yes to all of that... I would have gone a little higher up to maybe 4 inches, but that is tail and all... like this guy... he was rather a brute.
![Posted Image](http://gallery.nanfa.org/d/45526-4/Notropis+lutipinnis.JPG)
And are you saying that the wild ones have lost some color... I would agree... it was cold recently and they are slowing down... this guy was from this past weekend... they were a bit slimmer and a bit less colorful than in the summer time... not as many bugs fallin' in the stream.
![Posted Image](http://gallery.nanfa.org/d/50642-4/yellowfin+shiner.jpg)
... and yes, in a room temperature aquarium, you can never be sure what you might see. They sometimes color half up in the matter of a few seconds if they like the menu offerings that evening...
![Posted Image](http://gallery.nanfa.org/d/49132-4/2.jpg)
or this pair (photo shot at the same time as above)
![Posted Image](http://gallery.nanfa.org/d/49142-4/4.jpg)
How do you not love a fish like that? Or cruise over to Matt's thread about his greenheads (maybe?) a closely related fish... that colored up for him based on what he thinks was a few degree warm up in the house (I still am not convinced it was not just because he fed them well for three days in a row... they are very food motivated)... its like the beagle version of fish keeping.