Hi

[yellapieslinger]

I'm new to here but not to John. Sludgemunkey is a familiar name for me. I live in Japan and keep Cynops pyrrhogaster, as well as, Cynops ensicauda. Recently, I picked up some African Dwarf Frogs which at the moment I keep in with a mixture of tropical fish. I'm interested in breeding them, and the Cynops, too! I also keep some Monster Fish, Spotted Gar, Bichers, a Redtail Catfish and Plecos. I have some river and pond fish that my daughter and I went out and caught with nets and fish traps made from plastic pop bottles. Before anyone gets on my case on the Redtail Cat, I plan to visit a junk yard and pick up one of those live fish delivery trucks that have a huge fiberglass tank on the bed - remember the Japanese and their sushi... So he will graduate from a 60cm, to a 90 then 120 - then the size is the limit. Thanks in advance for all I will learn from the veterans here.

[Ebony]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. I'm thinking we should be thanking you in advance for all we will learn from you. You have quite a collection and good luck with your breeding. I would love to see some photo's sometime.

[yellapieslinger]

Thanks Ebony, and Christchurch was beautiful! Was there several years ago in a February during the garden festival. Even drove down the beautiful country side to visit Queenstown. And just to show my ignorance (and laziness) what sort of native sals, newts, and frogs do you have that folks like us are collecting and loving?

[Kurt]

Welcome aboard. I wouldn't worry about anyone flaming you. One, I doubt that many here know what a red-tailed catfish, Phractocephalus hemioliopterus is. I do, as I have worked with them. Two, there is a zero tolerence here towards that kind of behavior.

By the way, what is a monster fish?

[Ebony]

That's cool..So did you brave the Bungy Jump then? Sorry, but I'm not really sure about the Salamander.We have our NZ natives Frogs but we are not allowed to keep in captivity. I keep the introduced species that we can get in our pet shops. The Southern bell (Litoria ranformis, The Green and Golden bell (Litoria aurea) And the Whistling tree frog (Litoria ewingi) which i have breed and hoping will breed this year along with my Green and Golden Bells. You can view them in my album if you would like.

[Ebony]

Kurt, The Monster fish that I know of have lots of teeth, a double row of teeth and the head is like a dog head, Ive only seen a photo and the face which does look quite scary. I look forward to seeing yellapieslinger's Monster fish.

[Kurt]

Whats the classification on this fish?

[yellapieslinger]

By the way, what is a monster fish?

oops, got the grammar wrong... I should have put a colon after monster fish. I don't know what monster fish keepers dot com actually gives as the definition but basically they are fish as Ebony says that "have ... teeth" and/or/plus anything that grows over 2 ft and up to 9 or 10 ft that is sold in a pet shop (without a lot of buyers knowledge of how big they actually get). Here, I have seen Alligator Gars selling for about $20 but unless you ask, they're only about 4-5 inches long in the shops as babies. BY the time you get one in a 4ft by 1 1/2ft tank and notice that it's still growing, it is too late to take it back. The Red Tail's get that big too but they are pretty easy going and can be trained to be hand-fed. I hand feed my gar 'now' but when he gets bigger, those teeth might smart. I will try to get some pics up soon.

[yellapieslinger]

That's cool..So did you brave the Bungy Jump then? ...I keep the introduced species that we can get in our pet shops. The Southern bell (Litoria ranformis, The Green and Golden bell (Litoria aurea) And the Whistling tree frog (Litoria ewingi) which i have breed and hoping will breed this year along with my Green and Golden Bells. You can view them in my album if you would like.

I saw your frogs, you are actually raising them! That's great! I'm afraid I wasn't brave enough to do the bungy jump, but as I remember, there was a pretty cool 'jet boat?' ride that we did. It was a long time ago.

I will try to get some pics up soon. Thanks for the encouragement.