Tank help please?????

Question

i want to create a New Zealand coldwater tank with live New Zealand river animals

any tips on creating this tank

Answer 1

The toughest thing about river animals is creating a tank with a current in it that can replicate their natural habitat.  I've done this on several occasions, and it can be greatly rewarding; but you're going to run into some difficulties at first.  

First, you need the right tank.  In order to set up a reasonable duplicate of their habitat, the tank is going to need to be pretty long.  A 40 gallon xtra long will work, but an 80 gallon xtra long is ideal (IF you have the space for one....they're about 2 1/2 meters long).  

Next comes the current.  You'll want a power filter and at least 2 high volume power heads for this.  The trick to getting a good current going is to put both power heads and the power filter at one end of the tank; then run plastic tubing (you should be able to find whatever size you need at a hardware store) from the intakes, under the gravel to the other end of the tank.  This will insure that all the tank water is moving in roughly the same direction.  You'll also need to rig up some sort of mesh cover for where the tubes suck the water in to avoid sucking your fish into a power head.

Once you get things running, use some bigger rocks for decoration.  The rocks will also provide little resting places where your fish can duck out of the current from time to time....even fish need a breather every now and then.

Good luck once again!

*EDIT* Just looked at that fishbase site.  It wouldn't work for me right now either, but I'd definitely bookmark it for future use!  Great link!

Answer 2

I don't know much about New Zealand, but try FishBase. Scroll down to where it says "Information by Country/Island" and choose New Zealand. For some reason the page isn't working for me right now, but it will list all the fish that live in the country. You might think about doing a tropical tank rather than coldwater. I think there are some species of rainbowfish that live in NZ, so you might consider those. Good luck, that sounds like it's going to be a really cool tank.

edit: Sorry, I was thinking of New Guinea. You're right, there probably aren't tropical fish in New Zealand. But still, look at FishBase while I go look at a globe.

Answer 3

Out side of the saltwater fish,

What river animals are you looking to have?  Well we can leave trout out since they are not native to NZ (nope imports) so animals in rivers....First off, most are on the endangerd species list and are impossiable if not unattainable and not allowed to be kept.

Most of your fish species in NZ are salt/fresh water.  Many spend most of their years at sea.  To choose one or two would be up to how you set up your tank.

What exactly are you looking to do?  Try this site

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/summary...