Here are two different color forms of Lucania from the same spot.
Lowcountry collecting
Started by
Guest_dsmith73_*
, May 10 2008 02:57 PM
17 replies to this topic
#4
Guest_dsmith73_*
Guest_dsmith73_*
-
- Guests
Posted 10 May 2008 - 03:42 PM
Nice Photos! Do you have a complete species list?
Here is a list for the day and I do have more phtots if anjyone is interested.
Rainwater killifish
Bluefin killifish
Golden topminnow
Lined topminnow
Mummichog
Sheepshead minnow
Sailfin molly
Eastern mosquitofish
Least killifish
White mullet
Croaker
Bluespotted sunfish
Dollar sunfish
Bluegill
Largemouth bass
Bowfin
Longnose gar
I believe that's all, but Chip may be able to fill in if I missed something.
#9
Guest_dsmith73_*
Guest_dsmith73_*
-
- Guests
Posted 10 May 2008 - 08:06 PM
Dustin,
Did you happen to get any pictures of rainwater killie? I'm trying to get some new, high quality pictures of fish we rarely see in our work and rainwarter is one of them.
Yeah, the rainwater did not want to cooperate. I have some here so I am going to try to reshoot them. I also have a decent shot of a female.
#11
Guest_mikez_*
Guest_mikez_*
-
- Guests
Posted 11 May 2008 - 06:42 AM
Very nice photos!
I have a few questions, if you have the time;
How do you get the fish to flair their fins for the photos?
Was the mollie a full size mature adult? Did you see any males with larger "sails"?
What habitat were you collecting in? I assume brackish by the sheepshead, mollies and rainwater. Were the other species found in the same habitat?
Did you happen to get any fired up male rainwaters, and if so were they lemon yellow?
Matt, I have a small colony of rainwaters going and have had some moderate success breeding them. I've been working on getting some pics. None I've got so far are worth sharing but once I get motivated, I should have something interesting.
IMO, rainwaters are highly under rated and once I post some pics of fired up lemon yellow males, I expect people to get interested in them.
I have a few questions, if you have the time;
How do you get the fish to flair their fins for the photos?
Was the mollie a full size mature adult? Did you see any males with larger "sails"?
What habitat were you collecting in? I assume brackish by the sheepshead, mollies and rainwater. Were the other species found in the same habitat?
Did you happen to get any fired up male rainwaters, and if so were they lemon yellow?
Matt, I have a small colony of rainwaters going and have had some moderate success breeding them. I've been working on getting some pics. None I've got so far are worth sharing but once I get motivated, I should have something interesting.
IMO, rainwaters are highly under rated and once I post some pics of fired up lemon yellow males, I expect people to get interested in them.
Edited by mikez, 11 May 2008 - 06:43 AM.
#12
Guest_dsmith73_*
Guest_dsmith73_*
-
- Guests
Posted 11 May 2008 - 08:38 AM
Thanks Mike. To get them to flair their fins takes some manipulation with the paddle. Sometimes they will do it by themselves, sometimes a gentle squeeze with the paddle against the front pane works, and sometimes they just won't like the rainwater. The molly was a mature male and was probably the largest one we saw. We are on the northern end of the molly's range and as you go north, the fish get much smaller, as does the sail. I have never caught or heard of anyone catching in NC or SC, or even GA, the fish like you see in FW in FL. Those fish ae amazing. The rainwaters, mollies, sheepshead, mummichog, some Heterandria and some Gambusia were taken from the same spot. We have also taken marsh killifish from this spot in the past. This is a little pond across the street from a tidally influenced salt marsh but appeared to be mostly fresh based on the vegetation present. The rest of the species came from blackwater lakes and rivers in the area that are freshwater, except the croaker and mullet, which were taken in a tidally influenced river mouth which is mostly salt. All of the male rainwaters we got were super colored up. The fins were bright orange-red and the body was a deep lemon yellow. Between the water and the photo tank, they lost the color. I hope that they will get it back in the tank they're in now and I will get some new shots. I totally agree with you that these are a wonderful and highly underappreciated aquarium fish. They are easy to care for and, though they are not as flashy as their sister species, the bluefin, they are quite a nice looking fish.
#13
Guest_mikez_*
Guest_mikez_*
-
- Guests
Posted 11 May 2008 - 10:19 AM
Something interesting I have noted about the rainwaters; mine came from a single school. Actually the whole school, ~20 individuals, was collected in one scoop of the dipnet. I split the school up and acclimated half to freshwater, put the other half in a fully salt marine tank. Both adapted very well to captivity and both have constantly spawned. There is a marked difference in behavoir and color between the two groups.
In the marine tank they are the only schooling fish [a butterfly and flounder are the only other inhabitants]. There, the males stay colored up 100% of the time, guard territories and display constantly.
In the freshwater tank, they are part of large mixed school of sailfin mollies and flagfish. Those males are a much paler, less flamboyent yellow color, do not attempt to guard territories and rarely display. They do still spawn however and if rescued, the eggs hatch and fry develop normally in the freshwater.
Both groups apparently hunt down and eat fry as only fry I rescue or that get sucked into the canister filter survive.
I'm not sure if the color and behavoir are different because of the salt/fresh water, and/or the type of community setting.
Edited to add: Feeding is different between the two communities as the butterfly and flounder get large quantities of meat, mostly saltwater mussels, which the killies stay fat on. Because the mollies and flagfish graze algae, meaty food is only offered a few times a week. This could potentially influence the behavoir and color differences in the killies as well.
In the marine tank they are the only schooling fish [a butterfly and flounder are the only other inhabitants]. There, the males stay colored up 100% of the time, guard territories and display constantly.
In the freshwater tank, they are part of large mixed school of sailfin mollies and flagfish. Those males are a much paler, less flamboyent yellow color, do not attempt to guard territories and rarely display. They do still spawn however and if rescued, the eggs hatch and fry develop normally in the freshwater.
Both groups apparently hunt down and eat fry as only fry I rescue or that get sucked into the canister filter survive.
I'm not sure if the color and behavoir are different because of the salt/fresh water, and/or the type of community setting.
Edited to add: Feeding is different between the two communities as the butterfly and flounder get large quantities of meat, mostly saltwater mussels, which the killies stay fat on. Because the mollies and flagfish graze algae, meaty food is only offered a few times a week. This could potentially influence the behavoir and color differences in the killies as well.
Edited by mikez, 11 May 2008 - 10:23 AM.
#15
Guest_dsmith73_*
Guest_dsmith73_*
-
- Guests
Posted 11 May 2008 - 08:33 PM
We didn't look for the bandeds this time, but we did the last time, about 2 months ago. We searched all around those forest roads and hit all the spots you suggested with no luck. We actually only caught 1 spotted sunfish the entire time we were back in there. I suspect that many of the streams and holes had dried up in the drought and were just refilled with the rains we had had then.
Hey Dustin, great photos! Did you attempt to find banded sunfish? Also, do you mind PMing me your approximate location for the lined topminnow, I was never able to find any in the Charleston area.
Marcus
#16
Guest_mzokan_*
Guest_mzokan_*
-
- Guests
Posted 12 May 2008 - 07:31 PM
We didn't look for the bandeds this time, but we did the last time, about 2 months ago. We searched all around those forest roads and hit all the spots you suggested with no luck. We actually only caught 1 spotted sunfish the entire time we were back in there. I suspect that many of the streams and holes had dried up in the drought and were just refilled with the rains we had had then.
Yeah, most of those streams dry down to nothing and the best time is when they are drying up. Even under the best conditions I rarely caught large numbers of fish in those creeks. It seems that they have very low productivity and just don't support large fish populations.
Reply to this topic
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users
NANFA Youtube Channel 
