NANFA-L-- Niagara region darters

Gerald Pottern (gbpottern-in-yahoo.com)
Mon, 20 Mar 2006 07:32:03 -0800 (PST)

Gary - there's actually many N.Amer natives that dont
need wintering. Ive kept Mountain redbelly dace,
rainbow shiners, okefenokee and everglades pygmy
sunfishes, longear sunfish, etc-in-room temp (66-72F
in winter, 78-84F in summer) and they look great and
breed for years. I dont even change my light timers -
8 am to 10 pm year-round. I think some folks have also
had orangethroat & rainbow darters breed without
winter cooling. Im guessing southern ones may be more
adaptable than northern. Clean water & good food is
the key.

Gerald Pottern
Hangin on the Neuse, NC

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 16:03:19 -0500
From: Gary Elson or Mary Frauley
<fraulels-in-videotron.ca>
Subject: NANFA-L-- Niagara region darters

Hello,
I have just rejoined this list after several years'
absence. I stoppedkeeping native fish because I
couldn't adequately overwinter my local fish
(I'm in Montreal Quebec). They didn't respond well to
permanent summer in myhouse. A few weeks ago, I
realized a largely unused, always above zerocelsius
mini-greenhouse in the high-school where I work would
solve thatproblem - I can keep the fish cool enough
all summer-in-my place andoverwinter them-in-work. I'm
now waiting for the ice to go so I can get back
to keeping and learning about some of my old favourite
local Etheostoma fromthe canal up the street.

However, I am going to be in the Niagara Falls region
(Canadian side) thissummer, on a very short and not
very mobile visit. I would like to catch some rainbow
darters, a fish which occurs in my region but in such
a smallrange and in such limited numbers I would never
even try to catch them here.
I want some colourful natives to maybe draw some of
the kids who keeptropicals into a native fish
conservation project. I'll be heading north for
some Phoxinus, but a colourful darter is a sight to
behold. Reading suggestsrainbows are common around
Niagara. Since I won't be in a position to look
around extensively, can someone with experience of the
region help me cheatmyself of the full exploration
experience and steer me to some likely
fishing spots?

Gary Elson
http://mail.yahoo.com
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml