Wild Rio Grande Cichlid

[TheDeerslayer]

Today I caught +/- 4in Rio Grande Cichlid from a local river here in Texas. I've got him in my smaller quarantine tank where he will stay for a week before I decide to release back to where he came from or put him in my larger aquarium. I noticed that he has something that appears to be small greenish worms on his fins and scales, it could be some sort of algae, I don't know. Was wondering if anyone could diagnose this and offer a remedy. Otherwise its back to the river for this guy.

[sublime1184]

+/- 4" makes him a 8" or 0" cichlid :laugh: do you mean 4", +/- an inch? Just teasin man, Welcome to AC! I read that once they are taken from the wild, fish usually shouldn't be put back. I mean a week is hardly any time but if you have him for a while, you are better off keeping him in home aquaria if you can supply adequate living conditions. Can you grab any pics of the worms\algae? It would help to better diagnose whats going on.

[TheDeerslayer]

Thanks for the welcome. It's late tonight, but I will try and get some pics tommorow. The Rio Grande, or Texas Cichlid is very common in central Texas rivers and lakes, I've seen them to 10", whereas the largest I've seen in a petstore was about 5". According to Texas Parks & Wildlife they are native only to the Rio Grande and Pecos but have been introduced in central Texas. They are a popular baitfish for catfishermen here.

[TheDeerslayer]

Here are the pictures I got, I'm just linking to some of my webspace because of AC's file size limit, This is something that requires fairly high res i would think. There are two pics of organisms in question. I included a pic of the whole fish in case anyone is curious. As expected, he's lost some of his color since we pulled him out. The First pic of the affected fin is best, keep in mind all fins are similarly affected. Any advise would be appreciated.

Whole Fish (http://fish.texasdeer.org/cichlid1.jpg)
Affected Fin1 (http://fish.texasdeer.org/cichlid3.jpg)
Affected Fin2 (http://fish.texasdeer.org/cichlid2.jpg)

[TheDeerslayer]

No need for reply on this guy, I decided he was too large and too tempermental for all my non cichlid fish, so I released him back to the river where I found him. By the way Sublime, I've heard it's fine to re-release fish as long as you put them back in the same body of water you found them in.

[Cylon]

I have never seen a TX Cichlid that color before. Thats a pretty fish. Was he really yellow or is that the lighting?

[TheDeerslayer]

Whenever we pulled him from the water he was dark colored, like most texas cichlids you see in pics or at the petstore. He lost much of that darker color while he was in captivity. He was indeed a yellowish green with some darker spots. I figured that discoloration was a bad sign and is one of many reasons i released him.

P.S. to Sublime, I measured him at 5.5" before release.

[AikidoGuy]

Would you consider catching more and shipping a few small ones? Shoot me a PM. :D

[TheDeerslayer]

AikidoGuy- For me to do that legally. I would need to get a Texas Commercial fishing license ($24 for resident) and also a "Permit to sell non-game fish"($60). If more people were interested or you wanted a whole bunch it might be worth my time, effort, and money.

Also, The best spot I know to catch them though is the same river the one in the pic came from with the little parasites/algae, whatever the hell it was. I can check some other places though.

Just learned: Also another $92.40 for "Retail Fish Dealer" license

[Cylon]

I think AikidoGuy is impressed with the yellowish color I know I am. If you can get a bunch of yellows I think you might have something. I know I would be intrested. Do you think this was a rare instince?

[TheDeerslayer]

Not very unusual at all for these wild ones. As I said he was darker when we pulled him out, but lighted up in captivity.

However, the wild ones do have a more yellowish tint than the petstore variety. They also get large, I've seen them up to 12". We catch them on small crappie hooks with worms, as it is illegal to use a net in the place we see them. Besides if you set the hook correctly it is better for the fish than a cast net which will damage scales. And they are way too skiddish to catch with a dip net. Any fish that gets hooked through eyes or gills we use as catfish bait so they won't go to waste.

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife "Background color varies from very dark to light olive".

By the way- TPWD has a nice website and good info on a variety of native fish. Here is a link to their info on freshwater fish in Texas. The Rio Grande Cichlid is at the bottom with the "other fish"

freshwater fish (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/aquaticspecies/inland.phtml)

I also have access to various species of gar and also mudcats (bullheads). For some reason it is not legal to sell any species of sunfish (Green Sunfish is one of the most beautiful natives). In fact with the "Permit to sell non game fish", they have a list of non-game fish and if a species is not on the list then it can't be sold (at least with that permit). Actually the law reads:

"A PERMIT TO SELL NON-GAME FISH
is required to sell alligator gar, shortnose gar,
spotted gar, longnose gar, bowfin, gizzard
shad, threadfin shad, common carp, goldfish,
grass carp, bighead carp, bigmouth buffalo,
black buffalo, smallmouth buffalo, river carpsucker,
black bullhead, yellow bullhead,
freshwater drum (gaspergou), Mozambique
tilapia, blue tilapia, redbelly tilapia, Rio
Grande perch, silversides, mullet, shiners, minnows
and hybrids of these species taken from
the public fresh waters of this state. Other
non-game fish may not be sold."

The Cichlids are refered to as "Rio Grande Perch"

Any interest in these other species besides the Cichlid? This would help me know if it is worth it... Some of those I don't have access to around here.