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Keeping Bluenose Shiner?


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#1 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 18 February 2014 - 04:23 PM

Is anyone currently keeping Bluenose Shiners? I've read a little bit about some breeding reports and such, but they don't seem to be widely successful. I've always been curious about these fish, and am just kind of looking for some general information.

#2 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 18 February 2014 - 04:37 PM

I got some a few years back from Philip Kukulski on Aquabid but lost them in a grandchild related incident. The problem with breeding them is that the actual spawning trigger is the sperm of Sunfish in the water, so you obviously would want to be breeding Sunfish as well. They're sort of a cuckoo spawner, slipping in to lay their eggs in the nests of Sunfish. I don't believe it's done in true cuckoo style, in that I don't think the Shiner fry displace the Sunfish fry, but they do derive the benefits of having a nasty Sunfish guarding them at their most vulnerable time..

#3 Guest_Dustin_*

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Posted 18 February 2014 - 04:43 PM

Phil has been successful mixing them with dollar sunfish in outdoor ponds if I am not mistaken.

#4 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 18 February 2014 - 04:52 PM

That's really interesting to me. I wonder if Enneacanthus milt could have a similar affect? I have a large concrete pond, and if there were a way I could get a few, I think it might be worthwhile to try to breed them. Then again, I'm not sure how weather tolerant they are. It's really upsetting to me that they are so imperiled. It's hard to weigh whether removing a few from the wild would have a more negative or positive affect.

#5 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 18 February 2014 - 09:57 PM

The problem isn't that they're critically imperiled, but rather, this is perhaps the most sought-after fish on the continent. And most people who seek them cannot keep them, so. I don't think they would do well in MN, outdoors.

It IS funny to watch them on sunfish nests - the sunfish is distracted and moves off the nest, which is immediately swarmed by the cloud of bluenoses which churns about in close proximity.



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