I went on a fishing trip out of newburyport mass (i got a cusk which was a keeper and two pollock which were too small).

After the trip I went to explore the salt marsh. The tide was low and their were mud puddles everywhere. I will not honor these with the term tidepool (a term i always heard associated with rocky pools full of snails and crabs), these looked more like post rain mud puddles despite being salt water. the grassy marsh was dotted with these tiny pools, some less than a foot accross some much larger. All of them held minnows.

I scooped them up finding what i hoped i'd find, killiefish, hopefully mummichogs. They are small and brownish with verticle black stripes. I took them the two hour drive home, dropped a fish off at a neighbors, chatted with him a few hours, etc. I made sure i got alot of fish just in case some died, but lost track of time talking. I heard how hardy mummies were and i didn't beleive it. but they did just fine 4 or 5 hours in a bucket. they are alive, all of them, much more than i thought would live. (if I knew that many would live i'd only get 1 or 2). If they survive acclimation to fresh water i'd have a couple for my tank and then some. I fear 8 mummies and a darter may be too much for a 3 gallon.

and i lost half my mummies. i added freshwater to the salt until the holding container was 2/3 to 3/4 fresh, then introduced them to my tank, so far half the mummichogs died. as for the others two are looking bad (one is sitting close to the bottom, another is getting a bit pale around the tail). This is distressing given how well they survived the trip here and how readilly they ate dried bloodworms after being added to my 3 gallon.

I checked the water in my 3 gallon wednesday and the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were good then (got to check aagin) so that was likely not the problem.

I can keep a darter but not the hardiest fish around. how pathetic.

"I made sure i got alot of fish just in case some died" ... therein lies your problem. Take fewer fish, and more will live. You probably damaged their gills due to ammonia build-up from crowding in the bucket, and although they were still alive on arrival home, the unseen gill injury was too great. Also, because the gills are so important for regulating salt balance, moving them from full seawater to 1/3 or 1/4 seawater on the same day was probably not a good idea. We've all killed our share fish as we learn. Thats why we have NANFA. Better luck next time!

PS - not sure how much salt a darter can tolerate long-term, but 1/4 seawater (8 ppt) is higher than any darter would naturally live in.

I went on a fishing trip out of newburyport mass (i got a cusk which was a keeper and two pollock which were too small).

After the trip I went to explore the salt marsh. The tide was low and their were mud puddles everywhere. I will not honor these with the term tidepool (a term i always heard associated with rocky pools full of snails and crabs), these looked more like post rain mud puddles despite being salt water. the grassy marsh was dotted with these tiny pools, some less than a foot accross some much larger. All of them held minnows.

I scooped them up finding what i hoped i'd find, killiefish, hopefully mummichogs. They are small and brownish with verticle black stripes. I took them the two hour drive home, dropped a fish off at a neighbors, chatted with him a few hours, etc. I made sure i got alot of fish just in case some died, but lost track of time talking. I heard how hardy mummies were and i didn't beleive it. but they did just fine 4 or 5 hours in a bucket. they are alive, all of them, much more than i thought would live. (if I knew that many would live i'd only get 1 or 2). If they survive acclimation to fresh water i'd have a couple for my tank and then some. I fear 8 mummies and a darter may be too much for a 3 gallon.

Edited by gerald, 25 May 2009 - 09:34 AM.

Hey Josh I understand your enthusiasm but to be brutally honest you probably shouldn't be bringing any fish home at this point. A 3 inch tesselated darter in a 3 gallon is pretty much capacity, the whole 1 inch per gallon doesn't neccessarily work at smaller tank sizes anyway, literally no room for error. Better study about what fish go well with others would be a good idea also, especially in a small tank. If you can't get another, bigger tank set up yet just enjoy getting out and exploring your waterways, take some photos, make some notes and do the research to set up your tank and its inhabitants properly. The effort will be worth it. Some of my most enjoyable outings have been when I had no plans to bring anything home and just went to investigate an area or waterbody more deeply. Last fall or early winter I did just that to a nearby hiking area around a swamp. All I took was a couple breather bags and a 6 inch aquarium net spent a couple hours just checking out one of the few pools around the swamp. Only found one fish species, brook sticklebacks, and lots of cool bugs and tadpoles as well as some neat plants. Got to get up close to some deer without being noticed as they came to get a drink had a great time only ten minutes from home. I did bring four young sticklebacks home but had a tank for them that had housed ones I had given to someone, knowing I'd find some more nearby eventually.

"I made sure i got alot of fish just in case some died" ... therein lies your problem. Take fewer fish, and more will live. You probably damaged their gills due to ammonia build-up from crowding in the bucket, and although they were still alive on arrival home, the unseen gill injury was too great. Also, because the gills are so important for regulating salt balance, moving them from full seawater to 1/3 or 1/4 seawater on the same day was probably not a good idea. We've all killed our share fish as we learn. Thats why we have NANFA. Better luck next time!

PS - not sure how much salt a darter can tolerate long-term, but 1/4 seawater (8 ppt) is higher than any darter would naturally live in.

I didn't pour salt into a fresh tank, i netted the mummies out into it. I am down to one mummie now.

(i noticed both the mummies and shiners grew pale before dying, is this a symptom of any particular kind of health issue)

And thank you keep natives, i was a bit too enthusiastic to add more fish before i was ready, especially on finding some trapped and easy to collect.

Edited by FirstChAoS, 25 May 2009 - 12:59 PM.

Yeah I agree with mike. I'd say no fish right now. Your 3 gallon isn't even cycled yet. I didn't take any mummichogs cuz I didn't feel like experimenting and killing them. By switching them to freshwater. I just feel to bad killing animals