NANFA-- Re: Mummichogs

Moontanman_at_aol.com
Tue, 16 Jul 2002 00:25:23 EDT

Ok, I have been doing some collecting but just freshwater. I was hoping that
by now I would be collecting in salt water streams again. Lots of really wild
looking things live in the saltwater tidal creeks, you could fill a large
aquarium with some very interesting fish and never have the same fish twice.
As we collect in freshwater most of us think of marine fish as just reef fish
since that is all we see in petshops. But a huge variety of marine fish that
just look like very odd looking freshwater fish live in the salt water
creeks. They are as easy to keep as any freshwater fish being used to
environmental swings much larger than even freshwater fish are used to. I
would like to see this new side of the fish keeping hobby get a little bit of
publicity. Most people seem to think that marine fish have to be delicate
gaudy looking reef dwellers but nothing could be further from the truth. I
can see a whole new arm of the aquarium hobby forming. Although many of these
tidal creek fish will live in brackish water normally many of them live in
water that is mostly marine. Another thing to think about is the possibility
of keeping brackish water fish but in a way that would combine many
freshwater and marine fish. At a salinity of around 10% of natural sea water
a great many fresh and tidal creek marine fish do well leading to the
possibility of aquariums with a really eclectic population. there places
where I live that you can catch marine fish and freshwater fish from the same
water and both seem to do better that way. To some extent I think it confuses
many diseases and parasites because they are not as adaptable as the fish
are. When keeping both types of fish together I have found that calcium
content is more important than salinity. I can see it now, sunfish, spots,
mullets, darters, hermit crabs, catfish, lookdowns, night sergeants, drums,
crappies, flounders, bass, toadfish, shiners, suckers, seahorses, sheepshead,
and sea robins in the same aquarium! I know I'm a dreamer, but dreams are
what life is made of! And rules are meant to be broken!

Moon
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