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Collecting In The South West


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#21 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 10 January 2017 - 08:23 PM

Capture rules for freshwater fish are, rod and line, Nothing else is legal. IE: no practical method of capture is legal. (traps illegal, hand nets illegal, anything that ain't a rod and line, is illegal)

 

Oh, I've been using landing nets all this time.

 

it's not illegal to posses these fish in your own premises, assuming it can't be proved you removed them in the wild since they where added to the do not take list.

 

Like you said, unlikely.

 

 

But really, regardless of all that.. Salamanders don't make a good aquarium fish unless you have many many many years experience keeping very difficult to keep fish, every other native we have in south west WA is crazily easy to keep comparitively. 

 

All of our native fish I would rate maximum 2/10 difficulty to keep, Salamanders are 11/10.

I'd imagine that our native lampreys wouldn't be easy either.

 

 

Put simply, salamanders don't travel well, they are hard to get to eat, they don't tolerate trace amounts of ammonia found in above neutral water, they jump out of the tank and die if you try to do a water change or alter the water conditions even slightly, they spook easily and hit the walls, lids. they escape from tanks even with airtight lids and die, they won't eat dead foods without many many months of training.

 

if you get it right it is a really special thing, but chances of success for most standard aquarium keepers... 01%.

 

its one thing bringing fish home from vebas or aquotix and they last a week and die, it's another thing taking a near threatend highly specialized fish species from the wild and killing them in less than a week..  :(

 

It does sound difficult, but just thinking from the top of my head, the ammonia could be tackled with zeolite, the water changes can be in a slow drip fashion, water parameter fluctuations can be lessened with a larger tank, their temperament can be addressed with more hiding places and the tank being in a dark room, the possibility of them jumping can be dealt with a strong lid, with the underside being covered in some soft material to cushion escape attempts (I know you said they can even escape airtight lids, but there's gotta be a limit, they're not exactly James Bonds).

 

But seriously, what would happen if someone unknowingly caught a protected species, transported it beyond its natural range and discovered it back at home, somehow still alive? Would they be required to contact Fisheries to come and collect it?


Edited by pseudechisbutleri, 10 January 2017 - 08:24 PM.


#22 Juls

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Posted 11 January 2017 - 06:34 AM

Ultimately unless you get caught red handed I don't think there is a lot to be concerned about just don't be greedy if you do find some.

The salamanders will really only jump out if there is something wrong with the water, if there is a 3mm gap in the corner, they will get out there.

Chances of accidently catching a salamanderfish is virtually none. They don't really live anywhere where you could accidently catch one.

Our lamprey turn into 2ft long saltwater parasitic fish, your very much right, they'd be a pain to try keep alive particularly if you had to keep a 10ft long fish for them to be parasitic on. but I can't see why anybody would want to try lol.

#23 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 11 January 2017 - 07:14 AM

Well that somewhat reassures to know I can get away with one or two fish.


Edited by pseudechisbutleri, 21 April 2021 - 11:51 AM.


#24 Juls

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Posted 11 January 2017 - 10:37 AM

As long as your not plundering the wild and trying to sell them, shift them interstate or releasing them again in a different location then It's less of a issue.

#25 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 11 January 2017 - 10:39 AM

Haha okay, thanks

#26 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 11 January 2017 - 10:44 AM

But with that said, I still wouldn't go collecting some of the more endangered species, like trout minnows and little Pygmy perch. Plus, all of our local protected species live quite far away, with ellenbrook's Galaxiella nigrostriatas being the closest.

Edited by pseudechisbutleri, 12 January 2017 - 08:54 AM.


#27 sajica

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Posted 12 January 2017 - 01:19 PM

Just a heads up guys, the current WA Government Gazette lists Salamader fish as Endangered. I'll post a screen shot later when I get around to it. I wouldn't be purposely trying to collect them.



#28 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 12 January 2017 - 01:29 PM

Neither would I (not at this point in time, at least)



#29 Juls

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Posted 13 January 2017 - 12:13 PM

This is good news if true, it needs that level of protection.
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#30 Mr_docfish

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 06:15 PM

But then there should be an attempt to breed it in captivity (now that we have acidic soft aquasoils at our disposal, it should be easier) rather than wait until the remaining populations die off from land degradation, lack of rain and gambisia.

#31 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 07:47 PM

True, successful breeding attempts may help restock diminishing populations, and by extension, possibly lowering their conservation status and making them available to regular aquarists.



#32 Juls

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 08:49 PM

Potentially climate change is the biggest threat to salamanderfish.

The handful of creeks and streams left with salamanderfish already have or will soon have gambusia, which spells the end for salamanderfish in said stream.

They don't live in rivers, any suggestion that they might relates to either connected creeks or nearby swamps within said rivers catchment.

Survival relys on the winter flooding of natural swamps in the broke inlet to windy harbor region and most importantly not having excessively long desiccation periods.

While captive breeding sounds like a great idea, it's flawed if you think you can just pluck these fish from the wild and easily keep them through to breeding and then raise the juveniles. Yes there is people that could do it, but finding those people and the funding to properly setup is another thing altogether.

It's a utterly crazy idea that hobbiest keepers could be the savior of salamanderfish. Just crazy.

More likely to extinct them trying.

Edited by Juls, 15 January 2017 - 08:58 PM.


#33 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 08:54 PM

Then what other solutions have we got?


Edited by pseudechisbutleri, 15 January 2017 - 08:55 PM.


#34 Mr_docfish

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Posted 17 January 2017 - 10:46 PM

Im sure there would be a select few that would breed them without funding - call it "privatisation ".... even if it is just for keeping the species alive after it becomes extinct in the wild... what other chance do they have (as has been said)

For years, no one could breed most of the L# catfish in captivilty... now it is relatively easy with the advent if new trchnology, better understanding and free info on the www..... scientific articles are limited if one expects to find enough breeding info there....

Government Departments have to get their individual brown noses out of each others smelly arses to see that pleb hobbyists are a potential key to the survival of a species.....

Is there no harm in allowing a controlled trial??

#35 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 18 January 2017 - 06:18 AM

Yeh, too true. Research programs (e.g. the Freshwater Fish Group) though, if they were to ask permission from the Government to perform a few trials with captive breeding threatened species, might be more likely, than regular hobbyists, to be allowed, and would probably be most suitable to perform such trials. If the Government allowed attempts at captive breeding, it would be more likely to be with said research programs, than regular hobbyists.

 

Lol, now that I think about it, contacting a group like the Freshwater Fish Group about performing captive breeding attempts might be a good idea.



#36 malawiman85

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Posted 18 January 2017 - 07:52 AM

Kelleher, the guy that started this topic, was with them which is why I asked who was breeding salamanders.

#37 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 18 January 2017 - 09:36 AM

So the FFG were the ones who bred the salamanders?

#38 malawiman85

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Posted 18 January 2017 - 01:06 PM

Don't know, but ffg would know who did

#39 pseudechisbutleri

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Posted 18 January 2017 - 03:38 PM

yeh, the ffg were most likely the ones who did it


Edited by pseudechisbutleri, 18 January 2017 - 03:40 PM.


#40 Juls

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 07:15 AM

The boys at Murdoch where able to spawn salamanderfish but had no success raising the juveniles. Although my understanding is they may not have really tried that hard.

Juls




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