New Jersey Natives-some questions

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M

menacingtourist

Feeder Fish
Sep 10, 2007
2
0
0
New Jersey
Hello,

I live next to the D&R canal (New Jersey) and often go there with my kids. We occasionally fish but mostly throw in grasshoppers and watch the sunfish eat. Last weekend I set up a 10g tank with three small fish. A Green sunfish (I think), some kind of skipper, some kind of catfish and a couple of crayfish.

I actually managed to get a photo of all three fish together but also wanted to ask about the catfish. He's all black except for under his jaw and part of his belly. His bottom wiskers are also white. Not sure if they will end up being good tank mates or not and now I'm wondering how big this catfish is going to get.

There's a lot of good info here and I've read through a few pages of posts so forgive me if I should know this stuff already :)

Alan.

ThreeFish.jpg

CatFish_01.jpg

CatFish_03.jpg
 
Welcome to MFK! Nice natives you have there. Just want to let you know that you should ID fish at your collection point, to make sure you aren't breaking any laws. Your fish look great, we'll see if we can figure out some ID's for you.
 
Welcome.

I'd guess redbreast on the sunfish (but only speculation due to the photo).

You have a darter (not sure which and not familiar with your area) and that is a bullhead almost certainly a yellow bullhead.

Unfortunately the bullhead will get huge (three pound yellow bullhead are not terribly unusual) and tend to eat tankmates. If that's indeed a redbreast....it will either pick apart the cawdad's after their first molt and that molt will happen quickly after he eats the darter. Oh, the bullhead will have to fight the sunfish for the soft crawdad.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but nothing a new tank can't remedy;)

Good luck and we'll be happy to help you work through your current stock. No worries.
 
The sunfish most definately isn't a green. I'd guess redbreast also, but it would help with a better pic :)

The bullhead is about the same size my black was when I got him, and he'll outgrow your 10g within a few months. I'd guess yellow too, but you probably won't know for sure until he grows. I THINK my black may have started out with whiteish whiskers as a juvenile but I can't remember at this point.
An inch a month or more shouldn't be unexpected growth at that age with good feeding.

Your crawdads are probably toast, lol.
 
Thanks for the info guys.

For some reason I always want to call a darter a skipper :)
I'll try and get a better pic of the sunfish.
The catfish is by far my favorite. As to his growth, I guess that's a slippery slope I'm sure you're all familiar with.

On the same collection trip we got a bunch of mosquito eaters but they didn't last long and provided plenty of excitement for my kids. To be honest, I may enjoy it even more then they do.

I know people have mentioned a north american field guide to freshwater fish. We have one for insects and spiders that has gotten a lot of use. My son even takes it to bed with him. I'll need to get the fish one for sure.

Thanks again for the IDs.

Alan.
 
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