Darter Tank

Can different species of darter be housed together? Are they territorial?

Also, can Notropis chrosomus (rainbow shiners) be kept in the same tank as darters? I don't know if they'll appreciate the high flow.

Rainbow shiners come out of pools in flowing streams so I'd say they're OK with current; I've caught them with Coosa darters in 'bama. As to different darters together, it all depends... in general they're not strongly territorial but some are more aggressive feeders than others.

I have rainbow darters and rainbow shiners in my 180 stream tank. The Shiners spend a lot of time in the high flow areas and are thriving.

bigAl,

My experience has been in line with the previous poster's. I personally keep many darters and shiners together in my tanks. You just have to make sure everybody gets food at feeding time. There are ways to do this. I feed flake food first, usually. That way all of the minnows and top-water fish get fed. Then, after they have some food in their tummies, I spoon live blackworms into the tank where the filter return creates a current. This usually disperses the blackworms enough so that the darters get some even though the greedy minnows are trying to get some, too. Also, in some of my tanks I use a "worm feeding cone" (by Lee's) to slowly drop blackworms into the water column. Anyway, the main point I am trying to convey here is that everybody can get fed, you just have to watch how the fish feed and plan the feeding accordingly. Hope that makes sense.

To make sure my darters get fed (my tank is 30" tall I took a piece of 1" PVC pipe about 35" long and cut a 1 inch notch in one end. I prop the pipe in the corner of the tank with notch down at the bottom. I then pour whatever I am feeding in the pipe. I take a turkey baster ( an aquarist's best friend) and squirt some water in the pipe to make the food come out faster. After doing this for about a week my darters figured out what the pipe was for and now they line up in front of it at feeding time

Why not just use the turkey baster by itself? It works just as well and they will figure out what comes out of the baster. Darters certainly don't shy away when the tank opens up and food comes in. I had a gilt and rainbow darter that would go into my cupped hands for food even if I removed them from water.

I use the pipe method, too. I think it's a little better than the turkey baster, as it shields the worms from water flow and keeps them concentrated and away from the shiners longer. The darters figure out that it's the "dinner table" pretty quickly. Smart little buggers.

On a related note, the orangethroats that Mike sent me as part of the December lottery started eating flake as soon as they arrived. Boy, was that a surprise!

Turkey basters are the way to go to feed bottom fish. In my tank, the fish follow the baster around and even pick at the end of it, in anticipation! The nice thing is you can keep the food away from greedy shiners and things, because it can be moved, and positioned right where you need it. I have one rainbow darter that's a wimp, and for whatever reason remains very spooky...so I just squirt some worms right into his cave, and he gets as much as anyone! Same with the blufin killi..it has a particular clump of moss it hangs out in, and I can actually selective pick out the smallest worms with the baster, and squirt them right INTO the moss...and the killi chows down with no competion to speak of.

Why not just use the turkey baster by itself? It works just as well and they will figure out what comes out of the baster. Darters certainly don't shy away when the tank opens up and food comes in. I had a gilt and rainbow darter that would go into my cupped hands for food even if I removed them from water.

I used the pipe and the turkey baster because my tank is almost three feet deep. It keeps muy hands dry... OK I usually stick my hand in for someoother reason anyway but it usually keeps my hands dry