Any restrictions in Idaho?

So I'm new to the state of Idaho, and I'm trying to verify if there's any legal restrictions to keeping native fish in the aquarium. Obviously there's the various protected species, and I've familiarized myself with the fishing regs. However, I've not actually seen anything that specifically states that you can or can not keep native, non-game, non-protected fish (e.g. mottled sculpin and longnose dace) in the aquarium. The fishing handbook says you have to kill any fish you catch in a minnow trap (yikes!) but that's presumably if you're intending to use them as bait, not to put them in an aquarium, so I'm trying to clear that up before I go about doing any collecting. If anybody knows for sure, I'd appreciate a heads up.

Thanks!

You'll have to check with your state DNR to get good info. Many states do not have rules regarding catching fish and keeping them in the home, so often it becomes an exercise in how to adapt the existing rules to apply to you. It sounds like Idaho does not want live fish taken away from the water, which could mean that you will not be allowed to take anything home with you.

Well, it's been a while since I've checked in, but I figured just on the off chance that there's anyone else in Idaho looking to collect fish, I'd let you know what I found. Basically, there's no regulations specific to keeping wild caught fish in the aquarium, however there are rules regarding stocking ponds and rules regarding transporting live wild fish. They consider your tanks to be a pond because that's just the closest thing to a rule for tanks there is, so you'll have to get a free pond permit and possibly have a Fish and Game official come out and inspect your "pond" to make sure stocked fish can't escape to local waters. The pond permit is good for 5 years. You'll also need to buy a permit to transport live fish. It's $23.50 and has a limited duration, which it looks like Fish and Game may decide. You'll also need a fishing license, of course. Here's a link to the page about private ponds, which includes links to both the pond permit and the live transport permit:
http://fishandgame.i...sh/?getPage=177

Generally, these rules were made with game fish in mind, though technically they do apply to any fish. So if you're looking to keep non-game fish they don't, in practice, care too much what you do so long as you don't touch protected species, but it's still best to keep on the right side of the law... especially when you work for the state government like I do

Interestingly, they seem to have no problem with you having native species mailed to you from out of state, as opposed to collecting them yourself, and they'll consider it the same as buying tropical fish. So a coworker of mine who wanted some pumpkinseeds found it wasn't much more expensive to just buy them and have them shipped, plus it was a heck of a lot easier, so that's the route he went even though he could easily have found them locally.