8 replies to this topic

[Sean Phillips]

Can someone please tell me what species of darters are in riffles in SouthWest PA in the Allegheny River watershed. I'm finding some sources that say "it's these" and others say "no it's these". I'm setting up a 30 Long for a riffle tank and I'm looking for 7 or 8 nice darters that can be found in riffles, not pools or slack water but riffles in my local creeks. I went down to my creek to seine earlier but it's kind of hard to catch anything by yourself with a 6'x4' seine and I wasn't bringing up any darters, I'm sure they're in there though. I know some local species in riffles are Rainbows, Greensides, Bandeds, Fantails, and Logperch but wasn't sure if there were any others.

PS, does anybody see any errors in this setup I'm making, I want to get it perfect on my first attempt. 30 Long Tank (36"x12"x16") with loose gravel from my creek for substrate. Various size rocks (round and slab) from my creek for decor and maybe some driftwood. Temp 64-72F, pH 7.6. Filtration will be an HOB and for flow I'll have a nice powerhead. Lighting will be 14 hours in Summer and 10 hours in Winter.

Thanks!

Edited by Everything Fish, 01 October 2014 - 06:58 PM.

[Michael Wolfe]

If your seine is not too long, or if you roll it up some, you can do the same thing. Sort of hold the top of both brails and post them in the substrate down stream from yourself and shuffle and kick into it. If you let it create a nice "bag" and if you learn how to lift it quickly (which can be a little awkward at first)... you can catch a number of fish... darters for sure.

[mattknepley]

It may not cover as much water as using a seine, but the "kick dipping" gzeiger described above can be very effective. Mr. Wolfe's kick seining is handy too, once you get the hang of it. A rolled up seine just doesn't feel right at first, but you learn to make it work. Depending on what the water is like, you'll probably learn to pick one or the other and even develop your own technique.

Your setup sounds fine. Fish really seem to respond to substrate from their own homes. Rocks and roots, plants, etc, I haven't noticed a difference. Actual sand/soil, yes.

[Sean Phillips]

I debated making another thread for this but I feel like I make enough . On a somewhat related note I was digging throughout the PFBC site earlier and there was a small side it's saying that Tippecanoe, Bluebreast, Gilt, and Spotted darters are no longer PA protected species! I'm hoping this is from an increase in abundance and not some gas company bribing them. Either way now I can finally keep Bluebreasts!

Edited by Everything Fish, 03 October 2014 - 04:52 PM.

[mattknepley]

What part of the PAFBC site did you see that on? Can you post a link to it? I sure would like to see that those darters are doing well, too. Especially gilts. But when I checked the PAFBC sites list of endangered, threatened, and candidate species those guys are all still listed. Now, just how MUCH protection they receive, I don't know. Depending on the state, a species may be listed but still able to be collected. I don't know about PA.

Here's a link to the state's page that I have. Some of the sources are as recent as 2013, so I'm confident this list is pretty current.

http://www.pacode.co.../chap75toc.html

I'm curious to see where these darters stand, er, swim?, in regards to listing and the implication for home aquaria. If they are unlisted, then the whole question of why, and is it ethical pops up. Just as you hinted at.

Not trying to be a pain in the 'tocks. Just want to be sure we get things right. You obviously care, and are to be commended for that!

[Sean Phillips]

I'll take a look when I get home tomorrow. I was searching in the maze that is their website for northcentral PA fishing reports for this week and it just randomly said at the bottom in a box that those four species were taken off of the protected list.

Edited by Everything Fish, 04 October 2014 - 05:32 PM.

[Sean Phillips]

Here it is. It's mainly about lowering fishing license prices but the very bottom bullet of the page says they're discussing taking them off the protected list but haven't yet, my mistake I thought it said they already did. By the way they worded it it sounds like the PFBC is against it and those well drillers are just trying to pass it so they can take water from Class-A streams and not worry about killing endangered fish. http://fishandboat.c...-price-dec.html

Edited by Everything Fish, 04 October 2014 - 07:44 PM.

[mattknepley]

Interesting link. I wonder what the impetus is for passing rules allowing stocking in class A trout water, no matter how hard it may be to make happen. The "proposed rulemaking to remove" those darters sure smacks of money looking to make more money. That's one for us NANFAns to watch closely, perhaps. Not sure what inroads frackers would make on PA's flagship trout waters, but other unknown streams would be in trouble.