<< In may 1999 I was in amarillo Tx looking for red river pupfish. I went to
the Canadian river right below the dam for lake meredith. THere is a 5 to
10 acre lake that is heavily used for swimming. At this time of the year,
the water was mid- to upper 70's (I didn't meaure, but the kids liked it).
I scooped up a bunch of brook silversides with the seine and walked to the
shore. Since I didn't realize what they were at first, I didn't treat them
with any particular care, just pretty much how I handle any seine load of
fish. I scooped them out of the net by hand and put them into a 5 gallon
bucket with clear water from the lake.
Back in the car, I put the fish in a cooler with a powerhead plugged into a
power inverter.
During the 12-hour drive to tucson, I lost no silversides. When I got
home, I had 18 silversides which I put into a 55 gallon tank with the
pupfish. I lost 2 fish over the next couple of days and then they did
fine. >>
The fact that most of your silversides survived through the crucial
transportation and first week of captivity period when you took no special
precautions in handling them or keeping them, when other silversides
collectors had greater losses makes me think that it must've had something to
do with the fact that they were captured in a warmer clime (i.e. Texas)
instead of a more northern colder state like Michigan or others. That and the
fact that you captured it in a still-water lake instead of a flowing river
seems like it would explain why most of them survived despite the fact that
you treated them just like any other fish.
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