I have some native fish on their way to me. Two types of darters, varigated and banded. I plan to keep these guys in a 55 gallon tank. Temps have been high here - in the 90s. My other tanks seem to be running about 85 degrees. Is this to high for darters? How low can they go in the winter. I will not be using a heater.
Also the sculpins - will go into another tank. Anybody keeping them?
TB in Georgia
Darters and Sculpin
Started by
Guest_DarterGA_*
, Jul 12 2010 09:50 PM
14 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_bumpylemon_*
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Posted 12 July 2010 - 09:55 PM
I have some native fish on their way to me. Two types of darters, varigated and banded. I plan to keep these guys in a 55 gallon tank. Temps have been high here - in the 90s. My other tanks seem to be running about 85 degrees. Is this to high for darters? How low can they go in the winter. I will not be using a heater.
Also the sculpins - will go into another tank. Anybody keeping them?
TB in Georgia
yes. its way to high. they prob will die.in fact at 85-90 they will die. and sculpins even need COLDER water. you living in georgia i would say there is no "to low you can go" in your tanks. 60 degrees is prob heaven for them. did you do any research prior to ordering the fish at all? you can do some searches in the search bar and get most of this info. good luck i hope they make it. those are very nice darters...another member here told me that bandeds dont do good in this weather and we decided not to ship them this hot so i hope yours make it and do well. take some pics when they arrive. heater and darters and sculpins should never be in the same sentence.
Edited by bumpylemon, 12 July 2010 - 09:56 PM.
#3
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
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Posted 12 July 2010 - 10:02 PM
They will do well in outdoor tanks in the colder months. Otherwise bumpylemon is correct. They're gonna die!
#4
Guest_DarterGA_*
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Posted 12 July 2010 - 10:19 PM
Thanks for the info .......... no need to beat me up
I don't have them yet...... so no worries I can bail out. That is why I am asking in this forum.
We have many local darters btw very endangered too - Etowah, Cherokee, Goldline and Snail darters.
I'm gonna go stick a thermometer in the Etowah and see what temp it is at (yes it will be lower than my fish room). I will stick with my amazon river fishes that love the heat. Drat.
TB in GA
I don't have them yet...... so no worries I can bail out. That is why I am asking in this forum.
We have many local darters btw very endangered too - Etowah, Cherokee, Goldline and Snail darters.
I'm gonna go stick a thermometer in the Etowah and see what temp it is at (yes it will be lower than my fish room). I will stick with my amazon river fishes that love the heat. Drat.
TB in GA
#5
Guest_Mike_*
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Posted 12 July 2010 - 11:55 PM
I will stick with my amazon river fishes that love the heat. Drat.
TB in GA
You can still keep Native North American fish.
Reo Grande Perch prefer water temps of about 80, but can't go below 55.
Black Bullhead prefer 75 - 85
Brown Bullhead prefer 78 - 82, but can survive at temps. up to 97.
Yellow Bullheads prefer 75 - 80.
Redfin Pickerel prefer 75 - 80.
Redbreast Sunfish prefer 80 - 84.
Longear Sunfish prefer 75 - 80, but can survive in 100 degree water.
Green Sunfish prefer 80 - 84.
Bluegill prefer 75 - 80.
Redear prefer 73 - 77
Pumpkinseed Sunfish 70 -75
Warmouth prefer 80 - 85, but can tolerate water up to 93 degrees.
Flier Sunfish prefer 75 - 85
I assume Bluespotted Sunfish, Orangespotted Sunfish, Black Banded Sunfish, Banded Sunfish, & Spotted Sunfish would be good too.
You could put any of these in your 55 gal tank and be OK, of corse not to many though. North American Sunfish are very colorful; and make great aquerium fish.
Mike
#6
Guest_donkeyman876_*
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Posted 13 July 2010 - 06:31 AM
That is to high. Good call on asking before they arrive. As for Irate's "They're going to die" he says that to everyone, he told me my pumpkinseed was going to die and it's still swimmming strong. Best of luck with the darters, hope you can lower that temperature.
#7
Guest_jblaylock_*
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Posted 13 July 2010 - 06:38 AM
I have some native fish on their way to me. Two types of darters, varigated and banded. I plan to keep these guys in a 55 gallon tank. Temps have been high here - in the 90s. My other tanks seem to be running about 85 degrees. Is this to high for darters? How low can they go in the winter. I will not be using a heater.
Also the sculpins - will go into another tank. Anybody keeping them?
TB in Georgia
Are your tanks outside/in a garage? It has been in the upper 90's here, but my tanks stay in the 70's.
#8
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 13 July 2010 - 10:01 AM
I have some native fish on their way to me. Two types of darters, varigated and banded. I plan to keep these guys in a 55 gallon tank. Temps have been high here - in the 90s. My other tanks seem to be running about 85 degrees. Is this to high for darters? How low can they go in the winter. I will not be using a heater.
Also the sculpins - will go into another tank. Anybody keeping them?
TB in Georgia
You've already gotten some feedback, but I will saw welcome ot the forum... and good to see another North Georgia person here... although if I read between the lines some you are a little farther north and somewhat west of me... Where are your tanks located... in my basement and in my house (airconditioned right, I mean I am a southerner and all, but it has been crazy hot) my tanks are not nearly that hot and the darters are all fine.
Yes, we have to be carefult to keep tanks cool, but don't let some of the doom-sayers make you think that you can't keep natives... there are lots of us here in the sunny south that do... and I would be glad to help you out (including inviting you to go on a few collecting or snorkeling trips... keep your eyes open and drop me a PM with your email address and we can add you to the unofficial list of "somewhat close to atlanta and other areas of north georgia" people that we call when we need to get out in the water and have someone extra to hold the other end of the seine.
As far as sculpins, don't do it... they really do need the highly oxygenated (so cold) water and on top of they, they don't make friends, they just eat them.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#9
Guest_panfisherteen_*
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Posted 13 July 2010 - 04:13 PM
at one point or another he will say that, which is right, he just didnt specify when they were going to dieThat is to high. Good call on asking before they arrive. As for Irate's "They're going to die" he says that to everyone, he told me my pumpkinseed was going to die and it's still swimmming strong. Best of luck with the darters, hope you can lower that temperature.
#10
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 13 July 2010 - 10:40 PM
Well, might be good that you backed out anyway. If this was the aquabid auction that I think it was, http://www.aquabid.c...i?fw I have a hard time believing that this is a legal sale. I cannot imagine that this guy has the permits to collect fish from KY and TN, and then sell them out of New York. I may be wrong, but that would seem like a lot of hoops to jump through. Oh look, he is a member here. http://forum.nanfa.o...493-lotsoffish/
#11
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Posted 14 July 2010 - 07:34 AM
Well, might be good that you backed out anyway. If this was the aquabid auction that I think it was, http://www.aquabid.c...i?fw I have a hard time believing that this is a legal sale. I cannot imagine that this guy has the permits to collect fish from KY and TN, and then sell them out of New York. I may be wrong, but that would seem like a lot of hoops to jump through. Oh look, he is a member here. http://forum.nanfa.o...493-lotsoffish/
I agree with Matt, if I'm not mistaken it is illegal to sale collected fish in KY, with permits you can collect and sale tank bred fisih. I'm not sure about taking them out of state and selling them, but I'm sure the KYDFW would not like an out of state person coming into the Red River Gorge (Daniel Boone Nat. Forest, I'd almost bet my paycheck that is where those came from) and swiping those fish for sale.
DarterGA, don't be discourged. You live in Georgia, there are plenty of Darters there. Get your tank temps down, read up on the state laws of collecting/keeping native fish, and get out in the creeks/rivers. Collecting is most the fun of keeping them, you never know what you'll pull up in that net.
Edited by jblaylock, 14 July 2010 - 07:41 AM.
#12
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 14 July 2010 - 09:36 AM
DarterGA, don't be discourged. You live in Georgia, there are plenty of Darters there. Get your tank temps down, read up on the state laws of collecting/keeping native fish, and get out in the creeks/rivers. Collecting is most the fun of keeping them, you never know what you'll pull up in that net.
I know places here in Georgia to go where we can get nice darters that are not endangered... get your tank set up and lets plan to go get you some in the fall... don't want to collect down here when the weather is too hot... I like it but the fish don't... you will have healthier fish if we collect 'em in October.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#13
Guest_DarterGA_*
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Posted 18 July 2010 - 07:00 PM
My tanks are in my "fish room" aka converted garage. I will check temp on the tanks. I keep discus at 82-85 degrees and noticed that the heaters haven't been on in awhile.....so assumed the ambient was near that temp.
I also keep a couple of tanks in my classroom (they are empty now) and would love to put some natives in there - however those are smaller tanks (30gal).
Thanks for the advice and support.
TerryB
I also keep a couple of tanks in my classroom (they are empty now) and would love to put some natives in there - however those are smaller tanks (30gal).
Thanks for the advice and support.
TerryB
#14
Guest_DarterGA_*
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Posted 18 July 2010 - 07:03 PM
Yep I backed out of that buy.....Yes please put me on your list. I would love to go out sometime fish hunting with like minded folks. I am in Dawsonville - there is new town access to the Etowah that is pretty nice - it also runs by the other side of my street but not sure the neighbors want me over there. 
I will send you a pm with my email address. Thanks!!
TerryB
I will send you a pm with my email address. Thanks!!
TerryB
#15
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 19 July 2010 - 08:37 AM
I also keep a couple of tanks in my classroom (they are empty now) and would love to put some natives in there - however those are smaller tanks (30gal).
30 is not too small for a darter tank at all... in fact we could do a very nice setup of darters and a few Notropis shiners in a tank that size... would be pretty easy to maintain in a classroom.... sounds like the perfect project for us once the weather cools a little... got your PM... we will plan on getting up there...
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
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