3 replies to this topic

[Riffledace]

I was just poking around a small stream and I encountered a large minnow trap made of a plastic barrel someone had left there. Inside, there were common shiners, creek chubs and bullheads, but also another strange type of blunt- headed fish with round tails. I extracted a few and they turned out to be mudminnows! I'm not sure which species they are, (Eastern or Central), or if they were found in the stream or obtained from a bait shop or something and being stored in the stream. I'm assuming the former since the other fish species are found in that stream and there was a lack of golden shiners in the trap.

Anyway, I'll post pictures soon so they can be ID'd. I assume it would be OK to put mudminnows in a 40 gallon stream tank with blacknose dace? Or do they hate flowing water?

[Riffledace]

Ok, pretty sure these are central mudminnows based on their appearance and the fact that this is the Connecticut river drainage.

[gerald]

I remember catching some (not sure if eastern or central) in a tiny pond / large puddle near the UMass campus circa 1980.  Easterns are typically slack-water fish, but I've also found them in pretty strong flowing streams too where there's dense plants, roots, and branch piles to provide a refuge from the flow.  As long as there's some slackwater areas in the tank I think they'll do OK with dace and shiners.

[Riffledace]

Just an update, these guys are doing great and have rapidly become my favorite fish!