As I was cleaning the smelt that I caught the other day, I had an idea to try and hatch some of their eggs. I filled a container with cool water and squeezed some milt and eggs into the container and put the container into the refrigerator since the water in the river the smelt spawn in would be about the same temp. I didn't really think that the eggs would survive, but when I checked them today, the eggs seem to have developed. Some of the eggs turned milky, but most of them are clear with a white line resembling an exclamation mark in them attached to the insides.

Smelts a type of fish yes ? Some pics would be good, will you release the fry or try grow them on a bit ? being from coldwater river i reckon they would need a high oxygen level

yes smelt are fish, I don't have any pics of the adult fish, but I have a pic the eggs. If they do hatch I am going to release them, but it might be neat to raise them for a bit then release them when they are larger. Most of the eggs have gone milky, but there are sill quite a few that look like they may hatch. I have noticed that there is a small white dot on one side of each egg and a larger white blob on the other.

Sorry to have to tell you but those eggs are dead.

That’s too bad, it would have been interesting to hatch baby fish. I didn’t really think that they would hatch at first, but it did seem like the eggs were developing, so it made me hope that the eggs would hatch . They definitely are not going to hatch now anyway, since I just checked the fridge and found the water that they were in frozen.

aw thats a shame can you post pics of smelt? i have never seen them....

They don't look too nice once they have been dead a while. This one has lost some of its color, when they are alive the green color on their back is darker and they have a metalic purple line that borders it on each side.

oh, you catch them? sorry i missed that first time round...

Yeah they taste pretty good breaded and deep fried

they might have developed but you may have killed them in the fridge

oo, at least im not the only person here guilty of eating fish *slaps wrist*

i'm another one

I was a little worried after I had posted that, I thought that others might have been bothered about what I said.

I'm guilty too. Just can't seem to quick that tuna and habit.

im terrible for tuna i just it

Fish are good for everything, I especially love a bit of sushi now and then, yummeh.

cat say i like sushi... hate the texture...

smoked salmon?

yeah, i love it one of my fav foods

Oooo I love fish, and not just as pets....

My favorite is teryaki salmon, definately. My bf's mom made it once and it was soooooooo good!! I also like halibut, swordfish etc... I just don't like tuna, sushi or crab. I haven't tried much else yet, because no one in my family really likes fish.

I'm proud to say, I don't eat fish . I do go fishing though, catch and release (or put in a tank).

Here is what a smelt looks like alive. This one is a rainbow smelt.

Photo by Lawrence Taylor

i also fish (sea) but eat my catch if it falls into criteria
How do you catch the fish that you keep and put in tank ?

i was about to say the same, are they pretty versitile then? or are they picky?

to meet criteria as you might already know most sea fish have to be over a certain size other wise you have to put them back the reason is to give every fish the chance to spawn at least once (a good idea)
also fish has to be a tasty