I was out playing around at lunchtime mostly just trying to see if I could catch one more crayfish out of my favorite stream before they all go into hibernation. I managed to catch one small one and was on my way back to my truck when I saw a friend from work. We started looking at the nearby canal so I tried a little dipnetting in it. The first few swipes of the net only got me weeds but on my last scoop I pulled into 2 baby Sunfish and a baby Rock Bass. I've had one on my want list for a while now so this little guy is going into my 10 gallon tank until he's big enough for the 75 gallon. My friend decided to try the net and he got me 2 Tessellated Darters which I also plan on putting in my 10 gallon. I stopped after that because I don't have any room or need for more fish I'm happy with those 3 and the small crayfish I caught.

http://gallery.nanfa...135707.jpg.html

wow. the coloration on that one is far different than my local rock bass. Nice finds!

Yeah it looks almost nothing like an adult rock bass until you look at the eyes.

It actually looks almost identical to my adult rock bass. Well, that is, when he's feeling the need to be that color. I've seen him anywhere from a kind of pale white to a solid black, but he usually stays about the same color as this one. It's amazing how fast they can change colors too. Congratulations on the catch. Good looking little guy.

Steve.

I'm having problems getting this fish to acclimate. I got him home, added some of my tank water to the capture tank and let it sit for a couple of hours. I added some more water and waited. Now the water I brought the fish home in was a lot colder then the tank water but after being at room temp at work for a few hours and home for a few more hours I thought they would be ready. Well the baby rock bass went belly up quickly so I put him back in the other tank and he stabilized. Unfortunately I was paying so much attention to the rock bass that I didn't see the larger of the 2 darters have the same problem and he didn't make it. I haven't seen the smaller darter yet so I don't know how he did. I added even more tank water into the capture tank and it had to be at at least 2/3 tank water to 1/3 stream water. I waited another couple of hours and now it's around 10:30 so I tried it again and again the baby rock bass starts going into shock. I put back in the capture tank and put an air pump run filter into it to provide him with plenty of oxygen and went to bed. This morning before work I tried putting him into the 10 gallon tank and he started going into shock again. I put him into the capture tank, added even more tank water and had to leave for work. Now I've collected more then a few native fish,some even in the dead of winter. I may not do the drip method but I rarely have fish die from not acclimating them properly and I've never had a fish take this long. He's in an almost pure tank water mix right now so when I get home this evening he's going into the 10 gallon.

I was out playing around at lunchtime mostly just trying to see if I could catch one more crayfish out of my favorite stream before they all go into hibernation. I managed to catch one small one and was on my way back to my truck when I saw a friend from work. We started looking at the nearby canal so I tried a little dipnetting in it. The first few swipes of the net only got me weeds but on my last scoop I pulled into 2 baby Sunfish and a baby Rock Bass. I've had one on my want list for a while now so this little guy is going into my 10 gallon tank until he's big enough for the 75 gallon. My friend decided to try the net and he got me 2 Tessellated Darters which I also plan on putting in my 10 gallon. I stopped after that because I don't have any room or need for more fish I'm happy with those 3 and the small crayfish I caught.

http://gallery.nanfa...135707.jpg.html

Nice catch David. Hope he does ok for you.

Edited by exasperatus2002, 08 November 2011 - 08:51 AM.

Some fish collected in cold water can be very sensitive to temperature. Even if he's in tank water now, it's likely several degrees colder in his bucket than in the tank just from lights and pumps, even if there's no heater. Try floating him in the tank for half an hour to really equalize the temperature. I'd use a deep and wide opaque ceramic bowl or something to minimize the scary things he can see but not swim away from.

I've never kept rock bass, but that ended up being the key for silversides.

This is the technique I use to acclimate my fish, and it works. I once drip acclimated neon tetras from DH 6 water to DH 17 and didn't lose a single one. It took a few hours, but it was worth it. The time before that I bought 18 neon tetras and didn't acclimate them properly, and I lost every single one. It's worth your time to drip acclimate.

Edited by EricaWieser, 08 November 2011 - 08:53 AM.

+1 drip acclimate


Usil

I'm hoping it goes smoothly tonight but you may wind up making a believer out of me Erica.

He went into the tank when I got home without any problems. I went back to the same spot today looking to see what else I could find and wouldn't you know it they finally let water start flowing in the canal.You see when Hurricane Irene hit the area back in Sept the flooding it caused damaged parts of the bank of the canal. they must have finally fixed it because today the water level was almost 2 feet higher. This s a good thing because I've been worried about the fish in the canal dying off because the water level of the canal was about half of what it usually is and it wasn't flowing. the timing just sucks for me because I had found a good spot to catch some small fish.