31 replies to this topic

[Evan P]

Hey everyone, I just had a person contact me asking for a list of the top 10 natives that should be considered for reproduction for the aquarium trade. The University of Florida plans to use this research to see how viable these species would be on the market. So, please, list below your top 10 favorite natives that do well in aquariums and could be reproduced in high enough levels to meet market needs! This should be an interesting thread, and hopefully the research from it leads to a bit more awareness about natives in aquaria!

 

EDIT: Also worth noting, they would like a variety of genus', including Etheostoma, Lepomis, etc.

[Riffledace]

Never kept them, but bluefin killifish maybe?

[keepnatives]

Flagfin shiners, Metallic shiners, Orangespot sunfish, Banded sunfish, Bluefin Killies, Tri color shiners, rainbow shiners, brindled madtoms, creek chubsuckers, eastern starhead topminnows,

[MtFallsTodd]

Rosefin shiners

[smilingfrog]

mountain redbelly dace

[Riffledace]

I read on here that creek chubsuckers do horribly in captivity. Plus they're pretty big and not very good looking in adulthood.

What about greenfin shiners and flame chubs?

[don212]

golden topminnow, sailfin molly, bluefin killie, dwarf livebearer, 

[Doug_Dame]

My list would start with these species, some of which have already been mentioned. I don't know if they're all good candidates for mass-rearing approaches. I could easily add another half dozen minnows. Some need cooler water than most common "tropicals" found in the aquarium trade. 

 

* Chrosomus erythrogaster - mountain redbelly dace

* Notropis lutipinnis - yellowfin shiner

* Notropis chrosomus - rainbow shiner

* Pteronotropis signipinnis - flagfin shiner

* Pteronotropis metallicus - metallic shiner

* Cyprinella trichroistia - tricolor shiner

* Cyprinella pyrrhomelas - fieryblack shiner

 

* Lepomis humilis - orangespotted sunfish

* Enneacanthus chaetodon - blackbanded sunfish

 

* Noturus insignis - margined madtom (stays reasonably small, mine are very active in the daytime)

 

* Fundulus lineolatus - lined topminnow

* Fundulus chrysotus - goldenear topminnow

* Lucania goodei - bluefin killie

* Jordanella floridae - flagfish

 

* Heterandria formosa - least livebearer (great for small or Amano-tanks)

 

* Etheostoma ruflineatus - redline darter

* Etheostoma caeruleum - rainbow darter 

* Etheostoma hopkinsi - Christmas darter 

 

+ bonus fish - Salvelinus fontinalis - Southern Appalachian brook trout - pure versions of this reportedly usually run 6-8 inches

[mikez]

I would think species that are temp tolerant would be best. You know if the general population finds them in pet shops, they WILL put them in tropical communities.
I know they've all been mentioned, but from my own experience 3 come to mind:
Blackbanded sunnie. Good looks, good personality, easy to breed and does great in a tropical mix, especially blackwater types.

Least Killie, livebearer, whatever. Great for small or nano tank, great personality, hardy and the easiest fish to breed in the world. Does fine at tropical temp. Not the prettiest but the other qualities make it a great choice.
Flagfin shiner. Has the looks to attract the tropical crowd, peaceful good community member, reasonably good temp resistance and breeds readily. I personally have failed to raise up fry but I know it is done.

These are species I've personally kept for years, sometimes in heated mixed communities. The Sunnies and the killie's bred easily for me. The flagfins did too for that matter, I just didn't try hard enough to find the right food for the fry.

[don212]

mollies, golden topminnow, flagfish, are already in system , but seldom seen,  and often in gross mutated form, dwarf livebearer is sold as feeder guppy

[loopsnj64]

Tadpole Madtom - While im unsure on the breeding, and they are initially shy, they adapt to captivity with no issues, very fun to watch

Banded Killifish - VERY easy to keep, as for breeding , I have no personal experience but from what ive read it should be reasonably easy

Pirate Perch - Again, breeding is something im not too keen on, but if these could breed in large enough numbers (especially  the purple-tinted variation of this fish!) they would make very interesting nano-predators (for lack of a better description)

Least Killifish - I agree with the others on this one.... possibly a candidate for breeding into different colors and breeds like guppies and other livebearers

[Betta132]

Sailfin mollies, absolutely. They're already in the trade to some extent, but wild-strain ones are unusual. Most sailfins seen in the trade are sailfin varieties of other types. 

Mexican mollies, also, are unusual but worth spreading. 

[Irate Mormon]

Just consult a copy of "Exotic Aquarium Fishes" and you'll get a pretty good idea. 

[Moontanman]

Blue spotted sunfish

Black banded sunfish

Least killifish

Blue finned killifish

Spotted bullheads

inland silversides

Almost any dace

and yes.... shovelnosed sturgeon! 

[gerald]

Also Crescent shiner, Roanoke darter, Central or eastern mudminnows (no beauty, but great "character" fish).

But rainbow shiner has got to be one of the top contenders for its potential commercial appeal and ease of keeping.

[loopsnj64]

Also Crescent shiner, Roanoke darter, Central or eastern mudminnows (no beauty, but great "character" fish).

But rainbow shiner has got to be one of the top contenders for its potential commercial appeal and ease of keeping.

I STRONGLY agree on the Rainbow Shiner
absurdly beautiful colors, breeds very easily, adapts to captivity easily, and could potentially be bred into different strains

[FirstChAoS]

I'd suggest longnose dace, but several aquarium fish already fit a similar body shape and color scheme

 

wild strain sailfin mollyis also a good choics

 

Mummichogs: males can get shiny blue breeding color. they tolerate fresh and salt water and toxic conditions. Used for mosquito control. First fish in space. 

 

A few words on the different fish groups.

MINNOWS:The easiest of the natives. They readilly feed on common aquarium foods. Many have colorful breeding colors. By and large most are not problematic. NOTE: Some species do need specific temperature and light to breed, some species are prone to jumping without current, a couple species get big enough to eat other fish,

 

SUCKERS: A difficult group to keep as find sand is needed for digestion in many suckers and they grow large. 

 

CATFISH: They grow fast so expect bullheads to quickly reach a foot long, have venomous spines (painful but not dangerous), and wide mouths so even a small madtom could eat similar sized fish,

 

DARTERS: They require frozen or live food and are a challenge to breed in captivity. If you have a good pet store they are easy enough to handle, but not for people who only have access to flake from supermarkets and grocery stores. 

 

SUNFISH: Sunfish can be a challenge to adapt to artificial foods. Lepomis makles are very terretorial.

 

PYGMY SUNFISH: I have no real experience with these but heard they are very timid and do not do well with current, larger fish, or agressive fish. But I also heard they are easy to breed.

 

KILLIFISH: The two species I have experience with (banded and mummichog) were very aggressive. Seeing other people talk it seems killifish agression varies by species and individual tank conditions. I do not have enough experience to test it. 

 

TROUT: Need cold clean water, a chiller is a must.

[mikez]

I thought of rainbow shiners too. They'd be big sellers, especially if pet shops posted some of the photos of pond raised rainbows spawning in Europe. Trouble is they rarely look THAT good, and only for short time.

My question is temp tolerance. I know they live in the south, but don't they need cooler water?

I really think the temp thing is big.

[dsuperman]

Goodeids 

Heterandria Formosa [gold form] 

bluespotted sunfish 

blackbanded sunfish

 blacknose dace 

banded killies

[fundulus]

You don't want to keep rainbow shiners in tropical tank temperatures, they really won't do well. They're found in streams that might hit the mid-70s in summer, and that probably defines the upper limit of their thermal tolerance.