21 replies to this topic

[Warbadger]

It's been a year now since reworking the hardscape,

 

Lost a big chunk of my original 2020 stocking - all of the Southern Redbelly Dace, all but one Mountain Redbelly Dace, a pair of stonerollers, and some of the Spotfin and Scarlet shiners aged out.  My original rainbow darter from 2021 may also be on his way out, sadly.

 

The last MRBD is an absolute tank of a female and still going strong, though.  I added a dozen rainbow shiners, a handful of small MRBD, and a pair of eastern blacknose dace (one of whom is the ONLY dace I've ever had refuse flakes!).  Next up is probably a pair of male rainbow darters and eventually a few Fieryblack Shiners.

[simon727]

Great looking tank! Did you catch the rainbow darters locally? We have plenty of them in our area.

 

As far as feeding to make sure your darters get enough to eat, I use a long turkey baster type thing designed for aquariums so I can target feed the darters. It's much like you're doing, but this thing is pretty long and I can get it to the bottom of my tank without getting my hands wet, and the darters get very fat now while the other fish also get plenty of food.

 

I'm sure that I'll be out collecting fish several times to help stock the Glen Echo Park Aquarium and another public institution as well. You're welcome to join in the fun and take some fish home for yourself too. I've collected with both Todds on this thread LOL. I'm sure the streams near you have pretty much the same things. I've caught five species of darters for my tank in the Upper Potomac drainage: rainbow, fantail, greenside and tessellated are in my tank, the other species is protected in Maryland.  https://sharpedgesho...s-multi-purpose

I'd love to experience this too!