Re: NANFA-- outdoor breeding suggestions

R. W. Wolff (choupiqu_at_wctc.net)
Tue, 3 Dec 2002 11:23:53 -0600

Any small fish from still or slow water environments should work out great.
Unless you have tons of cover, the sunfish will be top predator (other than
Enneacanthus) and really cut down on the production of the other fish.
Mudminnows work great, so long as the bottom is clean, but with substrate ,
they will survive all but being frozen solid. If you are interested in
stream fish, putting a boulder in the middle to make an island and some kind
of pump to make the water flow around the perimeter would work too. Unless
you can keep a small hole in the ice through the winter, most fish should be
brought indoors for the winter. Having it sunk in the ground is a great
benefit. My personal favorits for "mid" sized ponds are golden topminnow
(Fundulus chrysotus), flagfish (Jordanella floridae), bluefin killifish
(Lucania goodei), swamp killifish (Leptolucania ommata) , banded pygmy
sunfish (Elassoma zonatum), bluespotted sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus),
least darter (Etheostoma microperca), mudminnows (Umbra species), and pygmy
livebearer (Heterandria formosa). All these species usually spawn alot in
ponds of reasonable size, but some are less cold tolerant than others.

Ray
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