My 15 gallon FL theme tank.

[powellmacaque]

So I went fishing at a local Central Florida river (Withlacoochee) and decided to take a net with me and just scoop up whatever I could. I ended up catching a whole bunch (maybe a dozen) of ghost shrimp, about 10 mosquito fish fry (less than .5 an inch in size), and what I think is a molly (picture for ID purposes).

I know I wil probably need to get rid of a few fish as this is only a 15 gallon tank, but I'd like to add some plants and maybe find a pygmy sunfish to be the centerpiece. Any other ideas? How do I feed these fish? They have taken very well to the flake food, but is this bad for them?

I also noticed a pretty cool mutation in one of the mosquitofish. I don't have a quality camera or else I'd take pictures, but instead of being silvery, the fish is brown with a black stripe down the middle and a red and black "false eye" looking dorsal fin. It's definitely a mosquitofish (or at least a livebearer) because I can see the male part of the fish.

Let me know if you guys have any advice, I think I'm going to put some Eel Grass and Hydrilla in the tank. Any advice to the contrary?

 

[santiago]

The fish that you think is a molly, I think its a florida flag fish, but I might be wrong.
But anyways, thats pretty cool, I have always wanted to do that. And how did you catch ghost shrimp?

 

[powellmacaque]

I just took a cheap net with a long (about 3ft) handle and scooped up clumps of the plants. No special baiting or anything.

 

[Chrisinator]

I wanna go to FL and just see what I can catch

 

[powellmacaque]

I would've been able to investigate more had there not been a gator 50 ft away from me haha.

 

[fishycat]

I would've been able to investigate more had there not been a gator 50 ft away from me haha.

will you be adding plants? You'll probably see more natural behavior...

Interesting idea... Makes me want to grab a net and go hiking.

 

[powellmacaque]

Yea definitely going to go get some plants in the next day or so. Probably going to just get floating plants and maybe Eel grass, how would I put these in without spreading parasites?

Doing stuff like this makes me regret paying $5 - $40 for tropical fish and $2 - $12 for tropical plants.

I'm thinking about creating domestic strands of whatever fish I keep and maybe trying to create more eye catching variations. Luckily 95% of the animals I caught were juveniles and fry, so they're taking very well to tank life. I might end up releasing the flagfish/molly/whatever very soon. I fear he might eat the fry when the chance arises, and I'm not sure I can take the "wild" factor out.

 

[powellmacaque]

I wanna go to FL and just see what I can catch

To be honest, I haven't seen anything that can't be found elsewhere in the US (or at least anything without a cousin in another region). At least nothing that you'd wanna keep in your tank (I have seen a bunch of gar, but I don't think they'd fit in a typical 10 - 100 gallon setup, ).

I have never seen any killifish or anything super colorful, but I do see the 1 out of 100 black, white, and marble mollies.

The gems of the North American fish, at least to me (a cichlid lover) have been the "panfish". Blue-spotted sunfish, Warmouth, Bluegill, Pygmy Sunfish, and Banded Sunfish are all amazing looking fish.

 

[platytudes]

Hiya neighbor! I'm in Ocala...so am familiar with the river where you went dipnetting. A few other fish to watch for around here are least killifish, Heterandria formosa:

And golden topminnows, Fundulus chrystotus:

I would think a pygmy sunfish would terrorize your other fish, and a 15 gallon would be too small long term for it...maybe look into other options such as a Florida flagfish, as a centerpiece fish. You may need to actually pay for it though I've never found one yet.

Parrots feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) and lemon bacopa (Bacopa caroliniana) are two great plants for a Florida biotope. My friend's pond in Silver Springs/Forest area is brimming with it! Too bad you're not just a tad closer PM me if you're interested though, he periodically thins his pond and sells those two plants for real cheap now and then.

 

[powellmacaque]

Hiya neighbor! I'm in Ocala...so am familiar with the river where you went dipnetting. A few other fish to watch for around here are least killifish, Heterandria formosa:

And golden topminnows, Fundulus chrystotus:

I would think a pygmy sunfish would terrorize your other fish, and a 15 gallon would be too small long term for it...maybe look into other options such as a Florida flagfish, as a centerpiece fish. You may need to actually pay for it though I've never found one yet.

Parrots feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) and lemon bacopa (Bacopa caroliniana) are two great plants for a Florida biotope. My friend's pond in Silver Springs/Forest area is brimming with it! Too bad you're not just a tad closer PM me if you're interested though, he periodically thins his pond and sells those two plants for real cheap now and then.

I actually think the mystery fish in my tank is a golden topminnow. I doubt I'll keep it, I'd really just like to keep the mosquito fish in the tank.

If your friend does end up selling the plants, I'd be very interested. I go to Ocala quite often (twice a week, I take classes at the college) and I actually play music with some friends at Stumpknockers on the river on SR200 so meeting somewhere in the area would not be a problem at all.