Riverbend Park Collecting -Sat 4 Oct 2008 1030am

DonkeyFish · Post by **DonkeyFish** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:45 pm

I'm totally a slacker! Was out playing with cars all day today and the pics are still on the memory card. I promise they'll be up tomorrow!! And so far as fish go... I have no clue what we got from a technical standpoint, but they were cool! One in particular (and timely considering the upcoming convention) was a Bullhead Catfish (Bullnose? Sorry!). According to our field guide Bob, a very cool species indeed. There were some shrimp, and a couple of monster crayfish, bass that we had to release, some silver things, darters, things...
And he's the one you all should be asking about what we found anyhow. I was just there for moral support and to pass the nets!

Sonny Disposition · Post by **Sonny Disposition** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:48 pm

OK. Lots of redbreast sunfish, Lepomis auritus
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/redbreastsun.html

(The ones we caught were babies, and didn't have their color yet)

A couple of baby largemouth bass
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/largemouth.html

A baby crappie
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/blackcrappie2.html
(Something like a jaguar cichlid, only less aggessive, but more predatory)

A baby rock bass (I think)
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/rockbass.html

Jen's catfish, which, I think was a brown bullhead (It could also be a black bullhead, I never learned to tell them apart)
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/brnbull.html

Lots of minnows. Again, I've never been crazy about minnows and never bothered to learn the differences. (Nondescript silvery shiners)

With the exception of some longnose dace:
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/longnosedace.html

And, I think a fallfish or two (A large predatory minnow):
http://www.thejump.net/id/fallfish.htm

Not to mention the shrimp, which no one could identify successfully. They looked like typical eastern shorn grass shrimp, but I don't think are listed as being in the upper Potomac. They could be a bait bucket introduction to the area.

DonkeyFish · Post by **DonkeyFish** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:11 pm

Ok. Here goes! A lot of them didn't come out (crappy camera!--didn't want to take anything good to be mucking around the water with!)

DonkeyFish · Post by **DonkeyFish** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:15 pm

More...

ddavila06 · Post by **ddavila06** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:33 pm

hey, looks like you guys did have a lot of fun, too cold for me, next year

sherrymitchell · Post by **sherrymitchell** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:00 am

Oh wow, what fun! Even the mud looks like it was fun, LOL...... That rock scape, a la mom nature is beautiful -- so Amano-like!

Question: Do you have to quarantine the wild collected plants in any way before you introduce them to your tanks?

marge618 · Post by **marge618** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:07 am

sherrymitchell wrote:Oh wow, what fun! Even the mud looks like it was fun, LOL...... That rock scape, a la mom nature is beautiful -- so Amano-like!

Question: Do you have to quarantine the wild collected plants in any way before you introduce them to your tanks?

Sherry: I really like that question!
Bob: I have that same question about any critters you brought back.
Do you 'quarantine' both critters and plants?

Sonny Disposition · Post by **Sonny Disposition** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:33 am

I'm more likely to quarantine animals than plants, but it's probably a good idea to quarantine both. Most of the plants I bring home are tough enough to handle chlorine, so I put them in a bucket of warm tap water over night, without adding dechlorinator. My theory is that anything they're harboring that would bother fish would live on the surface of the leaves (like bacteria) and hence would be killed by the chlorine. Adding a little instant ocean probably wouldn't hurt, either, especially if you're bringing in something from freshwater.

Even thought that's what I usually do, it's not necessarily a good idea, however. I know that chlorine doesn't seem to bother blackworms, so there are probably other things that can survive it--and salt--as well, like predacious insects.

Fish and invertebrates are another matter. I don't know of any overnight broad spectrum treatment that would eliminate all of the potential viruses, bacteria, fungi, and whatnot that live animals could harbor. Best to keep them by themselves for a month or two to make sure they're ok, before exposing them to the rest of your fish. That goes for store bought as well as wild caught.

marge618 wrote:
sherrymitchell wrote:Oh wow, what fun! Even the mud looks like it was fun, LOL...... That rock scape, a la mom nature is beautiful -- so Amano-like!

Question: Do you have to quarantine the wild collected plants in any way before you introduce them to your tanks?
Sherry: I really like that question!
Bob: I have that same question about any critters you brought back.
Do you 'quarantine' both critters and plants?

Sonny Disposition · Post by **Sonny Disposition** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:38 am

So Jen, Where are the fish pictures from the trip? (Enough of old guys in hats!)

DonkeyFish · Post by **DonkeyFish** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:15 am

Welllll....uhm...... those are the ones that didn't come out so well!! I'll be heading over to Rob's in the next couple of days though and I'll snap some of them cruising around in their holding cells-- I mean tanks. VERY sorry to say the ones I tried to take of the scuds didn't come out at ALL. I guess I don't get to be group photographer next time!

Riverbend Park Collecting -Sat 4 Oct 2008 1030am

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