Yellow Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 I've been a 'lurker' on these forums for a year, mostly on the native fishes page. I'll introduce myself by posting a long, detailed breakdown (i.e. structured ramble) of fish-related detail in my recent past to make up for this. Goldfish and natives I have one small (60ish litre) coldwater fishtank with the three goldfish (I've had about 10 goldfish over the years. I once put a bit of seaweed in the tank, when I was much younger...) there as the permanent residents, and a small koura and brown trout (...) since this Tuesday. I would have placed a few bullies in there as I had before, but they nip goldfish. My oldest fish is a five-year-old orange-capped comet, bought when comet goldfish looked like comet goldfish. Her(/its/Finn's) tail fin tips are rounded which isn't ideal for comets, but the rest pretty much is. It's quite close to the description of a sarasa comet. Finn's cap colour was quite red last year, which could have been caused by the live food (water boatmen, earthworms, mosquito larvae from a plastic storage box I was trying to grow watercress in, and daphnia) or the sunny location of the tank (enough to cause green water), or both. I was feeding the goldfish earthworms because it would help them go into breeding condition, and because the native bullies readily ate worms. Raspberry is a male shubunkin with a longer tail than most shubunkins I see. I was thinking of breeding him to Finn to start a line of comet shubunkins. To this end I bought the plastic storage boxes and sponge filters and made spawning mops. Due to housemoving, the storage boxes had to be cleaned and put to storage purposes, and the native fish dwelling in them released, and the plan to breed them indefinitely postponed. I gave up on digging for worms after I moved, but I'm still growing daphnia in a 20L white bucket I used to use for water changes to someday have enough to reliably feed my guppies on. The unnamed feral goldfish has an interesting story behind it. I was at Camp Forest Lake, saw a tyre submerged by the edge of the lake at the end of the flying fox, and thought it could add to the shock-absorbing tyres at the end of the fox (people were hurtling into the end quite uncomfortably). I had my friend use a nearby metal hook (just happened to be there) to pull the tyre up, and lo and behold, something flashy was thrashing about inside. No-one else wanted it, so I ran back to camp to pick up two plastic bags and a plastic measuring jug for it. In this manner, the bronze wild-type goldfish found its way into my fishtank. Critters I've caught with my hand-net and hands in rivers and streams are koura, red-finned, common and upland bullies, nearly three eels, and one small brown trout (...), which, except the eels, I've kept in the goldfish tank at some point. Once or twice they carried Ich with them. First unintentionally with seaweed, then with nipping bullies, then with Ich, then to cure Ich with salt, the goldfish have been a-salted. But that's all a learning experience and I've learned from my mistakes. Guppies I bought a 120L tank (that makes two tanks in total now, more if the plastic storage containers are counted) just for one yellow snakeskin male guppy I found at a petshop (/LFS) last year, which started my attempted line-breeding of guppies. There were no decent-sized females then (I didn't look very far), which caused me to buy a male which turned out female. I eventually found two large females from a different aquarium store to mate it to, and that was about 7 months ago. I was back-crossing the original male guppy with his (mostly his... original females were pregnant already) granddaughters until he died, then I was going to breed grandson of his, which has an interesting yellow-green colour and three different spotted regions on his tail. I then decided that in order to improve its tail size I would have to go elsewhere than petshops to find a line of females which produced males with large tails (I figured this out about three days ago). I had a look on the internet but I couldn't find any large-tailed types for sale (in NZ). In addition I saw some very pretty blue and purple moscows which trump my randomly-bred snakeskins. Then I remembered the FNZAS website. This is why I've finally registered. Does anyone have spare moscow blues or purples? I'm willing to drive anywhere within 2 hours drive if the breeder is unwilling to ship, or I'll pay anything under the cost to drive there, for shipping. (Maybe this should belong in the Trade and Exchange Forum... sorry) Miscellany I'm looking at proper tank no. 3 for guppy birth and raising babies in. Plants I have are the unmentionables which I pulled from the Waikato River and Kawau stream, and Riccia from the display tank at Wetpets. Now, my hobbies. Current hobbies are trout fishing using a spinning rod (I'm doing native fish a favour!), Ninjutsu (since Term 3 this year), Piano (doesn't really count as a hobby really). Previous things I have done are soccer, World Taekwondo Federation-style taekwondo (5 years, I was a black tab), smallbore shooting (past 2 years and a bit), and maybe a bit more I can't remember. I'm repeating year 13 (sort of) at Boys' High. The clues are now out there for anyone who knows me to identify (/stalk) me. :lol: Two things I'll ask in conclusion. 1. Does this hold the record for longest introduction? 2. Abbreviations are usually acceptable, but the abbreviation for one of my hobbies is unfortunately a - what's the word for this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 I have one small (60ish litre) coldwater fishtank with the three goldfish (I've had about 10 goldfish over the years. I once put a bit of seaweed in the tank, when I was much younger...) there as the permanent residents, and a small koura and brown trout (...) since this Tuesday. I would have placed a few bullies in there as I had before, but they nip goldfish. You will find that the trout isnt native, and im pretty sure you arent allowed to take them? And Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 You will find that the trout isnt native, and im pretty sure you arent allowed to take them? What Dixon means to say is welcome to the forums! There are lots of people here with awesome guppies, take a look at the livebearers section for pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hello and welcome! Yeah trout aren't native and no you are not allowed to take them (mutter mutter evil pesky exotic fish more propected than natives that belong here mutter mutter) than again I won't tell if you won't Whereabouts do you go native fish hunting? I went spotlighting last night in the Turitea Stream beside the Massey entrance. Saw heaps of bullies (mostly common and Cran's but I am pretty sure there was a redfin or two), lots and lots of evil troutlets, two koura and two eels. It was very pleasing to see the eels, haven't seen any there is a while, though they were only tiddlers (circa 30cm). I tried to catch the second eel, gave it a damned good go, but I was astonished to learn that they have a reverse gear and can go as fast backwards as they can forwards!!! I decided that it thus deserved greater respect than the indignity of temporary capture, so I desisted... Interesting about the bullies nipping the goldfish. My first attempt at natives involved putting some small koaro in with my goldfish. One of them seemed to take a vendetta out on the goldfish and tore them to shreds...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Welcome to the forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Posted December 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Whereabouts do you go native fish hunting? Shallow stony areas in sections of rivers nearby, near the bridges in Turitea stream mainly, up to knee height and when it gets too dark to see. I don't go spotlighting due to a lack of a spotlight and room to store any fish. The largest thing I caught was a 12ish cm koura under a large rock near the second or third bridge. The eel I nearly caught was under a thin flat concrete rock, and it had a spot of white fungus on it. I saw the video on Youtube of the Crans fry, congratulations! You will find that the trout isnt native, and im pretty sure you arent allowed to take them? I didn't put a separate heading for Trout. I can technically justify my use of a handnet by regarding it as a small landing net, and as there is no size limit for the Manawatu river, and as I have a fishing licence. I can ecologically justify my actions: I do trout populations more damage by fishing for adults as smaller trout have higher predation rates. Main predators would be other large trout, which I am in fact removing from the population. It is far more prductive to catch trout using a fishing rod than as a side-catch by wading for native fish (I was lucky in that it scooted straight into my little hand-net). I can economically justify it by my purchase of a trout fishing licence, which provides fish and game with money to fund habitat protection and staff salaries. Fishing with a handnet is a sporting manner, I believe. A free fish has a far higher chance of escaping a landing net than a hooked fish, which is the very definition of a sporting method (one of the arguments against treble hooks I think, from memory). That's how I justify it to myself. The only issue is the sportingness of fishing methods, not the issue of ecological impact or economic impact or the psychological impact on the fish in captivity. Methinks. Brown trout are very pretty fish. Much more colourful than Leopardfish (Leopardfish owners may shoot me). Male red-finned bullies though are prettier, I think, than even guppies (guppy owners shoot me). That's one incentive to breed red-finned bullies, the other would be to raise awareness of native fish (exotic fish owners shoot me), another is they thrive in cold water, minimising energy wastage to heating (tropical fish owners shoot me), another is that specialist breeders would be in demand, as much like the special conditions required for neon tetra breeding, red-finned bully fry raising would be difficult for general people to do due to the salt-water requirement. Problems would be captive fish released diluting the gene pool of wild fish, the increased wild capture of red-fins (especially if the price is too high), collateral damage to native fish habitat and associated fish due to the increased wild capture (which already occurs due to trout fishing, and would be negligibly higher). Methinks. The population of red-fins would be high enough, that a little dilution by captive stock should make hardly any difference, and added to that the fact that captive stock would be most likely weaker, offspring with the inbred genes would be selected against. If the offspring were stronger, well then that's to the benefit of the wild population. Methinks. I'd really be interested in helping anyone interested in this. Something like another purpose to go fishstalking. Has anyone been to the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto? Nice place. My native fish-hunting habits made me have a look into the streams there. They have some sort of bully and shrimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Hi and welcome we can do with more local memebers seem to have been a boom recently Can't help with any of the fish that you are after at the moment I do have some awesome blue tux guppies that I hope will start dropping fry in the future.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billaney Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 welcome to the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Hi Yellow. I'm sorry to be so late in doing it :oops: ....Welcome to the forums :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted December 29, 2008 Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 Hi & welcome! Post pics sometime. Take care & have fun, Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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