Stella Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 For the first time my fish spawned! My upland bullies. They do readily spawn in aquaria, but this is the first time for me. A bit of background, bullies (nz natives) spawn in spring and summer. The males defend a little 'nest', usually the underside of a rock, he goes very dark-coloured and tries to get females to spawn there with him. Spawning takes many hours as the eggs are laid carefully on the ceiling of the nest. He may look after the eggs of several females in his one nest. The female then leaves and the males protects them from intruders and fans them to oxygenate and prevent sediment buildup. When the eggs hatch he has nothing more to do with them. The fry of some species go to sea for six months, others (like my uplands) stay in the freshwater. Ok, so I have seven uplands, only two males. I knew one was being very territorial but htought it was too late in the season for spawning. Got a bit worried when I realised I hadn't seen him for a while so I went hunting. Under a very flat rock was a very black fish and a small collection of 20 eggs! Obviously fertilised and stuck to the rock. He came out now and then (and kept the other male away while he was out) but spent most of his time under the rock. Now four days later all are eaten.... He is still treating it as his nest but is out and about more. THe other male has a nest ready in the corner, it is much easier to see into. He comes out to defend it when I come over! One of the females is nearly bursting with eggs, will be interesting to see which male she chooses. These fish are 4-5cm long and I am assuming only a year old. Some old bad photos of uplands: http://picasaweb.google.com/nznativefish/UplandBully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Hi Stella. Congrats on the spawn. :bounce: Very cool. They are a nice looking fish. Good luck with the next spawn. Are you going to do anything to prevent the predation of the next batch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted May 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 They probably can be raised away from the male. Apparently putting an airstone near the nest is a common trick for raising eggs of other fish with similar brooding behaviours. Keeps the waterflow up, similar to what the male would be doing. I am not too worried right now, not sure I will be able to raise them at the moment (my life getting in the way, not that they are difficult), but one day I would definitely like to Uplands are one of my favourite bullies, very pretty and active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-town... Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 wow thats awesome to hear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplecatfish Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Way Cool 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Hey Stella Can the different types of bullies be found in the same locations? As stated in the other thread, i wanna set up a native tank, Can different species of natives be kept together? Also I went to the local library to look for some reference books on NZ Natives, Guess what, There was none. I dont seem to be able to find too much on the net either, so please excuse me if I seem as though i ask too many questions,lol Please put me on your list for when your book is published Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Also I went to the local library to look for some reference books on NZ Natives, Guess what, There was none. I dont seem to be able to find too much on the net either, so please excuse me if I seem as though i ask too many questions,lol There is one book i know off that deals in natives. Cant remember the name of it. Below are the best sites i know of http://www.nzfreshwater.org/index_wildlife.html http://doc.govt.nz/templates/summary.aspx?id=33210 http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-B ... dy-d6.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Cheers HaNs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 There are a couple of books available. http://www.reed.co.nz/title.cfm?titleid=778 and http://www.reed.co.nz/products.cfm?view=1295&catID=26 At least with an ISBN number you have chance of getting a shop to order it or a Library to cross-borrow a copy for you. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heir Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Congratulations Stella!! Hehe thats so awesome! :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 The one iv read is The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Freshwater Fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplecatfish Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Try looking for: New Zealand Freshwater Fishes, a natural history and guide; By R.M. McDowall Revised edition 1990 ISBN 0 7900 0022 9 Also try putting "McDowall" in a search on TradeMe and select 'email me new listings'. There are two other books by McDowall which are almost the same. One is the Mobil NZ Nature Series (reprinted in 1992) ISBN 0 7900 0255 8 and the other is the Reed NZ Nature Series (2001) ISBN 0 7900 0781 9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted May 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Hi Supasi, There can be different bullies in the same stream. In one stream I regularly go there are redfin, commons and Cran's (at least) though another has only uplands! All depends on the habitat preferences and access. Different species can be kept together, but they can be quite aggressive as they get bigger, particularly redfin males and banded kokopu. Torrentfish and bluegills are the only species I have found so far that seem to behave peacefully. Aggression can be greatly reduced if you have a quite low stocking level and plenty of rocks to hide in. Bullies rock as aquarium fish as they are really easy to keep and are real characters, always moving around. I am quite enjoying my tank of small uplands. The only thing is they tend to hang out of the bottom of the tank, so the middle can look a bit bare. Good recommendations from everyone on books, McDowall 1990 is The Bible to have. Second hand it does crop up of trademe with reasonable regularity, I paid $35 for mine. I have seen people asking for $75 and more for it, just wait for a cheaper one to come along. Ask as many question as you like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted May 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 They spawned again last night! This time I got photos I have given the eggs to a friend who is slightly more set up that I to try and raise them. He is under strict instructions to get daily photos of the eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutOfAfrica Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 That friend wasn't Andrew or Pete was it ? Pretty cool that your natives are doing the wild thing - congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-town... Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 wow nice pic :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 Cool pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 Update on the eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted May 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 LOL! Yes, I gave them to Pete! He has a lot of live food at his place to raise them on and i don't quite have the time or desire to do it myself at the moment (I would love to in the future though!). The eggs seem to be doing well. So far he has picked off four that died, which seems a pretty good 'survival' rate for the number of eggs that are there. I will go over today to have a look, he has been taking photos but sounded like he was having a little bit of difficulty with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucid Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Cool as. Our Red finned Bullies spawned and hatched a few years ago. They had hundreds of bubbas. We let them all go again. Best luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Wow...congrats...that's alot of eggs! Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted July 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Well most of them hatched, over a few days. I think they lived a couple of weeks but died off, getting food small enough for them seemed to be the problem Oh well, interesting to see anyway. Ballistic, what size did you get them to? Redfin bullies are supposed to go to sea, would be interesting to know how yours did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucid Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 They were only a few weeks old then put them back where we found them. Went back later and did notice a few small ones around still. Would have liked to keep them but didnt have another big tank for that many babies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Sorry for the losses Stella. getting food small enough for them seemed to be the problem Could you not feed these fishies the same things that other fry eat??? Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted July 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 well neither freshly hatched brine shimp nor tiny daphnia were small enough. I figure feeding them strained pond water would probably work, many very tiny critters in that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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