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Native Finds at LFS

Started by Michael Wolfe , Mar 09 2008 07:42 PM

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61 replies to this topic

#21 Guest_Nightwing_*

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Posted 10 March 2008 - 05:10 PM

I wonder if I am just a bit too far north...we NEVER get anything at our LFS.
In a almost a year of watching...I have found ONE single solitary bluefin killie...that's it. And I hit at least a half dozen different stores per week, and a really big one every other week or so.
Bummer! I'm really hoping for bluefins, or swamp darters.

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#22 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 10 March 2008 - 05:21 PM

I wonder if I am just a bit too far north...we NEVER get anything at our LFS.
In a almost a year of watching...I have found ONE single solitary bluefin killie...that's it. And I hit at least a half dozen different stores per week, and a really big one every other week or so.
Bummer! I'm really hoping for bluefins, or swamp darters.

I have found Bluefin Killies ONLY in the tanks they sell plants from. Not sure how they get there. Maybe eggs attached to the plants, then raised in the LFS tank? I have yet to find them in the Ghost Shrimp, Guppy, or Rosy tanks. Employees have told me they have found them there, but I haven't seen them there. The other natives have all been in the various feeder tanks. Yesterday I saw what was labeled as "Rainbow Dace" for sale in a LFS. Tempted to buy one so I can ID it. (This is the second time I've seen a fish at a LFS labeled as "Rainbow Dace", The first time it was a Red Shiner.)
-Thom

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#23 Guest_dafrimpster_*

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Posted 10 March 2008 - 10:22 PM

I went to Petsmart tonight. I talked to the fish mgr. She told me that they regularly get "odd" fish with the Rosy reds. She also told me they get them in on Thursday and to come in and have a look. She said they get crayfish with them as well. I am at least a little hopeful now...

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#24 Guest_tglassburner_*

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Posted 11 March 2008 - 06:58 AM

I have found Bluefin Killies ONLY in the tanks they sell plants from. Not sure how they get there. Maybe eggs attached to the plants, then raised in the LFS tank? I have yet to find them in the Ghost Shrimp, Guppy, or Rosy tanks. Employees have told me they have found them there, but I haven't seen them there. The other natives have all been in the various feeder tanks. Yesterday I saw what was labeled as "Rainbow Dace" for sale in a LFS. Tempted to buy one so I can ID it. (This is the second time I've seen a fish at a LFS labeled as "Rainbow Dace", The first time it was a Red Shiner.)
-Thom

I always find bluefins and swamp darters in the shrimp tank(s). The only things in the plant tanks are the occasional loach they stick in there for snail control.
I find sunfish in with the feeder goldfish, and rarely there's gambusia in with the rosies or feeder guppies. I have the best luck at Pet Supplies Plus, IF they sell ghost shrimp, about 1/2 of the stores don't sell them. If you have a PSP near you check their shrimp tanks, I always get some native every trip. Depending on the store I either get the fish for free or have to pay 5/$1.00 for them. My non box store LFS keeps the feeders in the back and refuses to look or let me look in the tanks. I even offered to net my own out of there but they still refuse.

I'd be interested in seeing "Rainbow Dace" so if you get any please post a picture or two.

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#25 Guest_andyavram_*

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Posted 11 March 2008 - 07:46 AM

Just yesterday I scooped out 2 Bluefin Killies, not that I really want them though, in the glass shrimp tank.

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#26 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 11 March 2008 - 07:42 PM

I find mine mostly at Pet Supermarket and the Asheville Aquarium in Asheville, NC.

Once I got 7 swamp darters in one visit

Edited by Gambusia, 11 March 2008 - 07:42 PM.

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#27 Guest_Nightwing_*

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Posted 12 March 2008 - 05:28 PM

Well..and then there were none.
Today I got home and as always did a visual inspection of my tank.
The bluefin was missing...
So.....poked and prodded into the plants, and nothing..untill the largest of my female mud minnows came out.
I do believe that a new minimum size for tank fish has been established..and the poor bluefin apparently fell below the threshold. The big female umbra looked like she has swallowed a marble....and I suspect, that explains the missing killie.
Darn...they had shown no inclination to bother any of the smaller fish..until now. This was a relatively small killie, and nothing else in the tank is that small...so hopefully it was a crime of opportunity!

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#28 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 12 March 2008 - 07:08 PM

This was a relatively small killie, and nothing else in the tank is that small...so hopefully it was a crime of opportunity!

As opposed to a crime of passion? We can't have you claiming weird hybrids, dontcha know!

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#29 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 19 April 2008 - 08:17 PM

Just to brag a little and bump my own thread... I got seven bluefins today at the LFS... they were already out fo the shrimp tank and in with the plants, but when I asked the guy if I could have em, he asked me if I knew what they were, I said yes, but I couldn't tell him, he said he couldn't give em to me if I didn't tell him, I said if I did tell him he couldn't give them to me... then he said he just couldn't sell them to me... so then I knew that we were telling each other the same joke, so we started talking about bluefins and other natives that come in with their feeders... I bought a few dollars of shrimp, and got the bluefins for free.

I normally do not find so many... I put these in a 30 gallon tank all together (with some swamp darters that I got previously form the LFS)... do they do well together in groups? How would they do if I put them outside in a tub on the back porch with some frogbit?

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#30 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 19 April 2008 - 09:14 PM

Just to brag a little and bump my own thread... I got seven bluefins today at the LFS... they were already out fo the shrimp tank and in with the plants, but when I asked the guy if I could have em, he asked me if I knew what they were, I said yes, but I couldn't tell him, he said he couldn't give em to me if I didn't tell him, I said if I did tell him he couldn't give them to me... then he said he just couldn't sell them to me... so then I knew that we were telling each other the same joke, so we started talking about bluefins and other natives that come in with their feeders... I bought a few dollars of shrimp, and got the bluefins for free.

I normally do not find so many... I put these in a 30 gallon tank all together (with some swamp darters that I got previously form the LFS)... do they do well together in groups? How would they do if I put them outside in a tub on the back porch with some frogbit?

If you put them in the tub, make sure it gets full sunlight, load it with plants, and you'll have bluefins coming out of your ears.

What store did you get these from? Petsmart only gets one or two in with the ghost shrimp every once in a while.

Oh, BTW, they're protected in GA.

Luckily, they can be kept if you get them from a pet store. I already e-mailed the DNR about that.

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#31 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 20 April 2008 - 12:23 PM

If you put them in the tub, make sure it gets full sunlight, load it with plants, and you'll have bluefins coming out of your ears.

What store did you get these from? Petsmart only gets one or two in with the ghost shrimp every once in a while.

Oh, BTW, they're protected in GA. Luckily, they can be kept if you get them from a pet store. I already e-mailed the DNR about that.

It's a place here in the Athens area called Petland... it's a smaller chain I think... they have pretty much everything... and have a nice fishroom at this location (sw, fw, and plants).

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#32 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 20 April 2008 - 03:02 PM

It's a place here in the Athens area called Petland... it's a smaller chain I think... they have pretty much everything... and have a nice fishroom at this location (sw, fw, and plants).

I refused to shop at Petland when I was there. They sell puppies. We all know where they come from. I refused to give them any of my money unless it was urgent (e.g. dying fish and I couldn't get the medication from anywhere else for days). Hopefully that will change someday.
Michael, have you tried Athens Aquarium and Fish? Located here: http://maps.google.c...t...pCDCg&cd=1#

Guy that owns it is great. Small place, lots of inidividual attention. He will order you anything you like. Ask him if he remembers the lady who was in to native fish and plants. He used to let me in the back to look throught he feeder tanks.

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#33 Guest_khudgins_*

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Posted 20 April 2008 - 04:46 PM

They're now called Aquarium Outfitters, but as far as I know it's the same management (less one guy)

Good store.

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#34 Guest_Canadiancray_*

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Posted 20 April 2008 - 05:49 PM

LOL Until I read this I never paid any attention to those tanks. This afternoon I looked at the ghost shrimp tank & definitely saw a fish that looked like a Killie & possibly 3 or 4 white cloud minnows.

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#35 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 20 April 2008 - 07:23 PM

Michael, have you tried Athens Aquarium and Fish? Located here: http://maps.google.c...t...pCDCg&cd=1#

Guy that owns it is great. Small place, lots of inidividual attention. He will order you anything you like. Ask him if he remembers the lady who was in to native fish and plants. He used to let me in the back to look throught he feeder tanks.

I know the place and have been in there... it is the place where I have bought the better quality pelleted foods that even my darters have started eating... never talked to anyone in there much... they seemed so interested in sw and I never saw any feeder shrimp tanks to look at... maybe I will have to go more often...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#36 Guest_khudgins_*

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Posted 21 April 2008 - 11:26 AM

I know the place and have been in there... it is the place where I have bought the better quality pelleted foods that even my darters have started eating... never talked to anyone in there much... they seemed so interested in sw and I never saw any feeder shrimp tanks to look at... maybe I will have to go more often...

I forget his name, but the younger bearded fellow who rocks the checkout desk is a planted tank nut, and is the sole reason they've got the nice little planted tank display there. The reason they're focused on saltwater fish is because it's hard to compete with the big box stores on regular tropicals, so they've got to operate in a niche. There's plenty of freshwater enthusiasm, as demonstrated by their constant stock of FW oddballs: I've seen ropefish, rare loaches (including some that are flat and look remarkably like flounders), and quite a few other strange creations.

They're also rather good about NOT stocking fish that are bad for captivity. You'll commonly find catfish and cyprinids in the big-box stores that will easily get 12" long or more, but I don't find them often in Aquarium Outfitters.

Natives are an even smaller niche, so the ones that are commercially available are even less worth a store's time, but you can get good advice, decent plant stock (if a bit snail-heavy) and reasonably priced, quality dry goods there. It's one of my top 3 LFSs.

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#37 Guest_butch_*

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Posted 21 April 2008 - 06:47 PM

I found a water backswimmer (aquatic insects) in feeder guppy tank along with a swordtail fry. Also I found another female gambusia to add my broodstock. I got backswimmer free as its freaking the workers (all females) out. Hee hee. Its in pet keeper right now. But no bluefins, seminole killifish or swamp darters so far.

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#38 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 29 April 2008 - 02:14 PM

Got two free bluefin killifish from the LFS's feeder shrimp tank today! I'm going to let them go in my planted 65 gallon, which currently is home to five mole salamander larvae and a smorgasbord of invertebrates. A couple of the sallies are big enough to eat the killifish, but I hope the fish's craftiness and the abundance of smaller slower prey will keep them safe.

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#39 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 29 April 2008 - 02:38 PM

Got two free bluefin killifish from the LFS's feeder shrimp tank today! I'm going to let them go in my planted 65 gallon, which currently is home to five mole salamander larvae and a smorgasbord of invertebrates. A couple of the sallies are big enough to eat the killifish, but I hope the fish's craftiness and the abundance of smaller slower prey will keep them safe.

YIKES! Don't put them in with the rotifers!! :shock:

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#40 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 29 April 2008 - 02:49 PM

No worries; I'm taking a bunch of the rotifers out.

By the way, did you get the email I sent you Wednesday? I have some more stuff I can mail to you, if you want it.