Re: NANFA-L-- newbie here...

Carol Jackson (aandwrobert-in-yahoo.com)
Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:34:16 -0700 (PDT)

Uh becky the fish you are keeping will be about 1 foot long and if your bluegill breed they will have to use the all the sandy side making your other fish crowded on one side
also those fish eat ALOT.
If I were you I would try to soften the water and throw in some salt(ask your local pet store for salt)
When your fish start to breed just throw them back in a lake or stream

If I where you I would dump your fish and start over because unless you cycled(puting in a single fish and let sit for 3-4 months)
Or used lake water your fish will suffer
also those fish need 100s of gallons of swiming room or will stunt(when fish are in a small body of water or overcrowded they stay small) they will do badly

if you are willing to use your 75 set it up with sand bottom and only put in the bluegill.

Fellow native newbie Robert Nichols Greenville South Carolina

Becky Kendell <appycowgirl34-in-yahoo.com> wrote:
Hello,

My name is Becky, I am new to the mailing list and to the hobby of keeping native fish. I live in Menasha, WI. I have two tanks of tropical fish, a 75 gal. and a 20 gal. I also keep (and breed when I feel like having all kinds of babies) several different kinds of dart frogs, and I have a couple snakes too. This summer I began fishing a lot at my fiance's family's cottage on a small lake in Wisconsin. I kept catching little bluegills, perch, and pumpkinseeds and started to realize how pretty these fish are, especially the pumpkinseeds. Well, it was just a thought in the back of my mind until a fellow frog-hobbyist friend of mine called and said he was moving and wanted to get rid of a bunch of his tanks, one of them being a 125 gallon including stand, lights, and covers. I set it up in my basement, since it wouldn't fit anywhere else in the house, and after about a month, I now have fish in it.

I thought I'd describe it and would like anyone on here to let me know if I'm doing anything wrong. I made one end of it with a sandy bottom, the other with gravel and rocks. On the sandy side, there are a few live plants, some fake ones, and logs for hiding. This is also the brighter side. The other side does not have a light over it and will (when I find the right rocks) have hiding places in the rocks. I thought this would provide the fish with a choice of habitat. (of course I don't really know what I'm doing yet, but it does look neat!) I have two bio-wheel filters running, one on the rocky side and one in the middle....causing the planted side to have less current. I have tested the water, and there is no amonia or nitrates anymore. The hardness is pretty high, but I am thinking that is ok since I am also catching fish from this same area? The fish so far seem to be doing great. Much better than I expected. I started with a pumpkinseed (almost adult) a
small bluegill, and a small perch. They got used to the tank pretty quick. I also bought a young crappie from a pet store, hoping it would do well right away and eat food more readily, but actually it has turned out to be the shyest. After about a week, I then caught a rock bass. It took up residence in a hollowed-out piece of wood I put in there, and then after a few days also started to come out and beg for food with the others. I thought it might cause trouble with the little bluegill who is only about an inch and a half, but everyone gets along fine! Today I went fishing again and came back with a bigger bluegill, and another perch. So the total is 1 pumpkinseed, 2 bluegill, 2 perch, 1 rock bass, and 1 crappie. Surprisingly (to me at least) the pumpkinseed is the king (or queen?). The bass is actually really submissive and I have taken to feeding him from my hand so no one else gets his food. I am absolutely hooked on these guys now. I wish they could be
upstairs. I do know someday the fish I have might not get along when they mature, and I do have other tanks laying around for such and occation. As for feeding, I started with fish to get them to come out and hunt. Then they started taking worms I dropped in. For a while not all of them would come get the worms, but now they do. Now that they look for things dropping from the surface, I think I will try some sinking pellets.

I look forward to learning more about native fish from all of you. I have been reading lately about fish that have been introduced in my area...I was shocked at how many of them don't belong here. I live next to the biggest lake in WI, Lake Winnebago. I'm very saddened to find out it is in much more trouble than I knew with all the introduced species of fish, crayfish, mussels, and plants, there doesn't seem to be much hope for the wildlife that belongs here.

Becky

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Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1"/min.
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ 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