13 replies to this topic

[sajica]

I saw this article pop up in my newsfeed on facebook and thought I'd share. Seriously there are more important things Fisheries WA could be doing than attacking ornamental shrimp.

 

http://www.abc.net.a...-danger/5565402

 

I seem to recall something along the lines of all but *maybe 3* bodies of water in the South West from the Wheatbelt onwards have feral species present, but I need to find that article.

[Westie]

too right

and who "introduced" mosquito fish in the first place? not hobbyists

 

good find chris

[sajica]

I blame those hobbyists for introducing those Trout and Redfin too.

 

HELLO FISHERIES IF YOUR HERE LURKING!

Could you please attempt to captively culture some of the Salamanderfish or setup reserves/ modified habitats free of predation so we don't loose these fish. Please note that a similar thing is currently being done with the Red Finned Blue Eye in QLD.

 

I don't want to have to rely on cloning to be able to see these guys in the future.

 

NB Perhaps you could use some of your shrimp squashing budget on education regarding native species. I'm sure if you had your way organizations like ANGFA wouldn't exist and you'd all prefer us to keep species on the Allowable Imports list.

[Peckoltia]

I have always wanted to attempt to keep these interesting fish in an aquarium. Would make for some more than interesting tank inhabitant.

[Juls]

I've been watching various populations of salamander for many years now, late last year I found gambusia on one of the brooks that traditionally only houses galaxiella Munda and lepidogalaxias salamadroides. I was really upset by this as it is the only salamander habitat I'm aware of that runs all year round.

Since then I've not found a salamander in that waterway. Something that was different was that the bush land surrounding the brook had recently been burnt. Its possible I guess this could have contributed in gambusia being introduced to this particular waterway that traditionally it did not occur in. It could also have contributed to the losses of much of the salamander population. The entirety of the brook typically is only 1" to 6" deep with occasional ponds that are up to 12" deep.

Salamanderfish is particularily fragile in the aquarium, don't be fooled by there ability to survive harsh conditions, in aquaria they are very tricky to keep Alive. typically they won't take dead foods but sometimes can eventually be weaned onto frozen but never dry. This is due to there feeding response which is essentially sit, wait, attack.

They dont do well with other fish in aquaria as they don't compete for food, even if kept with galaxiella nigrostriata which they are natively found in pools together it doesn't work as nigrostriata isn't fussy they just eat everything where salamanderfish needs a set of rules to achieve a feeding response.

Water changing is complex as any sudden water drops sends them into burrowing, if they can't burrow they just jump out of the tank and perish.

If one is to keep salamanderfish they are best kept singular or as a pair. This enables you to train different feeding resposes and eventually tame the fish.

Water wise they are virtually never found in water much about ph 6. Most of the places I have found them have been around 3.8-4.5. This ultimately means there tolerence to ammonia with a ph close to or above ph 7 is essentially nil. Don't confuse this with the average fish not tolerating ammonia above 7 as most our aquarium fish can handle a bit of ammonia in short undetectable doses, salamanderfish cannot.

My advice would never try to maintain more than 2 wild caught salamanders in a single tank.

As for captive bred variants, scientists have bred these in captivity although I'm uncertain if they raised any juvies.

This time of year many of the undamaged salamander habitats are full of juvenile fish around 10-15mm in size, without predators these are actually quite safe but there skinny little body's would be no match for gambusia.

Salamanders spend much of there time just sitting and waiting for a tasty cyclops, copepod or mosquito larvae to get too close. They also sit still in order to appear as a stick from above, they can be really tricky to spot unless they spring off like a coiled up spring and wiggle like a snake as they swim fast. All other swimming motions are like a goby in that they propel with there front fins only.

Fisheries are not interested in salamander fish, there is no gain for them there. Dpaw don't really have the expertise or funds to be messing with them either.

Gambusia is a big problem as there range is increasing every year. Salamanderfishes drying ponds are its only hope but if the dry seasons become too hot and too long then these places are no longer a safe haven.

If you must wild catch this fish to keep then please limit yourself to a pair, and don't bother unless you have access to very low ph water, and never ending live foods. They don't like black worms and generally not that interested in daphnia and brine shrimp.

Juls

[sydad]

I'm In virtually total agreement with Juls on all but the comments re daphnia and brine shrimp. Although it is many years since I kept salamandroides, when I did these were the mainstay foods, together with mosquito larvae, that I used.

 

Not only did i find water quality/pH a problem, but I found that although in the wild they are obviously quite temperature tolerant, in the aquarium they quickly succumbed to water temps over about 30C. They are best regarded as a specialist's fish. Their maintenance is really beyond the ability of most aquarists.

 

Syd.

[Juls]

I've found they will eat brine shrimp and daphnia they just seem to prefer live blood worm and mosquito larvae. They do eat the tiny ramshorn snails which I found interesting.

I prefer to use live bloodworm and mosquito larvae as Its easier to train them over to frozen foods and eventually be able to semi hand feed.

That being said I wasn't getting the feeding response from daphnia and brine so I didn't persist. Maybe I'll try again because daphnia is easy to raise, and I have endless wild supply in winter.

I'm trying a few different tank layouts at the moment and filter systems too see which makes them more comfortable and easier to care for.

Juls

[malawiman85]

I've found they will eat brine shrimp and daphnia they just seem to prefer live blood worm and mosquito larvae. They do eat the tiny ramshorn snails which I found interesting.
I prefer to use live bloodworm and mosquito larvae as Its easier to train them over to frozen foods and eventually be able to semi hand feed.
That being said I wasn't getting the feeding response from daphnia and brine so I didn't persist. Maybe I'll try again because daphnia is easy to raise, and I have endless wild supply in winter.
I'm trying a few different tank layouts at the moment and filter systems too see which makes them more comfortable and easier to care for.
Juls

Juls, do you still have Sally?
I would love to keep some of these one day, they seem a little too high maintenance for me at the moment though.

[Mr_docfish]

Juls - have you tried different types of substrate like aquasoils? (Ones without ammonia) as they tend to keep the low pH as required - very similar to some on the exotic shrimp that our friends over east keep - but only with appropriate products like soils.....
Maybe there is something we can learn from our brief stint with exotic shrimp..,

[Juls]

Unfortunately Sally did a jump shortly after a water change one day. I don't even know how she got out the tank was virtually sealed.

I'm looking at a tank setup where I can change the water without dropping the water level.

I'm waiting till the end of the wet season when they have stopped breeding and I will collect a few more pairs and try again.

As for substrates I'm havnt bothered to try any substrates as I'm using RO and filter peat with success. But its clear I need to be more careful with water changes. Keeping them in captivity is tricky because in order to maintain a successful biofilter i have to keep them in there upper ph range.

In every place I have ever found salamanders it's been on fine white sand (with the top being brown from broken down plant matter ect). There is one place that's more clayish I find them but that particular spot is a stream that rarely stops altogether and is home to a healthy group of galaxiella Munda. (Also a place I recently found gambusia after a depaw burnoff)

Later on I will give some soils a go, I would like to try exceed my record of keeping these guys going for more than a year and hopefully spawn them.

Juls

[MrLeifBeaver]

Unfortunately Sally did a jump shortly after a water change one day. I don't even know how she got out the tank was virtually sealed.

I'm looking at a tank setup where I can change the water without dropping the water level.

I'm waiting till the end of the wet season when they have stopped breeding and I will collect a few more pairs and try again.

As for substrates I'm havnt bothered to try any substrates as I'm using RO and filter peat with success. But its clear I need to be more careful with water changes. Keeping them in captivity is tricky because in order to maintain a successful biofilter i have to keep them in there upper ph range.

In every place I have ever found salamanders it's been on fine white sand (with the top being brown from broken down plant matter ect). There is one place that's more clayish I find them but that particular spot is a stream that rarely stops altogether and is home to a healthy group of galaxiella Munda. (Also a place I recently found gambusia after a depaw burnoff)

Later on I will give some soils a go, I would like to try exceed my record of keeping these guys going for more than a year and hopefully spawn them.

Juls

 

Ok diving in with no exp in this area...ha ha.

 

Just in regards to breeding, and keeping them longer than a year, have you thought about trying setting up the same similar habitat at home and harvesting everything on location?

 

Get the substrate from where your getting them and aerate on the way home so nothing 'dies-off'.

Custom make a very long/large but shallow tank, to make it feel like a stream (the more water the better so your parematers don't change to drammatically)

Setup the filter to give the feeling of water current, have the suction setup on the other side so the tank feels like a stream.

Setup the tank initially with water from the location.

Twice a season, maybe Measure water temp, ph, kh, ammonia, etc in the stream so you can see the health of the stream.

Edited by MrLeifBeaver, 15 September 2014 - 04:26 PM.

[malawiman85]

Hey Juls,

How long would they normally be expected to live, any idea?

[Juls]

It is believed they can live up to 5 years.

However this would assume they survive many aestivation cycles. Many salamanders may not make it through the first aestivation attempt, especially if there pools dry up before they are mature enough to burrow.

It is unclear if salamanderfish can survive continuously for 5 years without aestivation.

They are typically not found in rivers or permanent streams.

Juls

[malawiman85]

http://www.aquariuml...ally salamander

Hope you dont mind me posting this link here... But its a good thread for anyone interested in salamanderfish.