# Snakeheads In The Swamp



## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Went for a look-see down a local swamp today. Has been a bit of rain the last couple of days so the forest floor was flooded. Lots of snakehead gudgeons (same as I keep in my tank) out and about looking for worms and insects that have been disturbed by the higher water. Ended up seeing about 40 of them. Was hoping see a croc there or amethyst python but no luck, not really sunny enough for them to be out. Also saw lots of tarpon and baby barramundi but no pics.


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

thats pretty sweet. they have some good size to them. thanks for sharing


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

DAmN,
I checked out your other thread -->>HERE I'd love to have some of them.
Incredible colours.
Thanks for sharing these with us. Keep that down under stuff coming.


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

WOW,nice


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## Avatar~God (Oct 21, 2004)

You always have awesome pictures to show, I'm very jelous of you sir. I have to drive an hour to get close to any kind of woods in general.


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## RedneckR0nin (Nov 5, 2008)

Deadly photos!!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Thats sweet that you have snakeheads wild near you and it sucks that snake heads are illegal where i am, but i cant really complain about that to Australians, you guys can keep barley anything


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Avatar~God said:


> You always have awesome pictures to show, I'm very jelous of you sir. I have to drive an hour to get close to any kind of woods in general.


I was the same while doing my degree, at least an hour to any kind of creek and they often had crowds of people and were pretty crap. The wildlife and nature up here is the reason I moved back as soon as I graduated. 15 minutes in any direction puts you in the rainforest with all sorts of stuff. And no people either.

Sean, not true snakeheads, these are just a type of big ass gudgeon that look very similar from above, hence the common name. True snakeheads are illegal here as well, plenty of micropeltes have been smuggled in (I have a few friends with them) but if you get caught...


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

louisvillain2.0 said:


> You always have awesome pictures to show, I'm very jelous of you sir. I have to drive an hour to get close to any kind of woods in general.


I was the same while doing my degree, at least an hour to any kind of creek and they often had crowds of people and were pretty crap. The wildlife and nature up here is the reason I moved back as soon as I graduated. 15 minutes in any direction puts you in the rainforest with all sorts of stuff. And no people either.

Sean, not true snakeheads, these are just a type of big ass gudgeon that look very similar from above, hence the common name. True snakeheads are illegal here as well, plenty of micropeltes have been smuggled in (I have a few friends with them) but if you get caught...








[/quote]
ok thanks for clearing that up. I didnt think snake heads were from austrialla, but im not really sure where they originate so... Ive seen some aussie prices for some less then legal fish and its rediculaous. Ive heard of common fish selling for more then rare fish cost here.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

sean-820 said:


> Ive seen some aussie prices for some less then legal fish and its rediculaous. Ive heard of common fish selling for more then rare fish cost here.


No doubt, like $600 for my spotted gar. Prices on some things have dropped in the last year but as people get to breeding in quantities, motoro pups are down to $1K a pair. Silver aro babies are down to $150ish now someone is breeding them. I wouldn't even blink about paying $300 a piece for baby natts or macs if the opportunity arose (would still buy at least 6). Plecos are the big ticket items now, zebras fetch an easy 1k+ for 3cm babies. Even gold nuggets which you might pay $20 in the states would cost close to a grand here. Also means you have to be careful about who knows what your keeping. People have their collections jacked all the time.


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## Genesis8 (Sep 11, 2009)

They look like bettas.


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## Rugged Child (Oct 3, 2006)

Beautiful colours on those...I would be tempted to net them for an aquarium


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

louisvillain2.0 said:


> Ive seen some aussie prices for some less then legal fish and its rediculaous. Ive heard of common fish selling for more then rare fish cost here.


No doubt, like $600 for my spotted gar. Prices on some things have dropped in the last year but as people get to breeding in quantities, motoro pups are down to $1K a pair. Silver aro babies are down to $150ish now someone is breeding them. I wouldn't even blink about paying $300 a piece for baby natts or macs if the opportunity arose (would still buy at least 6). Plecos are the big ticket items now, zebras fetch an easy 1k+ for 3cm babies. Even gold nuggets which you might pay $20 in the states would cost close to a grand here. Also means you have to be careful about who knows what your keeping. People have their collections jacked all the time.
[/quote]

Ouch those prices suck. Around me i can get motoro pups for 100$, silver arrow babies for 30$, under 10 bucks for natts and yep gold nugget plecos do cost about 20$ (in canada). The good thing is like you said only serious hobbiest will actually buy them so they don't end up back for sale in a couple moths when an arowana outgrows a 10g tank. What would the consequences be for somebody that is caught breeding something? Im assuming salt water stuff is much cheaper by you though similar to california or florida?


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## Avatar~God (Oct 21, 2004)

sean-820 said:


> Ive seen some aussie prices for some less then legal fish and its rediculaous. Ive heard of common fish selling for more then rare fish cost here.


No doubt, like $600 for my spotted gar. Prices on some things have dropped in the last year but as people get to breeding in quantities, motoro pups are down to $1K a pair. Silver aro babies are down to $150ish now someone is breeding them. I wouldn't even blink about paying $300 a piece for baby natts or macs if the opportunity arose (would still buy at least 6). Plecos are the big ticket items now, zebras fetch an easy 1k+ for 3cm babies. Even gold nuggets which you might pay $20 in the states would cost close to a grand here. Also means you have to be careful about who knows what your keeping. People have their collections jacked all the time.
[/quote]

Ouch those prices suck. Around me i can get motoro pups for 100$, silver arrow babies for 30$, under 10 bucks for natts and yep gold nugget plecos do cost about 20$ (in canada). The good thing is like you said only serious hobbiest will actually buy them so they don't end up back for sale in a couple moths when an arowana outgrows a 10g tank. What would the consequences be for somebody that is caught breeding something? Im assuming salt water stuff is much cheaper by you though similar to california or florida?
[/quote]

Wow those prices are very high, when a fish around here is a "hot ticket" they start off high for a month then they are over bread and the prices go down big time. For example the electric blue jack Dempsey's, they started off selling for $50-60 each and they were only about 1-2", now you can buy them from my work for $15 each. At my work we were selling baby aro's for $25 and those gold nuggets are about $15-20 bucks. Funny thing is, people complain about our prices being too high.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Genesis8 said:


> They look like bettas.


Yeah they do. Bettas that get to over 1ft. Live in the same sort of habitat as well.

Sean, our laws are ass backwards. Its illegal to import most fish species but once its in the country its fair game, no fines for owning/buying/selling/breeding. They have started to crack down a bit on asian aros, especially if they are advertised as microchipped. Kinda proves your fish was smuggled in. No chip and you can say it was bred in Oz and no problems. Only time you will get in bad with johnny law is if you have noxious fish. I have a permit for my gar because i owned it before it was illegal but it means I can't sell it or breed it.

Avatar god, EBJD were about that price here too when they first hit but yeah, prices are down to about 15-20. Cichlids don't really fetch any special prices here because heaps are allowed on our imports. Only pleco species allowed to be imported is L168. Obviously plenty of bristlenose/peps and o-spots being bred here forever but anything else is worth the risk for smugglers. Also why prices stay so high, most people can only afford one or two fish at a time (and also low number of fish smuggled in at any one time) so chances of breeding are lower. Those who do breed want to recoup some $$$ so charge big bucks for offspring. It takes a few years for prices to really start to come down and even then it remains the domain of serious keepers.


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