Wild caught + Community tank

[Kallen]

Before i ask my question, I need to stress that this would not be in the near future but at LEAST 60 days away... well after whatever happened (see my other thread about Death of the Swordtails) has been resolved.

I am wanting to know about adding wild caught minnows to my 90g community tank. These minnows are currently in my multipurpose 30g. (This tank serves many purposes...I use it to raise fry, quarentine, and house the pond goldfish in the winter...not all at same time.)

We have land in the backwoods of West Virginia (I live in Ohio). The creek they were caught in is "closed", meaning it is not near any pubic areas or other sources of human pollution. The water is rain runoff from the hills and natural springs, so I have no real concern about pollutants being carried by the minnows. One way to look at it is they were born in my natural, outdoor, no maintenance aquarium....

They are extremely healthy and active and seem to be happy. I would like to move them to my community tank.

I realize they are just minnows and not colorful "pretty" fish, but I kinda like that plainness about them. So what I wanna know is, as long as I quarantine them, are there other things i need to be concerned about? How long should I continue to quarantine them?

Thanks for any pointers.


11 Red Swordtails
7 Gold Barbs
6 Small Zebra Danios (both regular and longfin)
1 Large Zebra Danio
1 Pleco
2 Albino Cory Cats
2 Black Molly
5 Gold Neon Tetras (I think they're gold neon)
2 Albino Buenos Aires Tetras

 

[OrangeCones]

I've mixed wild-caught and store-bought fish before. I always QT all fish/plants/inverts for at least 30 days.

The only issue I would forsee is that the fish from your 'natural aquarium' are not tropical fish, and may not thrive in the same water temperature that your other fish are in. Temperature-wise, they'd do better with whiteclouds and other native fish (I adore darters, but they may eat the minnows).

 

[Kallen]

The water in our creek ranges from low 50s in the early spring and late fall to probably about mid 80's on the hottest summer days, and they seem to do fine. I had considered that but just figured they would be ok as long as i let them acclimate.

If I am not horribly mistaken, aren't minnows and danios related? I suspect that they will "hang out" once they are in the same tank...

 

[brian1973]

You need to make sure your not catching and keeping any protected species so carry a field guide and positively id any fish before taking them home, if you cant ID it leave it behind. Also you check out the NANFA.org forum, NANFA is an organization dedicated to the study and captive care of native fish species so they will be able to assist with any questions you may have that dont get answered here. There is a link to NANFA in my sig.