Re: NANFA-- eastern mudminnow

Flash of brilliance (soggy_cereal_at_hotmail.com)
Fri, 10 Mar 2000 05:38:03 PST

Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I destroyed my computer.

I'm very sure that it is not Umbra krameri that I have in my pond, because
the Dogfish is not native in West-Europe. U. krameri is a east-european
species (e.g. Hungary). It was because it is not a native species that the
professor let me take them home.
We caught them with the Delury-method. You put 150V on the water and then
you just collect the fish. You repeat this 3 times, so you can calculate the
population density.( I'm a biologist by the way).
There is no danger that the fish will excape my pond, because there is no
water in the neighbourhood. My pond is an ugly, plastic pre-formed thing
that you dig in the ground. The Eastern mudminnows are the only fish that
are in my pond. They form a small ecosystem together with a few small
crustations like Daphnia, cyclops (don't know the english name), a
Plathelminthes species, Bithynia leachii (a mollusc), and a lot of plants.
If you're interested in the Belgian fish-fauna, you can get a list,
pictures,... on www.fishbase.org. We have only 40 native and 20 introduced
species.

Tom Van den Neucker
Antwerp, Belgium

>From: Jeffrey Fullerton <tcmajorr_at_westol.com>
>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>CC: Flash of brilliance <soggy_cereal_at_hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: NANFA-- eastern mudminnow
>Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 20:10:43 -0500
>
>
>
>Flash of brilliance wrote:
>
> > Hi, I'm new here. I'm from Belgium, so sorry if my english is bad.
> > Quite a lot of American fish have been introduced in Belgium, like
>Lepomis
> > gibbosus, eastern mudminnow, some catfish-species, black bass,....
> > A few weeks ago I caught 12 eastern mudminnows and put them in my pond.
>Does
> > someone have information about the biology of these fish or maybe about
>the
> > damage that they cause to our European native fish.
> > I already found some information on the internet, but information on the
> > spawning is often completely different on each site.
> > Thanks.
>
>Hello Flash
>
>That's probably a good start for a population. Mud Minnows are very
>prolific. I
>started out with 24 specimens collected in Maryland and introduced them to
>an
>outdoor liner pond in western Pennsylania in 1989. When I drew the pond
>down in
>1994 I found about 300 specimens of varying age classes in my 20 foot X 16
>foot
>pond. Since these fish are not native to my drainage I have taken
>precautions to
>prevent their spread to the wild. You should do the same since this is
>probably a
>species that might have the potential to compete against your native fauna
>- do
>you by chance have the European Mudminnow - Umbra krameri - aka 'Dogfish'?
>The outflowing water from a pond containing non-native fishes must be
>directed
>into some sort of dry well / soakage pit to keep fish from entering local
>waters.
>Also the pond should not be located below flood stage of a nearby river or
>stream
>or be in an area subject to flooding. My pond is a closed system dependent
>on
>rainfall instead of flowing water. This is better for fishes like
>mudminnows and
>Enneacanthus sunfishes which like soft water anyway.
>I think part of the reason my population exploded the way it did was the
>lack of
>predators. Mud Minnows are often found with fishes like Brown Bullhead
>catfish
>and redfin pickerel which I'm sure keep their numbers down in their native
>habitats.
>I use my surplus as feeder fish.
>
>Jeff
>
>
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