Well, for the skeptics in the audience I'd like to start by saying WE GOT 'EM!!!  A BUNCH of 'em too.  And neither one of us fell in!

Today Susan(schambers) and I went fishing for mud minnows for our native tanks- all by ourselves.  Since this was only my third trip, I would have been happy with ANY fish and not falling down the bank.  We were pretty sure there was going to be a story out of this, seeing as it was the two of us, unsupervised.  But we emerged unscathed and victorious!  GO US!  ::::happyproudofusgirlsdance::::

The place FarmerTodd sent us came with a warning "it's perilous getting down there" and he sure wasn't kidding.  We managed to find an entry that didn't involve thorns(well, not many anyhow) or anything rash-inducing. Once in, we immediately caught a bunch of crayfish and some BIG frogs...

It only took us a few tries to figure out the best places to find the mud minnows, and boy once we figured it out we hit paydirt!  We also caught a couple of  small pickerel(Susan took pictures).

Even in muck up to mid-calf, neither of us fell in!  GO US!  However, as we were climbing out the rain let loose so hard we were every bit as wet as if we HAD fallen in.  Go figure. 

I got to see Susan's tanks, and wow do I have some serious tank envy!!  She hooked me up with some platys, some corys and LOTS of plants.  She also explained the mysteries of drip acclimation(not diffiult at all!).  She came over to my place and tried to get pix of my silver/black guppies.  I hope they turn out so I can show our guppy breeders.  My dogs were very helpful as we set up the drips for the two buckets of fish, and they made sure Susan knew how delighted they were to have her here.

So anyhow, I now have mud minnows in my native tank.  They're currently hiding under rocks and under the spray bar.  Cute little fellows! My roomie has the orange platys she has been jonesing for, so all of us here are happy!

Yeah, we came home looking like mudhumans, but we GOT 'EM!  Woo hoo! 

Thank you Todd for telling me where to go! 

And look what else I brought home!  Am I an idiot or what!  I believe it's a grass pickerel.  Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.   And then slap me upside of the head.  Does anyone know how fast they grow?

Sorry, Mary.  None of the guppy pictures were anything but blurs.  All I can do is agree that they are really cool.  And those dogs are sooooooo sweet! 

schambers said :

Sorry, Mary.  None of the guppy pictures were anything but blurs.  All I can do is agree that they are really cool.  And those dogs are sooooooo sweet! 

The dogs were very sad that you left, and stared at me accusingly until I had to get on the floor and pet all of them at once. (not that they are spoiled or anything)

Tell the dogs I will come over and pet them again sometime.  They are great dogs. 

If I ever actually figure out how to work the macro functions on my camera I'll give the guppy picture another try.  It took me about 20 shots to get a decent one of the pickerel, and it just sat there.  I have to actually read the camera manual or something, since randomly pushing buttons hasn't worked so far.

Congratulations!

Yes, once you find them there, they're THERE. 

Yep, that's a grass pickerel.  You now have a beautiful Endler's recycler!  They also love to eat leaf worms, esp youngins from composting bins at the size this guy appears.

And they grow FAST.  Ridiculously fast.  And then they're even easier to care for.  Just need to make sure everyone else in with them isn't more greedy or fits in their mouth. 

Todd

Thanks!  Right now the pickerel is just sitting there.  I put some endler's fry in there and it just watched them.  Maybe it will eat tomorrow.  I did see it yawn - boy does that mouth open up big!  One of the larger mudminnows ate some bloodworms, the rest are hiding. 

schambers said :

Yeah, we came home looking like mudhumans, but we GOT 'EM! Woo hoo!

Thank you Todd for telling me where to go!

And look what else I brought home! Am I an idiot or what! I believe it's a grass pickerel. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. And then slap me upside of the head. Does anyone know how fast they grow?

Sorry, Mary. None of the guppy pictures were anything but blurs. All I can do is agree that they are really cool. And those dogs are sooooooo sweet!

A seine. 

Look how fat it is!  You know why?  Because it just ATE ONE OF MY MUDMINNOWS.   Less than a month ago, it could only eat the very smallest of fry, and now it's eating its tankmates!  I got it out of there before it could eat any more.  I wouldn't have thought that fish would fit in its mouth.  Obviously it doesn't have a gag reflex, 'cause it took it a while to choke it down.  Todd was right (not that I doubted him) they do grow ridiculously fast!

...but they're sooooo cool. 

Todd