by Steve Pituch

Introduction
Our hobby involves the propagation of aquatic plants. It is a no-brainer that collecting plants from our local environment for an aquarium biotope can be a very rewarding experience. However, restricting our explorations only to the discovery of plants can significantly limit the pleasure we derive from our hobby. Biotopes almost always include both flora and fauna. If we look for fish as well as plants for our aquariums we can in theory double the satisfaction gained through the discovery process.

'Tis the Season
Sometimes the time of year will help you decide whether to look for plants, fish, or both. Even down here in Corpus Christi, Texas, which I consider to be semi-tropical, plants do go dormant in winter. It may be relatively warm during the day, but with the reduced hours of sunlight the annuals go to seed, many perennials lose their leaves, and the grass turns brown. During this time the diversity of available plants decreases, but depending on where you live you may still be able to look for fish. In some locales, it may even be better to look for fish in the winter. In Corpus Christi during a summer day, the fish you catch in one-half inch deep 90°F water may be so weak that you can end up with a 100 percent fatality rate by the time you get them home. In the winter the water is cooler, the fish have more oxygen and their metabolism is slower so they seem to be better able to withstand the capture and acclimatization process.




My point here is for you to always look for signs of fish during your plant collecting forays. The 150 foot wide by 20 foot deep drainage culvert I was in recently looked like a desolate moonscape: no plants and muddy gray clay as far as the eye could see. The center "stream" was about one-half inch deep with a flow of about one gallon per minute. At the end of a concrete slab at a bend in the culvert, the water had eroded a two foot drop-off in the stream bed. The resulting pond was about 15 feet square. The water was so turbid that you could only see a few inches into the water. Yet when I extended my long-handled net over the water, lowered it in, dragged it back toward me, and lifted it out of the water, I found about 20 fish in my net. My priority suddenly changed from collecting plants to catching fish. Within fifteen minutes I was ready to head back home with about two hundred fish including twenty large beautiful male Sailfin mollies, ten Sheepshead Minnows, and a half dozen Gulf Killifish.




Tools of the Trade
There are few essentials needed to be able to catch fish. A long-handled net is a great tool. You can use a swimming pool net in a pinch if you have one available. The crude but effective net in Photograph 3 was made for about twenty dollars. The frame was made from a six-foot long aluminum rod, and the handle was made from part of a 2x4. The mesh is about one quarter inch and came from a laundry bag. With the 110 degree angle between the handle and the frame you use it like a rake pulling the fish toward you.


A medium sized cast net

A cast net can be a useful optional tool. It works nicely when the fish are on the other side of a seven to twelve foot wide stream, which they always seem to like to do when you want to catch them. It takes about a week of practice to accurately deploy one of these and this is after someone actually shows you how to use one. But they are fun to use.




Once you procure a net you need to come up with a fish bucket. A gray five gallon plastic spackle can is perfect. I use the orange Home Depot® version myself, although I'm sure the fish are less stressed by a gray versus orange color. For a couple of dollars you can buy a cover for the bucket in the tackle section of a sporting goods store. Then all you need is an aerating system. These cost about twenty dollars and include a pump, airline tubing and an air stone. These will operate continuously for a couple of days with two D cells. I like the “Quiet Bubbles" brand by Marine Metal Products.

As an optional accessory I recommend that you get a field guide. For example, a copy of "Freshwater Fishes", which is a Peterson Field Guide, features information on “all” 790 species of fish in the USA and Canada, 700 illustrations and 377 location maps. Just looking at the location maps will give you an idea of the fish you can collect in your area.

[Only Registered users can see links . Click Here To Register...]

[Only Registered users can see links . Click Here To Register...]

[Only Registered users can see links . Click Here To Register...]