adamh Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Hello I wonder if anyone can help me guess what I have here. The long skiny one at the top looks to be a young kokopu or inaunga? but what about the slightly shorter stockiers ones? They seem less shy and darty - did not run straight for cover in the pond this morning when released. In the creek where I caught them were bigger fish - looked too big for inauga maybe but quite fast, did not sit still when spotlighted..maybe as its is a medium sized creek kokapu move around more as there is room to do so? Location Henderson (west Auckland), high tree cover, in a vineyard, not a single Koura sighted. Thankyou for any light you can shed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 I dont think the photo worked, if you email me the photo i could have a guess. Edit: its working now. That top one is a galaxiid! The others look like gambusia, do they have scales? How big are they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamh Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 They are very small. .bit hard to tell if they have scales. .These gambusia are a pest?will they be a problem or will the galaxiids eat them when they are bigger? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Yes theyre illegal, they will breed and take over your pond. If they are gambusia i recommend killing them. They may bully and kill your natives. To identify them if you can catch one and put it in a glass they look a lot like guppies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 I dont think the photo worked, if you email me the photo i could have a guess. Edit: its working now. That top one is a galaxiid! The others look like gambusia, do they have scales? How big are they? +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamh Posted October 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Caught (and deposed of) one .three to go. Should have guessed they were no good when they were so easy to catch. Still I have two mystery galaxiids guess I find out what they are when they grow. good news caught the remaining Gambusia. I have fed the two natives some grated frozen ox heart. I'll buy some fish food also does about a 50/50 mix sound right? ' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Sorry no one has replied yet edit is good but it doesnt let people know that there's a new post. Natives are fussy so they probably won't accept commercial foods (it varies from fish to fish inanga seem to accept it more easily than kokopu and bullies) heart is a good staple diet so just mix it up a bit with live food and raw shrimp, that will be a better diet than commercial foods (unless you buy an expensive high protein good quality feed, which they may not acceot anyway) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamh Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Thanks. There seems to be enough bug life in the pond for these little fish..certainly they don't seem to interested in the grated ox heart. Maybe my torch light puts them off? but speaking of food do you think these guys would become dinner if I put a larger kokopu say 15cm give or take in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Wild caught fish are used to eating live food and can take a long time to transition to recognizing prepared products as food, white worms, daphnia, mosquito larvae etc are good starters for them. Big fish can eat little fish. :fshi: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 You might want to try feeding them at dusk when they have come out but you can still see, if one starts eating theyll both start going for it. I got the wild fish in our drains eating after about 5 minutes. But yes the torch will probably be putting them off. And as livingart said :fshi: :ske: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 And 15cm is probably too big to remove from the wild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamh Posted October 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Well that is the thing. .I see these lovely, reasonably big kokopu in tiny streams. ..but where are the younger ones. .looking for something a little larger than the almost white bait sized ones (probably inauga)that I found. .something needs to eat the mosquito larvae and I don't want a goldfish! thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 You'll be surprised by the size of food that they'll eat, a whitebait that has been in fresh water for a couple of weeks could easily eat full size larvae. Bigger fish are more likely to miss small foods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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