Tony
Dustin Smith wrote:
>
> Sailfins will be available shortly, Jeff.
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Jeffrey Fullerton <tcmajorr_at_westol.com>
> Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> To: "nanfa_at_aquaria.net" <nanfa at aquaria.net>
> Subject: NANFA-- Some Great Places to Collect in Florida
> Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 01:44:07 -0400
>
> > Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 12:47:36 -0400
> > From: Ghazanfar Ghori - McLean
> > Subject: NANFA-- Notropis welaka
> >
> > I'm planning a short trip down to Florida July 4th weekend
> > and want to spend a day trying to find Notropis welaka.
> > Things I've got going against me....
> >
> > 1) Never collected before
> > 2) Trying to find a fish that others have had difficulty finding
> > 3) Giving myself only one day for it
> >
>
> A summary of a couple collecting trips in 1996 & 1997 - Quest for the
> Elusive Taillight Shiners in Central and NW Florida with my friend Mike
> Quispe who was resding down there at the time.
>
> Panhandle is a good bet. Caught Sailfin and Coastal or Weed Shiners in a
> small clearwater creek with white sand bottom at a bridge on on a road-
> I think it's 372 in Appalachicola Nat. Forest.
>
> Westward in Bay and Washington CO there are quite a few small lakes and
> sloughs where we caught Starhead Topminnows- Fundulus escambiae and
> Dollar Sunfish- plus an assortment of Gambusia, Pygmy Sunfishes and
> Heterandria formosa and even a small gar!
>
> If you are going to the Orlando area- the Econolohatchee River has
> Sailfin, Dusky and Ironcolor Shiners, plus Dollar and Spotted Sunfishes
> and probably a few more interesting things in the tea colored water.
> Slightly north and east of the metro are going toward St Cloud are two
> lakes that are really strange because they are in close proximity but
> have really different water conditions and fish faunas. I forgot the
> names but they are easy to find on a map and get to. One of them can be
> accessed via "Moss Tree Park" - it is a dark tannic water lake with a
> windswept wave battered shoreline that you would think not so promising
> for fish collecting- but you can catch an abundance of Flagfish-
> Jordanella and pygmy sunfishes and some Bluefin Killies and Golden
> Topminnows- plus abundant Gambusia and somewhat less abundant
> Heterandria. Also caught a something that looked like the familair
> Banded Killie- F. diaphanus from up north- I presumed it to be a
> Seminole Killie. Also in sheltering beds of reeds or bullrushes there
> were Florida's other member of the Starhead Group- the Lined Topminnow-
> F. lineolatus! These were very flighty and difficult to catch in
> contrast to our experience dipping escambiae out of the slough up in Bay
> Co and the same species in a Flatwoods pond in North Carolina.
>
> This lake is definitely acid as evidenced by the abundant sundews and
> hatpins growing along the sandy shore and Purple Bladderwort in the reed
> beds- which demands the most astringently acidic water!
>
> Just south and on the opposite side of the highway is another park
> bordering on a much bigger lake with gin-clear water that is probably on
> the hard side. Near the boat launch we saw a school of golden shiners
> and dipped some very small fish that were also schooling and turned out
> to be Brook Silversides- so funny that the other place I encountered
> them was in Wisconsin!
> Dipping among the weeds near shore I caught these weird Livebearer
> things that took me by surprise until I realized they were young Sailfin
> Mollies. Definitely a hardwater lake.
>
> We were hoping to get Taillight Shiners which are recorded from the lake
> but Golden Shiners were the only cyprinids present.
> In a nearby pasture there are ditches and a pond that yeilded Pygmy Suns
> and the usual Gambusia and Heterandria.
>
> Also George Van Horne's Reptile World is not far off and worth a visit
> if you also happen to like herps too!
>
> While in the Orlando area it might be worth a trip out to the west to
> hit the Withalakoochee River. Please bear with me - the spelling is
> close enough and I don't have notes or my Florida map handy right now.
> For that reason I didn't even attempt the name of the lakes mentioned
> above - one of which vaguely reminds me of the capital of Guatamala!
>
> Anyway- I sampled the Withalakoochee once on the return leg of a trip to
> the Panhandle from Ft Lauderdale via Orlando. Now that's a really neat
> river- winding thru cypress swamps and probably fed by limestone springs
> the water is tannic tea but with a pH of 6.8 and significant hardness.
> Near a boat landing we caught lots of Flagfish, Sailfin Mollies, Bluefin
> Killies and Golden Topminnows, tons of Gambusia, some heterandria , some
> Pygmy Suns, a Pirate Perch and a young Lake Chubsucker!
>
> Of course the Taillight Shiners that I was looking for did not turn up-
> nor any other Cyprinids- they're probably in there somewhere but it was
> a wide, deep and long river and one stop was barely scratching the
> surface.
>
> There were quite a few other places - some clear water streams in the
> Gulf Hammock region that were heavily vegetated and swift flowing but
> very few fishes- swampy powerline swaths and ditches that are hard to
> find on a map but otherwise good collecting and lakes, lakes and more
> lakes we passed but never stopped. On a short trip you won't have time
> to check out every promising site and many you do will leave you
> skunked. I hope you mighy be able to find some of our places where we
> did have good luck-
> If you call finding something else other than what you are seeking "good
> luck".
>
> In our quest for the elusive Taillight Shiner- Notropis maculatus, Mike
> and I learned how to find just about every other species of fish in
> Florida- though we never encountered welaka either.
> I yearn one day to return and continue that quest and hopefully get a
> chance to try a hand at breeding Taillights.
>
> I almost got my chance last season - but the "Taillights" I recieved
> from Dustin turned out to be Coastal Shiners- Notropis petersoni of all
> things! Case of mistaken identity- they looked different because they
> were collected from dark tannic water and looked more like Taillights
> when collected.
> They did spawn quite prolifically last summer - all summer long in the
> greenhouse pond.
>
> Now if I can get Taillight or even Sailfin Shiners to do the same
> someday- I'll have it made in the shade!
>
> Jeff
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/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org