Fishing for aquarium fish

Toddrickfl1

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Conservation doesn't pay the bills.
Jimmy Riffle....The original heavy set Gator Boy used to work with me at the school board.
The show paid $50k a year. So he did both for a while. Then he became a partner in OLD FLORIDA BAR B Q. It went broke.
Now he is doing his own shows on the road.
Haven't seen him in years.
In the meantime the state took over Holiday Park and made it a much more lucrative tourist spot. Partially on the Gator Boys name.
It's not the quaint getaway spot it once was. With mostly locals and bikers off of U.S.27.
I had the only bike today.
Most of the traffic were tour busses.
But it's still a great spot to catch some very large, very funky fish.
Ya I bet it's a lot different. It's been at least 10 years since I took my boat out there fishing. I bet there's all kinds of non native critters now though. My uncle just recently caught a huge clown knive fishing the border canal for lake Okeechobee.Screenshot_20190604-194411~2.png
 

ZEROPILOT

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I've given some thought about making traps for catching Knife fish.
They love hanging out in tubes......
There has been a spike in Knife fish sightings in Broward.
Is it a food fish? It's very similar to Swai. A lot of stores pass off Swai as Talapia.
It's all farm raised in Viet Nam.
 

Toddrickfl1

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I've given some thought about making traps for catching Knife fish.
They love hanging out in tubes......
There has been a spike in Knife fish sightings in Broward.
Is it a food fish? It's very similar to Swai. A lot of stores pass off Swai as Talapia.
It's all farm raised in Viet Nam.
My uncle said they do eat them in Thailand, but they eat a lot of things over there I wouldn't lol.
 

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I didn't get any fishing in this morning.
I had a few things to do and my wife wanted her iron brake discs painted.( Because she didn't like the rusted areas)
Maybe tomorrow I'll try some top water lures.
Today, the Midas started eating pellet food also.
 

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Toddrickfl1

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I didn't get any fishing in this morning.
I had a few things to do and my wife wanted her iron brake discs painted.( Because she didn't like the rusted areas)
Maybe tomorrow I'll try some top water lures.
If they still sell Missouri Minnows at the bait shop that's what I used to have the best luck with when I was trying to catch smaller fish for my aquarium.
 

Tom

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I had a few things to do and my wife wanted her iron brake discs painted.( Because she didn't like the rusted areas)
I read that and had a moment of panic... You painted the calipers, not the discs... The picture saved me from a heart attack. :)
 

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REDFOOT WRANGLER
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I read that and had a moment of panic... You painted the calipers, not the discs... The picture saved me from a heart attack. :)
Thankfully she's ok with the shiny surfaces.
She was obsessing over the rusty rotor centers visible behind the wheels. Some over spray on the rotors burned off in a few miles.
I painted her calipers too because I knew what she wanted.
Now she's color coordinated.
 
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If they still sell Missouri Minnows at the bait shop that's what I used to have the best luck with when I was trying to catch smaller fish for my aquarium.
I've had great luck with tiny bread balls.
I caught my Salvini on them and I've never heard of a Midas ever being caught on live bait. Though they are certainly hunters.
The shiners are great....For about 30 seconds. The moment they slow down, the Peacocks are no longer interested.
So some violent RATTLETRAPS or top water plugs should **** them off.
I know where they are.
I just need to get a few to strike.
Pictures tomorrow. Hopefully.
 

Yvonne G

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It's been nearly 100 degrees with bouts of rain.
I've also been battling some health issues.
I really thought I'd be doing more fishing.
Well, get well soon, because I'm lovin this thread! I've never seen a Jaguar in the pet store. What a big mouth, my dear!
 

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Although the Cichlids outdoors are all eating pellets and thriving.....BOTH of the Salvini passed away.
They never fully recovered from the initial shock of the whole ordeal.
It's very sad to remove them from what must have been a paradise only to have them die in an aquarium.
 

Yvonne G

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Although the Cichlids outdoors are all eating pellets and thriving.....BOTH of the Salvini passed away.
They never fully recovered from the initial shock of the whole ordeal.
It's very sad to remove them from what must have been a paradise only to have them die in an aquarium.
Kind of a double edged sword - you removed a trash fish from our waterways, but they died in your care. Sorry. That's never easy.
 

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I hope to have more to report tomorrow.
I GOOGLE EARTHED the spot where I found those Jelly Bean colored Midas down in south Miami and I'm going down there in the morning.
I'm pretty sure it's the original spot I found last year.
Fingers crossed
 

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The 2nd Jaguar died.
I'm not sure if the giant one killed it or not.
I didn't see any damage.

Also, I went to Miami and found the spot. But almost ended up getting mugged by a few "tweakers"that were lurking there. Two got in a position behind me and two off to the side as I fished.
Most uncomfortable. Most unusual. I kind of left because of a feeling of self preservation.
Even though I was armed...I still got very uneasy.
Too bad.
It's a great fishing hole.
 

CarolM

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The 2nd Jaguar died.
I'm not sure if the giant one killed it or not.
I didn't see any damage.

Also, I went to Miami and found the spot. But almost ended up getting mugged by a few "tweakers"that were lurking there. Two got in a position behind me and two off to the side as I fished.
Most uncomfortable. Most unusual. I kind of left because of a feeling of self preservation.
Even though I was armed...I still got very uneasy.
Too bad.
It's a great fishing hole.
So sorry that you had to do that. But at least your instincts are working well.
 

CarolM

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The 2nd Jaguar died.
I'm not sure if the giant one killed it or not.
I didn't see any damage.

Also, I went to Miami and found the spot. But almost ended up getting mugged by a few "tweakers"that were lurking there. Two got in a position behind me and two off to the side as I fished.
Most uncomfortable. Most unusual. I kind of left because of a feeling of self preservation.
Even though I was armed...I still got very uneasy.
Too bad.
It's a great fishing hole.
And I am really enjoying this thread. Please keep it going.
 

Erinelle

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It’s awesome that you are taking these cichlids out of the waters they don’t belong! I wondered how jags and peacocks would disrupt the naturally balanced food chain in those areas since they are so predatory. Awesome fish to keep but they get so big, I’m surprised that fish stores are still allowed to sell them. I’d imagine you’d see some flower horn as well, since they aren’t nice to each other, eat everything else in the tank and grow so fast/big?!
When you say you try for snake heads, you aren’t referring to pike cichlids are you? I know snake heads are their own breed entirely but some times people confuse the two. (You seem well versed in your fish species however!)
Pike cichlids are another voracious predator who would quickly change the food chain balance! (Although they don’t breed as often/easily and are temperamental with temperature fluctuations like the Salvini).

I think it’s awesome that you’re pulling these out of where they’ve been dumped! The ponds are also amazing! Something I too, would love to do some day! Marine biology was my jam in college ;)
 
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