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Re: Tadpole Madtoms (Caution! Fish -- not politics!)	Wright Huntley
	Jan 13, 2001 06:07 PST

Broken Tiger wrote:   Lots o' issues in you post, Wright. I'm always full of issues (among other stuff). Wish I could come up with more solutions!   First, I would LOVE a catfish study group here in the area. I have many catfish, will end up with more and operate mostly in the dark. The catfish list is somewhat useful as is planet catfish, but real ppl would be so much nicer. If we could come up with a good catfish program for one of the unfilled summer SFAS slots, we might then meet at that SFAS meeting to get the ball rolling, sort of the way I think the Discus group got started. I dropped off the catfish list, as it wasn't very useful to me, then. IDK what it is like now. Speaking of real ppl: I wonder if Sean Lev-Tov, at Stanford, is still breeding cats? Anyone know? Jim Atchison, at High Prairie Farm in the North Bay, is into them in a pretty big way, I think. I also think Steve Hulse, in San Jose, has a half dozen Tadpole Madtoms from a recent BAKA auction, too.   Second, I know a few ppl who do US catfish, from my goldfish list, actually and someon on the catfish list was working with Mad Toms--Jools? Shane? One other Bay Area aquarist is also working with different Madtoms (Jim). I don't see them as being all that tough to breed, but just not studied as much as the more commercially touted products from Africa and South America. I know you keep channel cats, but I feel the difference between the big cats, like those and Red Tails, and the smaller Cories and Madtoms is enough that we might give the group better focus by sticking mostly to breeding of the smaller species. Any strong feelings on that?   Third, out ponds are inside, the Koi and cats in the garage in a swimming pool adn the fry in the downstairs study in a wading pool. We are not advanced pond keeper and are just starting to get our footing on that. It does stay cool, tho. Summer never get too hot and the catfish pond is in the mid to low fifties now. I don't know if a freeze is required for spawning, but I bet not. Surely not, or the FL ones would die out quickly. :-) My ponds would have to be outside if I want them cooler, and I'm much too close to the bay to be above the flood plain. The Niles River bed is very wide and deep here, but it *is* only 2 blocks away (and uphill from me at that). Maybe tubs would work. I really need to think it through, first. I spend about 4 weekends a year, with the Desert Springs Action Committee, doing habitat maintenance in the NV desert. Much of that effort is removing "exotics" so I'm unduly sensitive to the damage introduced fish (plants, snails, etc.) can cause. Anyone interested in conservation (of a highly personal kind) may want to check out the DSAC at: http://www.tkphotos.com/DSAC/index.htm [It was down when I just checked it. Hope it will be back up soon, as it's a great and truly interesting site.] DSAC is wildly different from the usual attempt to use incompetent, indifferent bureaucrats to force "bad" people to be some particular "good" way, which characterizes a lot of other conservation groups. "Hands-on" conservation can be a lot of fun, most rewarding and unusually educational.   I am very interested in the Mad Tom project, but nowhere near ready yet. Besides, my Sig. Other would commit mayham at more fish. But let's stay in touch on this. Timing in such matters isn't just something, it's everything. :-)   If you want, I can check with the cold water catfish ppl I know and try to pick their brains. Why not? [Unless it's because we are sinfully discussing fish and not SFAS politics, here? ;-)] The best information I have is that they breed much like my Peacock Gudgeons, and the male may guard the eggs but it is better to separate the eggs to a shoe-box o/e. Very clean water and lots of live foods can get them into condition. Breeding males get a very wide flat head, while gravid females get a full-looking belly. AFAIK, that's about the only way one can sex them. The eggs are deposited under rocks or in caves made of PVC pipe. A sudden water change can precipitate spawning, as with many other catfish. IDK if it needs to be softer/colder as it does with some Cories. I suspect they may be less seasonal than some of the wild Cories, but that's just a WAG.   Finally, I sorta expected a catch all list when I joined and was dissappointed that so much of it was devoted to the SFSA. My insincere apologies to the revolutionary council for actually injecting something fishy, here. (^_^) One last catfish point. Would anyone who spots some *C. hastatus* in any Bay Area store let me know, please? I didn't rush right out the last time they showed up, so I missed them. I'd still like to get a half-dozen or so, before they are hopelessly picked over. Thanks, Wright -- Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 huntleyone at home dot com "As government regulations grow slowly, we become used to the harness. Habit is a powerful force, and we no longer feel as intensely as we once would have [the] constriction of our liberties that would have been utterly intolerable a mere half century ago." --Judge Robert Bork               *** http://www.libertarian.org/ ***

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