Wild Fish Vacation Locations?

[cichlidinsomniac]

Micstarz, that's awesome that you made it to Three Gorges - I'm sure that was a very cool experience. Like you said, diving there would be near impossible.

These are some pictures from a crocodile breeding Co-op near San Blas, Nayarit. I'm not sure on the catfish species. The larger cichlid-like fish were "Tilapia" (again, not sure of the species). The darker, somewhat smaller, and much more camera-shy cichlid looked a lot like a Managuense.

the other cichlid looks like a dovii, btw nice pics

 

[micstarz]

Wow! Those Minnesota pics look really good. Is that a pbass in the second pic?? The landscape seems better than the aquascape though, but the fish seem interesting.

 

[Noto]

That sounds good. Are the fish coldwater or tropical though? US fish sound somehow less enticing than tropical fish though (at least as pets).

Are there hellbenders and lots of different Caudates too?

The fish are not tropical, but not properly coldwater either (there are few streams cold enough for trout, for example). Hellbenders do occur in the area, as do mudpuppies, sirens, amphiumas, and dozens of smaller salamander species; this area is second only to the Mexican Highlands for salamander diversity. It is also very rich in aquatic plant, mollusc, crayfish, insect, turtle, etc. diversity.

Let me show you some examples of our fishes:

Etheostoma caeruleum

E. zonale

Lepomis megalotis

Lythrurus umbratilis

Notropis chrosomus

N. rubricroceus

The most important families are the small, colorful Cyprinidae and Percidae, but there also many cichlid-like centrarchids, ictalurid catfishes, fundulid killifishes, sucker-mouthed catostomids, and the ancient gars and bowfin.

If you do decide to come, April is the best month. The water will be warm and most of the fish will be showing their best colors.

 

[micstarz]

That's cool! Gar's are awesome. I like killis to, but not centrarchids that much. I like sirens a lot though, and I'd lvoe to see a wild hellbender (or a live hellbender for that matter)
E. caeruleum looks really nice, as does that sunfish.

Although I probably won't be allowed to go to the states for a while, it's always nice to know of such places...

 

[micstarz]

At the Mount Safari Club in Kenya, Xenopus laevis (African Clawed Frogs)

To know more about how I found them visit my Caudata.org thread http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58454

And in the city where I live, Paramesotriton hongkongensis, endemic to Hong Kong. (Hong Kong newt)

Original thread posted by me at Caudata.org
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58455

Unfortunately these are a protected species and I couldn't collect them. Also in the same stream were some misc. loaches and butterfly loachs, as well as whitecheeked gobies and typical sub-tropical coolwater stream fish.

These were from 07/08 and 10/08 respectively.