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Barney Springs Atherton Table lands


northboy

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Hi All

Time to peave you off again with a field trip.

Myself and 2 other members for here with there other halves went to a spring that comes up not far from Tolga, It is in dryish country but the spring is surrounded by a sort of rain forest, it is about 100mts long before falling 50+mts into Rocky creek, there was a number of thing there I don't have photos of every thing but some of the others might, Redeye, Baccus???

The water is fairly hard at 216ms and 23c, they were the only reading I took THIS TIME, there was evidence of some good snails there as well as a Rainbow fish that had a large black line down its side, the Rainbow was TO fast to catch. Some of us went further North where we found Waterhousii snails, they are smaller than the ones from NT and a different species.

We collected

Subwassertang

Moss

Ottela

Subwassertang

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Some of the collectors

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Otella

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Moss

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In the last shot is a shrimp, it could be a Zebra, not all Zebs have the Black and White pattern most people know or its another new species.

Bob

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That's so cool Bob, the Subwassertang looks really awesome & yeah I am really jealous, bugger you & your awesome lifestyle up in Cairns, lol :smiley_simmons:

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Looks very interesting Bob why didn't I know you when we came up damn I would have enjoyed that kind of field trip. Won't be up that way again for a couple of years now.:encouragement:

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The last Moss at this stage is???? unnamed I have to send some off for ID.

It looks like some others but isn't, hopefully one of the others has an out of water shot as there was 20 or 30 square meters of it out of water and about 5sq meters under water.

There was obviously water differences between the start and finish of the Springs, The moss was at its best at the start of the Spring and the Subwassertang was at its best near the end of the Springs (slower water maybe)?

Bob

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Good point Fishmosy, good to see Subwassertang actually does cling to rocks, good info to know for the future :encouragement:

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The Subwassertang is only found inflowing water, in fast water there is only little bits on the back of rocks, there at Barney in a slow flow there was some big balls of it, up to fist size.

Did any one notice the snail in the Subwassertang? looks like a baby Waterhousii, I did not see it at the time, if it is that will be exciting.

Bob

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Bob, you beat me to it, but hardly surprising since you didn't have to drive 13 hrs home LOL. Any way here are some of my pictures of this magic little place. First photo is what we where greeted with on arrival. DSCF4098_zps2249a9e8.jpg DSCF4101_zpsb908b578.jpg Second pool DSCF4104_zps503b20d0.jpg Some moss DSCF4115_zpsb2c61884.jpg More Moss DSCF4116_zps41a677ca.jpg The shrimp collected IMAG1449_zps3f734da0.jpg And a teeny tiny yabby stow away (he's the same size as the shrimp) IMAG1453_zpsc932a70b.jpg IMAG1455_zpsb024c930.jpg

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Thanks it was a great little wonder land, I was busy getting wet so the other half took most of the pictures. I need to go through the rest of the pictures and see if he took any of the rocks all covered with moss, instead of the horses he went to chat to.

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Your Cray is a little guy= Dwarf type, it is a Orange finger cray possibly Wassilii, Down at the creek we were trying to get to and finally did there is a squat cone snail with bumps all over it.

Your Shrimp traveled well good job, how about the plants?

Remember I told you about the Apple snails? I got some tonight all of them are 1/2 the size of MY fist huge

Bob

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I was hoping to have two of the yabbies, I was sure I had seen a slightly larger stow away, but it might be hiding in the moss still. A lot of the shrimp hitch hiked on the moss from one bucket to the other bucket. I had a couple of fatalities but that could have just been due to the roads between here and Cairns. It also looks like I may have got two types of shrimp from Barney Springs. Most of them look very similar to C. confusa even appear to have the tiny spotting, while the odd few have barring on their backs, I want to get some better pictures of them but they only settle when down on the moss, if they are on the sides of their temp holding net they are just racing all over the shop. They also have good climbing ability, when I checked the tank this morning a few of the Barney Springs shrimp had made a break for it and where wondering around on the outside of the temp holding net. The riffle shrimp travelled well, I put them in into another temp holding container to keep an eye on them for a couple of days but they have already had their own ideas about that. This morning there was only one riffle left in the holding cage, going mental. The rest are hopefully free in the weeds, logs and other timber in the tank never to be seen again unil they grow a bit bigger. I hope the typhus shrimp who are monsters in comparison don't eat them. I hope the riffles haven't made a total break out of the tank, since the typhus seem to like my deepest tank, hopefully the riffles will like it too and not go walkies. The apple snails being so big is surprising and also a warning. Since they are a huge pest in Florida and are now banned from being sold in the EU, I am surprised that Australia hasn't got on the band wagon yet too. Speaking of snail I got some small hitch hikers from Barney Springs, I will have to find some where to let them grow out so I can get a better idea of what snails they might be. I wouldn't mind getting some waterhousii off you though as well as nerites and the spikey shelled guys. The new bumpy shelled ones also sound interesting. The plants are all doing great too, I am having to go through the moss with a fine tooth comb since the shrimp hang on to it for grim death and wont flick about the place, so you can see them easily. I want to put the new moss in a tank with no java moss so the two don't get mixed up. It will be interesting if the moss changes in appearance in my water too with no high tech lights or ferts added. The subwassertang I will put into my darkest tank, the one that is home to the blackmore shrimp and spotted blue eyes, hopefully it will grow well in the darker conditions. Well had better head off, a thousand things to do now that I am home and one of the hardest things to do is work out where on earth I will put the new 21L tank with the built in hood. Looks like its time to do some rearranging in the shed.

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I have a couple of pics to show as well......unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the shrimps. Baccus you were very lucky to nab some of those little yabbies.

A foggy start to the day. I had to photo this as I don't get to see fog in Cairns that much so it was a real buzz to see it so thick heading towards Mareeba.

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Another sight I don't get to see much is the hot air balloon passing over Mareeba

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The track into Barney Springs

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Not a good shot of a horse grazing near by but at least I got the shot.

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The surroundings of Barney Springs

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Hope you enjoyed the show.

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Great Photos there Redeye ! I will have to upload the pics the other half took of the horses. I am still trying to track down the other yabby I am sure has stashed itself in the moss somewhere. Before I fed the Barney Springs shrimp with some Australian Native Fish Crumble its small balls of food and I got to see a funny sight. One of the balls of food was dancing through the water. On closer inspection it had two shrimp on either side of it fighting over the eating rights, but it really did look like they where waltzing. At least they seem happy with the food on offer.

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Forgot to add, I also got a couple of tiny mussels, they are totally white so I will try to photograph them on a black back ground. Also against a ruler because they are so small, like tiny pebbles.

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Here are a couple of pictures of the tiny mussels. One of them started exploring while I was taking the photos. DSCF4195_zps637c8773.jpg DSCF4192_zps54fc9d2d.jpg DSCF4183_zpscdf6a463.jpg Since most mussels breed via their larval stage getting into fishes gills I think these guys will be going into a tank with no fish. Also it will be interesting to see if they survive in tank conditions since most times it is reported that mussels don't do well in fish tanks due to the way they feed.

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Very interesting please keep us updated. Never thought of mussels in the tank

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You can buy them sometimes in pet shops or online, but they have specialist ways of feeding and their breeding habits are an irritation to fish. It will be interesting to see if these little guys survive and how big they will grow.

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Thats very interesting to know about fresh water mussels Baccus. All the shrimps, yabbies, snails and mussels we collected have come from hard water environment which is a worry because our tap water is very soft. Bob said to put coral in the tank but my dilemma is how much coral to how big a tank:confused-new:

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The more you add the harder it gets, just a couple of 10cm round pieces will do if you are worried, I have mine in a bare 2 foot tank and they are fine.

Had a look at the shrimp under a Scope and ? They are simular to Malanda creeks, but also have some Zebra traits to, The boffins will have to do there job

They are all the same, the colour differences are mood or different sexes.

Bob

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My ones seem to have really settled into their new home, and are gradually blissfully escaping the holding net/cage. I didn't notice when I first put them in it that there is a small hole in the side and I think that is what they are crawling out of. They seem happy to stay on the net though, although I have seen a couple make a bolt for the jungle of plants. Last night I was watching one on the floor or the tank while the corys did their usual buzzing about. The shrimp was unfazed and just kept eating the food it had found. They have also calmed down to me looking at them, and just stay where ever they where perched, so I would say aside from our own eyes telling us there where little or no predators in their pool, this happy to perch out in the open is further proof. I have two types of Australian fish cray foods and so far the shrimp have taken readily to both. One is Science Products Crayfish Pellets - A balanced diet for freshwater crustaceans and the other is Aqua Master Australian Native Fish Food- Slow sinking crumble. I have even watched them fighting over the Aqua Master food, so they seem really happy with it. If you go out to Barney Springs again Bob, could you try and get me another couple of yabbies please? I think the guy I got was in the thick moss rather than under rocks.

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Some pictures of the Barney Springs shrimp that have found their way out of the holding net, and some of the fissiden that was growing on the rocks up there. DSCF4219_zpsaf2ebc9c.jpg DSCF4222_zps0817f4fc.jpg DSCF4226_zps9fc1e301.jpg DSCF4236_zps15827f27.jpg DSCF4240_zps38e8994e.jpg

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