hypno Posted May 17, 2014 Report Share Posted May 17, 2014 I set this tank up around 3 weeks ago. I have Bullies Koura and Inanga. Anyone care to Identify the Bullies I t think they are Common Common and the last one an Upland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@. Posted May 18, 2014 Report Share Posted May 18, 2014 Nice pics! cool patterning on that Koura Not too sure on the IDs, but they don't look like quite like commons to me - normaly would expect some hint of 'whiskers' on the cheeks - so they could all be uplands, depending on your location? Mind you that second one looks like it only has 6 dorsal spines, which would indicate it might be a giant... normaly wouldn't get giants and uplands together though haha! some info about your location and where you caught them might help in identifying, I can check in my book when I get home and see if I can narrow it down a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypno Posted May 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2014 They have all come from the same section of the Halswell river around 10km upstream from where the river meets lake Ellesmere. The last darker colored bully has an orange band on its dorsal which makes think it is an upland bully. thanks for the help, i have only just got interested in natives and love exploring the streams around my area. I have a bunch of tiny clams in the tank also, the other night the Koura stepped into one and it clamped down on its hind leg and he was dragging it around for hours, gave me a good laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@. Posted May 19, 2014 Report Share Posted May 19, 2014 Ok, cool - looking at your area on the NIWA freshwater database, there are common and uplands recorded in the Halswell River - so your guesses are defiantly in the right ball park! One way to narrow down which you have could be to count the first dorsal spines - the commons normally have 7 (may have 8 though) and the uplands have 6 (although they can sometimes have 5 or 7) The commons will also have pores on their heads, whereas the uplands won’t - but that would be harder to check. (This info is coming from Stella McQueen's latest book - she is a member on here so might be able to positively identify them for you.) With that in mind I would say that your fish are as follows: 1. Female Upland (could be a male common, but the spotting nature of the patterning, particularly on the lips makes me think upland) 2. Female upland (6 dorsal spines) 3. Male upland (as you said it has an orange stripe on the dorsal - can’t quite tell in the photo. Males are normaly darker paterned in my experience also) So a real nice group if I'm right might get some breeding! Streams are so much fun to go poking around in , never know what you are going to see Not sure what the clams are? Surprised the Koura didn’t try and make a snack out of it! We have freshwater mussels in NZ, but they are normally a reasonable size, so not sure what you have. Got a pic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypno Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 The clams are too small to find in the sand for a picture at the moment, here is one on the koura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@. Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 hmm, I haven’t seen anything like that before... doesn’t look like our native ones - normally black and much bigger. could be a juvenile one though: although it looked a bit rounder in shape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@. Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 mind you if you think it looks more like this http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pests/asian-clam you should get in touch with MPI via the number in the above link... apparently the 'overbite' is a distinctive identifier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypno Posted May 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 the stream has alot of them in the mud, ill have to bring some back for a closer look, they do look different to the mussels as i know a stream with lots, have only ever found big ones of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insectile Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 They look like they could be pea mussels, Sphaeriidae. They live in soft substrates and get about 1cm max. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypno Posted May 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Here is the shell of a dead one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@. Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 yea, good call - bit of an over reaction on my part haha! better safe than sorry. Hadn't heard of us having any other freshwater bivalves in NZ - learn something new every day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypno Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Does anyone know what species this fish is? i thought it is a Koaro, a friend caught it in a rocky stream at lyttleton harbor [ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted June 29, 2014 Report Share Posted June 29, 2014 The last fish is a smelt, there are two in the otago/chch area, not going to try and guess which one that is. I would guess that the bullies are all upland by the spotty faces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devrens Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 Looks great! What size tank are you keeping them in? Does the cray bother the fishies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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