100 Gal Ohio and 75 Gal Gulf Drainage

Howdy Folks,

Did some more photography last night, playing with the newly acquired speed flash from Sir Charles. It definately solves the lighting issue, however, now I have to figure out how to keep scratches out of the photos. I guess you can't win It's going to take some time to learn this camera. And it'll also be nice to get these guys warmed up (more color). I took the room temp up to 50 today. I'm sick of it HURTING to put my hand in the water. And the plants ain't liking it now either.

There wasn't anything that really blew my socks off, although there's some oddballs you usually don't see in aquaria... Like the 4 or 5 sucker species, I think I covered Erimyzon in this shoot. I've post a couple that I liked better, the rest can be found in this gallery:

http://www.farmertod.../reefle/012508/

 darter_party_01.jpg   43.93KB   0 downloads
Gilt darter, Percina evides, rainbow darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, greenside darter, E. blennoides philodotum

 mo_saddled_darter_02.jpg   49.59KB   0 downloads
Missouri saddled darter, Etheostoma tetrazonum

 sharpfin_chubsucker_01.jpg   38.58KB   1 downloads
Sharpfin chubsucker, Erimyzon tenuis

Enjoy!

Todd

Awesome pictures as usual Todd.
I really like that missouri saddled darter.

Thanks Lance. Yep, the saddled darters are something else. My big ol' variegate ain't happy about all these whipper snappers in the tank, but he'll just have to learn to adjust

<excitement>

Hmmm.... That might make an interesting experiment in the Niche-izer ™. Put all the saddled darters into the tank at the same time to get frequency of presence data, and see if they partition at all, and if it's by species, size, what?

Be a good excuse to ethically get some spawning male osburni any way And what a great Spring Break Trip to boot!

</excitement>

Uggggh. Back to multivariate statistics.

Todd, those are fantastic looking darters. I have always loved the look of Greenside Darters. How many species due you currently keep together in your 100 gall?

Andy

Thanks Andy Hmm... Good question. I'm in a rebuilding phase right now. I brought home a big nasty protozoan that took down a lot of fish before I finally broke down and used chemicals (tried to treat it with salt).

The tank is an Ohio themed tank, but that's kind of drifted. The species in there (this is more for my sake to get an update on what's in there) and where they're from if not Ohio...

central stoneroller - 3 large (male going tuberculate)
redside dace - 5
streamlined chub (KY) - 3
mississippi silvery minnow - (IN) 1
bigeye chub (KY) - 3
striped shiner (AL) - 5
cardinal shiner (MO) - 1 (large male) (not native to Ohio)
redfin shiner - 6
rosefin shiner - 2
golden shiner - 2 (1 large)
bigeye shiner - (MO) 4
blacknose shiner - (MI) 1
sand shiner - 4
rosyface shiner - 3
silver shiner - 1
spottail shiner - (MI) 1
southern redbelly dace - ~10
blacknose dace - (MI & OH) 6

lake chubsucker - (FL) 1
creek chubsucker - 3
silver redhorse sucker - 3 juvies
black redhorse sucker - 1 adult

trout-perch - 1

brindled madtom - 2 very large
tadpole madtom - 1

blackstripe topminnow - 2

orangespot sunfish - 1 large male

greenside darter - ~10
rainbow darter - ~10
bluebreast darter - (KY) 3
fantail darter - 2
orangethroat darter - 2
MO saddled darter - (MO) 5 (not native to Ohio - these will go into the 75 once I figure out my powerhead issue)
variegate darter - 1 very old male
banded darter - 5 (3 from MO)
gilt darter - 6
dusky darter - 1

This is pretty low species stock for me, but the abundances within species is pretty standard. I will add a lot of other species this spring. Standards that I'm missing are logperch, pirate perch, central mudminnows, hornyhead chub and mottled sculpin. I'm also going to try some lamprey ammocoetes. I'm usually at about 40-45 species in there.

And I'll get these other exotic guys moved when this spring comes about, or I get my flow issue resolved in the 75 gallon. When I'm using the spray bar on the 2100, there's not enough space for them, as there's less hi-flow area. That was resolved with the Maxijet modification, but I'm having trouble keeping those from breaking with the plants in the tank. So I have to find out some balance there. I'd like to get the variegates back into that niche in the 100 gal.

Todd

Todd,

One recommendation I have seen is to use a rubber hood on the lens that you can press up against the glass to avoid any reflections. Maybe you are already doing that and the scratches are on the inside? In any case, the photos are looking good. Inexpensive rubber hoods are available on eBay (and a couple of stepup rings will let you use the same hood on lenses that require different filter sizes if need be).

So what do you do when fish such as suckers get to big? Or what about fish like sculpin which I hear from people will eat everything, like smaller darters (turned me off of wanting those very cool sculpins)? If they are chronic fish eaters or too big do you send them to the big pond in the sky?

Andy

Yep. They take a ride on the clove oil train and go into jars of preservative that I teach with

Todd

One recommendation I have seen is to use a rubber hood on the lens that you can press up against the glass to avoid any reflections.

I forgot to answer this... Thanks for the heads up. Do you have a link to a picture of one of these doo-hickeys on the Internet?

The scratches are on the inside. They were there when I got the tank, I don't know what the heck they did to it to scratch it. I'm rubbing sand on it all the danged time and don't scratch it any worse. I've been considering getting a new 125 to replace it, if we decide to tile the floor back there. Then it should be a non-issue.

Also... Add to the list suckermouth and silverjaw minnow. I guess I have more in there than I thought lol.

Thanks!
Todd