Since we bought Edgbaston and began restoring the former cattle station in 2008, we’ve been busy protecting these critically endangered fish.
We’ve maintained boundary fences, removed the livestock and put programs in place to control feral pigs; We also removed introduced plants like Para Grass (Urochloa mutica), Prickly Acacia (Vachellia nilotica) and Parkinsonia (Parkinsonia aculeata) from springs and managed woody weeds throughout the reserve.
Monitoring of both native and introduced fish populations has been ongoing each quarter with annual audits of all springs. We’ve also trialled various ways of getting rid of Eastern Gambusia and installed barrier fencing to prevent them migrating to new springs.
We’ve relocated Red-finned Blue-eye to new springs, expanding their range and established insurance populations – both onsite in artificial springs and at a secure offsite location.
Most importantly we seem to have figured out how to breed them in captivity. Previous attempts by others to breed the fish in traditional aquariums had failed: the fish survived, but didn’t breed. The solution has been to create artificial springs that replicate their naturally occurring homes.
This has been done by sinking bores that release water into tanks buried in the ground, creating artificial spring wetlands. Captive-bred fish have been translocated into a natural spring to create new wild populations.
250-500 Captive-bred Red-finned Blue-eye fish on Edgbaston Reserve continue to breed, with the population having approximately doubled since the program’s inception in 2018 with 180 fish.
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