My Introduction to North American Native Fishkeeping

Striped Blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus)

Part of my obsession with the outdoors includes creating a replica of it indoors.  And my largest obsession with the outdoors is with fish of all kinds.  I love to catch them, watch them, learn about them, and collect them.  So, this is where I bring them indoors, by collecting my fish locally and building aquariums for them that match their environment.  I've had various aquariums throughout my child and adult life, starting with freshwater guppies, tetras, angelfish and modern world cichlids, and during my transition from later high school years and into college, a move to saltwater fishkeeping.

After college, I moved away from saltwater fishkeeping to keeping native freshwater fish and set up my first native stream tank.  Why did I do this?  Simple.  Money.  Or, rather, lack of discretionary money, because just about everything I made at that time went to rent, food, bills, other hobbies and sports.  Native fish were free, and I already had all of the equipment that I needed.

I've never been a "reefer".  No, I'm not talking pot here, although I was never one of those either LOL, I'm speaking of keeping coral reef aquariums.  It's not that I wouldn't keep one, rather, I just haven't gone that route yet.  Maybe someday I will.  In fact, my move away from saltwater (or "Fish Only") aquariums was a financial decision that I had to make as a young adult when my saltwater fish tank had a massive fish kill after a power outage while I was away from home.

For those aquarists out there, how many times have we heard that horror story before?  It seems to happen to everyone.  It happened to me when I could least afford it.  I lost a medium sized blue angelfish, a flame angelfish, a potters angelfish, a heralds angelfish, a bluehead wrasse, a molly miller blenny, a red spotted hawkfish, and a yellow dottyback.  That's a lot of money for someone right out of college with an entry level type job!

So, what did I do?  I took all of the high flow equipment from my saltwater tank and converted the tank to freshwater.  I used stream gravel and rocks to set up a native stream tank.  After cycling the tank, I collected local minnows, dace, shiners, darters, and sculpins and had my high flow stream tank.  I absolutely loved that tank, and, I discovered that our local species are as colorful, and sometimes more colorful, than those that we pay money for at our local fish stores!

After that, I got engaged, then married, moved into a small condo, had a beautiful daughter, and stopped fishkeeping.  I didn't have money or time, for many reasons, mostly too many hobbies, to keep it going.  Instead, I kept salamanders and frogs, and set up a primitive paludarium.  I didn't get back into fishkeeping until recently.

One of my all time dreams was to keep local saltwater or brackish blennies.  A student teacher at my University was studying them, and got me hooked and fascinated with them.  I had kept a local blenny while in college in my fish only tank until another fish killed it.  I caught that fish during a class field trip out on a research vessel in a trawl net and they let me keep it.  That blenny was one of the coolest fish that I ever had in an aquarium.  After that, I had experience keeping various blenny species that I purchased at my local fish stores (like the molly miller mentioned above).

I became hooked on blennies!  I was obsessed with them.  But hey, why spend money at stores on them when I can collect them locally for free?  And, our local ones are just as interesting and as colorful as most of the store bought ones!

Local blennies, like this adult male striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus) captured my heart many years ago while in college.  Now, I can observe them in a close replica of their natural habitat right in my home.

So, when I moved to my house and had enough space to really get back into fishkeeping, that was my first goal, to set up a local blenny tank.  Only, I took it a step further.  I set up a Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Aquarium, to not only house my blennies, but to give them a home that feels like home to them.  My goal was to replicate their environment in every way possible, with hopes that they might breed.  I basically wanted a slice of a Bay oyster reef in my home.  I'll go into more detail on those projects soon in future posts.  But, for now, please note that everything that I hoped would happen, happened successfully (knock on wood) over the past couple years.  My blennies and other fish are breeding regularly.

This is a full tank shot of my current Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Aquarium.  This tank is a 20 gallon long.  My final build will be a 100 gallon cubish shaped aquarium.  It's my dream tank!

But, as if one major project wasn't enough, I started another one.  I am working on a local North American Native stream tank inspired by my past stream tank as well as tanks from my friends at the North American Native Fishes Association.  I'll post more on this build later as I make progress, so stay tuned.

This is the current state, almost, of my stream build.  It's a 75 gallon tank that I'll stock with local stream species.  I carved and painted the tank background out of pink polystyrene foam insulation board to look like a local shale cliff formation.  I'm currently working on faux sycamore tree roots as well.

So, that's where I am today with my North American Native Fish aquariums.  I'll document many topics about this journey detailing my builds, so stay tuned.  For now, here's a video of my oyster reef aquarium.  Hope you enjoy it!

My "New" Way to Go Fishing!

One of the great things about fishing is to experience the outdoors.  Until recently, during most fishing trips, I’d forget to take the time to appreciate what was going on around me.  I sort of had blinders on that kept me in focus to catch the species of fish that I was targeting that day, to catch the most, to catch the biggest, to reach my ultimate goal, a personal best.  I had fun at the same time, but, even though I was in tune with what went on around me to be a successful angler, to establish patterns to catch fish, I didn't always take the time to observe more closely to see the subtle beauty of what is behind it all.  So, perhaps I really wasn't experiencing the outdoors as much as I could have after all.

In the past, for most of my fishing trips, my appreciation of the outdoor experience other than actually the act of fishing was to take a little time for lunch, or a drink, or take a quick photograph of a deer or other wildlife, or a scenery shot.  So, now I’ve incorporated a new concept to some of my fishing trips, where conditions permit, to add some underwater photography to my fishing arsenal and also to take some time to observe the critters that live there and their behavior.

Until recently, scenery and wildlife shots while eating lunch or taking a break for a drink would make up the time I took to appreciate the ecosystem that I was fishing.   But gin clear water like this paired with an underwater camera allow me in to take a closer look.

So, what conditions would be needed for this?  Clear water, the clearer the better, which is usually opposite of what most anglers feel are ideal fishing conditions.  But, I don’t seem to have trouble catching fish in clear water, so that’s not a problem.  Also, how I fish would be another.  Wading is much easier to get a clean picture because you're motionless, and can remain so for fish to get used to you and lose fear of you so you can get a good picture.  I'm not saying that you can't do this from a kayak, canoe or boat, but it would be more difficult.  Another factor is the weather or the time of year.  My experiences doing this have been in the summer.  If I decide to extend this aspect of fishing to colder weather or season, then I'll have to adjust and buy a wet suit.  Also, make sure that you have a decent camera that you can use underwater.

A juvenile smallmouth bass cruises the shallows in search of prey.  Just ahead of him is a large minnow or perhaps a small creek chub.

So, where did I get this epiphany about my new way to fish?  It wasn’t my idea, many people have done this before.  Actually, let me back track a bit, because, while fishing small streams, I took occasional breaks to sit on rocks and watch minnows and darters, but I needed to look deeper (no pun intended) to really see.  Seriously, I can thank the members of the North American Native Fishes Association (NANFA).  There, you’ll find anglers, aquarists, outdoors enthusiasts, and outdoor and environmental professionals that all love the beauty of our native ecosystems.  They share tons of beautiful photos, videos and articles on the forum, website, and in their publication (American Currents).  I joined as a member a couple years ago, and will remain so as long as I can do that.

A greenside darter poses for a quick picture along a rocky and weedy river shoreline.

If you visit the NANFA website (linked here and on my blog side bar), check out the reports or photography sections of their forum and you’ll see tons of beautiful pictures and videos of some of the most beautiful fish in the world with as much color as you’d see in tropical aquariums that you may not have known about that are right under your nose.  I was so amazed at what I saw on there, and learned about what I formerly thought of as “bait”, that it inspired me to learn more about the places that I frequent on my free time most often.

Minnows seem to dance around weeds and current while feeding, not caring that I'm there to observe.

There are so many beautiful species of fish, minnows, chubs, darters, sculpins and other species in their breeding colors to observe where I fish.  My pictures in this post don't do them justice though, because I'm relatively new at this.  To get a sense of what I'm talking about, please visit the NANFA forum and check out the reports.  Many people (including me soon) set up aquariums for their favorite species.  For me, I have a passion for the darters.  They are so cool to observe in the wild.  My love affair for them is not new, I've always watched for them and had a native tank with darters, minnows and chubs years ago when I was in college.  I really loved that tank.

I'd love to have many of these species in an aquarium because of their tremendous beauty, but many of the species that we target while fishing on each trip also are beautiful.  They are too big for my aquariums, but I love watching them in their natural habitat.  We frequently post pictures of the fish that we catch after unhooking them, but they are also so interesting underwater doing what they do every day.   Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and sunfish of all types display beauty that rival many fish found in the tropical aquaria that come right up to you for close up visits if you are patient, don't move, and let the habitat around you settle down.

I'd love to capture such beauty in an aquarium, but for now, I'll observe and admire in awe.

There are a couple greenside darters along with a juvenile redbreast sunfish feeding as minnows cruise by.  Can you see the darters?  Darters are a bottom dwelling species that lacks a swim bladder.  They blend in so well!

So the next step in the near future for me to further enjoy the experience will be to obtain quality snorkeling gear and carry it with me on my wading trips, when conditions are right.  Not only will I fish, but I will also make sure that I will take some time to observe what is going on around me.  Without snorkeling gear, it's tough to see underwater from above when it's windy.  Getting the right gear will allow me to more effectively observe and photograph.  All I have to do is figure out how to lug it around when I fish!

This redbreast sunfish decided to come in for a closer look.

I've always been a fan of the Hook 'n Look TV fishing show.  It always fascinated me and made me think about what it was like "down there" while I was fishing.  So, maybe this fascination with observation and underwater photography was there all along?

Look who else decided to check me out!  I'm not sure of the identity of this fish, perhaps a juvenile chub or an adult minnow.

It didn't take long for this greenside darter to move in to check me out either.

The darter forgot about me and decided to nip on something for lunch.  Notice how well they blend into their surroundings.  It looks like a tail of another darter just behind this one, but it's hard to tell for sure.

After that, the darter struck quite a pose for me!

One problem for me will be getting good photographs in deeper water if I plan to do the combo fish and snorkel trip thing.  Adding a weight belt to get deeper would help for better pictures, but I don't want to lug weights around me when I fish.  I may have to go on an observation only trip, no fishing, to get better photographs in deep water.  Shooting pics from the surface in water deeper than three feet, even in a gin clear river, show up on the camera as being a bit murky, as the next couple photos show.

What I think may be a northern sucker searches for food in some deeper water just ahead of me.  I think that having snorkeling gear will allow me to get closer pictures in some of the deeper areas.  The light penetration in shallow water makes a huge difference even when the river appears crystal clear.

I was able to coax this juvenile smallmouth bass in for a quick picture with my camera in one hand, and with my other hand, using my fishing rod dabbling a plastic worm into close range in about 3 feet of water.  My buddy Howard was laughing at me as I must have looked pretty silly doing this.

So for me, this is my new way to catch fish, to catch with by rod and reel, but also with a camera, to enjoy the beauty around me, the wonder of the food chain at all levels and the circle of life in the ecosystems that I visit and fish.  As far as my improvement as an angler, these observations are bound to improve my ability to catch fish and establish patterns.  I encourage you all to take a closer look, observe and appreciate all that nature gives us.  And while you're at it, take a look at the NANFA website and consider joining.  Their mission is a worthy one, the info they provide is fascinating, and their magazine is terrific.  I've learned so much.  After typing all this up, I am getting myself worked up and can’t wait to get out there again!

I didn't take this picture on the same fishing trip as the other photos above.  Rather, my daughter and I checked out a small stream with only the camera in hand to snap off a picture of a beautiful rainbow darter.  These fish in their breeding colors are spectacular.  Either this was a male prior to displaying such color, or a female, whose colors are more subdued.  Anyway, I thought it was worthy of sharing...until next time.

Also, at this time, I’d like to wish my brother a Happy Birthday.  He passed away unexpectedly in 2007 at the young age of 36.  I miss him greatly, and all that I do on this blog, including this post, is dedicated to him.  He would have loved doing this too.  You can read more about his story on a page of this blog, linked here:  Tribute to My Brother Kyle