Native Fish

[Reptile_Boy]

Wondering if anybody keeps australian natives such as barra seratoga pearch etc.

would love to see some photos of setups

Cheers

Damien

 

[bk201]

Wondering if anybody keeps australian natives such as barra seratoga pearch etc.



Damien

yes

 

[Sock Puppet]

Yep I have been keeping Aussie natives for a while now. Over the years had a number of different species, archer fish, freshwater mullet, sleepy cod, various rainbows, various gudgeons, various catfish etc. Was even breeding Purple Spotted Gudgeon for a while.

Currently have Purple Spotted Gudgeon, Empire Gudgeon, & a couple of large Snakehead Gudgeon (sleepy cod pics below are old, but I love em so...)

 

[Robo1]

Check the thread Some Of My Fish

 

[Tsubakai]

I have snakehead gudgeons, salmontail cats, tarpon, silver scat and sleepy cod at the moment. No photos though as I am too lazy.

 

[slim6y]

I had barra for quite some time...

 

[Reptile_Boy]

i remember some one having barra in a pool was that you slimey

 

[Waterrat]

We have some nice rainbows in our creeks.

 

[Reptile_Boy]

there some nice fish water, i like the meaner natives more though

 

[Waterrat]

few more.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Nice rainbows Michael, do you also get Jungle Perch locally?

Tsubakai, do you give the sleepy cod feeder fish? Does it change colour when hunting? (refer my pics above, the pic with the sandy back it was stalking some small barbs). I was wondering if this is a typical trait or maybe not all of them do it. Mine only ever lit up when stalking fish, never with other foods like worms, grubs, or crickets.

 

[chondrogreen]

Will have silver perch, rainbow trout & yabbies as soon as I set my aquaponics tank up.
Only difference is I will be raising them to eat

 

[Sock Puppet]

Will have silver perch, rainbow trout & yabbies as soon as I set my aquaponics tank up.
Only difference is I will be raising them to eat

Let me know when you have excess yabbies, Chondro, happy to pick em up

 

[Waterrat]

Nice rainbows Michael, do you also get Jungle Perch locally?

Yes, they are common in all the creeks draining to the Gulf.

 

[morgs202]

I used to keep quite a few natives, not any more though as I sold my six foot tank... Many of them are extremely interesting however. Probably the coolest thing I ever had was a brackish set up with a bar tailed flathead, a moses perch, a small bullrout, a frogfish and a snakehead gudgeon. Also have kept all sorts of grunter, murray cod, bass, monos, archers, scats, eels, and the most recent one (before selling the tank) was a large mangrove jack...

 

[slim6y]

i remember some one having barra in a pool was that you slimey

Yes - a 3.6m diameter pool

They grew quickly and were quite happy - but..... An issue occured, and they died on a very hot November's day.... Sad

 

[slim6y]

I used to keep quite a few natives, not any more though as I sold my six foot tank... Many of them are extremely interesting however. Probably the coolest thing I ever had was a brackish set up with a bar tailed flathead, a moses perch, a small bullrout, a frogfish and a snakehead gudgeon. Also have kept all sorts of grunter, murray cod, bass, monos, archers, scats, eels, and the most recent one (before selling the tank) was a large mangrove jack...

I tried as hard as I could to get some archers.... but it wasn't that easy

So I then tried for the scats... same thing... I ended up with a toad fish or two though - they were funny... I even tried garfish as well....

I still would love archer fish - any ideas on the best way to keep them?

 

[chondrogreen]

Barra is $33 a kg here atm.
Wish I had the room to grow out thousands of fingerling as I love eating them

 

[kupper]

Thousands of fingerlings would soon turn to a couple of hundred chondro canablistic little bastards

 

[Waterrat]

I still would love archer fish - any ideas on the best way to keep them?

They're not too hard to keep but get them from 100% freshwater, not from brackish. I caught some at Little River near Croydon (you don't have to go that far) and they did quite well in a large tank. Some shops in Cairns are selling them, I think the Ultimate Aquariums in Hoar St. have them from time to time.