Hog suckers

[Moontanman]

Does anyone keep hog suckers? I have kept them several years ago, the key to getting them to eat and thrive seems to be a fine sand bottom and live food. Mine eventually jumped out of their tank but they are very interesting fish and make a great addition to any native tank. They do need cooler water than some fish but low 70's high 60's seemed to be ok with the ones I had.

 

[id10t]

Not yet, but they are on my short list since they are native in the springs I'd like to emulate in a Big Tank

 

[Moontanman]

Not yet, but they are on my short list since they are native in the springs I'd like to emulate in a Big Tank

Keep me posted, maybe I can keep them vicariously through you. Where I live it is just too hot to keep them in the summer. I have been fascinated by them since I was a kid. there are lots of different fish that are in that group of suckers that look and live like hog suckers. i am hoping to get some specimens of a fish called a jump rock soon, they live near me and might be able to take low 70's water most of the time.

 

[id10t]

The water in our local springs *is* 72 all the time... (N Fl. - IIRC in NC you'd be in the low 50s for your springs... its basically equal to your lattitude - hence the massive shrinkage at Sliding Rock)

Very easy to catch too, assuming you have a tank net and a mask or goggles

 

[Moontanman]

The water in our local springs *is* 72 all the time... (N Fl. - IIRC in NC you'd be in the low 50s for your springs... its basically equal to your lattitude - hence the massive shrinkage at Sliding Rock)

Very easy to catch too, assuming you have a tank net and a mask or goggles

Where I live water boils up out of the ground in the low 70's hence the name boiling springs lakes! Hog suckers are not native here, (South Eastern North Carolina) but in the North West part of the state they are. I live in a bubble of warm almost like northern Florida, I can catch mollies and blue fin killies in the wild. It does get a little colder in the winter but the ocean makes it much milder than the rest of the state. This winter we could have come close to growing oranges! these mild winters are the norm but every once in a while we get a very cold snap and it kills back all the tropical plants.