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Wild tropical Fish in NZ?


paul_r

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Does anyone know any places in NZ where tropical fish have been released and there are populations? I am curious as myself and a group of friends that are all into fish are looking for something different to do one weekend, have been on many fishing trips such as for snapper/trout etc and now that we all have fish tank(s) was wondering if we could catch any of the smaller varieties to put in our tanks.

We are not after any NZ native species, wouldnt want to destroy their populations any more. Have heard there are mollies down the bottom of lake Taupo somewhere, have also heard rumours of fish in a small area of water at the back of awakeri hot pools. However i am not sure how true that is.

Can anyone confirm of any fish anywhere that are able to be caught?

(am not in any way saying releasing pet fish into NZ waterways is a good idea, we are just after a bit of fun one weekend)

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I think that the only ones left are the mollies at Tokanuu. Went their earlier this year with some others from here and we caught some. Awesome fun. Mine adapted to their new tank well. the mud is very hot underneath so you need to wear shoes otherwise you get burnt in some places (i know i did, silly me only wore socks!) and you get very muddy, but other than that is great fun and i fully reccomend you go there!

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I think i saw a post on here with a pic, they looked pretty neat for wild fish. Ive just had a look on google and found where tokaanu is, would you be able to give me directions to get to the place where the mollies are?

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Thanks very much for that, i have found the exact location. Will be heading down there in 2 weeks if all goes to plan. Cheers for the info.

Any special tactics for catching them, im not sure of the name of them but would the "butterfly" nets be okay, or would something a bit more complex be required?

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i was trying to find a map that Wok posted a little while back and it had the exact location marked on it but then had a dinner break so davidb bet me too it :lol:

I just took a butterfly net (about 10-15cm diameter sorta thing) and it caught them fine. Every scoop you get 1 part Molly, 99 parts Mud so its a mission to seperate them lol

Take spare clothes, buckets, Nets, and Bags... oh and old shoes and Socks to wear in the mud.... trust me, you need them!

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i wouldnt mind doing a road trip to catch some of these to. i like doing those sort of things. paul_r maybe we could met up and do it as a team we might have more luck at catching a couple. pm me if your interested

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The Mollies are on private land and any locals have no claim whatsoever on the fish. You are supposed to ask permission from the owners but one lives in Australia and the other in Rotorua so it's a bit hard getting hold of them. Last time I tried to get permission they never got back to me...

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