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NFC: Re: collecting in NC (attention Gerald Pottern)

Those crescent shiners are proving to be the best adapted fish.  Last night
they started taking Tetra ColorBits (but still refuse flake food).  I think
they would be a great addition to any Adopt-A-Tank.

As of this morning the RBD are showing interest in ColorBits but spitting
them out again.

The green sunfish and all of the darters are refusing food.  Guess they are
getting a minced cocktail shrimp tonight.  :-)

Chris Hedemark - Hillsborough, NC
http://yonderway.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Hedemark" <chris at yonderway_com>
To: <nfc at actwin_com>
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2001 5:18 PM
Subject: NFC: collecting in NC (attention Gerald Pottern)


> Gerald,
>
> Thanks so much for having me along for the collecting trip yesterday.  I
had
> a great time, and learned a lot about collecting fish from watching you
and
> hearing your feedback on my technique.  Until now, I've pretty much been
on
> my own and trying to learn from snippets of emails or online chat
sessions.
> After seeing you working the 5' seine I know now that I have to get my
hands
> on one of those (that big seine I've got is nice when you've got a bunch
of
> high school kids to help but is useless when I'm going solo).
>
> I've got mixed results on the fish that we caught.  The bass was DOA when
I
> got home.  He didn't look too good when we put him in the bag initially so
> I'm worried that maybe he was injured at time of capture.
>
> All of the darters were fine, and are still fine 24 hours later.  Same
goes
> for the redbelly dace.
>
> That green sunfish is happy and alert.  When I approach his tank, he comes
> right up to the glass to check out who is moving into his turf.  He's such
a
> tiny little thing today but I can tell he is going to be quite formidable
> when he grows up and gets moved to the 135 gallon tank.
>
> I ended up with two of the crescent shiners.  They are both doing well.
> There was another kind of shiner we got, and I don't recall the name, but
> all of that species succumbed within four hours of release into the tank.
> They're obviously a lot less robust than the other fishes and I'm really
not
> sure what did them in.  But overall I think it was a success.  There were
> two different species that were a total loss, but but five species that
were
> 100% survival after 24 hours in captivity.  I think I've got a perfect
> number of redbelly dace (7) but look forward to getting more of the
crescent
> shiners since only two don't work together well.
>
> Very interesting that we pulled up that big netful of redbellies and
> crescent shiners together, under the same tree root.  In the tank, the
> crescent shiners school with the redbellies.  They don't seem to recognize
> each other as a group, but will almost always follow the redbellies
> anywhere.  I wonder if there is a documented relationship between these
two
> species.
>
> If you guys run into any more crescent shiners next weekend I'd be glad if
> you held 4-6 of them for me please.  I've got a lot of auction fish coming
> to me shortly (check is on the way this week) and would be willing to
trade
> some of those.  Also if you run into any redfin pickerel or baby gars, or
> any juveniles of the rock bass group I'd be very interested in those as
> well.
>
> Once I get moved into the new house and have all the tanks set up, I'd
like
> to head down east and look for some oddball sunfishes.  Would be glad to
> make it a group trip if you'd be interested.  The house we're looking
> seriously at has as huge crawlspace area which has a workable area for
> setting up a temperate fish room.  I'm seeing in my mind racks of 10 or 15
> gallon tanks.  :-)  At the very least there is also a big metal shed out
> back that would also make a workable temperate fish room if I got a window
> sized air conditioner inthere to contend with our blazing hot summers.  Oh
> did I mention there is a small stream running through the backyard?
Wonder
> what I'll find in there.  :-)  The house is on the Orange County / Durham
> County line near Guess Road but a quarter mile or so on the Orange County
> side of the line.
>
> Let me know how your big collecting trip goes.  I hope the kids have a
blast
> and learn something in the process (what kid wouldn't?)  That one stream
we
> hit at the end of the day was a real cornucopia and it was nice for a
change
> to put more fish back than I kept.  My only regret is I have yet to find
any
> streams near Hillsborough where I can catch madtoms, gar, or pickerel.  If
> you know of any good places to find those types of fish please don't keep
> any secrets.  :-)
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Chris Hedemark - Hillsborough, NC
> http://yonderway.com
>
>
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