Some interesting trips
#1
Posted 17 May 2015 - 07:49 AM
My next outing I went to what is called the Little Black Creek. Although not really little, it is indeed very black. There I found Gambusia, Heterandria, and banded sunfish, but my trip was cut a little short when a group of high school kids decided they wanted to go tubing.
Finally, yesterdays trip I went to Sterling Creek, which produced bluespotted sunfish, Everglades pygmies, pirate perch, eastern mudminnows, mud sunfish, grass pickerel, and a fairly large leech that got my arm while dipnetting. I didn't catch any pickerel, but I saw one dart out of a clump of bladderwort and snag him a Gambusia. I also had a pretty interesting collecting partner that hung out with me the entire time.
Turtle eating duckweed
Possible dam?
Water hyacinth growing in mud
My collecting partner
Lower Ogeechee/Ogeechee Coastal Drainage
#5
Posted 17 May 2015 - 05:53 PM
Lower Ogeechee/Ogeechee Coastal Drainage
#9
Posted 21 May 2015 - 03:27 PM
I may have to talk to him. I've just been indecisive lately. I can't decide between the mudminnows or Enneacanthus, or if I want to keep it a "pygmy" tub and add Elassoma and L. ommata with nothing larger.
Well, considering the tank size, why not both?, they come from similar habitats and are nonaggressive, so i see absolutely no problems keeping theme together, if there is room in the tank/tub, i would suggest a pirate perch, i do not know how to care for them, but pirate perch are another small nonaggressive fish from that kind of habitat
"All good things must come to an end, but bad things think thats rather dull, so they stick around long after their natural end has come"
-From an art book I read
#11
Posted 21 May 2015 - 10:16 PM
Well, considering the tank size, why not both?, they come from similar habitats and are nonaggressive, so i see absolutely no problems keeping theme together, if there is room in the tank/tub, i would suggest a pirate perch, i do not know how to care for them, but pirate perch are another small nonaggressive fish from that kind of habitat
There wouldn't be a problem keeping maybe Enneacanthus and mudminnows together, or even a couple other species. However, the idea is to come out with at least a few offspring of the species I keep in the tub. With multiple larger fish that would be near impossible, at least in a tub this small. with just a pair of banded sunfish or mudminnows though, there wouldn't be as much threat to the offspring.
Lower Ogeechee/Ogeechee Coastal Drainage
#12
Posted 22 May 2015 - 08:44 AM
NIce thing about mudminnows is they do fine all year-round in a 10" deep wading pool on my driveway, and they're too invisible to attract herons or raccoons. I'm not sure Enneacanthus would make it through the winter in Raleigh like that, without a partially buried pool. (But in Savannah they probably would). I do have a 2nd generation of mudminnows growing now, offspring of the ones I posted about in 2013. They take 2 yrs to mature. Dense plants and neglect is about right. I do feed them blackworms, Daphnia, and skeeters ... when I happen to remember.
Gerald Pottern
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Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel
#13
Posted 22 May 2015 - 04:28 PM
Continuing the thread, todays trip was pretty awesome. I went to the same place where the kids went tubing and the creek has dried up a significant amount. I found redfin pickerel by the dozens, a few bluespotted sunnies, Elassoma zonatum, pirate perch, an unknown darter, unknown topminnow, and two things I've wanted to have in my collection - swampfish and a dwarf siren! I also found a very small gar and a couple of snakes as well. There were several crayfish and some type of ghost shrimp in every dip of my net as well. Very exciting day! The broadbanded water snake was clearly gravid and about to drop, which I found pretty cool.
The swampfish excited me to the point I've decided to turn my tub into a "mini swamp" with the swampfish, Elassoma evergladei (from a different location), Heterandria, swamp darters and pygmy killies (if I can find either of them), and maybe a couple pirate perch if they won't devour everything else.
Sorry about the sideways pics. I can get them to turn.
Lower Ogeechee/Ogeechee Coastal Drainage
#14
Posted 22 May 2015 - 05:23 PM
The pirate perch probably WILL devour everything else that's not bigger than he is. They look dumb and clunky but are very effective nighttime ambush predators. The darter is a swamp (fusiforme) and topminnow is a lined (lineolatus). Are you sure about the dwarf siren? Nice green snake! Maybe you'll catch a black swamp snake sometime - that's one I'd love to see in the wild some day (along with rainbow and mud snake of course).
Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel
#15
Posted 22 May 2015 - 06:04 PM
Lower Ogeechee/Ogeechee Coastal Drainage
#16
Posted 23 May 2015 - 09:40 AM
Oh lol sorry i didn't think through about the fact that the pirate perch is an ambush predator did i?
"All good things must come to an end, but bad things think thats rather dull, so they stick around long after their natural end has come"
-From an art book I read
#20
Posted 24 May 2015 - 01:10 PM
I'm sure the (early) summer heat and increased pathogen loads this time of year are not in your favor. Try adding a little salt, and even cooling the water slowly several degrees before moving them home. Just a thought. The big, fancy, colored up males may already be on their last days of summer and are being pushed to the max fighting/displaying/mating. So through no fault of your own the capture and transport home may easily push them over the edge.
Are you finding any juveniles or subadults?
Keeping your tank at home on low level salt could help prevent any fungal infections while they adjust to life in captivity. While your plants wouldn't like that, you could make a bunch of yarn mops that they could hide in.
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