I'll finally be moving my 8 young Northern Longears into their permanent (55 gal acrylic) next week. Joining them for sure will be my 3.5-4" brindled madtom. I also have a 15g tub I use to keep excess feeders for my 2 grass pickerel. In the tub there are something like 6 darters, largest being 2 female greensides that are about 2.5-3" long, smallest is probably an inch maybe slightly more. I was thinking about adding them to the 55 also but I have some concerns. Will an adult n longear eat a decent sized darter? Can they catch them more easily than I think? Another concern I have is will I be able to get the darters enough food? I feed my madtom through a double long connected drinking straw, he knows what it is and that it means food, I've had him basically sucking on the end of it as bloodworms trickled out. Maybe I could get the darters to recognize the same type of thing and be ready, maybe I could feed the longears on the opposite end of the tank? Maybe its more trouble than its worth and I may decide to just get another madtom or 2 as I don't want to overpopulate and madtoms don't do much crowding anyhow. Thoughts? Experiences?
N longears and darters
Started by
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, Feb 23 2011 03:35 AM
14 replies to this topic
#3
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Posted 23 February 2011 - 10:11 AM
Northern longears do stay rather small and some larger darter species should be fine such as greenside, varigate, logperch, and dusky here in Ohio. However, with a group of sunfish it becomes more difficult to have other fish in the tank. Brindled madtoms should work very well with N. Longears, that is a great combination. If you want darters I would go with larger, logperch are probably the best choice and only 2 or 3 of them. They get plenty large enough to not become food and they also adapt to tank life really well.
#4
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Posted 23 February 2011 - 11:36 PM
Northern longears do stay rather small and some larger darter species should be fine such as greenside, varigate, logperch, and dusky here in Ohio. However, with a group of sunfish it becomes more difficult to have other fish in the tank. Brindled madtoms should work very well with N. Longears, that is a great combination. If you want darters I would go with larger, logperch are probably the best choice and only 2 or 3 of them. They get plenty large enough to not become food and they also adapt to tank life really well.
yea brian I was actually thinking I wanted logperch last night...blanchard river is good right?
#5
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Posted 24 February 2011 - 12:04 AM
yea brian I was actually thinking I wanted logperch last night...blanchard river is good right?
They are more abundant in the Sandusky. Logperch are more of a large river and reservoir species. They are in the Blanchard but not as abundant.
#6
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Posted 24 February 2011 - 08:46 PM
They are more abundant in the Sandusky. Logperch are more of a large river and reservoir species. They are in the Blanchard but not as abundant.
Really...strange I've never caught one by accident, grew up with the Sandusky in my backyard. Probably because where I lived the river is much wider/deeper and slow moving. Just run a seine below riffles like I'm after darters? Btw have you seined riffles in/around Tiffin on the Sandusky? I looked for darters one day near the pioneer mill restaurant (not sure if you're familiar but its in Tiffin) and did not catch a single one. Strictly minnows. Any madtoms in the Sandusky?
#7
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Posted 25 February 2011 - 10:03 AM
I have seined that exact area many times (I went to Heidelberg University so I spent 4 years in the area) and there are johnny, blackside, greenside, and logperch all in that area. logperch and greensides are by far the most abundant two. I've also caught those 4 plus fantails and rainbows in Rock Creek on campus. There are stonecats in both but no other madtoms in the area.
#8
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Posted 25 February 2011 - 02:32 PM
makes me wonder what i was doing wrong...I had already been out with nate and schambers so i pretty much knew what I was doing at that point. It was super hot outside, I'll try this spring I guess.
edit* Come to think of it a friend of mine said he got nets full of rainbows in rock creek at hedges boyer park in the spring time, however when we went to try it during the hottest part of the summer, we caught none. Wonder if they go deeper when its 85 degrees for weeks at a time?
edit* Come to think of it a friend of mine said he got nets full of rainbows in rock creek at hedges boyer park in the spring time, however when we went to try it during the hottest part of the summer, we caught none. Wonder if they go deeper when its 85 degrees for weeks at a time?
Edited by star5328, 25 February 2011 - 02:35 PM.
#12
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Posted 05 March 2011 - 09:35 AM
I'm assuming Rainbow Darters are out of the question with N. Longears?
Well, they would probably not be a good idea... Logperch would be a much safer bet... I mean nothing is out of the question... with the right design and starting with a really small longear... but eventually you would just be pushing it too much and someone will get eaten...
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#13
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Posted 05 March 2011 - 06:13 PM
I've had no problem whatsoever keeping rainbow darters and northern longear and even pumpkinseed together. The trick is that you're going to have to feed high quality food. There are very few other Etheostoma darters that I would try this with (most Nothonotus would be fine), but rainbows are quite adept at getting what they need in light of sunfishes. In fact, the Shed had a massive display with both central longer and rainbows a few years back... Not sure if it's still up or not.
Todd
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#15
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Posted 06 March 2011 - 08:05 AM
Frozen and freeze dried foods like mysis, bloodworms with a mix of krill and plankton (don't overfeed the saltwater organisms - maybe 2x a week).
Rainbow darters will literally rip a krill 2/3's their body size apart.
I really like Piscine Energetics mysis, but it's been hard to get and $$. The LFS I go to gave up on them, and they're selling Aqua Treasures Mysis Supreme, and I like it just as well. I'm not a big fan of Hikari or Ocean Nutrition's mysis.
Bloodworms are bloodworms, as is krill - although it seems Hikari's has less junk in it. I like Ocean Nutrition's plankton.
For freeze dried, I'll pay the extra for the Sera foods because I can get away with feeding less, although the Sallys is just fine.
I saw there was a thread on suckers recently too... And this is what I in part attribute to my success keeping suckers in great body condition among 35 or so other species, which included sunfish, in a community tank.
Todd
Rainbow darters will literally rip a krill 2/3's their body size apart.
I really like Piscine Energetics mysis, but it's been hard to get and $$. The LFS I go to gave up on them, and they're selling Aqua Treasures Mysis Supreme, and I like it just as well. I'm not a big fan of Hikari or Ocean Nutrition's mysis.
Bloodworms are bloodworms, as is krill - although it seems Hikari's has less junk in it. I like Ocean Nutrition's plankton.
For freeze dried, I'll pay the extra for the Sera foods because I can get away with feeding less, although the Sallys is just fine.
I saw there was a thread on suckers recently too... And this is what I in part attribute to my success keeping suckers in great body condition among 35 or so other species, which included sunfish, in a community tank.
Todd
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