Going On A Collecting Trip Saturday

[divemaster99]

My local fish club is doing a native collecting trip at the mouth of my local creek on Saturday and even if I don't keep any fish I'm going to help out and give what I catch to others anyway. I don't have time to setup and establish a native tank in less than a week obviously but I know I'll be tempted to keep some if the fish they pull out which include darters, minnows, sculpins, and sunfish (sunfish are what I'm after ). I could use a mid level fish in my soon-to-be-in-a-few-days 75 gallon catfish tank and was wondering if I could just snag even a single sunfish (something like a green or bluegill) to take home with me. Only thing I worry about is the creek I'm getting them from is a creek so the water is probably cold and running although it flows into a river so it may be water than the other parts of it and if I took a fish from it the catfish tank is set on 75-76 F and I worry tats be to much of a shock for the fish even if I slowly drip acclimated for a few hours.

Just let me know what your guys opinions are on whether I should risk it and try to acclimate the fish or just go and help.

PS, the only fish I'd consider keeping would be sunfish or catfish since minnows and darters would definitely do terrible in 75-76 degree water. Here are the fish I'd consider since I know they are ones that I've seen in tropical setups before.

-Bluegill
-Pumpkinseed
-Green Sunfish
-LMB (as a GROWOUT)
-Any Bullhead (as a growout)
-Channel Catfish (Again as a growout)
-Flathead Catfish (don't think for a second I'm stupid enough to try to keep one after it hits 8-10")

 

[divemaster99]

Any thoughts?

 

[divemaster99]

Posted this on NANFA as well and people seemed to point at the fact that if I slowly acclimate them to room temp over a day (room temp is the same as tanks now) there are many species (mainly sunfish But also some minnows and darters) that'd do perfect in my setup.

 

[Pumpkinseed]

Sunfish are tough little buggers, they are not prone to swim bladder infections from temperature changes like tropicals are.
I think just letting the bucket they are in come up to room temp over a couple hours would be fine.

 

[divemaster99]

Sunfish are tough little buggers, they are not prone to swim bladder infections from temperature changes like tropicals are.
I think just letting the bucket they are in come up to room temp over a couple hours would be fine.

Awesome! Just to let you know though sometimes room temp gets hotter than tank thep somehow . Right now room temp is 76-78 but on hot days it'll get up to or over 80. Heater is almost never on in the summer I've noticed.

 

[divemaster99]

Talked to the natives expert at my LFC tonight at our monthly meeting, he's going to be there tomorrow and is a pro at IDing. He said the most common sunfish they find are bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and rock bass. Obviously rock bass won't work in my 75 since I have giant danios in there and I'm not risking that . So either a bluegill or a pumpkinseed is what I plan on keeping.

Which one of those two would be better in warmer temperatures?

 

[Cod]

pumpkin seeds are the best lookin fish here in michigan, i'd go with them, tho i never kept them

 

[divemaster99]

Collecting is going good so far. I've got some kind of chub and a pair of free side darters so far and hopefully a pumpkinseed to come. They're all going into a 5 gallon bucket for a 2-3 day quarantine to check for physical condition and treat for basic alements then into my 75 gallon. It'll be quite an interesting mix of tropicals and natives when I'm done, everything from striped raphael catfish to greenside darters

 

[divemaster99]

Wound up being a real good day of collecting! Going home with a chub, pair of green side darters, and a green sunfish (juvinile). I was in a world of impulse "catches" today that's for sure . Just have to hope they do good in my 75 tropical. I'll probably wind up giving the green it's own 30 as soon as I can though.

 

[divemaster99]

Caught a bunch of different species even though I didn't keep them all including: darters of about every local species (rainbow, Johnny, blue breast, channel, banded, tippecanoe, and more but I won't ramble ), tons of shiners and dace, bluegills (one was VERY intensely colored for being only 1.5"), green sunfish, a creek chub, mottled sculpins (tons of sculpins!!!), and almost caught a 10" flathead cat that got away.