6 replies to this topic

[kaliska]

I have an interest in small sunfish and darters.  I'm thinking of setting up an orange spotted sunfish tank in a 40g but I'm not completely set on that species.  I've been seeing what I can catch around here now that the catfish activity has hit a lull and the sunfish are starting to think about spawning.  We just moved here and often hike the dogs around water with stops to let them play so I've been carrying my light rod with and casting along random banks.  I saw my first darter ever outside of photographs in a nearby stream we hike along a lot.  I couldn't get a good look at it and had no chance of catching it but I could make out the shape scooting around the rocks for awhile.  Eventually it blended into the grey rocks covered in shades of green algae.  I have at least one river tank planned in the future but I might need a second so I can do hillstream loaches in one and native only in another.

[mattknepley]

Welcome! We got some active members out your way. Should have little trouble picking up some good fish-related intell, I would think...

[loopsnj64]

Small sunfish?
Blackbanded sunfish and there relatives might be interesting to you.

Also with some caution you can mix natives and tropical fish, I keep a Cherry Barb with my Tadpole Madtoms... but it must be done especially carefully to avoid introducing diseases

[kaliska]

Hillstream loaches that I want to set up a river tank for are cold water and need lots of oxygenation.  I had them with white cloud minnows (also coldwater) in the past but I want something more interesting so finding a good temp may be a problem anyway.  Hillstream loaches are very flat, sucker fish sometimes called hong kong or butterfly plecos.  Not your typical loaches or tropical fish.

[Jconte]

Orange spotted sunfish are the only small sunfish that you will find in this part of the world (I live nearby in western Illinois). I have found them to be very prevalent in the backwaters of the Mississippi River, where the only challenge to collecting them is not getting stuck in the mud. I have only collected juveniles and found them to adapt readily to tank life. 

[Ken]

What pat of Eastern Iowa are you located? I just took a group of Eastern iowa Aquarium Association members out creek stomping the weekend before last. 

[Dustin]

I caught some hillstream loaches in eastern Thailand a couple months ago and the water they came from was decidedly not tropical.  They would thrive in the same cool waters that most of the NA darters would thrive in.  Actually the streams where they are found are nearly identical to where darters are found.  They are found in medium sized streams with cool water and significant flow in the riffles.