The Narrows Central Queensland

[Baccus]

Today we went for a little excursion to a place called The Narrows near Mt Larcom, along the way we crossed quite a few dry creeks and culvets but saw 3 creeks still with water and plant life (from the car we could also see fish movement) which I intended to check out more fully on our way back from the actual Narrows, which is a sheltered tidal area that is s jumble of creek enterences, mudflats and mangroves.

On the way to the Narrows

This creek was actually tidal and I would say quite brackish since there where a few mangroves growing on the sides of the banks.

In the above creek I did see some little Pacific Blue Eyes but I was not eager to go wading about in the water because it was quite deep and impossible to see the floor of the creek, remember this is Croc country and we where basically in the middle of no where. Also it was thick with sandflies, as was the boat ramp at the Narrows.

 

This other creek was much more promising we  had seen fish movement when we crossed it earlier, there was lots of water skaters skittering across the surface and quite a few aquatic plants. And thankfully no sandflies. Once we approached the water it was plain to see the water was teeming with Pacific Blue Eyes, Flyspecked Hardyheads, Some type of Rainbow (more on this later), shrimp and even gudgeons

Some of the Glass shrimp turned "stressed blue" which is a shame they wont keep such pretty colouring.

One of the shrimp has white muscle so I will dispose of it carefully to prevent its spread.

The solitary rainbow fish I managed to catch I have the faintest hope it could be a Rhad, its eye is huge but I have not so far been able to get a good photo of its fins. I know its most likely another Dawson/ Fitzroy Rainbow but I can always live in hope.

 

[KeenShrimp]

Thank you for the photos Baccus. Great find - the blue looks awesome, very interested to see what they look like once relaxed???

[Cryptocorynus]

1 hour ago, Baccus said:

The solitary rainbow fish I managed to catch I have the faintest hope it could be a Rhad, its eye is huge but I have not so far been able to get a good photo of its fins. I know its most likely another Dawson/ Fitzroy Rainbow but I can always live in hope.

If it's a tidal creek, the chances are it would have been a Rhad. They are much like Blue-eyes in the way they can take brackish water (and sometimes even full seawater in some populations). Rhads also have a very different body shape to M. splendida (which would have been the other species there) and can be differentiated very simply from almost all species of rainbowfish from their elongated body. 

Edited May 15, 2016 by Cryptocorynus

[Baccus]

Turns out I also accidently got quite a few tiny little snails, my camera just wont do them justice trying to zoom in on their tiny shells and bodies. Mainly the snails look to have black turban type shells.

This little snail seems to have a clear body at the moment too.

Because I am guessing the little Rainbow is a juvi its hard to tell if its elongated, its certainly not as slim and long as a flyspeck hardyhead.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures but I had to try and single it out since it kept disappearing into the crowd of blue eyes.

 

I forgot to mention that the creek was also running but the other 2 weren't, very nice to see since we have not had rain in ages and the countryside is looking very brown and dry.

 

[Cryptocorynus]

1 hour ago, Baccus said:

That really is hard to tell from body shape alone on such a small and stressed fish (especially as its fins are so hard to see), but my guess would be that it isn't a Rhad after all. M. duboulayi, M. splendida, M. fluviatilis, etc. (the southernmost rainbowfish other than R. ornatus) tend to have a distinctive normally orange/yellow/red blotch of colour over the gills (which your fish has), (whereas Rhads tend not to). Knowing this I'd be betting it would be a M. splendida. It's quite strange you found it in an estuary, though. I've been breeding and collecting rainbows for years and never once found any rainbowfish other than Blue-eyes and Rhads that close to mangroves.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Cryptocorynus

[Baccus]

A not so stressed shrimp now, just has a hint of blue still otherwise its taken on more mottled browns.

A nice little Flyspeck Hardhead

And the reason I am just in love with Blue Eyes......Stunning Eyes

[Baccus]

Still not really the clearest picture of the tiny snails that I got down at the Narrows but it does show what look to be some interesting eyes and a mouth that looks similar to a MTS mouth.

[kizshrimp]

The rainbow is 100% not a Rhad and 100% IS a Melanotaenia. It's completely obvious from the pic. 

Looks like a great day out Baccus, always love to see more field trip reports from places where I aren't. Keep em coming!! 

[Baccus]

So these little interesting snails are still kicking about in the holding tank and I still have no idea what they actually are. They also have not grown very much if at all in the couple of months that I have had them. So now I am wondering are they a naturally small snail? Just incredibly slooooow growing? Or is the tank condition just not right for them to grow but good enough to not die in?

My camera and I are still at odds with what makes a close up picture, but I will keep trying to get some clearer better photos of these interesting little snails with the turban shells. Remember they where caught where I also got Pacific Blue Eyes and there was also plenty of glass (?) shrimp.

[Baccus]

Just tried getting some clearer pictures and while doing so it appears there are at least 3 snail species I collected, but these little turban shelled ones I am mostly interested in since they have shown no interest in plants or prepared foods.

 

 

They remind me of notopala in how they hold their shell, but I can not tell if they have a door and all the baby notopalas that I have had in my tanks have had small flatish round shell. Don't even ask what these guys mouths look like I don't think I have a hope of getting a clear enough photo since they are so tiny.

[NoGi]

You find all the nice native stuff @Baccus, thanks for sharing the photos so far.

[Baccus]

Thanks NoGi, usually I think I don't have that many interesting critters around where I am, or if there is nice stuff the risks of crocs and inaccessibility are major deterrants. My main problem with finding some of the critters I do find is being able to accurately identify them.

But it is fun to go on the hunt, I hoping to be able to do some more searching along a dirt back road that I found that heads towards Gladstone from The Narrows.

[ageofaquariums]

Does look very M. duboulayi, or to use its old common name "pink ear".