What are some cool coldwater fish?

[Alistriwen]

I was just thinking about how Ive sometimes seen random fish in the river near my house swimming around from high above. They look to be some kind of carp or something, Im not really good with those fish, but their presence would indicate the presence of smaller fish as well since I know of no large fish that survives solely off plants.

I got to thinking itd be kind of neat to try and raise some local fish for a change, but I dont know what kinds of fish would be worth raising. Im not able or even really into keeping large fish like bass which I know are rampant around Ontario but I was wondering if there are any tank-worthy cold water fish? They dont neccessarily have to pop up in my river, or even in my area but thatd be a nice bonus. Before anyone suggests goldfish.. no Id be open to minnows if there were any nice enough to keep.

If one were to do a cold water tank, what would be done different other than the lack of a heater?

 

[ewurm]

Try the NA natives section. A lot of natives are great tank fish!

 

[Alistriwen]

This is a link to a list of all the species that appear in the river system around me. There are apparently 94 in total, including gars and snakeheads which I didnt know had coldwater variants. Actually, a lot of the fish ticked native on the list arent ticked coldwater or migrant, what does that mean? I assume if they aren't going anywhere they experience the same hellish winter the rest of us do lol.

http://www.thamesfishplan.ca/images/public_consultation_handout.pdf

 

[ShadowBass]

This is a link to a list of all the species that appear in the river system around me. There are apparently 94 in total, including gars and snakeheads which I didnt know had coldwater variants. Actually, a lot of the fish ticked native on the list arent ticked coldwater or migrant, what does that mean? I assume if they aren't going anywhere they experience the same hellish winter the rest of us do lol.

http://www.thamesfishplan.ca/images/public_consultation_handout.pdf

That ones listed as coldwater are fish that are found souly in coldwater (below 19 degrees celsius according to the article) enviroments.
For instance - Most sunfish can survive quite well through the winter and in cold waters, but they don't require it and can also be found thriving in warmer waters.
Salmon cannot survive in warmer waters so normal populations are only found in cold waters.

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Gars can survive in many temperatures. Snakeheads are only listed as POTENTIALLY threatening the waterway. This doesn't necessarily mean they can survive the winter there or that there will ever be a breeding population.

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Some interesting fish in your area (Keep in mind I don't know your laws so you'll still have to check and see what is legal to keep):
Darters. I won't bother to list species by name, but there are many colorful ones and any are small and interesting aquarium inhabitants.
Madtoms - catfish, but they stay small.
Longear sunfish. Colorful. Don't get over about 8 inches.
Redbelly dace and probably a couple of others.
Rosyface shiner, spotfin shiner.

Be careful when collecting minnows, because some, such as the creek chub, can reach a foot long. So while you think you've caught a small minnow to keep you end up with something no smaller than some game fish in the long run. Your best bet is going to be getting an I.D booklet for your region. I can name minnow species, but you won't necessarily be able to identify them and could still end up with fish larger than you intended. The same goes for sunfish. Longear are usually fairly easily identifiable, but some specimens can still be hard to identify.
With darters you are definately going to need an I.D booklet because many of them are impossible to tell apart without specifically knowing what waterway they are present or looking closely at the fins and pattern.

 

[Alistriwen]

An I.D. book sounds like a good start. I bet the university library has some I can check out for free too. It's good to know that there are some potential species around though.