I have three male and three female rainbow darters in my 33 long with six shiners, three Iowa darters and three banded killifish. I've seen the darters eat one juvenile killifish and one juvenile bluntnose minnow. Two other juvenile bluntnose minnows have disappeared.

Tonight I saw the rainbow darters tag team an Iowa darter, which I just assumed were too large. One had the Iowa a good 1/4 engulfed. It spit the Iowa darter out when I jumped to the rescue.

I typically feed these guys frozen bloodworms, shrimp, etc. once to twice a day, but was gone Sunday. I was surprised that the rainbows went after the Iowa darter. (One female Iowa died weeks ago and it clearly had been harassed by another fish.)

How predatory are rainbows? I'm worried about losing the three Iowa darters. Pic shows size of the fish. Thanks.

I am a bit surprised. I have never seen them take on prey this large. I notice that your rainbow looks a bit on the thin side to me, maybe heavier feeding will correct the situation.

Thanks. I will do that. Just bought a turkey baster recently to help with targeted feeding.