This year Edgbaston has been humming with activity, as we implement the ambitious plan to recreate artesian spring habitat in order to breed the critically endangered Red-finned Blue-eye fish. And we've had an early success!
After the introduction of fish into the ponds in April, breeding wasn’t expected to start until temperatures increased in Spring.
However, on a brisk July morning when I was checking on the fish I was very excited to see around 20 Red-finned Blue-eye fry in one of the ponds.
This is a great indication that the fish have established well, and that the conditions created in this new habitat are suitable for a captive breeding population.
With continued successful breeding in these ponds in the coming years we aim to release fish into natural springs, which have been made more resilient to gambusia invasion through the installation of exclusion fencing.
This conservation approach should allow us to increase the number of Red-finned Blue-eye populations, and to continue the important species recovery work done on our Edgbaston Reserve.
This project has been supported by the Queensland Government’s Everyone’s Environment and Nature Assist programs.
Month old red-finned blue-eyes bred in our captive breeding ponds. Photo: Pippa Kern. 
Month old red-finned blue-eyes in our captive breeding ponds. Photo: Pippa Kern. 
Artificial pond habitat. Photo: Pippa Kern.