Redfin Darter

My kids and I recently spotted a gorgeous fish in a shallow pool of water in one of our creeks/streams. We were not collecting fish, so we were caught very much off guard by the brilliant colors of this fish in a seemingly unexpected place for any fish (I thought). Long story short - with some help from a great group of local experts I found online I believe the fish is ID'd as a redfin darter.

My tank has long been established very much replicating the habitat we found him in and he seems to be thriving since we caught him 5 days ago. He's eating crawdads and tadpoles and I believe my snails are also being devoured by this guy. I've been reading anything I can find on darters in general and have little info on redfins specifically. Does anyone know if they have special needs, are they rare or uncommon? Any info or opinions on keeping him or letting him go?

Thanks for your input.

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Tiffany

Very Nice! How big is this guy? He must have some size to be eating crayfish and tadpoles.

I've found redfin darters to be very good aquarium inhabitants. The males hold their color better than just about any other darter I have kept and they aren't particularly fussy about food. They seem to relish any frozen or live food, and will sometimes even eat prepared food (but I wouldn't recommend trying to keep them alive on just flakes). My dad has had a pair that I caught near Ft. Smith, AR in one of his tanks for about a year now. They were caught around the same time as some great looking male rainbow darters which lost their color a few weeks after being caught. The male redfin darter, however, is just as colorful as he was when I pulled him out of the creek.

He's close to 4 inches in length. My boys and watched him eat a crayfish within 30 of putting him and the crayfish in the tank - it was surprising to me. It was a small crayfish, but it was bigger than I thought he'd eat. The crayfish and tadpoles were caught from the same shallow pool of water we found him in, so I figured they either lived in harmony or they were his food

I am glad to hear they do well in tanks too! How cool that your dad has had a pair for that long and that the males colors are still so bright! I'm excited about finding him and hope to catch at least another one or two tomorrow. BTW, I'm only about 2 hours west of Ft. Smith. My grandparents live in Ft. Smith.

Tiffany