Virginia Fish

[cer]

Every year I go to Virginia for vacation and I catch fish in abay there. Would a bay be saltwater or freshwater? It is not by a river but it is near marshland. I want to try to re create the habitat and catch some of these fish that are only 1 to 2 inches long.

[btate617]

Have a sip and find out......

[cer]

Oh it tastes salty so it is saltwater. If I try to recreate it it will be my first saltwater tank!
Yeah!

[mac]

IMO I would find a bit of info out about the place. Like the water parameters, what the fish are, and what they eat things like that.

Main thing is you want the tank to be up and running, and cycled, also pre set up for the fish. IMO I would see if you can gather things like plants, logs rocks from this place and recreate it that way.

Good luck, any chance of pics when done?

mac

[Goodbye]

I agree with mac!

You'll want to find as much info on the place as you possibly can. You will want to try and use some of the plants, rocks, wood and other things that come from the habitat. Also, you'll want to know as much about the specie(s) of fish you are wanting to keep. There diet, compatability, temperment, etc.

Sounds like a fun project!

Good Luck!!

[cer]

I am going to have to wait until I go on vacation to get the info. I will make sure to take pics to show you everything. Thanks guys!

[Fishguy2727]

Where in Virginia?

Bays are usually estuarine and therefore brackish (to some degree or another).

[HeatherB]

I am guessing you mean like, around the Chesapeake Bay? Like around Ocean City, Virginia Beach area?

[cer]

The bay is near Chincoteague Virginia. By the way I identified the fish as sheapshed minnow.

[jaysee]

Cer - sheapshead minnows (killifish) are brackish fish, and can live in fresh water as well as straight saltwater. They're often caught with mummichogs, another killifish. Sheapsheads top out at 3 inches, with mummis at 5.

They are common baitfish along the eastern coast.

[cer]

I have been reading about them and they eat smaller fish and plant matter such as seaweed. They average about 1.8 inches. To feed them should I breed guppies or something and feed them to the minnows and put seaweed and stuff in the tank? How many could I have?

[PostalPenguin]

The best way to determine if its brackish or salt is bring a hygrometer with you and figure out the exact salinity of the water. I would also bring a hardness and pH kit and maybe a nitrate test.

I would also suggest quarantining EVERYTHING that will be used in the tank for several months. Wild caught fish are notorious for having parasites and other nasties that could wreak havoc in a closed aquarium.

Sounds like it would be a great project. At a lake in Va(Lake Chesdin) I saw schools of fish that looked like black neon tetras and would probably make a cool species tank. Was pretty neat.

[jaysee]

PP - jersey side or pa?

Cer - not sure where you live, but these fish are readily available anywhere on the coast. If you're serious about this I could easily catch them and mail them to you when you're ready for them, along with any seaweed you may want. Both are plentiful in my line of work :)

[HeatherB]

not to be like, mean or anything, but are you allowed to take fish and put them in personal tanks like that?

I mean, when I go to the beach in a week, could i theoretically catch something from the ocean to bring back and put in my fishtank? do you need special liscences or something?

[jaysee]

If you were transporting large numbers of them, yes you would need a permit. Otherwise, as long as you are following fish and game regulations you are safe. I believe the harvest of minnows is regulated by the number of traps you can have, not by size or number of individual fish.

[cer]

Thanks jaysee! I am located out side of Philly. What about the guppy idea?

[jaysee]

I like the guppy idea in general, and had set up my own feeder breeding tank a couple weeks ago. The big thing about raising your own feeders is control - less disease and more nutrition because you can feed them high quality food.

I've kept lots of captured killies back in the day, and must say they are as tough as they come and eat anything. Very easy fish to keep, and prolific.

[jaysee]

You can easily bring them from VA back home without losses. This is what I do for long term (8-10 hours) keeping - I get a lunch box size cooler and line the bottom with ice, dip some newspaper in the brackish water and place it on top of the ice, then place the minnows on the newspaper followed by wet newspaper on top. NO water. They'll stay alive ALL DAY like that. This is an old fishermans trick. I've kept fish I didn't use by just throwing them in a tank or fish pond of freshwater when I got home. This was years ago before I understood the the mechanics of keeping fish. Point is, they all lived, and at least this should be a testiment to how tough they are.

Or get some breather bags.

[cer]

Wait so you can also keep them in fresh water? Would the seaweed cooperate? Or should it be saltwater?

[jaysee]

Yes, they are good in fresh, full marine, and anything inbetween. What is your plan for the seaweed, for them to eat it or for you to just keep it in the tank?

[cer]

Since it is in there habitat it will make the tank look more like the bay. Plus they like to eat plant matter.

[jaysee]

Then I would make the tank brackish. You'll most likely have to switch out the seaweed periodicly, but that's just a guess. The good news is you can be a little heavy or a little light on the salt and it won't matter.

[cer]

Thanks everybody! Last question. How many can I have in a 10 gallon.