Last fall my wife and I spotted an orange minnow among a school of regular minnows off a walk bridge near our home. Best I could figure it was a goldfish. The other day I was collecting near there and got 8 orange minnows. They are in one of my tanks now and behave like the other fatheads. My best guess is that they are rosy red fatheads. Has anyone heard of these being "naturalized" or "escaped" in Iowa? None of my research has revealed where these were discovered or developed.
orange minnows in iowa?
Started by
Guest_Fishwhisperer_*
, May 08 2007 09:38 PM
6 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_scottefontay_*
Guest_scottefontay_*
-
- Guests
Posted 09 May 2007 - 05:59 AM
Once when I was a kid my father and I went fishing and had rosy reds from the bait shop left over when we got home. I put them in this small pond. They were all "orange" when I put them in there. They reproduced and the next spring only like 10% of all the fish I saw were orange, the rest were the "natural" phenotype. Its probable that the fatheads you saw were decendants from some rosy reds or that some released rosy reds were hanging out with "wild" fat heads.
#3
Guest_Fishwhisperer_*
Guest_Fishwhisperer_*
-
- Guests
Posted 14 May 2007 - 06:18 AM
That's the theory I've been leaning towards. I've seined creeks around here for years and have never encountered these before. Odd that they came from 2 seperate, distinct creeks several miles apart though. Hmm... In my tank now, 2 males are defending territories. One is standard and the other a rosy red. Each nips and chases away anyone who gets too close then "tends" to the ceiling of their perspective caves. I expect spawning at some point. There is lots of cover but will any fry survive in a tank full of adults?
#6
Guest_fishlvr_*
Guest_fishlvr_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 May 2007 - 06:06 AM
If you leave them in there, the dad will protect the eggs, but after they're free swimming fry, the other fish will be pretty fat. If you actually want babies, then the best thing to do is take the object the eggs are laid on out and raise the babies yourself.
#7
Guest_Fishwhisperer_*
Guest_Fishwhisperer_*
-
- Guests
Posted 09 September 2007 - 06:07 PM
These have been confirmed as defenitely rosy reds. Since then we have collected several other non-native species. Gambusia altiffinis(sp?) and goldfish. We have alo collected plenty of long-nose and southern red-belly dace and red shiners. Still searching for central stonerollers. Collected one recently but used to get tons years ago around here.
Reply to this topic
1 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users
NANFA Youtube Channel 
