10 Gallon Question

the fish look a lot like a creek chub, but i have never photographed them, and usually catch them when i am fishing for bluegill. They are fun to catch if you get a big one on the line, but usually it just means that there are no luegill in the pool so i move on. I figured i might try to put a couple small ones in a 20 gallon tank i am setting up this summer. The darters and maybe a couple daces are what i would like to put in the 10 gallon. I really just want to find a fish that is small and will school. I love to watch fish schooling in the streams near my house, so i assume that if i could catch some, they would do the same in my tank. Any species suggestion for southeastern pennsylvania, or central pennsylvania, would be welcome.

If i can catch any of them, i will post a picture before i add them to my aquarium. Originally i was hoping to keep some sunfish, but they seem like they will be too big. I think instead i will try to catch some darters. I have seen pictures of them on the site, and they fascinate me. I am not sure if there are any near me. I could try to catch some where i am in center county, i also live in The suburbs of Philadelphia in the summer, and i am not sure if there are any darters near there either.

Their are some sunfish species that are small enough to keep in a 10 gal. Have a look at bluespotted, banded, and black banded. Although I don't think any of these are native to your area, their are several vendors on this forum from which you might purchase them. I have purchased fish from Dustin at KSI and the result is a tankbusting male Golden Topminnow that lives in a 55 gal with my western Dollars. I got bluespotted sunfish from Paul Sachs at Sach's Aquiculture. I can recommend either of these sources. Also some of these smaller sunfish are available from time to time on aquabid. Or you might just get lucky and one of the good people on this forum might send you one for the cost of shipping!

Rick

the fish look a lot like a creek chub, but i have never photographed them, and usually catch them when i am fishing for bluegill. They are fun to catch if you get a big one on the line, but usually it just means that there are no luegill in the pool so i move on. I figured i might try to put a couple small ones in a 20 gallon tank i am setting up this summer. The darters and maybe a couple daces are what i would like to put in the 10 gallon. I really just want to find a fish that is small and will school. I love to watch fish schooling in the streams near my house, so i assume that if i could catch some, they would do the same in my tank. Any species suggestion for southeastern pennsylvania, or central pennsylvania, would be welcome.

Be aware that many minnows and dace that exhibit schooling behavior in a stream may not do so in a small aquarium. In my experience, the larger the tank the better your chances are of seeing this kind of behavior.

Rick

Thanks for the advice about the fish vendors. I am a poor college kid right now, so i don't think i could afford to pay for a sunfish. I will admit, some of them are really cool looking, but my goal was to try to have a tank with species native to my area. That is why i thought a couple of daces, and maybe a darter or two would be a good fit. But if you know of anyone who would be willing to sell any of these pygmy sunfishes for cheap, i would love to hear about the opportunity.

Looks like Drew has some small Blue spotted sunfish right now for the cost of shipping!

Rick

THe sunfish drew had for trade are gone, so it is back to the drawing board for now. I managed to go home this weekend, went to a nearby creek for an hour to try to catch a couple of the(i think) chubs to photograph. i couldn't find any, but i will definately catch some of them this spring

Tell us some more about this fish... Creek Chubs (Semotilus atromaculatus) do not really turn red... but my Fishes of Ohio does say that Horneyhead Chubs (Nocomis biguttatus), which should also be in your range, in breeding color "upper part of body suffused with pinks, rose..." so that may be what you are seeing. But that's just me being curious.

To your question... chubs (creek or horneyhead) are too big for yoru 10g... but you do have some nice darters up that way as well as maybe one of my favorite fish from up that way... Rhinichthys atratulus, lacknose dace... perfect for a small aquarium they are tough and good looking little fish.

i use blacknose dace as feeders for my south american cichlids, i can get the blacknose dace by the dozens here, the LARGEST ive ever caught was slightly over 3" long and about 3/8ths - 1/2" in size, he was a PIG, a 10-20 gallon tank would be fine for 6 full sized black nose dace

ive also had some silverjaw minnows and baby creek chubs, the creek chubs seem to grow fast so i have to use them as feeders quickly, cause if they live more than a month then they get too big to feed to the cichlids (i feed all my fish 2-3 times a day, even the feeders)

matthew

Thanks everyone. I was at the fish store the other day, and i spotted a green sunfish in the goldfish tank. It is a small green, maybe 2 inches long. Needless to say, i jumped to get him for my tank. The rest of my fish have been parceled out, leaving a pictus cat, a 2 inch green, and a couple snails in the tank. This green is the most interesting fish i have ever kept. He never stops, seems intelligent(unlike platys, which is what i used to keep) and has really made me love keeping fish again. Not sure if i can go back to the days of mindless live bearer rearing the way i used to.