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What native fish are legal to keep?


HaNs

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noxious fish are koi and rudd (in the Auckland-Waikato area rudd are legally sportfish; in the rest of NZ they are noxious), as well as piranha, pike, Tilapia and Clarias (walking catfish). Obviously only the first two are already found in NZ waters.

Fish classed as unwanted organisms are Gambusia as well as koi and pike (the latter two therefore qualify as unwanted AND noxious). I'm not entirely sure why the fine is greater for unwanted than for noxious species. However "unwanted" is a label, it is not meant to imply that noxious fish are any less 'unwanted' !

The brown bullhead catfish is currently lacking in legal status (it is not noxious or unwanted in a legal sense, so it is allowable to keep them in your aquarium, although I doubt DoC would like it much).

I think the matter of the mudfish resulted from the mudfish thread in Oddballs where various people (me included) were arguing that as they are so endangered people should not be catching them for their aquariums.

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Regarding mudfish, from what I have been able to gather from DoC there are no individually protected native fish outside of the details I posted above.

Mudfish are an interesting case. They are often presumed to be more rare than they actually are, due to being harder to catch or something. In certain areas they are very populous, in other areas they are severely threatened or locally extinct. They live in wetlands, which are very threatened overall.

With collecting them from the wild, you *can* but it may not be ethical or legal. Ethical where they are locally rare or threatened, and legal if their habitat is protected. A lot of the wetlands they are found in decent numbers are protected, therefore illegal to take anything from them.

Personally, for my book on keeping native fish, I have chosen not to include mudfish, due to the above considerations.

As to keeping them in aquaria, apparently they do make good inhabitants, but their requirements are quite different to other natives, and, apart from a couple of bully species, they really have their own little habitat niche to themselves (thus single-species aquarium).

As a side note, I do not know a lot about them and may be barking up the wrong tree with something above, but due to not knowing, I suggest leaving them alone.

But the *very exciting* part is I have been asked by some people at massey to breed brown mudfish for a translocation/restoration project (part of someone's masters thesis), all costs covered!!!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

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But the *very exciting* part is I have been asked by some people at massey to breed brown mudfish for a translocation/restoration project (part of someone's masters thesis), all costs covered!!!!

Thats cool! Are you going to or have you started?

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not yet, still trying to find out the details, I hardly know anything about the project. Need to pester them more.... ;)

Realised a way I could fit another tank in, hopefully will be able to get some so I can get used to what they need.

Stella

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  • 17 years later...

I am thinking of creating a pond/waterfall/stream ecosystem and would love to include native fish rather than goldfish or alongside if possible. Has anyone got any ideas about what I would need to do?

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Hiding places and shade are the most important.

Cold, clean, well oxygenated water is more important for the native fish than goldfish. Research different options for aerating ponds to help mitigate issues with heat and lower dissolved oxygen over summer.

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