Munkii Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 I've been dying to get some fresh water shrimp for my tank every since I read about them on here a few weeks ago. Today I armed myself with a net and a bucket and decided to go fishing. My chosen fishing spot was on the river which flows out of Western Spings towards the sea as I was confident this would be fresh water and not polluted or anything. Exact location here. I found a slow flowing spot and waited on the bank to see what was in there. There were lots of little fish sunbathing and darting about, but there were no shrimps to be seen at all Maybe because the stream was quite fast flowing? I decided to try and get a closer look at the fish, so I spent the next 10 minutes unsuccessfully trying to catch one in my little net. I was starting to think about giving up and heading home when low and behold a 10cm elver came wiggling down the stream and right into my open net! Click for a larger image Re-enthused, I managed to catch two of the little fish also. Can anyone identify what species they are? Click for a larger image I have them home now and have put them in the tank I had prepared for keeping shrimp (glosso and hair grass). I poured all the water from my bucket into the tank so it worked out at about 50% stream water and 50% cycled tank water. I accimatised them in a bag for about 20 minutes and they seem to be settling in pretty well. I realize the eel is quickly going to get too big to keep in a tank, but I'd like to keep him for a while at least if I can. What are the odds that I could convince these little guys to eat flake food or algae wafers? I snagged a chunk of oxygen weed from the river in-case they might eat that, but I haven't put it in the tank yet as it's covered in little black snails :-? Here's how the tank looked this morning before my new fishy friends were added. I've been keeping it at 20 deg since that's the lowest my heater will go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 That stream is polluted with heavy metals from road and roof runoff. One would think that because it's a spring it'll be fine but it's also an opportune storm water drain. The two fish look like natives, which is good, cause if they were Gambusia you'd have to get rid of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 cool find in the elver/eel, not sure at what point the name changes :dunno: The other two look to be either common bullies or female redfin bullies but I would need a better look side on to see their markings. I would take the heater out as it's not needed for our natives and 20 deg is the max that they like for any length of time. To keep the temp down a desk fan can be pointed to the surface of the tank to cause evaporation and heetloss. The eel will probably eat anything that gets put into the tank but small bullies can sometimes be picky - I have 3 female redfins that I caught all at the same time and are the same age but only one of them really eats commercial foods. Nearly all of our natives love ox heart (without the fat and skin on) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 The little fish are bullies of some description. There are a heap of threads about what they need, trawl the archives. As blueether says, it can be difficult getting them onto commercial foods, but oxheart is really nutritious and easy. The elver will probably be harder to feed as they have such small mouths. They are also excellent escape artists, so make sure the tank lid is very close-fitting, and tape up any gaps. He will probably vanish into the gravel most of the time, so don't freak if you can't find him. Native fish often carry whitespot when they are taken out of the wild, so dose the tank with 1tsp of salt per litre, and maintain that (replacing what you removed during water changes) for the next three weeks. Definitely take the heater out, but keep the thermometer and also do some archive searches for keeping the temperature down over summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 Munkii did you drag the net through the weeds in the fast flowing bit? That's where I caught some once, not in the shallows or the still bit where I expected to see them lurking about. It's a nice spot down there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 lol never noticed that, but yeah I seem to get more shrimp in higher current areas with planted edges. (although higher current doesn't mean much in the streams I go to ) will be investigating a stream in a couple of weeks that I have been told has a population of freshwater shrimp that it would be virtually impossible for them to access the sea (about 500m above sea level with grade 4-5 rapids between them and the main river)... will see what I can find Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munkii Posted November 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 I couldn't find the eel when I came home tonight. After a bit of searching it looks like he squeezed himself up the intake of my pump and ended up getting chopped to pieces by the impeller :tears: I feel bad for taking him... The eel did seem to eat the pellet food I put in there, but I can't tell if the bullys have eaten anything yet. I'll be dropping them back in the stream they came from in the next day or two. This weekend I'll be trying a new stream to see if I can find any shrimps somewhere else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 I couldn't find the eel when I came home tonight. After a bit of searching it looks like he squeezed himself up the intake of my pump and ended up getting chopped to pieces by the impeller :tears: I feel bad for taking him... The eel did seem to eat the pellet food I put in there, but I can't tell if the bullys have eaten anything yet. I'll be dropping them back in the stream they came from in the next day or two. This weekend I'll be trying a new stream to see if I can find any shrimps somewhere else I thought you weren't supposed to release things you had taken home? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 I thought you weren't supposed to release things you had taken home? That is absolutely correct. You can not release back into the wild as you may be releasing diseases, even though the fish look healthy, which will have the potential to wipe out our native fish populations. Catching fish etc to put in native tanks is not a game, its something to be taken seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 That is absolutely correct. You can not release back into the wild as you may be releasing diseases, even though the fish look healthy, which will have the potential to wipe out our native fish populations. Catching fish etc to put in native tanks is not a game, its something to be taken seriously. Cool, that's exactly what I thought and is part of the reason I don't keep natives - I can't guarantee I can care for them for the next 10 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munkii Posted November 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 That is absolutely correct. You can not release back into the wild as you may be releasing diseases, even though the fish look healthy, which will have the potential to wipe out our native fish populations. Catching fish etc to put in native tanks is not a game, its something to be taken seriously. These fish have been taken from a stream last weekend, put into an empty tank which I filled up with the water I took from the stream, and have only been there for a few days. Do you really think the "no release" rule applies to these fish as well? I find it hard to imagine that they would have any diseases which weren't present in the stream before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 The rule does apply to those fish. It is a very large blanket! Mostly the rule was put in place to protect trout (as always!). TECHNICALLY the risk from your fish would be almost nothing, but I can't ADVISE that you release them (There is also bit of a lesson in this thread of learning about the needs of an animal before taking it home, be it from the wild or from a pet shop) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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