Jump to content


freshwater sculpins


  • Please log in to reply
16 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 June 2009 - 07:17 PM

i live in merced cali about two ours away from sac and i can find some sculpins at the lake and i wanted to keep some so i want to know how big do they get, how to tell the males from the females, how to breed them, and how long do they usually live any info would be awsome thanks

#2 Guest_bumpylemon_*

Guest_bumpylemon_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 June 2009 - 07:34 PM

i live in merced cali about two ours away from sac and i can find some sculpins at the lake and i wanted to keep some so i want to know how big do they get, how to tell the males from the females, how to breed them, and how long do they usually live any info would be awsome thanks



welcome....


just to answer you quick....from what i have read....they stay rather small....NEED very COLD water....or will die...do you know your species?

#3 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 June 2009 - 07:45 PM

welcome....


just to answer you quick....from what i have read....they stay rather small....NEED very COLD water....or will die...do you know your species?


no i dont know what type they are im kindda new to dis and ive raised some when i was smaller i kept it with my green terrors before without them dieing but the only time they died was when i did water changes and there was no moving water they look kindda like this

http://gwsphotos.com/images/648.JPG

#4 Guest_bumpylemon_*

Guest_bumpylemon_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 June 2009 - 07:48 PM

lol you kept sculpins (known as VERY cold water) with a warm water tropical. lol....wow. they prefer and thrive in fast flowing cold water...how often did you do water changes? there are some sculpin experts on here that know ALOT more....hell i havent even seen one yet.

#5 Guest_bumpylemon_*

Guest_bumpylemon_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 June 2009 - 07:50 PM

http://www.clemson.e...ges/sculpin.jpg

is this it?


Cottus gulosus

#6 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 June 2009 - 08:15 PM

http://www.clemson.e...ges/sculpin.jpg

is this it?


Cottus gulosus



yea that fish looks right but yes i used to keep them with my tropical fishes without any problems i didnt do that much water changes but from what ive experienced as long as i leep it in a tank with some type of current they do fine the water just cant b still once the water stops moving they tend to die a while afterwards but yea can anyone tell me how to sex, size or age when they sexually mature, how they spawn, max size (never seen one then my fingers)

#7 Guest_RiveRock_*

Guest_RiveRock_*
  • Guests

Posted 28 June 2009 - 03:27 PM

survive and thrive are two very different ways to live...

i would suggest a small species tank for sculpin as they like to gobble up small tankmates and they prefer current and the coldest tank water you can get (within reason).
ive never had much success with the local cottus bairdi. i can never get the water quite as cold as id like to keep it. I dont think that the water stopping for a few minutes would affect the fish at all... some species are found in very stillwater frequently, but the mottled sculpins ive kept were all caught in waist deep fast flowing rivers.

Edited by RiveRock, 28 June 2009 - 03:30 PM.


#8 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 28 June 2009 - 04:53 PM

survive and thrive are two very different ways to live...

i would suggest a small species tank for sculpin as they like to gobble up small tankmates and they prefer current and the coldest tank water you can get (within reason).
ive never had much success with the local cottus bairdi. i can never get the water quite as cold as id like to keep it. I dont think that the water stopping for a few minutes would affect the fish at all... some species are found in very stillwater frequently, but the mottled sculpins ive kept were all caught in waist deep fast flowing rivers.



the ones i catch are from a lake and if i keep them in a bucket for to long they die but yea can anyone help with my questions?

#9 Guest_JohnO_*

Guest_JohnO_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 08:13 AM

I've kept banded sculpins before. They're pretty hardy, as long as you keep the water cool, plenty of aeration, and some current moving. Those massive gills should tell you something about their oxygen needs.

They'll eat anything that will fit into their rather large mouths. Not a lot of personality, though. They tend to sit and wait for dinner to come by. If you have a sandy bottom in the tank, they'll dig their pectoral fins in while they're waiting. I have a creek full of them on my farm in KY. They spawn early in the spring, but that's about all I've managed to observe, the juvenile sculpins appear about a month before the juvenile darters.

4.5" was the largest one I've caught. Scary looking at that size.

#10 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 11:58 AM

thanks for the help i gess thats all the info imma b getting about breeding lol but yea... i just love how they look

#11 Guest_gzeiger_*

Guest_gzeiger_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 12:27 PM

A fish like that is not going to be widely bred, since it isn't traded. Usually there's one or two hobbyists that try it for fun, but it looks like that's going to have to be you on this one. Just start with the usual things like a good high protein diet of live or frozen food, and if feasible with your setup maybe over a period of months slowly warm the water and increase lighting period toward what it would be in spring/summer where you collected them. Make sure you have a proper substrate (don't know what that is, but try to make it match where you're catching them I guess) and a lightly populated tank with lots of cover since most fish will eat others' eggs and/or fry.

Also, if you get eggs, make sure you do a lot of research on how to feed very small fish. They often can't take normal foods when first hatched, and sculpin probably won't eat flake at any size.

Try calling or emailing local biologists to see if anyone has studied them. I think you might be surprised who you can find at the DNR or state university.

#12 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 03:21 PM

i have experence taking care of small fry becuase i breed bettas but im sure it'll b a bit different

#13 Guest_fundulus_*

Guest_fundulus_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 04:05 PM

Doesn't California have really restrictive regulations about the collection of what's left of the native fish fauna?

#14 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 04:09 PM

theres not any laws that i know of on collecting sculpins

Edited by theK, 29 June 2009 - 04:10 PM.


#15 Guest_Drew_*

Guest_Drew_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 04:33 PM

theres not any laws that i know of on collecting sculpins


I believe you need a permit to collect (using nets) any wild fish species in CA. There is also something in the regulations that all fish have to be dead upon leaving the waterside.

#16 Guest_fundulus_*

Guest_fundulus_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 04:39 PM

Yeah, I just hop-skipped through the 74 pages of California regs in .pdf form (well, not line by line...). It seems to say that you can collect "bait" using a handheld dipnet, with the strong inference it should be dead as it departs the scene. I didn't encounter an explicit ban on keeping native fishes, but it's unclear how they would be legally collected by someone with a state fishing license. I'll admit that I've never fully understood the California regulations, luckily I don't have to.

#17 Guest_theK_*

Guest_theK_*
  • Guests

Posted 29 June 2009 - 04:48 PM

i usually catch them with a hoock and line but i sometimes use my hands (never use nets because its not very effective)

Edited by theK, 29 June 2009 - 04:49 PM.





0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users