Tule perch

Can someone give me some info on these fish? Can they be kept in aquaria? I saw a picture of one giving birth to live young on google. Kind of made me curious. I couldn't really find anything useful on google.

Steve,

They could almost certainly be kept in aquaria, but without a special permit there's no way to get them (or any other native fish) out of California, or to even transport them alive from wherever you caught some...

Sorry that I don't have better news for you.

Cheers,
Dave

Can someone give me some info on these fish? Can they be kept in aquaria? I saw a picture of one giving birth to live young on google. Kind of made me curious. I couldn't really find anything useful on google.

Thanks for your reply.

Tule Perch are the only freshwater species of the family Embiotocidae, all of which are viviparous. This makes them very interesting to keep, and most species of this family put up a good fight on light tackle too. It's just too bad that Tule Perch numbers are not very high due to introduced species and their distribution being fairly limited I'd love to get my hands on some too if I could!!

Tule Perch are the only freshwater species of the family Embiotocidae, all of which are viviparous. This makes them very interesting to keep, and most species of this family put up a good fight on light tackle too. It's just too bad that Tule Perch numbers are not very high due to introduced species and their distribution being fairly limited I'd love to get my hands on some too if I could!!

Someone should have said that earlier! So is tule perch a synonym for shiner perch (Cymatogaster aggregata)? That is the only species of surfperch that goes into freshwater (primarily to spawn). When I asked the question in my topic "Estuarine Fish" I had this fish in mind. I tried to put in a shiner perch out of Puget sound into my freshwater aquarium, it lived for only about four hours (another time I had a sunfish and the sunfish was bothering it so that time nothing worked). The main reason that the shiner perch died is water temperature difference, in the Puget sound the water is much colder than in an unheated aquarium, and I don't know where to get a water cooler (do they even exist?).
I remember seeing some juvenile shiner perch when salmon fishing in an estuary but I had no small hooks and using a net to catch fish is illegal in washington state (except for herring, smelt.... and for commercial salmon anglers).

In the puget sound there are no invasive species that I know of, and shiner perch are abundant, and in rivers there aren't as much invasives as in Washington lakes and ponds.

In the puget sound there are no invasive species that I know of, and shiner perch are abundant, and in rivers there aren't as much invasives as in Washington lakes and ponds.

Actually, there's at least one invasive fish species that was introduced, the striped bass. But it's exact impact on the ecosystem is still unclear.

Yes, and there are also atlantic salmon escapees from fish farms, and there probably is a small population of shad. However, they haven't established themselves in the puget sound so I didn't mention them (although striped bass have better adapted to the coast and even better to california).

I remember now that when I asked about arctic grayling arnoldi mentioned a water chiller. Could you please tell me where I could order one?

I remember now that when I asked about arctic grayling arnoldi mentioned a water chiller. Could you please tell me where I could order one?

Somebody answered that question yesterday:
http://forum.nanfa.o...?showtopic=2507

darn! I was hoping that tule perch can be kept in home aquarium but I guess not. But someone has to be bred them in aquarium in california. Someone I will have tule perch in my home aquarium because they don't look like guppy.

darn! I was hoping that tule perch can be kept in home aquarium but I guess not. But someone has to be bred them in aquarium in california. Someone I will have tule perch in my home aquarium because they don't look like guppy.

Sorry Butch, no harm intended, but you may do well by proofreading your posts, to be sure that others can fully understand them.

English is not Butch's native lanquage, but I can understand him OK. I think?

darn! I was hoping that tule perch can be kept in home aquarium but I guess not.

No one said that you can't keep them in a home aquarium. If I get a chiller I'm going to try again.

Tule Perch (Hysterocarpus traskii) are different from the Shiner Perch(Cymatogaster aggregata). Tule Perch only occur in a few locations in California, and do not travel to marine or brackish environs with any amount of frequency. Today there is a small population in Clear Lake, and a few hold outs in the Russian River area. I have not heard of any specimens being found in the Parajo-Salinas drainage or Sacramento-San Joaquin drainage for some time, both of which were part of their original range.
The shiner perch though, range from San Quintin in Baja to the southern parts of Alaska and can be seen in large groups close to shore. The largest group I have personally seen of C. aggregata contained an estimated 250 individuals. I've never heard of C. aggregata traveling into freshwater, but they may be able to withstand lower salinity levels for short periods of time. I wouldn't attempt to keep C. aggregata in freshwater unless you acclimated them to decreasing salinities over a long period of time. If they are capable of moving into freshwater, then it will take time for their bodies to complete the physiological changes required to allow them to function in that environment; much like Salmonids and other diadromous fishes. The physiological changes that occur in Salmonids begin to take place long before they ever reach the mouth of their home rivers; and I would say that the process, if capable of taking place in C. aggregata, would not be too distant from that of the Salmonids.

As for the chiller question, any reputable aquarium store should be able to get their hands on one for you, especially if they deal with reef tanks. I always used about a 1/10th hp chiller for 50-70 gallon tanks. But the size of the chiller depends on how much of a bring down in temperature from that of the room you want to accomplish, so keep that in mind when doing your calculations. It's better to have a slightly larger chiller than you need so that it doesn't work as hard to keep the water temp constant.

That's very interesting! Lots of books say that shiner perch are the only species to occur in freshwater in the Embiotocidae family. So does anyone have or found any pictures of it?

Bone, where have you been lurking this past month? Judging by your first couple of posts here you will have a very receptive audience.

Bone, where have you been lurking this past month? Judging by your first couple of posts here you will have a very receptive audience.

Busy studying my litle head off Currently attending Humboldt State University in Northern California for fisheries biology.

Vasiliy, are you looking for photos of the Shiner Perch(Cymatogaster aggregata), or photos of the Tule Perch(Hysterocarpus traskii)? If you google search C. aggregata you will find plenty of photos of them. On the other hand, I have only found one good photo of H. traskii. Their bodies are similar in shape, but the easiest way to discern whether you have a Shiner or a Tule is to look for three yellow bars on the flank. Shiners will have the yellow bars, while the Tules tend to have a uniform silver/brown coloration.

Sorry I didn't notice your post earlier.
The only reason that I had shiner and tule perch confused is that you said that tule perch are the only freshwater embiotocids (I don't blame you) and lots of books that I read said that shiner perch are the only ones. fishbase has two good pictures: http://fishbase.org/...ary.php?ID=3634.

Yes, Cymatogaster aggregata do go into freshwater, but they do not live the majority of their life there like Tule perch. Curious though, which books do you have that state that shiners are the only freshwater Embiotocid?

Sorry, by books I meant articles I read on the web.........

But I know that at least the book "Inland Fishes of Washington" published in the 1970's and with a new version in 2003 stated that.