Brook Silversides

Well, I netted a brook silverside today. I was pretty happy since I didn't have a good day in the creek at all and this was something different. However, I didn't know they were so hard to maintain. It survived about an hour in a holding tank, about 1 hour acclimation, and probably 3 hours in the tank. It seemed to be doing absolutely fine. It was swimming, schooling with others, etc... and right after the light went off, I saw it swimming upside down and then it died.

Why is it so hard to keep these, I mean, how can it be hard to maintain something that was found in such a nasty section of a stream. I'd like to keep a couple, but if they're so hard, I'll pass.

Silversides are notorious for perishing if you give them a dirty look. Get them early in the year, when the water is cold, metabolism low, parasites at bay, etc. Your chances for keeping them increase drastically. This time of year, you may want to consider a longer acclimation period, and I mean like 24 hours +.

I'm rebirthing this thread.

I collected a Silverside last thursday and it's still alive and well. It seems to be doing fine. What is the longest anyone has kept one of these?

I think there has been some overdramatization in regards to brook silversides stability. It is very true, that if taken in the middle of summer and not provided clean, cool, well-oxygenated water, these guys will turn up in seconds, bet then again most minnows would do the same. I am not saying that silversides are not particularly sensitive because they definitely are. I just want to make the point that they are not impossible to transport if care is given.

It is best to take nearly all fish in the fall and/or early spring, as many on here have already suggested. If you taken brook silversides during this time, and do not overstock your transport container, they travel quite nicely. Once acclimated to a tank, they typically thrive and eat prepared foods even.

I hade some brook silversides for several monthes until they where killed by disease that almost wiped out the entire tank. My freind that i was collecting with said that he hear that the sectret to keeping them alive is to keep them in the water. so u have to be careful when neting them. but once i got them in the tank and after a few days they seemed to be pretty hardy.

It was David Hall who wrote that article in A/C I was thinking about, "Surprisingly Hardy Silversides".