20 replies to this topic

[Sean Phillips]

Just wanted some opinions from others who've kept Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus). What are your guys fish's behavior like? I've heard that they're pretty personable for a dace but mine are pretty skittish. Not as much as my creek chubs now are though. They tend to get very jumpy and occasionally hide when I approach their tank at any speed but slow and they flip out from loud noises such as squeaky tank lids opening at feeding time. They'll still try to bite through a syringe full of bloodworms at feeding time however. If I approach them slow they normally don't mind but this seems odd from a fish that I've heard is fairly boisterous,. I've got 3 of them in a 20 tall (24x12x16) with 3 silverjaw minnows and 2 bluefin killifish and I'll be upgrading them to a 75G soon along with the silverjaws as well as increasing their school size from 3 to 5-6. Nitrates stay under 20ppm and are usually 5-15ppm. They've been in the tank since late September. Any thoughts?

[littlen]

Get more dace. 3 really isn't a school. They'll be more relaxed when they are kept together in higher numbers.

[Sean Phillips]

Get more dace. 3 really isn't a school. They'll be more relaxed when they are kept together in higher numbers.

I kind of suspected that but I thought since there was a total of 6 Cyprinids that'd be a big enough "school" for them. I'll seine up another 2-3 of them once I have the tank they're going to be upgraded into which should be in 1-1.5 months

[littlen]

If they are going in a 75, I would get a total of about 15-20, or more. You can fit that many in your 20g as it is.

[Sean Phillips]

If they are going in a 75, I would get a total of about 15-20, or more. You can fit that many in your 20g as it is.

Well, the 75 is going to have 5-6 Redside Dace, 5-6 Silverjaw Minnows, 6 Banded Killies, 5-6 another undecided species of minnow (probably a local Notropis such as mimics or channels or something like that), and at least 5 species of darters that I'd have at least 2-3 of each. Plus a Moxostoma sp.

[Matt DeLaVega]

They will happily school with Chrosomus as well.

[Josh Blaylock]

Good luck with the Silverjaws. Let me know if and how you find success with them. They are such a cool minnow, but one I cannot get to survive in captivity.

[Michael Wolfe]

I have N. amplamala that I have had for a couple of years now (same thing as silver jaws just the southern version). Someone told me (maybe Farmer Todd) that they only do well on a sandy substrate. I collected some and put some on sand and some in a regular aquarium. The ones on sand thrives the others started to get thin and I moved them in with the others. Then they all did well. Sand is the trick. I think those jaws and that head shape is all about feeding from stuff just on or under the sand. I also make sure they get some sinking Spectrum micro pellets in that tank.

[Matt DeLaVega]

+1 on the sand.

[Sean Phillips]

Good luck with the Silverjaws. Let me know if and how you find success with them. They are such a cool minnow, but one I cannot get to survive in captivity.

Same as the last two replies, I've been having good luck keeping my trio over sand, about 4" of sand with a few pebbles ,iced in to be exact.

[smbass]

I too have kept silverjaws and some other benthicly oriented cyprinids on a sand substrate more successfully than without it. Silver chub, shoal chub, a couple different Hybopsis sp. and a few others. Works with some suckers too.

I love redside they are one of my favorites. They will calm down in a larger group and in a bigger tank. Great aquarium fish in my opinion, look like little trout with that big upturned mouth!

[Sean Phillips]

I too have kept silverjaws and some other benthicly oriented cyprinids on a sand substrate more successfully than without it. Silver chub, shoal chub, a couple different Hybopsis sp. and a few others. Works with some suckers too.

I love redside they are one of my favorites. They will calm down in a larger group and in a bigger tank. Great aquarium fish in my opinion, look like little trout with that big upturned mouth!

The first time I caught one I thought it was a Salmon fingerling! Mine actually have small kypes on them!

[Sean Phillips]

So then it appears that Cyprinids as Silverjaws, Shoal Chubs, Silver Chubs, and a few others do better over sand. Could this be because of their Pearl organs?

[Michael Wolfe]

I think they certainly have something to do with it. Not sure if anyone has the definitive answer on what pearl organs do in a long jaw minnow. But I bet it has something to do with squiring food from in or just below the surface of the sand.

[Sean Phillips]

I think they certainly have something to do with it. Not sure if anyone has the definitive answer on what pearl organs do in a long jaw minnow. But I bet it has something to do with squiring food from in or just below the surface of the sand.

Maybe they're similar to barbels in Siluriformes and help them pick up scents and tastes, but then they should also work in any substrate. This is definitely worth a an extensive study in my opinion. One bit of information to add on to this is that where I collected my silverjaws, I also snorkeled there and noticed a very healthy population of them, the weird thing is the substrate was silt, not sand. So maybe it's that they thrive on a substrate that they can dig through for food, not just sand.

[Michael Wolfe]

All that makes sense to me. Maybe they work at really short distances (not like barbels that are long). Or maybe they are not chemical but work like shark electrical receptors.

[gzeiger]

That's likely true, but silt is a fairly undesirable aquarium substrate...

[Sean Phillips]

That's likely true, but silt is a fairly undesirable aquarium substrate...

True, unless you're trying to breed bullheads . However I do know someone that's bred bullheads in aquaria with a gravel substrate.

[Josh Blaylock]

I don't want to get off Sean's topic, but I'd it possible to add sand to a gravel aquarium?

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Sean Phillips]

I don't want to get off Sean's topic, but I'd it possible to add sand to a gravel aquarium?

Sent from my Nexus 5

Is that I'd supposed to be an is? If so, yes it it, I pretty much took out half the gravel that was originally in my silverjaw/redside tank and added 4" of sand then mixed it together.