Spinoff From The Driftwood

[Ludwig Venter]

To prevent my thread "picking up driftwood" to be overloaded with photos, I decided to post this in another thread.....

I actually braved a trip down to the only access I have to a nearby river... (The Crocodile river"), to see if I can collect some rocks & driftwood......

About 2 miles from the river, I was confronted with this..... This is an ordinary city car & would not contemplate a 4x4 track, so I parked, & locked the car, doing the rest on foot.

After about a mile, I sensed that the river could be on the other side of this, but it was mostly thorn bushes

After the 2 miles, I could confirm that the river was indeed on my right hand side

I even got closer

Coming back, I was pleasantly surprised to still find the car in position (not stolen.... This is South Africa)

And awaiting me was just as pleasant deservedly an ice cold refreshment....

Back at home, I contemplated the loot.....

And was surprised that there are even freshwater mussels in this river

Sorry for the long story, but not worth the effort to collect your own driftwood.....

 

[jb12288]

Well hey, at least you had your beer. You should have took a net with you and seen what local fish you catch. I am looking into getting a dip net and cast net to go in my local rivers and creeks.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Well hey, at least you had your beer. You should have took a net with you and seen what local fish you catch. I am looking into getting a dip net and cast net to go in my local rivers and creeks.

I was intrigued by these mussels as a food supplement or just plain keeping them in an aquarium.... I'm just wondering???... anyone got experience??

 

[Nick16]

not to be funny but the puddle at the bottom of the top pic loo ks very interesting!!!

yeah, its well worth it, after a good boil and wash it should be fine to use!

 

[Ludwig Venter]

not to be funny but the puddle at the bottom of the top pic loo ks very interesting!!!

yeah, its well worth it, after a good boil and wash it should be fine to use!

The major problem in challenging it was that it is solid turf... Now I don't know if you know turf???... I'll go down to the chassis, & with all 4 wheels hanging,... my mobile phone batteries was on extreme low..... I would probably still have been there....

 

[Nick16]

yeah, are you saying that it would have bottomed out? also, would you have been able to turn around if you went further?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

yeah, are you saying that it would have bottomed out? also, would you have been able to turn around if you went further?

Deffo, Deffo not.... No question about it.....(& there's no-one around for at least 8 miles)

 

[Nick16]

sounds like you made the right choice, looks like some nice big bits of wood too.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

sounds like you made the right choice, looks like some nice big bits of wood too.

Yea... I chucked them into one of the outside ponds to get "drenched", & where I paid R55 for the smaller pieces at the pet shop, these would probably have cost me R75 ea, if I had bought them....

 

[ghent_3rd]

Well hey, at least you had your beer. You should have took a net with you and seen what local fish you catch. I am looking into getting a dip net and cast net to go in my local rivers and creeks.

If I did that in my local river I'd come out with a shopping trolley, a couple of old milk bottles and maybe a used condom if I'm lucky!! Oh the wonderful rare species of the River Soar in Leicester!!

 

[jb12288]

Im sure if you went out of the city and into the countryside you could find a nice oasis of your River Soar system.

 

[joshrm115]

Its good looking wood

 

[eggy]

you worked hard for it so i hope your fish love it

 

[Ludwig Venter]

you worked hard for it so i hope your fish love it

Strange that this topic should come up again today, as I slipped away from work this morning and went to another site at the same river, which was more approachable....

Since we've had rains in the past few weeks, The level has risen, and the actual "prize" wood and rocks were covered....

I did however manage to get 2 pieces of wood and 2 rocks.... on the banks.... Since the wood has dried out, I'm letting it float and will be saturated and sinking in about 3 days (as with the previous)... Will post photos shortly.

 

[Colin_T]

I was intrigued by these mussels as a food supplement or just plain keeping them in an aquarium.... I'm just wondering???... anyone got experience??

we have a similar freshwater mussel in Perth and they do well in aquariums as long as you keep the water clean (low nitrates, etc) and as long as you don't treat the tank with any medications. That tends to kill them.
Bitterlings use them to lay their eggs in.

As far as a food source goes, the Aboriginals will eat them if they have to, but they prefer not to. Apparently they taste a bit muddy and bland, which is in complete contrast to their saltwater relatives.

Boil a few up and see how bad they taste