Today I went to the Cleveland Zoo, and as I walked across the bridge that crosses the stream to the Northern Trek area I saw a lot of fish activity. The bright sun made it easy to see everything in the water. I spotted a large group of suckers on the shaded side of the bridge in a deep pool, and I decided to check out the other side. I saw a large group, guessing 20+ fish, that were all about the same size (guessing 10"). They all had 3 distinctive strips, 1 on top, a light one and a dark lateral line. As I observed them I thought I ruled out bass, sauger, and other possibilities I thought. I saw they were also breeding, one would be swimming in place and 2 would come up on each side. I wanted to go down to the stream and get a closer look, but being where I was I doubt the Zoo would have appreciated it.
When I moved on to see the Wolves and native fish display, I saw a little card for creek chub and that's what made me think that could be what the fish I saw were. But the size and the really dark stripes are what have me a little stumped. Are the stripes just darker due to breeding?
I think the stream is the Big Creek, and the drainage is the Cuyahoga.
If you would like to see another photo I can provide, turns out I took more photos of these fish than I did of the other animals at the zoo.