SeargentSkull Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Hi there, I am a 11 year old hobbyist who was wondering how to setup a native tank? Never done it before and have a few main questions. Will appreciate any and all information I get. Do native fish need water from there river? Do plants or substrate have to come from there river/home? How cold does water temperature has to be? Planning to setup tank with inanga bullies koura and If I can get my hands on one, a banded kokopu. Tanks and ponds are 300 litre community tank, Red eared turtle tank, goldfish planted tank, and a work in progress large goldfish pond. :fshi: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willyp123 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Hi there, I am a 11 year old hobbyist who was wondering how to setup a native tank? Never done it before and have a few main questions. Will appreciate any and all information I get. Do native fish need water from there river? Do plants or substrate have to come from there river/home? How cold does water temperature has to be? Planning to setup tank with inanga bullies koura and If I can get my hands on one, a banded kokopu. Tanks and ponds are 300 litre community tank, Red eared turtle tank, goldfish planted tank, and a work in progress large goldfish pond. :fshi: Water can just be normal tank water, just needs to be properly cycled and de-chlorinated. Any standard aquarium substrate will do, i'm currently using some brightwater i bough from hollywood fish farm, plants can be bought or taken (be careful which you take, i think some are protected and some are invasive), but koura will generally uproot any plants so it may not be such a good idea. Inanga and bullies often overlap in habitat, koura and bullies do, but koura and inanga i've never heard of. banded kokopu, bullies and koura would be a good idea though. Temperature ranges is probably 20 degrees is your upper limit, you should aim to keep it around 15-16 degrees I think. What size tank are you planning? How do you plan on keeping it cold? Keep in mind, i've read that koura are sensitive to de-chlorinator, so rather than using a standard one it may be better to let the chlorine gas off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Willyp gave good advice, as he said koura are apparently exetremely sensetive to dechlorinaters. You can have all those together, just make sure they all have plenty of hiding places. Make sure you keep it below 20 degrees, with a banded kokopu and inanga you'd be best off getting a 4 foot tank. If you got a 200 litre you could probably have a banded kokopu, 5 or 6 inanga, 6 or 8 bullies and a couple of koura, as long as you keep it cold and oxygenated. Chillers are the best option, some of us use bottles of ice (can be time consuming, I currently only have to do it once a day but I suspect in the peak of summer I'll be adding ice between 3 and 4 times per day. So if you don't think you'll be able to keep it cold, you could build a summer pond for them (well shaded) and have them inside for the rsst of the year, but as long as you add enough ice you'll be fine. You haven't asked about feeding? Have you already read about it? Or are you assuming they eat commercial food? Natives can be really fussy, heart is the easiest staple diet, I've found they like softer meat, all my fish dislike ox heart(will still eat it if hungry), they like sheep heart (will eat it til full), love poultry heart (They will keep eating til they physically can't force anything else in). The best possible diet is live bugs, garden, pond or flying they're not fussy (about bugs). But finding (or culturing) enough food is almost impossible. Also add your area someone local might be able to help you find some fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Oh, also If you want to read a good thread about a native tank build: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=50025 it was what gave me the incentive to get into natives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willyp123 Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 As kiwiraka said, it's difficult to feed them at times, i've had some success getting them onto commercial food. My suggestions: Worms and larval insects, then once they're into eating that put it a few squashed pellets and they'll go onto that slowly. Inanga i've found go onto small pellets pretty easily with no fuss - but still start them on live food Sinking pellets work well for bullies. For koura - keep a close eye on pH. You don't want it acidic otherwise it breaks down their exoskeleton (this happened to me and fortunately i managed to intervene quickly). - on koura, I suggest feeding them vege wafers (the sort fed to catfish), and a worm maybe once a week or so. - they're cool because you can feed them from hand, if you feed them worms from hand then they'll learn to take food from your hand, then you can start off vege wafers. - Also, put a raw almond in once a week for your koura, they'll eat it for calcium when they need it (also remove it after a few days, they don't eat the whole thing and it will become a bit slimy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 - Also, put a raw almond in once a week for your koura, they'll eat it for calcium when they need it (also remove it after a few days, they don't eat the whole thing and it will become a bit slimy). That's interesting, I didn't know almonds contained calcium? Another option for calcium would be would be bugs with strong exoskeletons I.e. beetles. Also they recycle most of the calcium by eating the exoskeletons they moult. Also you can feed them boiled peas as well as or instead of wafers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willyp123 Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 That's interesting, I didn't know almonds contained calcium? Another option for calcium would be would be bugs with strong exoskeletons I.e. beetles. Also they recycle most of the calcium by eating the exoskeletons they moult. Also you can feed them boiled peas as well as or instead of wafers. Fair call, i'm a bit hesitant in too much live food as i've noticed it decreases my water quality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Is it from bug guts? Pond bugs seem to be easier to swallow whole (Not speaking from personal experience ) What brand food do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willyp123 Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Is it from bug guts? Pond bugs seem to be easier to swallow whole (Not speaking from personal experience ) What brand food do you use? Yeah generally, and economy gold aquaone I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeargentSkull Posted November 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Thanks everyone for the information. That was my first post on this forum! I know see what a helpful and kind community we have here at fnzas, btw ottdurr I saw a few of your vids on YouTube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Thanks everyone for the information. That was my first post on this forum! I know see what a helpful and kind community we have here at fnzas, btw ottdurr I saw a few of your vids on YouTube No problem! Yes ottdurr's videos are cool! Also blueethers videos are good if you can find them, you may have seen them already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Here they are http://m.youtube.com/user/nzbeeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeargentSkull Posted November 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2014 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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