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NFC: Re: Tadpole Madtoms (was Re: hello? is anyone there/here?)

I am interested in Madtoms but have no experience with them.I am also trying
to spawn Cory's but have had very little success. I have adolfi',pandas, and
orange neon Cory's as well as a smathering of endlers,ameca
splendins,Blackbanded sunfish, and pygmy's.


James
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wright Huntley" <huntley1 at home_com>
To: <detritus at topica_com>
Cc: <nfc at actwin_com>
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 11:15 AM
Subject: NFC: Tadpole Madtoms (was Re: hello? is anyone there/here?)


> Broken Tiger wrote:
> >
> > Nice to see you two here.
> >
> > I am fresh water, exclusively. Three catfish tanks: five gal to 100 gal;
> > two indoor ponds: goldfish fry, koi and channel catfish; and, hum, today
> > --eight GF tanks, including quarantine tanks and more fry. Oh, and one
> > broodery or what ever you call a shoebox with water and fish eggs.
> >
> > troi
>
> Hi troi and all,
>
> I'm more than willing to discuss other topics, though I was under the
> possibly-mistaken impression that this list was a sort of catch-all for
bay
> area fish topics (like detritus). Most real fish stuff, itself, gets
handled
> pretty much by the specialty groups, leaving SFAS as the easist remaining
> general bay-area target. ;-)
>
> Your interest in catfish brings up a serious question. Do you know how to
> breed any of our native catfishes? There is considerable interest in the
> breeder's club of the Native Fishes Conservancy (NFC) to determine all the
> breeding habits of the Madtoms. They are dwarf catfish that look a bit
like
> a tiny bullhead, and make just excellent aquarium inhabitants. Mine are
> roughly 3" full grown -- about the size of a bullfrog tadpole or a bit
> smaller, hence the subject name. They are really cute, too.
>
> I've bred a variety of Amazonian armored cats, but don't have much idea
> where to start on these guys. They need cooler conditions than I can
> provide, I'm pretty sure. Someone who does Koi and Goldfish would probably
> know what I mean.
>
> I currently have a few Tadpole Madtoms of indeterminant sex that I would
be
> happy to pass on to anyone who would like to study these guys, determine
how
> they can be bred in captivity, and report the results (if any). If anyone
> was interested in serious work on them, I'm sure I can get more starting
> stock, too, perhaps from somewhat warmer water than these (Idaho). Tadpole
> Madtoms (*Noturus gyrinus*) range from well up into Canada (Hudson's Bay)
> clear to the Gulf of Mexico and down into Florida.
>
> NFC's motives aren't complicated. 18 species of *Noturus* have been placed
> under special state protection, already. Habitat destruction is ever
> present.
>
> These fish are plentiful in the wild, right now, but habitats have a way
of
> getting destroyed. Understanding the behaviour of the fish, and being able
> to readily reproduce them in aquaria means wild collections can be reduced
> or halted, as needed, and we can still have the strain around if a
> particular habitat is rendered useless by a spill or another government
> damn. The opportunity to study them up close and personal is gratifying to
> many folks, and we wish to do it responsibly (legally, too).
>
> One big condition! They must never be released into the wild except under
> F&WL guidance. Keeping in a pond is risky, if it could ever flood. I don't
> dare keep them in a pond outside, here in Fremont, for example. They would
> be a potential threat to our native 3-spine Sticklebacks if they washed
into
> a storm drain.
>
> All I can add is that they spawn in caves (PVC pipe?) and need really good
> water. See Goldstein's book _American Aquarium Fishes_ for most of what we
> know about them. They have rarely been bred in captivity, so anyone doing
it
> can potentially learn quite a lot that's new.
>
> How about it Troi? You (or anyone else interested) can respond here or off
> list. This looks to be a fun challenge, and an opportunity to pay back
> something to a hobby that tends to hand us such information pretty freely.
>
> Wright
>
> PS. While on the subject, would there be enough of us in the Bay Area to
> form a "Catfish Study Group?" Does one already exist? My primary interest
> has been in the pygmy Cory species, like *C. hastatus*, *habrosus*, and
> *pygmaeus*, though I used to breed *paleatus* some years ago.
>
> --
> Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntleyone at home dot com
>
> "As government regulations grow slowly, we become used to the harness.
> Habit is a powerful force, and we no longer feel as intensely as we
> once would have [the] constriction of our liberties that would have
> been utterly intolerable a mere half century ago." --Judge Robert Bork
>
>               *** http://www.libertarian.org/ ***
>
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