Canadian Fish Species

[Melody]

We only have about 200, but they're ours! This site is by McGill University:

Canadian Biodiversity - Fish (http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/species/fish/)

[CACAdmin]

Cool thanks for the link. Look, we even have 2 species of killies (something I never knew):

Banded Killifish
Mummichog

::D:

[BlueAbyss]

I'm looking into collecting some yellow perch this summer.

[Melody]

I don't think that would be suitable for your tank :laugh: .

[Lisachromis]

Game fish are also illegal to keep in a tank without a special license. I agree that they'd make a neat display. It would also be tough to keep the water cool enough in the summer for them imho.

[Pamelajo]

The mummichog are kinda of neat looking:
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/kiosk/mummichog.html

[Melody]

Efficient little mosquito eaters too aren't they? 2000 larvae/day/fish :err: .

[Pamelajo]

Aren't they!!

[susankat]

Gerald Griffin had gotten 6 of the mummichogs at an auction and have bred them. They are going to be bapped next month as far as I understand.

[Melody]

You have to love them just for that name alone....lol. It's great that they're being bred in captivity. Has he mentioned if they're difficult?

[CACAdmin]

Cool looking fish. Gotta love the name. :laugh:
Efficient little mosquito eaters too aren't they? 2000 larvae/day/fish :err: .:swoon:

[susankat]

You have to love them just for that name alone....lol. It's great that they're being bred in captivity. Has he mentioned if they're difficult?

He said they aren't to difficult to breed, but with Gerald what can be hard for most people is easy for him. I think he only has a couple of categories to finish and will have finished all baps.

[Melody]

I suppose difficulty is always relative...lol...good point. We'll have to e-mail him and say "If a person isn't a fish whisperer like yourself (for which I have great respect bordering on bitter resentment), how difficult are they to spawn?"

Next club meeting he would go straight to you and say "Don't EVER give my e-mail address to a Canadian again!"

:laugh:

[BlueAbyss]

Game fish are also illegal to keep in a tank without a special license. I agree that they'd make a neat display. It would also be tough to keep the water cool enough in the summer for them imho.

Yes, these are the only 2 things that are stopping me. I'll see if I can procure a license though... The summer temperature thing doesn't worry me too much, I think as long as the temperature doesn't swing too fast they would be fine; a few populations around here live in bath warm water in shallow bays during the height of summer, those would be the ones I'd collect.

On a side note, the mummichog looks like an interesting fish indeed... I wonder if they are ever found in full strength seawater? Seems to be a brackish water fish?

[GaryofMontreal]

Mummichogs are brackish, and the ones in PEI (a red tailed form) get to a good 5 inches. It's a nice fish.
I've kept and bred good old Saint Laurent river Fundulus diaphanous. That's a nice fish, although it's a food hog.
Phoxinus eos, the northern red-bellied dace is a good, larger aquarium fish if your tanks are cool. They are gorgeous.
Umbra limi shows up in beaver ponds in the east, and is brilliant lime green in breeding season. they have incredible personality, even if somewhere I read them described as "a cigar butt with fins".
Darters (Etheostoma) are very cool fish as well - the only really small ones in this list.
Yellow perch are illegal to keep almost everywhere.
If you go for natives, remember, never release them back into nature. Aquarium fish have different diseases. If you catch it, for nature, you have killed it. It's harsh, but the point of entry into an aquarium is the point of no return. We're toxic.

[BlueAbyss]

Good to know. I suspect that they are illegal to keep here, since perch are a major lower food chain item here... good eating for walleye (pickerel as we call them), pike (jackfish), and man (me!).

I will look into the dace though, I'm pretty sure they've been mentioned before when I asked someone about native fishes.

[GaryofMontreal]

I used to get red-bellied and pearl dace from a swift moving creek - a basic flow under the road culvert. Minnow traps worked. They are also common in bait shops. They are common north of Montreal in the hills and mountains, but I have never caught them south of the Saint Laurent on the flatter plains.
If you see beavers, check the catchment ponds. They apparently like that habitat.
They hit five inches, but males hold their crimson sides in cool tanks. They are vivid fish - quite striking. I never bred them because Spring is a trigger, and I couldn't give them winter to set it up.
I stopped keeping natives years ago because of temperatures. It's too warm in an average house to be able to do it right.

[BlueAbyss]

Beavers are epidemic here... they plug culverts and wash out roads pretty regularly during the spring and summer. I'll try fishing in some ponds this summer, thanks Gary! (Not sure if we have dace here, but I'm bound to catch something =)