willyp123

Dam you ! Now I have to do this to my tank. my Mrs is gona be mad at you haha
Looks cool nice work

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I hope you don't keep naturally free-swimming fish in tanks then  (where's my hole-digging emoticon???)

I don't hate cats, I just don't like what other peoples cats leave on my garden of fresh vegetables eaten raw. These roaming cats prevent me from allowing my pets to have a free roam confined to my back yard. Cats should not be allowed to roam freely anymore than dogs should. I don't like eating trout or salmon and I have as much desire to torture them on the end of a fishing line as I do to torture a rabbit or a seagull. Each to their own.

As you mature you will come to realise not to make a judgement until you know all the facts.
Someone fishing on a boat caught the young hammerhead on a boat and stuck it in their live bait tank but forgot to turn the pump on y the time they got back it was on its last legs, I tried to resurrect it but it was a no go.
i have the ability to build bigger tanks as my fish grow and when they get too big then they can be transported to somewhere like kelly tarltons, though i would probably send it to Napier Aquarium instead.
Or just build my own Aquarium

Honestly - it could be anything, i suspect the blue colour isn't directly coded for by a gene, but instead by a lack of ability to break down certain proteins causing the expression of a blue pigment (see: http://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/5656/V71N06_363.pdf?sequence=1 ). It may also be an environmental thing, as i've mentioned before the blue colour morphs are more common in deep lakes due to the light penetration meaning that blue crayfish can camouflage better in deeper environments. If it moults and doesn't produce a new blue exoskeleton then it is like an environmental factor influencing, while if it continues to produce a blue exoskeleton it may be genetic. 
The australian freshwater crayfish has a blue morph which is autosomal recessive (recessive gene on a non-sex chromosome) - this follows a mendellian ratio (3:1) if we assume normal inheritance and ignore possibilities of incomplete or co-dominant genes. Yet some studies attribute the coluration to diet and environmental cues.
- http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1651/0278-0372(2000)020[0025%3AEFTIOA]2.0.CO%3B2
In other words, we don't know enough about it yet, so if someone can breed it successfully i'll be bloody impressed.
 

Honestly - it could be anything, i suspect the blue colour isn't directly coded for by a gene, but instead by a lack of ability to break down certain proteins causing the expression of a blue pigment (see: http://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/5656/V71N06_363.pdf?sequence=1 ). It may also be an environmental thing, as i've mentioned before the blue colour morphs are more common in deep lakes due to the light penetration meaning that blue crayfish can camouflage better in deeper environments. If it moults and doesn't produce a new blue exoskeleton then it is like an environmental factor influencing, while if it continues to produce a blue exoskeleton it may be genetic. 
The australian freshwater crayfish has a blue morph which is autosomal recessive (recessive gene on a non-sex chromosome) - this follows a mendellian ratio (3:1) if we assume normal inheritance and ignore possibilities of incomplete or co-dominant genes. Yet some studies attribute the coluration to diet and environmental cues.
- http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1651/0278-0372(2000)020[0025%3AEFTIOA]2.0.CO%3B2
In other words, we don't know enough about it yet, so if someone can breed it successfully i'll be bloody impressed.