Sticklebacks

[blue_betta]

i know they arent tropical but nowhere else to put it.

just wondered if anyone has bred them in aquaria? ide always wanted to when i was younger and often kept a few wild caught ones in pools on my garden but they never bred, indeed it seemed impossible to keep 2 together regardless of age or sex, and they were terrible fin nippers with other fish.
a friend at the time had great success breeding them (albeit accidentily) in a small pond in his garden. he had a few in the pond that turned into a few dozen. we moved them into a drainage ditch in a feild to see how they would get on as there was tons of midge larve in there for them. by the end of the summer there was a couple of hundred fish in there. they evetualy found their way thru a reedbed on one end of the ditch to a small but deep pool tha then drained accross the feild as a small stream into the river and they breed like nothing on earth! but then the farmer came and put a drain on the pool and that was the end of the sticklebacks

so anyway, are they easy to breed in a tank? as im thinking of collecting a few young fish and having a go

 

[geo7x]

I'm pretty sure that as of quite recently they have become a protected species, and i think you would need a license to keep them in captivity.

 

[blue_betta]

I'm pretty sure that as of quite recently they have become a protected species, and i think you would need a license to keep them in captivity.

realy? all species? we have 3 spines (not common) and 2 spines (very common) in my area. the two species dont seem to mix and in the two rivers near me, only one species is found in each.

hmm, il look into that. ive seen them in pet shops occasionaly, not recently tho.

 

[blue_betta]

hmm, not listed on the wildlife and countryside act as a protected species

 

[nmonks]

I'm pretty sure that as of quite recently they have become a protected species, and i think you would need a license to keep them in captivity.

Depends where you are. There are a number of different subspecies of three-spined stickleback, some of which are endangered species. But none of these lives in the UK (as far as I recall) so you're safe collecting them here. Indeed, their mortality in many years is very high. Last summer the little river here dried up, and there were literally tens of thousands of dead sticklebacks on the mud. So provided you go collecting sensibly and don't mess up the habitats where you remove them, you're fine.

As for licenses, in the UK these are primarily for keeping non-native species, where the risk is unwanted fish might get dumped in a river or lake and become established, to the detriment of the environment. So DEFRA want to largely prevent people keeping non-native coldwater fish.

I've not personally bred them, but my understanding is that it isn't difficult. They're widely used lab animals, and have been for decades. They are [a] very aggressive and very territorial, so your main problem is simply establishing a population of them. Chris Andrews' "Interpet Guide to Fish Breeding" has four pages on breeding them, and since this book sells second hand for the princely sum of 1p on Amazon.co.uk, perhaps picking up a copy might be worthwhile.

Cheers, Neale

 

[nmonks]

I'm pretty sure that as of quite recently they have become a protected species, and i think you would need a license to keep them in captivity.

Depends where you are. There are a number of different subspecies of three-spined stickleback, some of which are endangered species. But none of these lives in the UK (as far as I recall) so you're safe collecting them here. Indeed, their mortality in many years is very high. Last summer the little river here dried up, and there were literally tens of thousands of dead sticklebacks on the mud. So provided you go collecting sensibly and don't mess up the habitats where you remove them, you're fine.

As for licenses, in the UK these are primarily for keeping non-native species, where the risk is unwanted fish might get dumped in a river or lake and become established, to the detriment of the environment. So DEFRA want to largely prevent people keeping non-native coldwater fish.

I've not personally bred them, but my understanding is that it isn't difficult. They're widely used lab animals, and have been for decades. They are [a] very aggressive and very territorial, so your main problem is simply establishing a population of them. Chris Andrews' "Interpet Guide to Fish Breeding" has four pages on breeding them, and since this book sells second hand for the princely sum of 1p on Amazon.co.uk, perhaps picking up a copy might be worthwhile.

Cheers, Neale

 

[blue_betta]

I'm pretty sure that as of quite recently they have become a protected species, and i think you would need a license to keep them in captivity.

Depends where you are. There are a number of different subspecies of three-spined stickleback, some of which are endangered species. But none of these lives in the UK (as far as I recall) so you're safe collecting them here. Indeed, their mortality in many years is very high. Last summer the little river here dried up, and there were literally tens of thousands of dead sticklebacks on the mud. So provided you go collecting sensibly and don't mess up the habitats where you remove them, you're fine.

As for licenses, in the UK these are primarily for keeping non-native species, where the risk is unwanted fish might get dumped in a river or lake and become established, to the detriment of the environment. So DEFRA want to largely prevent people keeping non-native coldwater fish.

I've not personally bred them, but my understanding is that it isn't difficult. They're widely used lab animals, and have been for decades. They are [a] very aggressive and very territorial, so your main problem is simply establishing a population of them. Chris Andrews' "Interpet Guide to Fish Breeding" has four pages on breeding them, and since this book sells second hand for the princely sum of 1p on Amazon.co.uk, perhaps picking up a copy might be worthwhile.

Cheers, Neale

cool thanks for that

 

[blue_betta]

finaly got my sticklebacks! ive been trying unsuccefully to trap them with a bottle trap, but no joy, the rain and high water had made netting them by sight impossible, so by chance today i tried swiping a large plastic jar along the submerged vegitation along the banks, and low and behold i got one! woo hoo i thought and 4 more eventualy followed. i seem to have a small adult female and 4 juveniles, il keep a close eye on them for males doveloping, i only hope to keep a male and 1 or 2 females. all settleing in well!