Hello! I am new here and I have a few (actually a lot) of questions. Right now, I am thinking about stocking a 29 gallon aquarium with some of the local fish in my area. I live in Raleigh NC, but I am not very familiar with the fish I can find nearby. I am a fairly experianced fish keeper but I would like to avoid things that are exceedingly difficult to keep. So, what fish can I keep and how many?
First Native tank: Help needed!
Started by
Guest_RisiganL_*
, Nov 25 2011 06:08 PM
26 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_RisiganL_*
Guest_RisiganL_*
-
- Guests
Posted 26 November 2011 - 12:12 PM
Nobody has any suggestions?
#3
Guest_LincolnUMike_*
Guest_LincolnUMike_*
-
- Guests
Posted 26 November 2011 - 12:18 PM
Perhaps you should ask this in the other thread you started regarding where... and give it time Risi. There is time to plan and work out the details. These guys are very helpful, but we don't spend every day in the forums.
#4
Guest_Aquaman_*
Guest_Aquaman_*
-
- Guests
Posted 26 November 2011 - 02:31 PM
The first time I went out to collect fish, I first needed an idea of what is really out there around where you live. A field guide is a good start and even a dip net to catch shiners and minnows.
Always take your time and enjoy the fish fauna in your area. You have some great fish around where you are at.
Scott
Always take your time and enjoy the fish fauna in your area. You have some great fish around where you are at.
Scott
#5
Guest_harryknaub_*
Guest_harryknaub_*
-
- Guests
Posted 26 November 2011 - 04:14 PM
There are several members in your area who should be able to help you. What with the holiday weekend and all, I'd give them a few days to respond.Nobody has any suggestions?
Harry Knaub
#6
Guest_keepnatives_*
Guest_keepnatives_*
-
- Guests
Posted 26 November 2011 - 08:04 PM
Do a search of this site for nc fishes should find lots of info plus the NC convention thread has some info as well check this out in convention archives:Nobody has any suggestions?
NC-DWQ Fish Sampling Data Excel Table of NC Fish Data
Edited by keepnatives, 26 November 2011 - 08:06 PM.
#7
Guest_gerald_*
Guest_gerald_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 November 2011 - 12:10 PM
Hi Risigan - I live in Wake Forest. The easiest local fish to catch and keep will be shiners, chubs, dace, and mosquitofish, all of which quickly adapt to flake and small pellet foods. If you're using a seine, Crabtree Creek behind the mall, and Little River at the Zebulon town park on NC-97 are good places to collect. Rosyside dace, bluehead chub, swallowtail shiner, white shiner, highfin shiner, pinewoods shiner, satinfin shiner are some of the most common species you're likely to find. The most common darters are tesselated, fantail and Roanoke. They are a bit more trouble than the minnows because they need live foods or frozen bloodworms, at least to start. Sunfish, bass and pickerel you can only keep if caught on hook and line. It is illegal in NC to keep any "game fish" caught by trapping or netting.
#8
Guest_EricaWieser_*
Guest_EricaWieser_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 November 2011 - 02:59 PM
Yup, that's why I didn't see this topic. I was away from my computer over Thanksgiving weekend.There are several members in your area who should be able to help you. What with the holiday weekend and all, I'd give them a few days to respond.
Hi RisiganL, my name is Erica, and I live in Winston-Salem. The first thing you want to do is buy a fishing license and familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations. Then you should pick a species to focus on. Then you can set up a tank that would work for that species and start it cycling, which means feeding it every day for three weeks as if there were fish in there, letting the food rot and the population of beneficial bacteria grow. Then, after three weeks, you can catch the fish.
Here is a list of the endangered and threatened species here in North Carolina. http://www.fws.gov/raleigh/es_tes.html
These are fish you want to familiarize yourself with before you ever go out collecting, and avoid. They include the Cape Fear Shiner, Roanoke Logperch, Shortnose Sturgeon, Spotfin Chub, and Waccamaw Silverside.
There is a lot of helpful information on ncwildlife.org, including places near you where you can fish, which fish can be caught when, and how, etc.
http://216.27.39.101...iedmont_PFA.htm
http://www.ncwildlif...onGame_Fish.pdf
Because the state website focuses more on the big sport fish that wouldn't fit in your 29 gallon tank, you might want to find a guide that lists all of the fish species, even the tiny ones. Because The Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina by Edward F. Menhinick is like $50 and up in stores (prohibitively expensive), you could either find a copy in a local library or use a free online guide like http://h2o.enr.state...arolina.2-1.htm
#9
Guest_RisiganL_*
Guest_RisiganL_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 November 2011 - 03:13 PM
Thanks for all the help! Sorry, I guess I forgot most people are off enjoying the holiday weekend. I guess I have a lot of reading to do! Any good field guides for fish in my area?
#10
Guest_EricaWieser_*
Guest_EricaWieser_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 November 2011 - 03:46 PM
"Because The Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina by Edward F. Menhinick is like $50 and up in stores (prohibitively expensive), you could either find a copy in a local library or use a free online guide like http://h2o.enr.state...arolina.2-1.htm "Any good field guides for fish in my area?
Edited by EricaWieser, 27 November 2011 - 03:46 PM.
#12
Michael Wolfe
-
- Board of Directors
-
- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 27 November 2011 - 08:38 PM
Thanks for all the help! Sorry, I guess I forgot most people are off enjoying the holiday weekend. I guess I have a lot of reading to do! Any good field guides for fish in my area?
You should pick up a opy of Fritz's book "Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware" it is a great first book for your area... not as detailed in some ways as some other single state books, but very accessible and written by our president...
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#13
Guest_EricaWieser_*
Guest_EricaWieser_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 November 2011 - 09:01 PM
Neat, I didn't know about that guide. It seems to only be $13, compared to around $50 for the Menhinick book. That's much better. 
By the way, RisiganL, this is specifically the thing I was trying to point to earlier with the link to the Division of Water Quality. http://h2o.enr.state...2009Version.xls It turns out that it's possible to copy and paste the link to the excel file. I didn't know that, so I linked to the page as a whole.
By the way, RisiganL, this is specifically the thing I was trying to point to earlier with the link to the Division of Water Quality. http://h2o.enr.state...2009Version.xls It turns out that it's possible to copy and paste the link to the excel file. I didn't know that, so I linked to the page as a whole.
Edited by EricaWieser, 27 November 2011 - 09:04 PM.
#14
Guest_RisiganL_*
Guest_RisiganL_*
-
- Guests
Posted 28 November 2011 - 05:00 PM
Ok, so I just bought the book Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delware online. I hope it arrives soon.
Gerald-Can you use a dipnet at crabtree creek? I am asking because I don't have a seine.
Gerald-Can you use a dipnet at crabtree creek? I am asking because I don't have a seine.
#15
Guest_gerald_*
Guest_gerald_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 November 2011 - 11:36 AM
Sure give it a try. I find dipnets good for catching bottom fish (darters, madtoms) and fish that hide in plants or leaf piles (mosquitofish, sunfish, pickerel, shrimp). It's not easy to catch open-water swimmers like shiners and dace with a dipnet, but sometimes you get lucky. The more you practice and watch the fishes' behavior, the luckier you get.
The NC Natural Science Museum gift shop downtown might have Menhinick's book cheaper than you'll find online. Also Jenkins & Burkhead's Virginia Fishes book has most of the same species you'll find around Raleigh, except for a few Tar/Neuse basin endemics like the pinewoods shiner.
The NC Natural Science Museum gift shop downtown might have Menhinick's book cheaper than you'll find online. Also Jenkins & Burkhead's Virginia Fishes book has most of the same species you'll find around Raleigh, except for a few Tar/Neuse basin endemics like the pinewoods shiner.
Ok, so I just bought the book Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delware online. I hope it arrives soon.
Gerald-Can you use a dipnet at crabtree creek? I am asking because I don't have a seine.
#16
Guest_Usil_*
Guest_Usil_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 November 2011 - 01:49 PM
God luck netting. All this talk has made me throw the dip net in the trunk and heading out this afternoon to see what pops up.
Usil
Usil
#17
Guest_Yeahson421_*
Guest_Yeahson421_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 November 2011 - 04:54 PM
You guys are all making me jealous! Talk of collecting and it's almost DECEMBER!?!?! I wish I lived in a warmer climate!
#18
Guest_Usil_*
Guest_Usil_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 November 2011 - 06:14 PM
I have seen active darters running around in a frozen creek in the riffle zone. The part that was not frozen you could see ice crystals forming in the free flowing water. No reason you could not collect at this time other than a really long acclimatization period to tank conditions. Might be tricky.
Usil
Usil
#19
Guest_RisiganL_*
Guest_RisiganL_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 November 2011 - 06:33 PM
Wow! Here I was thinking I had to wait a few months before attempting to go collecting. Right now its not terribly cold (50-70F) so I might be able to go out and try some time.
#20
Guest_fundulus_*
Guest_fundulus_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 November 2011 - 11:17 PM
Fish do much better coming out of 6 deg. C water than they do from 24 deg. C; now's the best time to collect fish. This assumes you have waders, of course, but then, who doesn't?
2 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 2 guests, 0 anonymous users
NANFA Youtube Channel 
