We set ourselves a challenge for the September school holidays - we were finally going to set up our second aquarium with some fish. I'd spent a day earlier on in the break getting the tank ready and then it was time for Eli and I to go fishing. I had considered going far and wide in search of some really good fishing spots, but in the end we figured that we ought to at least try our local creek which is less than 100 m away from our house. So armed with our pink net (and a baited fish trap) off we went in search of whatever we could find. Here are a few photos of Eli getting busy with the net, in search of critters in our creek.
It turned out that our local creek was more exciting and more alive than I'd expected and despite significant catches of non-native fish like guppies (which Eli loves incidentally - it's the colours!), we also managed to catch some native gudgeons (of the purple spotted and empire varieties) a dragonfly nymph and lots of damselfly nymphs and snails. We also collected some aquatic plants for the tank too, so it really is a tank that represents what we find in our local creek.
Here's a collection of our collection...including snails, damselflies, a dragonfly and fish.
Here's a photo of a rather satisfied Eli next to the new tank - you can see all of the guppies swimming around near the surface.
And here is my favourite new addition to our collection of aquatic creatures - we caught this purple spotted gudgeon (which just happens to be my favourite native fish) just 100 m from home. Not a bad job for a school holiday period. Eli has enjoyed the entertainment at breakfast time too - I've moved a little table and chair so he can sit and watch the fish eat their breakfast while he eats his...not sure how long this ritual will last, but it certainly beats watching tv!
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