On 28 Sep 2005 20:47:35 -0700, "krusty kritter"
wrote:


David H. Lipman wrote:


They are fascinating in a fish tank however. The are nest builders and are *extremely*
territorial. If you have two male sticklebacks in a tank you can draw a line down the
center of the tank. If one crosses that center line, the other may go on attack.

I belieeve thay can survive in; Salt, Brackish and Fresh water but prefer brackish water.

Charles Dickens referred to sticklebacks obliquely in "The Pickwick
Papers". One of his characters had published a paper on the natural
history of "tittlebats", which was what sticklebacks were called in the
mid-19th century in England.

They are tiny fish and I can't see anyone trying to catch them w/o a net and
becuase of the spiny dorsal fin ( 3 to 12 dorsal spines ), they are lousy bait.

I wanted to catch minnows to feed my Oscars in a stream near Piru Lake...

Just be careful not to introduce infections or pests from the wild
fish. Having said that, feeder goldfish are hardly free from nasties!
As much as oscars have character, I'll stick with my angelfish and
clown loaches.

so I told my girl friend to quickly take off her panty hose so I could
make a net. She resisted at first, but I told her I'd buy her a new
pair as soon as we got to a drugstore, so she gave up her pantyhose to
my project.

Now, that's an excuse I'll have to remember. ;-)

Besides the minnows, I caught a few sticklebacks. None of the captured
minnows or sticklebacks lasted very long when the Oscars saw them being
introduced to the aquarium...

I used to catch minnows for live baiting with a wine bottle. Carefully
knock a hole in the concave base with a hammer and nail, just big
enough for the minnows to swim through. Pop a few pieces of minced up
mackerel into the bottle, fill it up with water, cork it and leave it
in the margins. The minnows swim into the bottle and get trapped.

John
http://groups.msn.com/scottishflyfisher
Responsible anglers catch and release.
Lose the barbs or lose the fish!