Has anyone ever raised ditch caught cichlids?

There is a stream/greenbelt close to my wife parents house. My kids and I go walking over the bridge whenever we are there and noticed a lot of fish swimming in the water. One day we thought it would be fun to trap one of the fish and see what it was. I made a couple of traps and let my son throw it into the water. Sure enough we caught a cichlid. This cichlid look like a juvie firemouth or something with a black dot in the middle of the body. I thought about catching some more and raising it, but didn't want to risk bringing home any type of parasite or disease. What do you think this cichlid is? Sorry, I don't have pictures because I release it back into the water but it had a black dot in the middle of its body. Anyone ever raise ditch caught cichlids..LOL?

Thats totally cool! Post a pic !

I have a crested goby that I caught with hook and line and he was pretty easy to get converted to processed foods.
I say get a 20g long or a tank like it and go catch some toss them in and see how it goes! A native tank is always a fun adventure!

u sure it wasnt a baby bass?

Sounds like it could be a shad to me...

Could be good for hybrid and striper fishing! That's striper, not stripper...

ilicurtisili wrote:

u sure it wasnt a baby bass?

i was thinking about the same!

Yeah. It wasn't a baby bass, because it look like a cichlid of some sort. I had brought it home and put it in a jar at first. But when it looked like it was going to go belly up, I immediately took it back to the creek and dumped it back in. I tried to get an ID on it, but it was a little too young to do it (it was about 1.5 inches long). I might try to catch some more when I am back there, but this time, I will bring a bucket and air pump to keep it alive.

it maybe a texas cichlid.

From the pictures on cichlid-forums, I don't think that it is a texas cichlid. It looks like some sort of firemouth because when I look into the water, I see some adult fish with red fins and belly. However, I think that I am going to have to catch some of them again and take pictures this time.

Possible non native release ? I'm really curious to see them ! I'm actually looking for some firemouths .

Whatever this is, it has learned to adapt to the cold weather beginning in December. For the past 3 or 4 years, I've seen them swimming in the ditch. Some of them have red fins which prompted me out of curiosity to catch them to see what they were. Next time I catch them, I will take pictures and try to keep them alive. If they are indeed firemouths, you can have them as well.

That's really interesting! Which stream is it? I would be willing to help wrangle some of these guys, even if they aren't firemouths, a cool native tank would be fun! Anybody have an extra seine net laying around?

It is the ditch/stream by the iron horse community in North Richland Hills. It is by the Iron Horse Golf Course. I don't know about walking down into the ditch though because along with the fish, we can see a number of snakes sun bathing down there...LOL. Looks like harmless water snakes, but I rather not get near them myself.

TRUE THAT!

That would be cool to go see what they are!

very interesting.

I am daring.... I am all for it. Let's go!

They are more than likely some type of sunfish.

Way to be a downer there MarkM... HAHA!

I have waded through some snaky areas before, and would be daring as well! I am thinking maybe Thursday... anybody else? we will need a seine net or something though...

Some sunfish are rather very pretty! I've caught a few that are aquarium worthy, never did keep them though.

Thursday is my sons bday and I will be taking him to Burgers lake and then the ranger game so I could not attend that day sorry.

nice. i have never caught anything out of a ditch / lake / river that was not a native species. i have seen large plecos in the creeks in houston and even caught a large goldfish on a rod and reel, in a pond in houston. lol.

MEMBER stroseken catches wild sailfin mollys and red devils
in new orleans canals all the time...

From what I under dip-netting in ditches in Florida is pretty worthwhile. All kinds of fish that can be catch - practically no need to go to the fish stores ;)!