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Hello from low biodiversity MA...


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#1 Riffledace

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  • Massachusetts

Posted 15 December 2014 - 06:38 PM

So, I've been lurking on this forum for a very long time. Nanfa has been a huge help to me. Unfortunately, I am cursed to live in New England, which is quite barren fish- species wise. I really envy all you fortunate enough to be able to collect all of the fascinating stream dwellers out your way. So, what I have currently is a ten gallon housing two banded sunfish and a 40 gallon long stream type tank in my basement that has 4 blacknose dace, a small golden shiner and 6 subadult banded killifish collected from Mirror Lake. (I live real close and was plotting to capture them there long before I saw Bumpylemon's post.) the tank is planted with vals and hornwort and has fairly strong current created by a filter that is basically a 265 GPH powerhead with a canister of media hanging underneath it. (I have the top sticking out of the water so it doesn't heat the water excessively). Sorry if this is getting really long... But anyway, I was inspired by Todd crail's ultimate tank article and have a deep- ish bed of sand and gravel and I don't do a lot of water changes. The truth is, I'm just not satisfied with my home state's biodiversity. There's just nothing here but Rinichthys, tesselateds and common shiners that I'd really like to own. Massachusetts is so bland. So, my question is about sculpins. I just love everything about them, even their name. Slimy sculpins aren't an option 'cause of temperature, and I would just like a solid answer about out of state banded and mottled sculpins and their temperature ranges. I'd love to find an ethical way to get rid of my current fish (even though I'd miss those dace) since I can't just throw 'em back... God I probably sound horrible, like I'm just bored with my fish and want to get rid of them... But I don't want them to become sculpin food. So anyway , my basement gets into the low 70's and could probably get warmer during a bad heat wave, and I understand that sculpins are cold water fish with high oxygen requirements and not easy to keep. But I've been reading stuff on here, and it seems to me that mottled sculpins caught in cool streams will die, but I also read stuff about pond caught sculpins being more hardy and even moving and eating at 78 f... So do you think that I could convert my tank into a species tank for 2-4 lake dwelling mottled sculpins? I would increase aeration and feed them live earthworms, crayfish, insects etc... Until I train them to take frozen cocktail shrimp and stuff.

Edited by Riffledace, 15 December 2014 - 07:26 PM.


#2 Riffledace

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  • Massachusetts

Posted 16 December 2014 - 07:52 AM

Is this in the wrong section?

#3 Michael Wolfe

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  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 16 December 2014 - 08:26 AM

Is this in the wrong section?


No, not at all. Welcome to the forum. I think you may have seen a few others that keep sculpins, and hopefully they will chime in here and give you an opinion on those guys.

I dont think your low diversity is really that bad. I am sort of partial to the hyper-local idea of native fish keeping. Get out and sample your local streams and see who lives in your neighborhood.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#4 mikez

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Posted 16 December 2014 - 08:43 AM

'wasup riffle. First off, you got the wrong attitude about Ma and New England. True we don't have skads of neon colored fish, and our milksnakes are ugly, but the good news is the ice is usually safe for fishing from Dec to April. :D/

Far be it for me to be the law an' order guy, but since no one else did, lemme suggest you purchase a Ma fishing license [wait for new year] and read carefully the short list of approved bait species. Letter of the law says not to transport live unless on the bait list.

For what it's worth to the rest of you who ever thought twice about revealing locations, let me say it was with a real twinge of regret that I see my home pond mentioned by name. I'm normally extra secretive of my angling haunts but I gave this one away to Bumpy and others for the banded killifish. Can't say I'm thrilled to see it pop up here in a stranger's post.
Mike Zaborowski
I don't know, maybe it was the roses.

#5 Riffledace

Riffledace
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  • Massachusetts

Posted 16 December 2014 - 03:51 PM

I actually live really close to mirror lake and did not learn about it from here. Yes, I know about all the laws and code of ethics and all that. I think tesselated darters, common shiners and longnose dace are all pretty neat but I don't get many opportunities to collect in clean streams. It's not the colorful fish I'm jealous of, but the interesting species like nocomis chubs and stonerollers, fantail darters and logperch and things like that.

#6 Riffledace

Riffledace
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  • Massachusetts

Posted 16 December 2014 - 03:54 PM

Not to mention I think darters ain't on the bait list.

#7 mikez

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Posted 17 December 2014 - 08:30 AM

well if you live close to the lake, you live close to me too.
Just waiting for the ice to firm up and I'll be out there. I'll give you a heads up if you want to check out hardwater fishing.

BTW, I didn't mean to whine about outing the lake, I've already done it by name here a few times. Just a passing observation on the power of spot sharing in the 21st century. I come from a background of secrecy pre-internet, then over sharing in the early internet years, to complete blackout to all humans in the later internet years, to now softening on certain types of sharing again. I did finally show one of my five sons the arrowhead spot I found that HD Thoreau outed in a book.... I must be getting old.
Mike Zaborowski
I don't know, maybe it was the roses.

#8 Riffledace

Riffledace
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  • Massachusetts

Posted 17 December 2014 - 01:54 PM

Oh, ok. Worried that I offended someone on my first post.

#9 Jconte

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  • Quincy Illinois

Posted 21 December 2014 - 10:14 AM

Clearly a case of the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Oh, how I would love to be able to collect banded sunfish, bluespotted sunfish, mummichogs, sheephead minnow, etc. (only as the law allows, of course). But, alas, my nearby streams only contain plain old longear sunfish, orangethroat darters, redfin shiners, etc.

#10 Riffledace

Riffledace
  • NANFA Guest
  • Massachusetts

Posted 21 December 2014 - 10:27 PM

Yeah, i guess that coastal species are the one asset of living in NE. but they need a brackish tank, which you can't grow plants in, and that means *GASP* weekly water changes. I'm way too lazy to maintain an unplanted aquarium.

#11 Riffledace

Riffledace
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  • Massachusetts

Posted 21 December 2014 - 10:29 PM

Wait. Longear sunfish and orange throats? are you being sarcastic or what?

#12 Jconte

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  • Quincy Illinois

Posted 22 December 2014 - 09:03 PM

Yes, being sarcastic. I used to live in NJ 20 years ago and had access to many of the species that you mentioned but they seemed so common and uninteresting to me at the time. I learned that lesson though and have appreciation for all species, even the ubiquitous Mosquitofish.



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