Fish in my dugout

[mitchell]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

How far away is the closest lake with sticklebacks?

The battle river, 6 miles away from me and no water trucks helped fill it, just took about three years to completely fill. It was around 15 feet deep

[cube]

Originally Posted by The Elkster

Meanwhile one could do research on egg hardiness. Sunny you have focused on the delicacy of eggs by comparing to what you know. But haven't address any study considering stickle back eggs themselves. It is meaningless to assume all eggs are the same. Like say comparing to a salmon egg when it comes to needs and tolerances.

I sure hope someone takes on this challenge. Might be worth forwarding this question to a few universities.

There is a plethora of info on Brook stickle back eggs. That is why both Canada and the US EPA use them for toxicity testing etc. You can find both protocols on line if you would like.

[spopadyn]

I could be wrong but wasn't there a paper that talked about fish eggs being found in duck feces that survived and hatched? I tend to agree with Sundance about the bucket brigade, but there must also be a natural means of transport. If you think of all the isolated mountain lakes that have fish not from stocking, they must have got there somehow.

[cube]

Originally Posted by spopadyn

I could be wrong but wasn't there a paper that talked about fish eggs being found in duck feces that survived and hatched? I tend to agree with Sundance about the bucket brigade, but there must also be a natural means of transport. If you think of all the isolated mountain lakes that have fish not from stocking, they must have got there somehow.

Don't all of those lakes have streams, at least some of the time.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by mitchell

The battle river, 6 miles away from me and no water trucks helped fill it, just took about three years to completely fill. It was around 15 feet deep

The Battle River is not a good stickleback source. I sampled and netted and electro fished many many stretches from Battle Lake to Battleford. Stickleback were not common. Any lakes?

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by The Elkster

I mentioned some variables that could come into play previously. Without more info its impossible to say for sure. Could be that the fish are extremely sensitive to certain chemicals/minerals specific to certain waters. Temp fluctuations may be too big. Water too cold. Too many predators. Tendency for a certain disease. Nobody can say until they do all the actual scientific research under controlled conditions. The speculating we are doing here is the type of thing that'd generally be done at start of a journey to the answer. Lets not confuse speculation and personal assumptions (no matter how strongly feel about them) with hard science.

One interesting way to do things would be to create a lined/isolated pond similar to what is currently infested. isolate it from all runoff but fill it with native water from the same waterway that's infested to negate out chemistry issues. Obviously make sure its filtered and any lifeforms removed or killed off prior to introduction. Then leave it be and see what happens. Document human, bird and animal activity and anything out of the ordinary. Hey maybe its deer carrying them on their legs. It really is something that'd be a very interesting research subject.

Meanwhile one could do research on egg hardiness. Sunny you have focused on the delicacy of eggs by comparing to what you know. But haven't address any study considering stickle back eggs themselves. It is meaningless to assume all eggs are the same. Like say comparing to a salmon egg when it comes to needs and tolerances. Sure they need oxygen but that same amount for each type of egg? who's to say an egg can't manage on internal stores of O2 for a fraction of an hour. Who's to say they haven't evolved a mucous membrane that is resistant to stomach acids in certain birds. I really don't think that discovery would be a massive upheaval in the bio world nor deemed a ground breaking discovery. There are lots of oddities in nature far weirder than that. And most people never hear about most of those discoveries. There have been a few Nat Geo type specials on just those kind or weird wild and wacky genetic developments.

I sure hope someone takes on this challenge. Might be worth forwarding this question to a few universities.

Studies are fun. I suspect there is tons of info on O2 loss versus egg survival. I would have to say on this one for sure there can be no doubt.

Lack of O2 plus acid means dead eggs. You can get this answered with a quick email to a fish prof.

Acid on a minnows gills is equally killing. Again a simple question.

Eggs sticking to a bird over short to long distances would be the best study.

[mitchell]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

The Battle River is not a good stickleback source. I sampled and netted and electro fished many many stretches from Battle Lake to Battleford. Stickleback were not common. Any lakes?

Closest lakes would be buffalo at about an hour drive away and driedmeat (dammed up battle river) about the same distance away.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Studies are fun. I suspect there is tons of info on O2 loss versus egg survival. I would have to say on this one for sure there can be no doubt.

Lack of O2 plus acid means dead eggs. You can get this answered with a quick email to a fish prof.

Acid on a minnows gills is equally killing. Again a simple question.

Eggs sticking to a bird over short to long distances would be the best study.

http://professeur.umoncton.ca/umcm-r...icklebacks.pdf

Stickleback males fan the eggs to keep them getting O2.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by wags

Perhaps the other natural ponds don't have the necessary environment for fish to live, or eggs to hatch? No food, difference chemical balance, existing predators?

We did that testing. Not a reason.

[waiting41]

Has no one ever watched a seagull, ect.. flying with a minnow in it it's mouth?

[Talking moose]

Oh my god!!!!!

[WayneChristie]

5 pages? holy crap ok I give, I put them in there, lock the thread