# Going native...



## npnailer (Apr 16, 2007)

Sort of split from the otto temp thread.
I thought I'd post some pics of my natives. My tank is much less heavily planted now then it was earlier, as I've shifted gears a bit in what I wanted to keep. I've got a colony of 13 rainbow darters(with one lonely johnny darter also...need to find him a friend!), 7 or 8 eastern mud minnows, and a dozen blacknose shiners.
I'll post more pics later, but here are a few to give you an idea of why I think our local fish are a vastly overlooked prospect.
First, one of my male rainbow darters in spring spawing regalia. Simply stunning fish..maybe one of the most amazing looking fish in the world, when they are displaying. The colors are vibrant, vivid, and can change in moments(colors at times flow like a living neon sign).









one of his girlfriends :









blacknose shiners, a great schooling fish, and a sort of emerald/gold neon alternative:









Eastern mud minnows. A really dull name for a very cool fish. Total personality...they will follow you around like a dog, if they think you might have snacks! :


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## chadly (Dec 19, 2005)

dood, I love darters and minnows. Another fish you should try are Mottled Sculpins. I had some once, they are cool fish. If you feel up to it, try and grab up some bugs (beetles, etc) when, and if, you go collecting.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Sweet fish dude, I always thought darters were awesome!


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Cool fish man. If you said it in another thread, I missed it, but where do you live?


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## npnailer (Apr 16, 2007)

K20A2 said:


> Cool fish man. If you said it in another thread, I missed it, but where do you live?


Grand Rapids, Michigan(well...Kentwood actually, a suburb).
I'll post more pics in a day or two. I have 4 male darters that have recently started to color up really nice. Not sure if it's diet, or due to the seasonal cool down.


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## p3purr (Nov 6, 2006)

I'm a huge darter fan too. I have 4 Roanoke and 1 chainback. I'm hoping to get some more natives in that tank in the not to far future.


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## npnailer (Apr 16, 2007)

Here are some pics from just a few minutes ago. Just to show what the "normal" non-spawn colors look like.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Wow these fish are beautiful (the one in the top picture), I would love to get a starting colony of these fish (I have the perfect rock tank for them!!).

Did you catch them from a river or buy them?


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## npnailer (Apr 16, 2007)

Zapins said:


> Wow these fish are beautiful (the one in the top picture), I would love to get a starting colony of these fish (I have the perfect rock tank for them!!).
> 
> Did you catch them from a river or buy them?


They were caught locally. You can purchase rainbow darters and other native fish however, online(not many LFS have even heard of them!). 
A few things about them. First..they are VERY easy to maintain once they are acclimated to captivity. Quite hardy and given their natural habitat(heavy current, rocky rapids) able to take some beating and not freak out. However...they are not a good fish for a typical planted tank, unless you make some notable adjustments. They need lots and lots of rock and caves to be happy(likely would not survive in a tank with no rocks), and really need some decent current. I use a oversized hang on filter and two powerheads at full power, to keep my tank swaying. I do have plants..but they need to be current-capable and hardy. These fish are best for tanks built with them in mind.
Also..while they can take warm water, an unheated(even chilled) tank is better(they live in trout streams naturaly!). 
They are also dedicated, and VERY effective predators. I can't stress that enough. Do NOT get them if you have or plan on having small shrimp...as you really quickly won't have any small shrimp. THey don't get large, max at about 4", but red cherry or crystal shrimp would be nothing more then a nice cocktail for them(my amano's are doing fine..but they are as large as the fish!).
They don't seem to bother other fish in the least however, as long as they are not so small as to be considered prey(as many of the small species used as ornamentals in planted tanks, would be!).
They are MUCH more "personality loaded" then many fish, and are constantly poking around in the rocks and plants, hopping around, and learn who you are very fast(big thing bring food!! go to front of glass to greet big thing!). 
Great fish as long as you know what you are getting into!


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

npnailer said:


> They are also dedicated, and VERY effective predators.


Ah, that makes sense. I've heard they were interesting personality wise, and most predatory animals tend to be the ones with the smarts.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

What temperature range have you kept them in? 

Also would it be absolutely required that temperature is lowered to simulate winter? Will they suffer damage if kept at say 78 F all year round?

Do they take to flake food easily?

Do they guard their young or are they considered food?


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## npnailer (Apr 16, 2007)

Zapins said:


> What temperature range have you kept them in?
> 
> Also would it be absolutely required that temperature is lowered to simulate winter? Will they suffer damage if kept at say 78 F all year round?
> 
> ...


Mine are right now at 78 degrees during the day, and the temp settles to the low-mid 70's at night, and they are doing fine.
I plan on letting them overwinter at the low to mid 60's..but I would expect they could be kept at higher temps, as long as you have lots of movement to maintain high oxygen levels. Oxygen is the key, they do need good levels, so in warmer water you need more surface disruption, and faster tank turnover.
They take a bit of flake, and I've heard that some do totally acclimate to flake...but I keep mine fed up with live food(blackworms and amphipods). They also take frozen well, and many people feed them minced shrimp or fish. One trick I've learned is that to make sure sufficient food gets to them on the bottom(I also have a school of shiners, so they grab anything in the main water collum!), I use a turkey baster, just use it to pull up a couple dozen blackworms(placed in a jar with water taken from the aquarium) push the baster to the areas near the bottom/or near the fish themelves, and squirt them out! The fish really quickly learn that the turkey baster means chow time! This allows for pin point placement of food for finiky fish.
Breeding them is rather difficult, I've never attempted it, so can't say how they treat the young..although given their rather aggressive(from a hunting standpoint) nature...I would expect that fry in a tank with more then just the parents alone..would be shortly all eaten. In order to breed them, you need to do a strong wintering, with quite cool temps(I'd say at least, into the 50's), which is difficult for most home aquarium keepers, unless you set up a special tank for them in a garage or cool basement. If you do that, then take the temp back up into the upper 60's..they at that point will breed in captivity.


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