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Suckermouth minnow information?

Started by Guest_Bob_* , Mar 05 2013 11:10 AM

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8 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Bob_*

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Posted 05 March 2013 - 11:10 AM

Has anyone ever kept suckermouth minnows (Phenacobius mirabilis)? I never heard of this species until today. The information I googled didn't give me much of an idea of how they'd behave in an aquarium.

Are they algae eaters? Would they be the U.S. native fish equivalent to loricarids?

Thanks.

Bob

#2 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 05 March 2013 - 12:41 PM

Well, mine had trouble in my community tank and eventually starved, but while I had it he was one of my favorite fish. They behave very similarly to suckers. They are timid, but, as has been noted by others in terms of suckers, love seeing a lot of fish around them. It makes them much more comfortable. They will also peruse the bottom, occasionally dipping down and using there sucker mouth much as a normal sucker would do. Now, there are a few things that made him notably different. He would hover a lot higher than a sucker would. Suckers usually sit right on the bottom or just above, where as my Suckermouth Minnow, when searching for food, would be about 3-5 inches above. He seemed to like to school with the shiners and dace in the tank whenever he felt comfortable enough. Also, sometimes, very rarely, he would eat directly from the water column, or even the surface. I would strongly recommend getting one, just make sure you don't have to aggressive of tank mates. I feel like what really did mine in was the combination of competition from the shiners and dace and the aggressive nature of my O-Spots.

#3 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 05 March 2013 - 04:02 PM

Has anyone ever kept suckermouth minnows (Phenacobius mirabilis)? I never heard of this species until today. The information I googled didn't give me much of an idea of how they'd behave in an aquarium.

Hey Bob, I have had the closely related Riffle Minnow Phenacobius catostomus (one of Dr Neely's favorite minnows if I remember him correctly). Not much for color, but a very interesting body shape and behavior. Yes, they do well in and aquarium, although they seem to need a lot of food (like a traditional sucker) to keep them happy. A quick check of FIshes of Alabama says that they do not eat algae (both catostomus and mirabilis are in Alabama along with the stargazing minnow P. uranops) and none of those say anything about eating any plant matter.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#4 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 05 March 2013 - 06:13 PM

P. crassilabrum in the upper Tenn basin and P. teretulus in the New-Kanawha basin are mainly insectivores too, according to Freshwater Fishes of VA.

#5 Guest_BTDarters_*

Guests

Posted 05 March 2013 - 08:12 PM

I've kept Suckermouth Minnows in aquaria, and they are great aquarium inhabitants. You might think that because they have a sucker mouth, that they feed on algae. This is not true, however. They feed primarily on aquatic insect larvae in the wild (Becker 1983), and in the aquarium they survive nicely on live blackworms and/or frozen bloodworms. I have attached my care sheet for the minnows to this post.

Becker, G.C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin Press.

Attached Files

Suckermouth Minnow.pdf 97.11KB 133 downloads

#6 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 05 March 2013 - 09:00 PM

Brian,

Any chance that I could convince you to take this information and expand it a little with some of your experiences and turn the whole thing into a "Fish in Ficus" article for the AC and the website? We haven't had one recently and I think the Phenicobius genus would make a great article.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#7 Guest_BTDarters_*

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Posted 07 March 2013 - 02:45 AM

Hey, Michael. I don't know if I would do the fish justice as I actually haven't had any Suckermouths in my possession for a couple of years. I list that I can get them on my website as I have some sites where I can usually collect them. They haven't been a popular seller, so I haven't had them on-hand for a while. My point of mentioning that is that I don't remember the details of the "personalities" of the fish. I feel that I would like to include that if I did a Fish in Focus. If you really think this would be a worthwhile article, I will see if I can collect some when the season starts up again. After a few months I could write an article. Otherwise, I could maybe write an article on another species. What do you think?

Brian

#8 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 07 March 2013 - 06:43 AM

I think they are a very cool, under-appreciated genus and if this question came up on the forum, and Bob didn't know about them, then these fish need some better PR! I mean look, only three or four people here even responded.

I think it would be great if you could get some extra details and personality information and write something up.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin