Hi from New Zealand.

[Raeburn]

Hi everyone. I actually joined a couple of days ago, sorry for the delay introducing myself.

I started keeping fish in 2006 with a 20g long set up as a planted community. One day I watched a staff member at my favourite LFS feed a tank of African Cichlids and I was hooked. I ended up with 10 tanks, most of them dedicated to breeding Mbunas and Peacocks. I also pumped out a fair number of Bristlenoses, they just kept on coming.

We had a big 'quake in September 2010 but I was lucky, all I lost was water. It was a massive mess but I reset the tanks and continued on. Then the real big one struck in February 2011 and I lost pretty much all of it. I rushed home from work, along with the rest of the city...a 30 minute drive took 2 hours...to find everything except one tank, a 110g male only African Cichlid display, smashed on the floor. We were without water or power for 4 days but I managed to keep those fish alive. The aftershocks were nerve wracking so as soon as I could I sold or gave them away, mothballed the tanks and started a hobby that didn't demand stability.

In February this year I decided to dip my toes back into the aquarium hobby and got a little 5g and a sweet wee Betta...I now have 8 tanks and I've been breeding Bettas for a couple of the LFSs in town and I've just had my first Sturisoma panamense, Royal Farlowella spawn.

My list so far in no particular order...

65g planted community with Ottos, Siamese Algae eaters, an Angel, around 90 Neons, Butterfly Plecs (L168), a female Veiltail Betta and a female Orange Flash Apistogramma.

50g with one native Crayfish in blue.

20g long with 12 Cardinal Tetras and a male Crowntail Betta.

20g high with an uncountable number of Crowntail fry growing out.

40g with Guppies, soon to be home of the CT growouts.

10g with 4 young Bristlenoses and 1 female Crowntail Betta.

10g Farlowella growout.

10g with Guppies.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Raeburn

[Rikostan]

Great pics!

 

I wonder if there is anybody else on the forum that has dealt with the earthquakes like you have. Maybe they might have some pointers, but i can't even imagine what those would look like.

 

Your country is on my bucket list of places to visit, but who knows when and if we'll be able to travel safely again.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[Daniel]

@Rikostan I know of a few members from New Zealand. @camsaquariums, @Jeza43 and @DucksOnQuack for sure.

[camsaquariums]

Hello from Auckland!

May I ask where you got the blue koura? kind of keen to get one haha

[Raeburn]

2 hours ago, camsaquariums said:

Hello from Auckland!

May I ask where you got the blue koura? kind of keen to get one haha

Hi. He came from a company called Keewai in Mosgiel. You can get blue or regular coloured crays from them and I thought the price was reasonable. Email John from their contact page and go from there. Being from the South Island they don't like warm water and it's best to keep them under 20°C/68°F.  They are a fascinating creature and can get quite large, check out the pics on their website, link below.

I have also linked an episode of Country Calendar about them that aired in 2018.

http://keewai.co.nz/

https://youtu.be/m6zitnQ4EBI

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Raeburn

[Flynn Naysmith]

NZ represent!!!