Comal River

[archman]

Sure looks close to the crude we have in the San Marcos.. I Will drop by tmw and grab a bit to examine closely... I don't think its the soft fluffy stuff..

I don't doubt it. Much of the spillway end of Spring Lake is chock stuffed with hydrilla. Just take a tour on the new wetlands walkway at Aquarena and you'll see how bad it gets.

 

[sealskin98]

Maybe. The first thumbnail on your url looks more like what I get in my pond in the summer than what I've seen at CSSP or on Dee's pics. Single stem, spaced leaf structure, but they have purple flowers on the top where they break the water. Although they may just be native pond weeds. Had some pics but can't find 'em now. Pond was kinda dry until a couple of days ago until the ground got saturated enough to get some run-off; it was as low as I've seen it in 8 years except for one summer when it was 105 for awhile. No "weeds" now. They just come up every summer.

Karmex DF (Diuron 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea) does pretty well on getting rid of 'em if ya just treat the pond a little at a time so ya don't kill the fish. I like my bass, catfish, and crappie. Plus the ducks, geese, herons, egrets, kingfishers, deer, coyotes, raccoons (Procyon lotor), 'possums (Blaze, my racing 'possum, who's pic is attached), and all the other critters that use the water (had a fox on the back porch one time that the cats whipped).

Haven't been able to find Karmex lately, have Diuron 80DF now. About the same active ingredients.

 

[Dee]

That first thumnail is what we call anacharis grass. It's sold in pet shops for aquariums and ponds. Up until a few years ago, I made hundreds of $$ every summer selling it in small bunches out of my fish ponds. Don't know where it originated but it's nearly impossible to kill. It's roots get nutrients from the water so it doesn't need dirt. A piece as small as 1" will grow if it has at least one leaf section on it. Great for cultivating for $$ but very nasty when it gets into the wild.

Louisana has some similar stuff called cabomba that's alittle harder to grow but in the wild will take over.

 

[archman]

Use of the term "anacharis" is very similar to use of the term "hydrilla". In both cases they originally referred to specific plant genera, but have been confounded over the years to include unrelated plants. In the case of Anacharis, well... read THIS.

http://www.dnr.state.sc.us/water/envaff/aquatic/img/anacharisalert.pdf

I too once kept anacharis in an aquarium, only it was actually Hydrilla verticellata. Yuk!

Regarding Cabomba caroliniana, well that's a truly swell plant. At least in the south. It's considered an invasive up north and in the west. This is the big favorite transplant species used in Aquarena's restoration. It doesn't do as well head-to-head against coontail or hydrilla, however.

http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/cacapic.html

Cabomba (fanwort) can be easily confused with coontail (hornwort). There are different species of coontail as well.

http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/cedepic.html

I like plants.

 

[Foo]

We wanna go to the Comal! I did my checkout dives there two weeks ago. We really want to go back and just have fun there. There are lots of cheap hotels (we stayed in the Rodeway Inn for about $50 @ night, and I think there's a comparable one nearby for only about $40 @ night). The Rodeway was pretty good because it has a McDonald's and restaurant in the same parking lot, along with a fairly decent continental breakfast. Non-divers have easy walking access to food, etc., if they want to stay behind at the hotel. The nearby town of Gruene is really fun to visit, with it's old Gristmill restaurant, Tavern on the Gruene, and unique shopping experiences. During my checkouts, we stayed within about 200-300 yds of the steps where we entered the water to the getting out point so we just parked close to the finish area by the dam, and walked to the enter point (as far as we could walk- about a 15-25 min dive, including skills). But we want to do the entire drift dive, which is supposed to be around 45 mins to complete. I've also heard that the Comal is a good night dive. The visibility would have been better if "other divers" weren't silting it up in front of us. But when we got to dive a little on our own, closer to the dam, we saw some great fish- including angelfish. And the visibility improved to about 10-15 ft. Most everyone wore at least a 3 mm shorty, most with 2-3 mm full suit over, and a hood. (I didnt wear a hood and although it was on the cool side, I was never chilled- hood felt yucky). By the way, I just returned from my cruise yesterday, and dove in Cozumel and Roatan- I'll be posting about that ASAP. I loved it, and can't wait to get in the water again, so I was thrilled to come home and see a trip to the Comal is in the works. We can go Feb, March or April (most weekends, there are a few already committed). I think if it's a Swamp Diver meet, that you will want to go before summer, before the toobers are there. It would be easy to stay at a nearby hotel and meet for dives and fun times together. Looking forward to diving soon!
Foo

 

[archman]

Did I hear you right Foo? Did you say you saw ANGELFISH? FRESHWATER angelfish? In the COMAL? Were they in that blind channel just "up" from the spillway? There's hardly any current there, and it's ultra-vegetated. I've never thought about diving it, but it would be peachy habitat for angelfish... which would of course be refugees from some dolt's aquarium.

You're not confusing Texas Cichlids (or even Tilapia) with SALTWATER angelfishes are ya'? The body shapes can be somewhat similar.

Here are photo links to freshwater angelfish.
http://www.versaquatics.com/angelfis.htm

And here's a link to the Texas cichlids.
http://www.thatfishshop.com/moreinfotexascichlid.html

 

[Foo]

Hmmm, Archman- for some reason my computer is refusing to load images for me today- I can't see the photos, it's very frustrating. But my instructor had told us that if we got lucky, we would see angelfish in the Comal. Noone but my husband and I saw them, as we wandered a little closer to the dam area than the others. There were lots of big bass in that area too, covered with green (algae?). The angelfish were big, at least 10-12 inches long and were dark with small whitish spots everywhere. I'm sorry that I can't look at the images tonight, my computer is old and has about had it, but I've never had THIS problem before! If there are any puter experts out there who can suggest a quick fix (no, I can't throw it out the window just yet), I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll check while I'm at work tomorrow, and give you a more accurate reply. But, we did tell my instructor that we found the angelfish and he never said anything about them possibly being cichlids. I'll see if I can check the photos tomorrow!
Foo

 

[mardigrastexan]

Hmmm, Archman- for some reason my computer is refusing to load images for me today- I can't see the photos, it's very frustrating. But my instructor had told us that if we got lucky, we would see angelfish in the Comal. Noone but my husband and I saw them, as we wandered a little closer to the dam area than the others. There were lots of big bass in that area too, covered with green (algae?). The angelfish were big, at least 10-12 inches long and were dark with small whitish spots everywhere. I'm sorry that I can't look at the images tonight, my computer is old and has about had it, but I've never had THIS problem before! If there are any puter experts out there who can suggest a quick fix (no, I can't throw it out the window just yet), I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll check while I'm at work tomorrow, and give you a more accurate reply. But, we did tell my instructor that we found the angelfish and he never said anything about them possibly being cichlids. I'll see if I can check the photos tomorrow!
Foo

Foo, FYI several folks have had problems with the Scubaboard pics since they went to the new "gallery" format. I had probs at home and work with the new format,so I eventually turned the new format "off" in the user options.

Tommy

 

[archman]

Hmmm...
"10-12 inches long and were dark with small whitish spots everywhere" ?

THAT'S A RIO GRANDE PERCH. YEEHAW!! Click on the link for texas cichlids in my previous post, and you'll see a picture. Freshwater angels tend to be solid, blotchy, or with bars, and in any case if they're over a foot long, it's on the vertical scale, not the horizontal. Tell you're instructor to pick up a freshwater fish book before he starts naming things in the river. I hope he's not calling the armored suckerfishes "nurse sharks", or the big Macrobranchium "lobsters". Oh wait those things ARE lobsters!! Ha ha.

I am SO disappointed!! I wanted to see angelfish.

 

[Dee]

Archman...it's so nice to have someone who KNOWS about freshwater stuff. Unfortunately the pet shop trade is where we are first exposed to freshwater fish and plants and those names can often change from one location to the next.

Thanks for the education....keep it up!