Have chub, will spawn...

...even if YOU have to be the chub

So I added a bunch of medium sized rocks tonight to simulate a chub nest, and oh my golly did I get a response. What I've been most impressed with today are the ozark minnows (N. nubilus) which is kinda the "forgotten hydrophlox", maybe mostly, cause nobody never told no one how cool they are

I also had a mess of fun with the redline darter. He was prowling around looking for eggs.

Basically... EVERYONE knew what those rocks were. Even the bluehead kinda hid for a bit and then came out to nervously inspect it. It was pretty amusing to watch. I know I'm totally anthropogizing this, but dang, did they respond.

What sucks is I ran out of HBH Soft n Moist about a week and a half ago, and it's definately toned down a bit in the absence of that food. It might be twice as intense, who knows? I know those rainbow shiners have a loooong way to go, even though they were looking pretty good tonight. Hopefully I'll have time when they go full bore. Today was kind of a lull in the action for me. Ugh. I can't wait to be done with Multivariate Statistics. 4 more weeks!

Here's the link: http://www.farmertod.../Reefle/040708/

Here's some teasers:

 bleeding_shiner_01.jpg   39.61KB   5 downloads
Bleeding Shiner, Luxilus zonatus

 orangetail_shiner_01.jpg   22.91KB   1 downloads
Orangetail Shiner, Pteronotropis merlini

 ozark_minnow_01.jpg   37.16KB   1 downloads
Ozark Minnow, Notropis nubilus

 rainbow_shiner_03.jpg   41.35KB   1 downloads
Rainbow Shiner, Notropis chrosomus

 redline_darter_08.jpg   31.44KB   1 downloads
Redline Darter, Etheostoma rufilineatum

 redlip_shiner_01.jpg   25.9KB   1 downloads
Redlip Shiner, Notropis chiliticus

 studfish_02.jpg   38.74KB   1 downloads
Northern Studfish, Fundulus catenatus

Enjoy!

Todd

Beautiful fish and nice pictures! I LOVE the orangetail and rainbow shiners, and the redline darter. He wasn't gonna miss out on the free food.

Thanks Steve

Here's the rainbow shiners from this morning:

 rainbow1.jpg   31.46KB   1 downloads

 rainbow2.jpg   40.48KB   1 downloads

Todd

Great photos Todd, thanks for sharing

Holy crap! Those rainbows are insane!
Those are better than any tropical.
I'd like to get me some of those! Are they hard to get? Protected?
Awesome photos too !

WOW! Now that's a neon fish!

Thanks guys

They're found in the Coosa, Cahaba and Tallapoosa drainages.

Nope, not protected, although they are found on the TN 2004 list (without status) due to their limited range in TN.

They can be extremely abundant where they occur and even in some of the most dank looking streams. However, many places that they have been found in the past are diminishing mostly due to cultural eutrophication, but I dare say it, also due to over collection.

I have a really good friend in Talledaga now, and when I go to see her, I'm going to try and increase the number of sites in the general consciousness where they can be found. Some have observed that the Ft. Payne area has taken enough of a beating (guilty!). Maybe by promoting some different spots, it'll dilute the effect.

Todd

Edited by farmertodd, 08 April 2008 - 12:30 PM.

WOW!!!! I am definitely getting some rainbow shiners. How did you get them to color up like that?

A healthy, adult male will turn dayglo electric like in Todd's photos. It's easy to get them to spawn, a lot harder to raise the young, of course. I've had breeding males spawn and die, almost like salmon; I've never seen that in any other cyprinid.

A healthy, adult male will turn dayglo electric like in Todd's photos. It's easy to get them to spawn, a lot harder to raise the young, of course. I've had breeding males spawn and die, almost like salmon; I've never seen that in any other cyprinid.

What's the deal with raising the fry?
Are they too small? Special diet?

No, it was the fish spawning in a tank when I didn't think they would and letting it slide because I had no other functional tanks at the time. Mea culpa.

A healthy, adult male will turn dayglo electric like in Todd's photos. It's easy to get them to spawn, a lot harder to raise the young, of course. I've had breeding males spawn and die, almost like salmon; I've never seen that in any other cyprinid.

I've had the same experience with greenhead shiners with a couple making it through to the next year at most.

Stars burning brite.... Yeah I'm going to get the shots and footage I want and take out the nest

Looks like the rainbows like it in the morning. They're not as fired up tonight. But the greenhead looks like he's gonna burn a hole in the glass lol.

Todd

Man...wish we had some species up here that would color up even remotely like that! As someone else said..those are insane!