You could get a roll of 12/2 G or 10/2 G UF copper cable and run that. Better conductance than extension cords.
There are problems with that arrangement. It would deny the opportunity to put up and put down cords every time I mow. It would make fencing less vulnerable to overloading outlet during storms. It would be smart. Some things simply are not to be on my little farm.
Jim, That type of conductor (UF) is made for permanent direct burial, so no mowing issues there.
What about a small solar powered fence charger? I don't know if this would work, just thinking off the top of my head. I was just thinking that you could have two metal screens very close to each other in front of the light. Using the cheap silver clamp on light fixtures from walmart. mount the two screens on the end of the fixture, maybe with some of the rubber bolt on wire holders...they are insulated with rubber to keep wire from chaffing. Put the hot on one screen and the ground on the other, have the screens offset and as close together as possible. That way the possibility of the insect touching both screens will be high. The screen i am talking about is the kind like is used on the floor of chicken or rabbit coops. You can get it smaller. Like 1/4" holes. Maybe using a flouresent (sp?) light or even an led to save power. The little fence chargers can be had pretty cheaply. You are charging a very small area, so anything that would charge a 1/4 acre would probably knock the snot out of a bug. Don't know if it would work, but would be cheap and off the grid if you could do it. The fence charger would be self contained.
The permanent connection to grid will be buried. A hook up was built into house with 20-amp breaker in anticipation of connecting barn later. Barn just built.
The light, whether it is LED, flourescent or incandescent must produce the proper spectrum and intensity to work. I am very partial to LED's but have not found a local supplier of UV bulbs.
I use a solar charged fence charger now that is not well suited for running a right. A bigger unit would be needed to run ventilation fans and charge battery enough to keep light on at least half the night. It will be pricey I am sure.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
That is cool as all get out! I always wanted to try something similar in our greenhouse when I was still teaching agriculture. Never could get the funds together. With the temps being controlled I thought it would be neat. There is even an aquaculture class I could have taught. It wasn't in our program though so it just kind of faded. What is the milk crate for?
Milk crates provide cover. When only one male he sometimes tries harry females even when they are several feet away from nest. Multiple males in that same setup nest tighter and do not pursue females nearly as much. Females generally only need to block the males line of sight in a tank of that size. In tighter confines partition is usually better.
Male working on nest quite a bit. Bare black spot evidence for tail-sweeping. Bowl well formed. Female I think going to spawn is all barred up. She is not the brat which periodically challenges the male.
A game cam is setup with 15-second interval between shots. Hopefully at least some of what goes on will be recorded.
Last edited by Jim Wetzel; 08/19/1704:16 PM.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
Jim, I know this would take some time, and I could probably look it up. But your attention to detail and your observations that you have seen make me want to ask.
Would you start a thread detailing the general mating habits of the sunfish. Who starts what, when and in what order do the things happen, what details do we as pond owners look for to see what stage they are in and what is actually happening when our kids ask. I know a male makes the nest and protects it until the fry hatch and the female lays eggs in that nest at some point. Thats about the extent of it. And you can catch fish in the spring when they are on beds I know that one..lol. I know that may be asking a lot. But I would love to hear the observed from the field and true to sunfish details instead of the textbook for most freshwater fish ones.
Thanks for all the time and expertise you are willing to share and have brought along with.
Peachgrower a good idea. There is extensive info on that. I suggest to anyone interested in BG that they start with a book on BG biology called Bluegills Biology and Behavior by Spotte . It is the best single source on the subject. There are also some great studies written by Bryan D Neff with thousands of hours of underwater viewing. Both of them are based on applied in the field Fisheries Science (like that PB has encouraged through SDSU).
I would like to provide an alternative to that where discussion would not be limited to Northern Bluegill. Some would be based on extensive experience observing species remotely.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
I am going to try cobbling together video clips depicting key behaviors of the male Northern Bluegill and possibly some of the females. I think spawning will occur in the AM tomorrow.
Tail sweeping. Male orients over nest sites, clamps tail then undulates while pushing back with pectoral fins as tail dips down into substrate where substrate is displaced.
Duration of recordings two short. Will fix tomorrow.
Last edited by Jim Wetzel; 08/20/1706:39 AM.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
Camera will be deployed all day. Male should start "spinning up" this morning once sun hits tank.
We have a lot of sunfish farmer terms that I will be using. Staging breeding cycles for us critical so we settled on terms to stream line communications. The day of the males introduction involved a spate of "ventral present" and "dorsal present". Be watching for "dark eyes" )(not in literature in any form), "look down", "rock biting", "turning", "vent rubbing", "egg deposition", and "fanning". The behaviors all occur on ponds and in the wild for all species I have observed so these are common components of sunfish breeding efforts. When I say sunfish is includes the black basses, crappies, rock basses, and Fliers. May try to repeat this with Fliers nest spring before conditions suitable for Bluegill.
Just to entertain, as kids Fliers we called Black Crappie and all crappie we called White Crappie. Spotted Bass we called Redeye Bass . Bumpkin Indiana kids were not well schooled in fish taxonomy.
I do remember stealing bass eggs to attempt rearing in the cattle trough.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
10-4 on the Hoosier bumpkin kids. I was a teenager before I figured out that Green Sunfish were called, well, Green Sunfish. Everyone I fished with referred to them as "old fashioned bluegills". True Story.
Jim, were you catching those fliers in Indiana? I know their range is limited here in the state, was curious if you knew a good location to try and catch a few.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
As a kid we caught most in the Little Pigeon Creek drainage around Lincoln City and Dale. As an adult also caught them in the Patoka River Drainage north of Oakland City. You have to fish through a lot of Longear before the Fliers and Yellow Bullheads can get their shot at the bait. We also had two ponds with Fliers. They have a hard time getting to 8" in where sunfish are only fish forage. They might be different with lots of minnows. They are tasty.
Locations varied year to year because of how the streams wiggled. Same locations often yielded Pirate Perch and rather nice Grass Pickerel. The Patoka River drainage also has nice Redspotted Sunfish.
Last edited by Jim Wetzel; 08/20/1707:44 AM.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
Thanks. The current state record stands at 3.5 ozs. Always thought it would be a lot of fun to try and best that.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Most you will catch in the streams will have a hard time beating 2 oz. I like metric system better.
I have pet Fliers that can approach if not exceed the record but they are pellet fed in a tank.
If legal, would be fun to setup a pond with fliers and fatheads to see how big the Fliers could get. They are not as prone to over populate as crappie but I do not know how that would work in a pond lacking bass.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
Front just came through. Kids ran about almost naked in yard and hens with chicks came up on to porch. If weather does not improve fast then breeding will not occur today.
Use of term spawning does not fit right with sunfishes since they are like many fishes that separate fertilization from dispersing gametes.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
Spawning in the classical sense has gametes abandoned upon time of release like many marine species do when letting it go into current. Egg scatterers in freshwater do the same. Term get iffy as soon as brood care involved but still used a lot.
Aquaculture Cooperative Research / Extension Lincoln University of Missouri
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