cah925

I caught some wild fish fry in a local creek several weeks ago and I'm happy to say that 5 are surviving and doing well. They were so tiny at first that there was a small debate as to what kind of fish they were. We have temporarily settled on killifish (not sure about exact species), but that may change as the fish grow.

First up is a pic of where we caught them.


Pics from last night




Next to a snail for size comparison

fshfanatic

Way cool! Native species tanks are always 10/10 on the cool scale.

ferris89

cool! good luck with them, and keep us updated!

Bert H

They look more like Gambusia than the killies to me. Have you checked out here?

Is that in Hogtown Creek? A good place for the killies (H. formosa - least killifish) is the pond behind Sorority Row. It looks pretty disgusting, but there's a ton there if you have a fine mesh net. There's also a creek in town with platties. I caught some and took them home where they proceeded to devour most of my fine leaved plants as their own personal salad bar. Those didn't stay long.

I'm in the process of emptying out my 10 to stock with locals - I have a spot picked out on the Santa Fe where there's a good variety.

cah925

Yep, Hogtown Creek - good guess. I managed to catch one adult that day, albeit injured, and it did not look anything like the gambusia. Although the markings on the fry's tails are similar to the gambusia. I'm certainly keeping an open mind about what these fry could potentially be, just need to give them some more time to grow.

I don't have another tank available right now for other wild caught fish, but I might have to go down and check out that pond behind Soroity Row anyway (might be a good excuse to buy yet another tank).

Bert - how do you catch (or plan to catch) your fish? It is a PITA trying to stand perfectly still in the water with a net to catch these suckers. Everytime I flinch the slightest, the fish scatter and I'm left empty.

Bert H

The trick is to try to catch them where there's cover. The Sorority Row pond is usually covered in duckweed and scuzz, and at the Santa Fe the Hygro is so thick you can scoop with a long handled fine mesh net and get stuff. Scoop under the growth/weeds and you'll usually come up with something. There's a variety of small shiners, bluefin killies, madtom cats, grass shrimp, etc I've caught and seen caught in the River.

cah925

The area I was "fishing" was littered with roots and sticks. The fish knew just how far they could go without any danger and they would tease you by hanging out just under that sweet spot.