Keeping wild fish in aquariums

[chris.brock]

I kept 3 brown bullheads in my aquarium. They are very tough and tolerant, I just fed them table scraps, I ran a filter and no aerator and they did fine. I released them when they grew too large. Very cool pets.

I've tried other species too.

I had a tadpole madtom, he was a little more finicky then the bullheads.

Pike and musky where difficult to feed unless you had the right sized live bait.

One of the most unique guys I had was a green sunfish. Very aggressive and would harm the other fish in the tank. He died, I found him dead, out of the tank, he must have made a jump about 5 times his length to clear the tank.

[sauce]

I had two bluegills last winter. Big one was mean and skittish. Drop in a minnow, he'd kill then hide. Little one was freindly and gently plucked maggots and waxies from my fingers. He'd sit just under the surface waiting.

[hammercarp]

I just remembered a funny story about the bullheads I kept. Like I said they grew like crazy and ate a lot. I had a large filter with 1 inch siphon tubes going into it. I had to take the baskets off the ends of the tubes because their turds were so big they would clog the basket and stop the siphons from working.

One day I noticed a large round welt on the top of one of the catfishes flat broad head. I could not figure out what was causing this until one day I saw the cause.

This one bullhead would rest on the side of the tank where the filter was. I watched as the fish was slowly lifted up. His body stayed level. Then his head would get stuck on the end of one of the siphon tubes. The catfish didn't even wake up. It would just stay there stuck on the end of the tube. This created the large round welt on the top of his head. When the fish woke he simply shake himself loose. I moved the filter and it solved the problem.

[MillerPhoto]

In my personal view, yes you are transporting the fish, but you are not placing them in another body of water..

I look at it as you using your Aquarium as a "holding tank/livewell" but they would count against your limit since

they are still living. I would go by the daily limit for which your house resides in the zone. So if you limit is

say 50 crappie and you have 5 crappie in the aquarium.. If you go fishing down the road in the same zone, your daily

limit would be 45, as you technically have 5 still alive in your possesion at home.

 

I have never came across any law about transporting live fish from one body of water to home, as I prefer to keep the

fish alive as long as possible until I am home to clean and package them.

 

If it was against the law to keep fish alive in your livewell, with your boat on the trailer.. I think there would

be issues with all Catch and Release fishing Tournaments.. As the fish are placed in boxes to be kept alive to take ashore

to the weigh station before they are released back in the water.

 

As for the fish being kept in a aquarium and not having much color, its due to their surroundings. if you place bright objects

and plants in the aquarium and there is lots of natural light in the room they will stay bright.. Its just like camo, most fish

adapt to their surroundings.

[TJQ]

I had a chat with my local CO when I was keeping fish.. I was told that the unofficial version is nobody really cares... but that ANY fish in the tank are considered part of your possession limit... of all the fish I kept the small gar pike was BY FAR my favorite. Watching him/her eat minnows was absolutely fascinating.

 

Rock bass and Sunfish are very easy to keep, (You can get them to come right up and eat the worms out of your hands. Monique had them trained.. they new when they saw the white worm cup, it was feeding time.. they were pretty smart.). catfish too.. the rest are tough, pike keep bumping up against the glass , pickeral, perch and bass don't last at all. Mudpuppies.. are awesome!! (till they crawl up in the filter. I had two small ling that actually crawled outta the tank, we never did find the one.. lol maybe he made it back to the lake.

 

and if you have bass in the tank... make sure your pleko.. umm is bigger.. gulp.... or you'll be buying a bigger one.

 

the best thing i learned with those fish is that when they are not hungry... they are just not hungry. it was fun to watch a bass swim around with a 6 inch worm draped over his nose and not be in the slightest bit interested. I dont know much about fish, but i did learn alot while watching them feed... like 90% of the time they take the minnow head first!

[Victor]

the main purpose of the "no transporting live fish" reg is to ensure that species won't get introduced to waterbodies where they didn't exist before and protect the ecosystems ... so IMO as long as you do not release whatever you're transporting to another water body then it's okay. Not saying it's really the right with respect to the regs but it doesn't do any harm.

 

I had a chat with my local CO when I was keeping fish.. I was told that the unofficial version is nobody really cares... but that ANY fish in the tank are considered part of your possession limit... of all the fish I kept the small gar pike was BY FAR my favorite. Watching him/her eat minnows was absolutely fascinating.

 

where did you get the gar pike TJ? Was it store bought?

[GBW]

you guys are making me want to fill up my old minnow tank again. well, not that one cause I gave it and everything with it away, but another one I have. I just need stuff for inside the tank. and I'm not talking about water for some of you smart 's out there...

[BUSTER]

And to think last year people were calling MNR about the you tube video of a guy snagging a whitefish? Where are all those save the fish activist now? some people here blew that right out of per portion, but keeping live sport fish in your tank is Illegal and nobody cares

Edited January 8, 2011 by BUSTER

[BillM]

If you want to see snagged whitefish, just go out on Simcoe in the winter.. Not very hard to find, lol.

[JohnF]

Do some research on water temps. My buddy has been keeping local fish for a few years and often uses frozen plastic water bottles to keep temps in line. He keeps an assortment of critters including crayfish, cats (which I actually first found for him in a squirming baby fishball being herded by a few adults) and panfish along with a few minnow species. It's pretty interesting sometimes. He spends hours observing them but then he's an artist and we all know they're a different breed, right?

 

I used to worry about him transporting them in my vehicle but I've gotten used to it. He's very careful about keeping the fish trapped in one location all together in one tank and so on. No mix and match of locations. Keeps down the risk of disease and dseems to work very well for him. He has a very high survival rate, better than I ever had with tropicals.

 

JF

[crossover]

Found this on another forum:

 

Good Day:

 

A person can culture fish without a licence if they are cultured in an aquarium for personal use or the aquarium trade (Fish Licensing Regulation O.Reg.664/98 s.24). However, the Ontario Fishing Regulations (OFRs.3(1)() state that a person can not transport live fish, other than baitfish, without a licence. O.Reg.664/98s.29(1) lists the documents that are deemed to be a licence to transport live fish if the fish have been cultured, caught, bought or sold under the authority of the document. As previously mentioned, a licence to collect fish for scientific purposes is one such document. Others include a licence to collect fish from Ontario waters, or a receipt, invoice or bill of lading issued by the holder of an aquaculture licence or a commercial fishing licence.

So to summarize, native fish can be kept in an aquarium for personal use if they are acquired and transported legally. A person could purchase them from a licensed aquaculture operation or commercial fisher, or could collect them from the wild if they had the appropriate licence to collect fish. An angling licence does not allow them to collect and transport live fish from Ontario waters.

 

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act is available online at e-laws.gov.on.ca. To view the regulations, click on the plus sign next to the act.

 

Hope this helps.

 

nric web reader - lr

 

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So anyone know where one can buy juvenile blue gill?

Edited January 10, 2011 by crossover