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Cichlids in their "natural" habitat....


ViS

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There is a very, very strong possibility that the powers to be down here are going to release Barramundi into the pondage to not only clean up a lot of the cichlids but also to establish a commercial fishery. It would not be self sustaining as barramundi require salt water to spawn but it would be a real treat to be able to drive for two hours and go fishing for barra.

To all of the readers that are concerned for the local wildlife, Hazlewood is a man made impoundment where the surrounding water is little creeks that get too cold in winter to sustain tropical fish so there is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE of any of the species in the lake apart from the mosquito fish going anywhere else.

While i do not agree with the idea of releasing ANY fish into any location other than their natural habitat, as a lover of cichlids, i have sat for hours and hours watching the red devils and convicts swimming in pairs, shepherding fry and interacting in a way that you can't see in a tank. In the rocky shoreline you can sit and watch the Africans behaving as if they were in the great lakes of Africa darting out of the rocks to display and to guard their territory.

This is a unique place that is well worth the trip to experience, it is as close to seeing WILD cichlids as i will ever see.

Glenn

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hey it'd be cool if bunch of us in sydney can organise a trip up there for over a long weekend or something (camping) we can see the day time fish and bring torches to see the night time activities :)

can you snorkel there?

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Local fishing store, buy those reeless looooong fishing stick (that asian people use) and put on those bait catcher (ones with 6 tiny hooks), bring a bag of NSL :) and go nuts LOL

hmm wander what kind of L cats live in there (though i wouldn't be suprised if there are RTC, Alli-Gars etc)

lol camping idea a silly idea, i just realised the hazelwood was in vic (i was thinking of the one in blue mountains! lol)

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Local fishing store, buy those reeless looooong fishing stick (that asian people use) and put on those bait catcher (ones with 6 tiny hooks), bring a bag of NSL :) and go nuts LOL

hmm wander what kind of L cats live in there (though i wouldn't be suprised if there are RTC, Alli-Gars etc)

lol camping idea a silly idea, i just realised the hazelwood was in vic (i was thinking of the one in blue mountains! lol)

The thing to remember here is these fish have been released but humans. One thing that is pretty common amoung humans is that they rarely give away things of great value. So i highly doubt that there would be valuable L# catfish in there. :p I'd hazard a guess and say there is probably bristlenose in there, maybe even some pleco's that grew to big!

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  • 1 month later...

No I just organised my photobucket pics into categories as I was losing pictures in the mess.

I will try and get to all my old posts later, but if you want to see the pics, put http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/aqua...quarium%20fish/ in front of each image in the url bar.

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  • 2 months later...

There is a very, very strong possibility that the powers to be down here are going to release Barramundi into the pondage to not only clean up a lot of the cichlids but also to establish a commercial fishery. It would not be self sustaining as barramundi require salt water to spawn but it would be a real treat to be able to drive for two hours and go fishing for barra.

There was a presentation sometime ago proposing the introduction of Barramundi.

BUT more recently (this month) there were two meetings, one with local angling clubs and representatives, the second was with people from the local area including DSE and Fisheries. The reaction was very positive and has been given approval subject to the enviromental study that will now be undertaken. This study will determine how many fish need to be stocked, what size and is being done by a scientist. They will look into the barra stocking models from QLD . It is one step closer to happening and I am fairly confident it will. The Fisheries have included Barra in the list of fish to be stocked in the 09/10 stocking year. Futurefish are working very hard on the project and have raised a lot of money so far to fund it. Hope this helps...

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  • 5 months later...

Location is Hazlewood pondage just down the road from Traralgon Vic

SE of Melbourne, it's the power station cooling pondage

Just google search to find it

IS there a part that is better that another.... i now this post is old.... but are there still fish there?

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Firstly you will need a Victorian fishing license to fish there legally, secondly it is not illegal to catch the fish out of the lake that are not on the noxious fishes list, the Tilapia mariae are listed as noxious as are the thousands of European carp so therefor you can not legally remove and keep these fish alive, my understanding is that it is also illegal to return these fish to the lake.

As far as I am aware the convicts, red devils and the zebra type fish are not on the noxious list so you can remove them from the lake legally.

As noted above in previous post it may be wise to quarantine any fish from the lake if you intend adding them to your tanks.

I know of many people who have had no problems at all with diseases from the lake but that doesn't mean you wont.

In my opinion the convicts and red devils look good straight out of the lake but do tend to lose their colour after sometime in your tank at home, obviously food related.

I believe a trip down there is worth the novelty value of catching cichlids from a lake but not really worth it overall.

It has been some time since I ventured down to Hazelwood but as far as I am aware nothing has changed as far as the fish populations go, on the other hand I have heard that it is much harder to access the rock wall where the zebras and convicts seemed to congregate, access was through the caravan park but I have been told the owners/managers are not happy about people wandering through, you could always give them a call and ask about access, it is a huge lake so there are plenty of access points on would imagine.

Another spot is under the bridge at Eel race creek.

All the above has been done to death in the many posting above, you may find lots more info by reading through them all.

Cheers,

John.

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Hazelwood Pondage rivals Lakes Victoria and Nicaragua for cichlid diversity?: Until recently Hazelwood Pondage, a warm-water effluent pondage for the Hazelwood power station in the LaTrobe Valley contained self-sustaining populations of the South American convict cichlid (Archocentrus (Chichlasoma) nigrofasciatus), and the African cichlid spotted Tilapia (Tilapia mariae), first reported in 1980. Both species were still present during a survey in March 1994, along with carp, goldfish (Carassius auratus), Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), and the native short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) and Australian smelt (Retropinna semoni). In February 2000 two additional exotic species had become established: the South American blue acara (Aequidens pulcher) and a potential cross between African Lake Malawi cichlids Labeotropheus sp. and Pseudotropheus zebra(?). More recently in April 2001, the Central American Red Devil from Lake Nicaragua (Amphilophus (Cichlasoma) labiatus) was also discovered, with a breeding pair and nest observed, and young fish from earlier spawning also present. The last three species require final verification against published keys. Contact: Tarmo Raadik.

Occurence of exotic tropical fish in the cooling pondage of a power station in temperate south-eastren Australia

PL Cadwallader, GN Backhouse and R Fallu

Abstract

Three species of exotic tropical fish, the black mangrove or Niger cichlid, Tilapia mariae Boulenger, of West Africa; the convict cichlid, Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum (Gunther), of Central America; and the Jack Dempsey cichlid, Cichlasoma octofasciatum (Regan), of Central and South America, have been recorded from the cooling pondage of a power station in temperate south-eastern Australia. All three species are readily available in the local aquarium fish trade. Black mangrove cichlids and convict cichlids appear to have established self-maintaining populations in the pondage. and also occur in a creek below the pondage.

Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 31(4) 541 - 546

Apparently there are Blue Acara's and JD's in there too? Jeez I wish there was a place like this near Sydney, would be good fun to throw a couple of lines in!

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Don't get too excited over the Blue acaras and Jack Dempsey's as I have never heard of anyone seeing or catching them at Hazelwood.

There have been lots of claims of different species but little proof.

John.

Yeah, I imagine there is a lot of speculation by people that probably don't really know what they are talking about. Still... I would really love to check this place out at some point. Would be good to observe the behaviour of the different species in the lake.

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