U.S. Native Tank

RCinAL

WOW! Those are really cool. Will they spawn in a tank? I have kept a few native darters and gobies but never anything as beautiful as those. I don't think there is anything that colorful in my region.

RCinAL

BTW... Small American sunfish - Black Banded, Pumpkinseed, Green, and Long Eared to name a few - adapt well to aquariums and are very beautiful and interesting. They have neat personalities, (much like cichlids), and will even spawn, but the cold water requirements make them a challenge to keep long term. They need a several month period of cold water every year to thrive. It takes a pretty good sized tank too. They are quite popular in Europe I am told but may even be slightly illegal to keep in captivity in their native range. I have kept a few over the warmer months but released them in the fall.

DanMarion

There are no Darters here in Idaho that I know of. I am in the process of setting up a Rocky Mountain River Biotope though. I think I'll get a 150-180 gallon aquarium with a good Chiller, a couple Rainbow Trout and a native Rocky Mountain Crawfish or two. Pictures will abound once I get it started!

Kazzy

Found this site, thought it would be helpful for anyone else wanting to do a native tank!
NatureServe:

Garfisher

My friend keeps his fish at a constant temp all year and they do perfectly fine (he has two pumpkinseeds, a redbreast sunfish and a bluegill)

RCinAL

My research tells me they will live, but not breed (and therefore "thrive") without an anual period of cold temps - in the upper 50's to low 60's Fahrenheit at least. Seeing is believing though so if your friend's fish spawn I would say I stand corrected.

The ones I kept adapted extemely well and did fantastic throughout the Summer months in tropical temps, but I didn't chance keeping them at high temps for longer than that.

small fry

Thanks Kazzy! I had no idea that my local river had so many beautiful fish! I am going to have to go netting!

Kazzy

No problem! Yeah, I didn't realize the diversity in my area either :D

Garfisher

He had them spawn once, or at least one pumpkinseed wanted to spawn and took over the tank for a couple weeks. He did report seeing eggs but nothing materialized fry-wise. I forget what set them off, but the tank didnt get nearly that cold. Here is a native that can be found as a hitchhiker in ghost shrimp tanks at LFS's:

The Swamp Darter, not that colourful, but still an interesting little fish.

Kazzy

So going to look into the shrimp tanks a lot more closely now!