ninjafroglet Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 Is there any trick to this? or is it just something that takes time? At the moment they seem fairly comfortable with my hand in the tank but they won't eat directly from my fingers or tweezers. They've swam up, grabbed a bite then darted away a couple of times but most of the time they just ignore me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 I've just been trying this over the last few days with mixed results. From the second night I had mine they were eating happily from the end of my 12" tweezers, but from my hand it has been a different story. My little one will usually come up and have a good whack at what I've got, the big one wont come near me. What're you feeding them? I feed mine with long thin slivers of white uncooked shrimp (stuff from the supermarket). I just put my hand in, wiggle the white food to get their attention, then let go of it and let it drift down to them. Repeat this a few times and they quickly get the message that they can just come and take it. Though, it may pay to starve them for a few days to hurry the process along ;]. For anyone who's interested: I threw in a big bit of white uncooked shrimp last night, about 2cm cubed for my crayfish. The two Inanga stole it from the Koura, and proceeded to tear it to pieces like a pair of rabid white sharks! There was only about 1/3rd of it left by the time they were done. I never imagined they'd have the jaw strength to do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafroglet Posted December 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 I've tried using various different types of food, mainly flake. Theres some frozen shrimp in the freezer that I'll try though. I think my inanga like to steal the food I give to my koura aswell, They won't be interested in any of the food I put in for them but as soon as theres a pea floating down they won't give up on it :lol: Thanks for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 Your Inanga eat vegies? Mine won't eat ANYTHING unless it's meat of some sort! Make sure you cut anything tough and slippery up into very thin slices, I've had a couple of mine nearly choke to death! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 I think eating from your fingers requires two things: 1 - patience 2 - they need to really really want the food you have Also once one fish goes for it, the others will, it is all rather learned. I find inanga (and other natives) eat flake and other commercial foods only if they *really* have to, and it can take a while to train them onto it. All of my fish get finely cut ox heart as their staple diet. It is very nutritious and much easier to fill them up with (especially the kokopu, damned stomachs with fins!) and the big plus is they absolutely love it. I even had a mudfish feeding out of my fingers within a week of coming into captivity! Shrimp sound good too, but I haven't tried it. I have also had galaxiids stealing peas off the koura. Inanga seem to go nuts for them, and the kokopu used to, but now they are bigger (and actually able to eat one whole) they are not interested. Bullies couldn't care less about peas, and I imagine mudfish, eels and torrentfish would be the same. All native fish eat aquatic invertebrates as their complete diet. Vegies are not required. Thus they need a food that is high in protein and everything else that bugs are full of.... Most commercial foods have a high cereal or vegetable content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafroglet Posted December 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 They seem to be fairly OK with the flake and wafery things I give them atm. other then that I've been feeding skeeters, frozen bloodworms and white worms, and hopefully when Ryan's daphnia cultures up and running they might be able to have a few of them I think the main problem so far is that they just weren't hungry, I'm off to try now though because they haven't been fed all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 How long have you had your inanga in captivity? They do take a while to settle in properly. Certainly Romeo spent a lot of time not even seeing his! Inanga are big eaters, they will eat till their stomachs are enormous and whiteworms etc come out their gills! (literally, and yes it is truly gross). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafroglet Posted December 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 probably about 3 weeks, they were fairly tame from the get go though =o. I have seen mine with huge stomachs, but I'm not sure about wanting to see one with worms coming out of its gills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Under ideal conditions what is largest you know of Inanga getting? Also, do Kokopu surface feed ? I put 80 odd whitebait in my pond (30 ish of them I suspect were Kokopu) a couple of months ago,water almost souplike with Daphnia and today a fish approx 200mm leapt out of water during a Mayfly hatch feeding frenzy, knew they'd do well in pond but surprised at fish size today, be nice to know exactly what it was..........they don't mess around so viewing is a split-second deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Native fish details can be found here... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/index.php?PG=nativefish Sounds like you have the makings of an interesting pond! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacher Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 If you want to see your fish in the pond take the torch out at night. My Inanga/Kokopu are extremely active on the surface at night. I haven't seen my bullies for a while, but then my plants have put on a huge amount of growth this summer. I do see my crays occasionally, and I have at least 3 tiny wee baby bullies (at least I think their bullies the biggest is little more than 10mm long!) They must have been in the water when I caught a few shrimp my top pond. http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo14 ... -09002.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Used to see single fish swimming under jetty by torch light but only for first month or so, assumed they were Kokopu as not with school but of late surface activity is frequent at dusk but too far from shore/jetty to get a good look. I put an underwater light in about a metre deep to attract insects but between Daphnia and Backswimmers light all but goes out under cloud of water bugs, have yet to see any kind of fish cruise past light to take advantage of easy pickings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Turtlemantaken.. wow Inanga usually only get to about 10-12cm, but in captive conditions where spawning is not going to happen they can grow bigger and live much longer than one year. The best I saw was a 15cm fish that was apparently 5 years old! I would be astounded for a kokopu whitebait to grow to 20cm in a few months, but not sure what the usual is. I would expect a really chunky 10cm fish after a year. Maybe it is possible, I don't know. However the surface action you describe sounds much more like inanga. Could you please post a photo of your pond? it sounds AWESOME! Must be huge to have a jetty... Preacher, glad to hear your fish are going well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 Not being exactly computer literate I hope this works Stella................................................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafroglet Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 Awesome pond You should put some koura in there too =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 Yep,done already,put 108 in from the creek I virtually grew up in as a child as initial breeders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafroglet Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 108 make a mean barbecue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Wow, I would love to have a big pond like that! Could do with some serious riparian planting to help shade it a bit, but maybe it is all pretty new? Sounds like a pretty serious selection of bugs you have going there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Yep, only been in a few months, will post another pic in 10 years when trees get a little larger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 If you are browsing Stella........I just found a dead fish floating in pond.It had gone a bit white but assume it was an Inanga,(checked your pics but shape wise they are very similar so hard to tell without colouring) it was put in pond as a whitebait this past Oct and was 134 mm to 'v' of tail and chokka with eggs, not a mark on it so perhaps it was eggbound but doesn't it seem a little young? On the other hand, more than impressed with growth rate and I finally got to see one 'close up' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 yeah always browsing... addicted to this damned site...! :evil: :oops: :roll: Sounds pretty long for an inanga in such a short time! However the other whitebait species would need to be much older before they are sexually mature. Of course it sounds like there is HEAPS of food in your pond so I guess it is possible.. Usually the ones over 10-12cm are more than a year old. Inanga usually only live about a year and die after spawning. So the whitebait come in to freshwater during spring, grow up over the year, and spawn the next spring. They are known for becoming egg-bound and dying in captivity. Did you notice if it had scales or not? A smelt might be possible. Smelt have scales and a deeper body than inanga, but can look very similar on first glance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlemantaken Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n83/ ... z/fish.jpg Should get you to a pic Stella, conditions are perfect so size was no surprise but the fact it was chokka with eggs so early certainly was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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