finally decided to make one out of polystyrene and tile grout (thanks Shilo). It took me about a month to fully make it. I used a big sheet of insulation polystyrene and took a heatgun (though a hair dryer works too) and shaped it. My first attempt used a wirebrush but the heatgun gave it a more consistent surface and was nicer and tidier. I attempted to use a cement first to cover it though it didn't adhere well to the polystyrene. When Shilo came up to grab my giant kokopus he gave me a couple of pointers on making it - this was to use tile grout. I tried it out, and it worked incredibly well. I plastic sealed it with a spray on enamel coat though if the grout cures for long enough this isn't necessary. Due to the shape of the tank I had to cut it into 4 pieces and then siliconed it into the tank. I waited a few weeks before introduced some fish. When I did this I used a pre-cycled filter from another tank and introduced about 40-50 inanga from Mahurangi Tech and 2 redfin bullies myself and kiwiraka caught. I also wanted to have a planted tank with the driftwood covered in moss. So I got java moss from a friend introduced that alongside some fissidens from kiwiraka. So far it's looking really good and i'm pretty happy with it. I'm planning on getting a crayfish and some more bullies for it. Will upload some more photo's later today, just cleaned it so it's a bit murky.

This is normal, once they grow to a certain size they begin to shed only once a year or so, so this is pretty normal.

If the bullies are big they'll be fine, all the ones I had <5cm got eaten though, so maybe its just the bullies or a particularly aggressive giant? Not sure

There's the problem, strays are often the worst for the environment as they have grown up eating native animals to survive.

So don't get a cat then, cats have been proven to be incredibly detrimental to our native wildlife, I used to have a cat - he had bells and they made no difference. Either your cat is stupid or incredibly smart. I doubt your cat only catches insects, you probably just don't see everything it catches.

I hate to agree with you, but you're right, i'm to cynical to believe this sort of thing will accomplish much. Don't get me wrong, I signed it and completely support it - but the future of our native fish is about more than just whitebaiting.

That's irrelevant to my point, also livingart said he was gonna get a new and bigger tank earlier on in the thread - so likely would have been able to house the hammerhead. But i'm simply pointing our that there's no need to be rude to each other. We're all fishkeepers, some have more experience, some don't - but we're all still learning and we should remember that.

Can we not having this pissing match and just appreciate a tank? And if you disagree with something at least phrase it in such a way that it comes off as a question or comment rather than a criticism.