thermofish

Is it actually a brand name? as Ika ( いか ) is just Japanese for squid.

So you already know the basics of fish keeping, so there is no need to go over that. If your basic fishkeeping skills are up to scratch it shouldn't be a too great a challenge. But as always, do remember not to overstock! better to have a canister over spec'd for your tank size than under. Don't over feed etc etc You don't need to keep the water warm like you do for cichlids and other tropicals. Cold water out of the tap is fine, well treated with 'Prime' or something of that ilk of course. You don't have to worry about your water being brackish or too hard (Sydney tap water is fine for them) Load you tank up with a decent amount of aquarium/pool salt (don't use table salt, it can have various anti-caking agents in it) Guessing it would be about 1 tablespoon/4-5litres from memory. Now let your tank run in for a few days. Now, try and collect your poddies from as far up stream as you possibly can. They will survive much longer if you collect them from as fresh (least salty) area as you can find. Don't dump them straight into you tank, they need to adjust to and differences in temp and osmotic pressure slowly, just like aquarium fish from the store. When you put a hook in them and dump them in salt water its not so much if a problem as your not expecting them to survive for weeks or months. If any die, get them out of your tank immediately as they will SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the survivability of the other fish within hours. Having a dedicated salt water tank set-up for live bait I would consider to be a very expense and pointless exercise. Last of all, DON'T GIVE THEM NAMES! Good luck, and if you have any problems post what they are. Cheers!

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One more vote for South American Pacu. VERY human like teeth on those critters. For eating nuts. No bull.

Holy sweet mother of god.

Like anything that loves hiding in structure you need to find the right balance between using the lightest gear possible as well as being able to keep them out of anything they can bust you off on, but we were lucky that day and they mostly ran straight under the boat which made our job easier. Once they reaslised that wasnt the best place for them they started putting up a good fight! tonnes of fun.

I know this is not in Sydney but i though i might share just in case anyone was interested in fishing in Japan. This is my Pb for Tokyo bay Seabass. Caught 18 that day, from 40 to 75cm. It was the begining of April (3rd?) 2010. The water was boiling with them. Havent had that much fun in a long time! When they went deep were we getting them on light 30-60g jigs and when they were near the surface they would smash just about anything (i found freshwater bigmouth bass lures very effective). Even right up to the edge of the boat! One of the guys even tried to get them on fly but the wind was coming from the wrong direction. That morning was dead calm and flat but the fish were not biting, as soon as the wind picked up it was on for young and old! I have more pics, but that one sums it up. Geezus im pulling an ugly head in it though. Looks like ive missed out on all the kingies now that im back home, but i hope i can find one or two before it gets too cold.