Some local Ohio fishes...

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Andy Avram
Posts: 897
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:37 am
Location: NE Ohio

Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Andy Avram »

Inspired by Jason B's darter post I decided to post my darters, and other fish. Although, this is a different twist on what is usually posted on this fishing forum, but since all (minus 1 which was collected by a friend and given to me) these fish were legally collected by me in the field I think it applies). Anyways, this has been a rough year for me and I had to break down my 180 gallon native fish tank this past spring. I then bought a house and eventually got around to setting up my tank again, but this time I made it in the wall. Here is some pictures.

(I still have to stain the trim.)

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Here is a side view.
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I had to give up most of my fish, which are actually being taken care of really well at a native fish display at one of the nature education centers at my work. I kept some of my favorites in a 10 gallon and then a 40 gallon until the big tank was ready to go. Here are some of the fish, both old and new.

Love this Northern Longear, but I need to get him a little girl.
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Some of the minnows.
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Some of the darters and one of the baby Orangespot Sunfish.
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For those of you who are interested, the fish list right now is pretty small as I have been doing small scale stockings but it includes:
Blacknose Dace
Bluntnose Minnows
Fathead Minnows
Silverjaw Minnows
Sand Shiner
Mimic (or Sand) Shiner
Spotfin Shiners
Logperch
Variegate Darters
Greenside Darters
Johnny Darters
Rainbow Darters
Orangethroat Darters
Fantail Darters
Longear Sunfish
Orangethroat Sunfish

And for those of you interested in the plumbing and some of the design. The background is Styrofoam and Great Stuff with a coating of Silicon II and sand. There are openings on the left side (looking from the back) which flow up and over into filter media and through a corridor along the back bottom to another chamber with the pumps are kept. A line runs from the pumps to the bed rock/ rock pile where they create more or less 1-way current. Clear as mud?

Here is a picture.
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With water flow.
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Andy
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Tim Borski
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
Location: FL Keys
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Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Tim Borski »

Nice set up. I think I used to call your Orange Spotted a "pumpkinseed" or Sunfish. Are they the same fish just different local name?
What's the redfish doing on the wall? :mrgreen:
Tim
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Andy Avram
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:37 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Andy Avram »

Tim,

Seperate species. Pumpkinseeds get big enough to get. Orangespots are much more colorful and only grow around 3-4 inches.

I caught that Redfish in Florida in 1992 before the fishery recovered and there were slot limits. My dad's cousin, a taxidermist in Avon Park, Fl, was exteremly jealous since he never caught one (at least at that time) and mounted it for me.
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Tim Borski
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
Location: FL Keys
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Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Tim Borski »

Thanks Andy. Do Orange spots range north to WI?

A Red in '92 was an accomplishment. I'm glad they've rebounded so well.
:thumb:
Tim
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muskiemagnet
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Joined: June 11th, 2010, 8:43 am
Location: kaukauna, wi

Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by muskiemagnet »

man you got me going on the native aquarium thing. i have a 140 sitting dry right now. i'm waiting to get settled after school to set it up again. looks like you are into minnows and such.. that's pretty cool. i'm looking to set up with tiny versions of the big dogs. as kids we carried buckets when fishing, and brought back all "small" fish for the aquariums. pike, bass, walleye, channel cats, flathead cats, crappie, perch. blah, blah, blah. we had small (2-4 inch) versions of everything. even had a six inch short-nose gar, very neat fish.

on another note, i caught a yellow bullhead once. when i say yellow, i mean yellow. the entire fish. same gold as the belly of the naturals. about two weeks later, it turned back to normal colors.

any thoughts on this?

-ben
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Carl Brune
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:22 am
Location: Athens, OH
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Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Carl Brune »

Cool setup. I saw some logperch in Ohio this year.
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Jason B
Posts: 525
Joined: July 30th, 2010, 11:48 am
Location: KY: Woodford Co.

Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Jason B »

Nice, thanks for sharing. I'd like to build a set up like that - first I'll need to move somewhere for longer than 6 months!

Silverjaws are really cool minnows. It would be neat to get some young ones and watch the sensory organ develop.
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Gary2sons
Posts: 297
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Camden County, Missouri

Re: Some local Ohio fishes...

Post by Gary2sons »

Nice looking set-up!

Always enjoy looking at the native fishes. I've kept a few myself over the years and know how difficult some species are to keep. Probably my favorite was an adult male Longear. Kept him for 4 years before he died but he was fully grown when I caught him so he was probably very old. I had a retail shop at the time and the aquarium was right behind the counter. With his colors and him usually staying in the center of the tank he always drew a lot of attention.

Another favorite of mine are the log perch. Since I work at a private fish hatchery I have had to tell more than a few people that they really didn't catch a "baby musky" :lol: Hate to burst their bubble sometimes but always tell them it was a really cool little fish they did catch.

I also remember when I was only about ten years old of catching orange spotted sunfish on a very small hook in the riffles of small streams here in Missouri. Never knew what they were until many years later.

The Midwest really does have a lot to offer when it comes to native fishes!

Gary
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