I'm in central Alabama and the only gambusia I have found have been plain one colored guppy looking. Those mottled ones you showed a picture of are pretty nice. Mosquito fish are the fish that got me in the hobby.
There are certain populations where the melanistic ones are more prevalent. As far as I know it’s only in the males. Although I’ve heard that it can very rarely appear in females. There is also something called Black spot disease which can look similar to melanism
@@WildFishTanks the ones here are just a grey maybe a hint of brown with a few very tiny dots down their dorsal fin. It took me forever to find out what they were. I just thought someone had released some guppies. I saved four of of a rapidly drying stream at work and within two months it had jumped to twenty-something. That's how I got my first"fix".
I’m in SW Florida. Mosquito fish got me started with wild aquariums, too. Now I collect only melanistic mosquito fish. I have had a few females, but they don’t seem to be as viral. I’m wondering if they can change into males. I swear they are females, with the round abdomen and all when I first catch them & add them to the tank. But then I think they develop the gonopodium. Unless they are really young males without a developed gonopodium?? I’m confused. Any thoughts?
@@WildFishTanks I’m in SW Florida. Mosquito fish got me started with wild aquariums, too. Now I collect only melanistic mosquito fish. I have had a few females, but they don’t seem to be as viral. I’m wondering if they can change into males. I swear they are females, with the round abdomen and all when I first catch them & add them to the tank. But then I think they develop the gonopodium. Unless they are really young males without a developed gonopodium?? I’m confused. Any thoughts?
@@TheReggaesunshine the ones here that I've seen so far are easily differentiated. The females are shaped like female guppies. Just with plain clearish fins. The males more slender.
As it stands now, we are not allowed to collect wild specimens for the aquarium trade in NH, and limited species for individual collection. It's important to know the laws in each state you want to collect in. Fun to watch you collecting in the wild, though Wish I was there. :) Especially since it's like 5f in New Hampshire right now!
We are lucky down here. Definitely laws to abide by and licenses to attain etc. but we have plenty of species to find and are allowed to collect and keep many
Your video inspired me to go collecting in the 6 acre spring fed pond in my backyard. It didn’t go so well. It’s really difficult to net the fish through 2 feet of ice. 🤪🤣
I live in SW florida. I know a place with tons of dalmation minnows, black and white mollies, golden tip minniws and i caught a few (must of been released) guppies. But you gotta be ok with getting in the water.
Ooooo let's go collecting!! It is always so exciting to watch you go collecting and see all the species you catch!! Another great video Ryan!! Thanks for sharing my friend and look forward to seeing more!!🙏🌿🐟🌿♥️
Love your videos! They remind me of being a kid in Florida. There was a very brackish little pond near the gulf (I’m sure it got full salt water during hurricanes flooding) we’d go to that was full of what I think were melanistic gambusia and some kind of beautiful almost black pygmy sunfish with a neon blue gill area. I never could catch any because the shallow area was only a couple feet before it dropped off suddenly to the deep section, you know, where the creature from the black lagoon resided. Fun times!!
What fun! I’d love to have a place with so many cool natives in it close to me. I do live right by the California delta with tons of waterways. But there’s just not the variety of small fish like there. Love these collecting videos.
I think Cali has some cool nano natives like gambushia and maybe even sailfin mollies and top minnows but nowhere near the diversity we have here. Were lucky for sure, have plenty more collecting videos in the pipeline
I wonder if you might post a link of where I can get one of the collecting nets that you use ? I've looked online but can't find anything that has the protective plastic edge cover on it . Thanks
@@WildFishTanks I might be interested haha Have plenty of G. affinis here and in my stock tank pond outside, these are the G. holbrooki right? I hear they arent as aggressive? Impossible to keep fry alive with affinis without tons of cover.
Yes. We collected two species of pygmy sunfish as well as blue spotted sunfish in this video. They are also spotted Sunfish, red breasted sunfish, many more species I’m probably not aware of.
What kinds of fish are you allowed to keep/collect and what licenses do you need to take them home? I’d imagine that anything invasive should not be put back… might go collecting in Florida someday for invasives
Yes typically invasive you’re not supposed to put back. A normal fishing license will cover you in florida for the most part if you just want to collect for your own aquarium. The biggest thing is being able to identify the species. If you take some thing you have to know what it is for sure. That way you don’t end up with some thing endangered or a baby game fish that has size restrictions. I stick to non-game/bait fish.
A standard fishing license should cover you to collect them for your own personal aquarium. You just need to make sure you know the exact species you are collecting though. Stick to non-game/bait fish and nothing that is endangered or needs a specific size limit.
Off topic but here goes. A young lady got in touch with me and asked a question she has a long fin albino bristle nose that after mating kills the female,done it twice but raises fry. I tweaked her feeding and she has extra caves,driftwood and plants so females should be out of sight.any thoughts?
whoa, thats crazy! I thought you gave good advice about extra plants/driftwoods/hides for more space. I've heard of two large males going at it but her male might be part black widow spider haha
@@WildFishTanks I don’t know never had it happened here,don’t know if she will take my final piece of advice three strikes and your out. She wants to try it with him again.
Caught my first one ever! th-cam.com/video/S1xx5iY-wBQ/w-d-xo.html
Who needs Peru!!!!! Oh man that looks like so much fun, nothing better than local fish collecting.
I am one lucky SOB, that is for sure…I’d still love to go to Peru though! Haha
About a year ago I found a breeding ground for evergladii. Soft water, Ph 5.0, spring fed stream, east of Arcadia.
I need to try collecting further down south. I really only have done it in Orlando and then a little bit at the ALA in south Florida.
"are you trying to grab it?" omg lol he definitely had ahold of it!
He’s a lot more bold than I am
@WildFishTanks you and me both bud..
How’s the fish at 3:12 called? Didn’t get it
No way I'd grab any random snake like it was nothing. lol Another great video, Ryan.
I’m with you but just wait for a future videos…Zain grab snakes pretty often 😂😂
Bravo fellas, great trip 🙏 those are some good lookin fish 👌
I'm in central Alabama and the only gambusia I have found have been plain one colored guppy looking. Those mottled ones you showed a picture of are pretty nice. Mosquito fish are the fish that got me in the hobby.
There are certain populations where the melanistic ones are more prevalent. As far as I know it’s only in the males. Although I’ve heard that it can very rarely appear in females. There is also something called Black spot disease which can look similar to melanism
@@WildFishTanks the ones here are just a grey maybe a hint of brown with a few very tiny dots down their dorsal fin. It took me forever to find out what they were. I just thought someone had released some guppies. I saved four of of a rapidly drying stream at work and within two months it had jumped to twenty-something. That's how I got my first"fix".
I’m in SW Florida. Mosquito fish got me started with wild aquariums, too. Now I collect only melanistic mosquito fish. I have had
a few females, but they don’t seem to be as viral. I’m wondering if they can change into males. I swear they are females, with the round abdomen and all when I first catch them & add them to the tank. But then I think they develop the gonopodium. Unless they are really young males without a developed gonopodium?? I’m confused. Any thoughts?
@@WildFishTanks I’m in SW Florida. Mosquito fish got me started with wild aquariums, too. Now I collect only melanistic mosquito fish. I have had
a few females, but they don’t seem to be as viral. I’m wondering if they can change into males. I swear they are females, with the round abdomen and all when I first catch them & add them to the tank. But then I think they develop the gonopodium. Unless they are really young males without a developed gonopodium?? I’m confused. Any thoughts?
@@TheReggaesunshine the ones here that I've seen so far are easily differentiated. The females are shaped like female guppies. Just with plain clearish fins. The males more slender.
As it stands now, we are not allowed to collect wild specimens for the aquarium trade in NH, and limited species for individual collection. It's important to know the laws in each state you want to collect in. Fun to watch you collecting in the wild, though
Wish I was there. :)
Especially since it's like 5f in New Hampshire right now!
We are lucky down here. Definitely laws to abide by and licenses to attain etc. but we have plenty of species to find and are allowed to collect and keep many
So much for "Live Free or Die".
Your video inspired me to go collecting in the 6 acre spring fed pond in my backyard. It didn’t go so well. It’s really difficult to net the fish through 2 feet of ice. 🤪🤣
Come on Tom don’t let 2 feet of ice stop you! 😂😂
Im here for the blue spotted sunfish. Im glad you caught one. I couldn't find it on google because i didn't know what they were called thanks
Awesome video, hope you get to breed those Okefenokee pygmy sunfish and sell them on your site!
I live in SW florida. I know a place with tons of dalmation minnows, black and white mollies, golden tip minniws and i caught a few (must of been released) guppies. But you gotta be ok with getting in the water.
This is such a great video. I hope more are on the way.
Very nice haul in that collection!
Sooooo coool!
I've collected a couple of times up here in NY, but the winters really cut back on the species we have available.
It would be cool to see what upstate New York has to offer in the way of native fish!
Ooooo let's go collecting!! It is always so exciting to watch you go collecting and see all the species you catch!! Another great video Ryan!! Thanks for sharing my friend and look forward to seeing more!!🙏🌿🐟🌿♥️
Excited to seeing your breeding of the Pygmy Sunfish. How many did you get of each species?
We collected a few pairs of each species
@@WildFishTanks Hopefully you don't have any males go on a killing spree in your colony. I've lost two so far in my colony tank.
@@WildFishTanks awesome ♥️💯
That was really awesome.
Great video can't wait to go collecting with you one day. I can walk now with no crutches so hopefully when it warms up we will have some free time
Once it starts staying light out longer and longer we can maybe plan a trip after one of the Pasco or Tampa meetings
@@WildFishTanks that would be great I need to hit the trails again and figure my way around so we don't have to hunt for the spots
Aww big ole watersnake eatting good in there :)
I’ll take your word for it 😉😂
@@WildFishTanksif they have a derpy face and round eyes (vs cotton mouths which are nocturnal so have slit eyes) it’s probably a watersnake.
Wow! Some of those fish were stunners!! Snakes, fire ants, other unseen murderous Floridian fauna - fun to watch!
Always something to keep you on your toes! …or bite them
Love your videos! They remind me of being a kid in Florida. There was a very brackish little pond near the gulf (I’m sure it got full salt water during hurricanes flooding) we’d go to that was full of what I think were melanistic gambusia and some kind of beautiful almost black pygmy sunfish with a neon blue gill area. I never could catch any because the shallow area was only a couple feet before it dropped off suddenly to the deep section, you know, where the creature from the black lagoon resided. Fun times!!
What fun! I’d love to have a place with so many cool natives in it close to me. I do live right by the California delta with tons of waterways. But there’s just not the variety of small fish like there. Love these collecting videos.
I think Cali has some cool nano natives like gambushia and maybe even sailfin mollies and top minnows but nowhere near the diversity we have here. Were lucky for sure, have plenty more collecting videos in the pipeline
Thank you for sharing.
Appreciate you watching!
I have 3 golden top minnows maybe 4 one has black spots and is more slender
Fun day! One of these days I have to start a pygmy sunfish tank.
Cheers,
Chris
They can be shy but are stunning!
@@WildFishTanks What do they eat?
Awesome!! I’ve been trying to find some okefenokee or gilberti for sale, but no such luck. Hopefully you’re able to spawn them!
I have yet to collect any gilberti but 🤞 with the okefenokee
Collecting colorful fish in a roadside ditch! - th-cam.com/video/unasU0E47xM/w-d-xo.html
i watch this video once a month lol, i want to go to florida and catch fish so bad
Awesome!! I love these live catching videos!!
How can I get some spotted Gambusia? All I see in my area are the ones that look like guppies. Those spotted are neat-looking.
Where in Florida were you dipnetting?
Just subscribed buddy
so can you give some locations for collecting gilberti??
Where is this I would love to do this
Fun video! Looks like a great time
I always enjoy getting out, catching the fish is the cherry on the top!
I wonder if you might post a link of where I can get one of the collecting nets that you use ? I've looked online but can't find anything that has the protective plastic edge cover on it . Thanks
They are called “the perfect dipnet” by Jonah’s aquarium
Very cool video, thanks for sharing!
Appreciate you watching!
Very cool
What kind of net is that ? I would like to buy one .
Man you racked up this trip! Cool video. What part of FL is this? It almost looks like the southern part of the Econ
Yea central Florida
Lucky wished we had colorful fishes like that here
We are lucky for sure!
Definitely need to go collect with you one day 💪💪
I need to get down to South Florida and check out the crazy stuff you guys have down there!
@@WildFishTanks when ever you want i have good spots 💪💪
If you have babys let me know Im looking for couple of small fishes
Ever breed/sell the melanistic gambusia?
No I have not but there is some demand for them so it’s a possibility. They’re a cool look to an otherwise pretty common fish
@@WildFishTanks I might be interested haha Have plenty of G. affinis here and in my stock tank pond outside, these are the G. holbrooki right? I hear they arent as aggressive? Impossible to keep fry alive with affinis without tons of cover.
@@WildFishTanks My dream is to find a g. affinis mutation in the wild hahah
Are there any sunfish in Central Florida
Yes. We collected two species of pygmy sunfish as well as blue spotted sunfish in this video. They are also spotted Sunfish, red breasted sunfish, many more species I’m probably not aware of.
Did y'all find the log canoe?
What?!? There’s a log canoe?
What kinds of fish are you allowed to keep/collect and what licenses do you need to take them home? I’d imagine that anything invasive should not be put back… might go collecting in Florida someday for invasives
Yes typically invasive you’re not supposed to put back. A normal fishing license will cover you in florida for the most part if you just want to collect for your own aquarium. The biggest thing is being able to identify the species. If you take some thing you have to know what it is for sure. That way you don’t end up with some thing endangered or a baby game fish that has size restrictions. I stick to non-game/bait fish.
I wish there weren’t so many invasive fish but at least its an entertaining way to help the environment and get some pretty pets
Fun video!
I can’t wait to do some collecting.
What licenses and such do we need here in Florida?
A standard fishing license should cover you to collect them for your own personal aquarium. You just need to make sure you know the exact species you are collecting though. Stick to non-game/bait fish and nothing that is endangered or needs a specific size limit.
Nice video
Thanks for checking it out!
THE BLUE SPOTS ARE FIRE IV ALWAYS HOPE TO RUN ACROSS THEM SINCE I GOT TO FLORIDA. I NEVER KNEW ABOUT THOSE BUTTY MOUTH FISH THOUGH
I got a spot we can hit up that should have some blue spots if you want some. And there’s no butt mouth fish around to worry about either
Off topic but here goes. A young lady got in touch with me and asked a question she has a long fin albino bristle nose that after mating kills the female,done it twice but raises fry. I tweaked her feeding and she has extra caves,driftwood and plants so females should be out of sight.any thoughts?
whoa, thats crazy! I thought you gave good advice about extra plants/driftwoods/hides for more space. I've heard of two large males going at it but her male might be part black widow spider haha
@@WildFishTanks I don’t know never had it happened here,don’t know if she will take my final piece of advice three strikes and your out. She wants to try it with him again.
Sounds like the Bristlenose might have OJ Simpson Syndrome.
I don't think there's a cure, unfortunately.
I'm trying to catch some pygmys! where was this?
Hey checkout this aquarium setup in my video and let me know what do you think about it. Training your fish videos upcoming next . Thank you all :)