20 replies to this topic

[Cu455]

A few weeks ago I moved my fish from my reef tank into my saltwater pond and started to turn my reef into a NY native aquarium. I will be upgrading my saltwater pond this summer and will move my natives into the old pond. Maybe I will do a outdoor pond.

 

I finished the aquascaping with the exception of the substrate and plants. Below are pictures of plants I collected, if someone can ID them for me that will be great. My planned stock is a couple of chain pickerel, a couple shortnose sturgeons and ~6 rock bass.

 

Tank Information

265 gallons 7ftx2ftx?ft

40 gallon sump

 

Water Circulation

Jebao wp25

2x Aqueon HOB filters

mag9 (return pump)

 

Lighting

3x 120watt LEDs (blue/white)

 

Other

36 watt UV sterilizer

Hydro Fill auto top off (this will be used for an automatic water changing system)

 

Here are the plants. An ID will be great. The fluffy looking moss one covers the bottom of the pond.

 

 

The pictures with the blue and white lights didn't come out that great. Here is a whites only picture.

 

 

Blue and whites

 

 

[gerald]

The photo quality is not good enough to identify the plants.  Shortnose sturgeon is federally endangered - you cannot keep them.  Maybe consider one of the smaller bullhead species or stonecat instead?

[lilyea]

Nice tank and I like the idea of converting it into a native tank!  As Gerald mentioned, make sure you check your local laws about acquiring and keeping fish.  You didn't mention the make/model of your current lighting fixture so I am not sure of its capabilities.  You may want to try to get your lighting into the 6-7,000k range which should help plant growth and give you a more natural freshwater appearance.  Most reef lighting setups focus on the 10-20,000k range.  Good luck in your conversion project!

[Josh Blaylock]

I certainly don't want to turn you off from NA Natives, because they are awesome.  But, I don't think you can keep fish that are native to NY.  Hopefully Mike Lucas (NY Rep) will chime in here with some additional information.  I do know Mike often visits other states and can keep those fish, but not if they are native to NY.

 

Like the others said, check the laws for yourself before moving forward, I could be wrong or right.

[keepnatives]

I certainly don't want to turn you off from NA Natives, because they are awesome.  But, I don't think you can keep fish that are native to NY.  Hopefully Mike Lucas (NY Rep) will chime in here with some additional information.  I do know Mike often visits other states and can keep those fish, but not if they are native to NY.

 

Like the others said, check the laws for yourself before moving forward, I could be wrong or right.

Yes my experience has been that in NY we can not keep any species native to our state whether caught in NY or any other state.  Other folks in the state have reported that they have been given conflicting information from local officials.  You might contact your region's DEC and get their take.  

[Matt DeLaVega]

How can a pond owner stock his pond?

[Cu455]

The shortnose is an endangered species, so it is a no go. Hopefully the population will rebound soon and they will get bumped off the list.

I am not sure the lights brand, they are cheap ebay lights about 4 years old. I would assume the lights are 6,500k or 6,700k since 10,000k-15,000k leds are fairly new and more expensive.

I called the DEC office a few years ago. I was told as long as I caught the fish in a legal way, the fish was in season and of proper size, it is fine.

I see lots of places by me sell native fish. Gardening centers and pond places sell trout, sunfish, bass, perch and small native fish. I just bought two bullheads at the petshop. They also have channel catfish and fathead minnows. Baitshops sell live baitfish and eels. Asain markets also sell a variety of live native fish.

I can't say that it is legal with certainty, but I can't find anything saying that it is illegal.

[Cu455]

For the past week I have been walking around the pond and seen no fish or snails. I wanted to let my plants establish for a few weeks so I wasn't really looking to collect anything just see what is around. After finding nothing at the pond, I stopped at the petshop to see what they had. I found a couple of brown bullheads of there. I wanted to collect all the fish for the tank but I took the easy route a purchased the bullheads.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Petshops often have feeder tank hitch hikers. Bullheads are sometimes in them. This does not make them legal, and in fact most stores give them away to avoid breaking state laws. I just want to mention that I hope you are 100% certain that you are not now breaking a state law. There are wildlife officers who view this forum, and at least one member here does work for your state. I would hate for you to get an unpleasant visit. Just felt like I should at least mention it.

 

  I still would like to know how people can stock their personal farm pond in New York if possessing New York native fish is illegal.

 

 

  Either way if it is an illegal action, NANFA certainly does not condone it, nor are we able to know or keep up with all state laws.

[Cu455]

I stopped at the park police station to ask when I was running today. No one was there. Maybe the bullhead is a kind that is not native to NY. It was just marked bullhead at the store. I don't think the bullhead was a mix up because I have seen places sell fairly large ones. I will call the DEC again later and ask.

[smbass]

I am not 100% sure from the photos and video what those are but they are definitely not brown bullheads. The forked tail makes White Catfish Ameiurus catus the only Ameiurus (Bullhead genus) species possible and I do think that is what they are. Those are the largest species in that group that can reach 24 inches but usually they are more like 12-15 inches long. Good luck with them and hopefully you find out there is nothing wrong with having them.

[gerald]

I'm with Brian ... probably white cat or channel, not brown bullhead.  Forked tail and large eye.

[smbass]

Not channels, these are more stocky than channels and at that small size they would be more silver and probably have little black spots.

[Cu455]

I think they are white catfish. I don't want to clutter up this thread with the legal stuff, I looked into it a started a thread here. I will like to hear what others think.

 

http://forum.nanfa.o...ollecting-laws/

 

Here is my California native saltwater pond. Right now I just have 2 California stingrays and a shovelnose. This summer I will be upgrading the pond. When this is done I am going to add some swell sharks, horn sharks and garabaldi's.

 

Edited by Cu455, 01 April 2015 - 03:33 PM.

[Cu455]

 The fish store had 3 of these guys in. At first I bought 2 of them. I then felt bad breaking the crew up and went back and bought the third. I picked up some Japanese trapdoor snails. Even though they are not technically a native species at some point an invasive species becomes native. I think these snails have it that point. In the morning I saw a small spiral snail on one the large snails. The shell looks different then the others so it might be a different type of snail.

A few years ago I wanted to put a native tank together and some guy had red eye bass. I emailed him to inquire about them and he told me that they were discontinued. That kind of sucks.

[Cu455]

I bought 10 fathead minnows yesterday and added them to the tank today. One of them didn't make it through the hydrogen peroxide dip so I am left with 9. The are very cool, active fish and personable fish. I also aded some blackworms today. I am hoping they will survive and act as a clean up crew.

Edited by Cu455, 21 April 2015 - 08:34 PM.

[Michael Wolfe]

goodbye fatheads... 

[Cu455]

goodbye fatheads...

No one likes negatity lol. You are right they are gone. I think the catfish are to small now to eat them. But I think a couple of snooks ate them. The catfish put on alot of bulk since I got them.

My plants weren't do to good and I think it is because of the low nutrients and low CO2 levels in my tank. So I added the minnows to produce some waste. I then added a few snooks to keep the plants happy until I know what I exactly want in my tank. The snooks are about the same size as the catfish. I usually measure my fish when I get them but forgot to this time. Then they will go to my brothers tank. The snook is still a North American native so they still kind of fit the theme.

I am thinking of going with a Florida theme. Maybe some red eye bass if I can get and a few florida gars.

Edited by Cu455, 24 April 2015 - 09:18 AM.

[Sunfish Catcher 321]

They are white cats because of the rounded anal fin.

[Chasmodes]

Cool tank.  Snook huh?  Kewl     Is this brackish?