Has anyone kept telescope shiners, Notropis telescopus? I'm starting a field project with them, and I'm curious if anyone knows any interesting things about them. I would expect them to be pretty similar to silverstripe and popeye shiners, but then those two species are obscure too. I do, of course, know that they're going to die at some point....

I will say out of the Notropis species in the TN river drainage I've collected or kept they are probably one of the hardiest. Then again that doesn't say much. A funny thing about shiners...you want small enough ones so they take to aquariums and feeding and what not...but too small and their scales fall off the second they are out of water. Too big they never take to the system and die in a few weeks. If you can be picky I personally think specimens greater than 60 mm TL will do best for lab conditions. My personal best at keeping them was about 5 months, they were seined, and when I brought them in I acclimated them for 24 hours in a bucket and mixed water frequently. I collected some large individuals in late summer early fall from a spring influenced stream and they did fairly well. Not sure what came of them after they were used for glochida infestation...I just collect the fish.

I will say out of the Notropis species in the TN river drainage I've collected or kept they are probably one of the hardiest. Then again that doesn't say much. A funny thing about shiners...you want small enough ones so they take to aquariums and feeding and what not...but too small and their scales fall off the second they are out of water. Too big they never take to the system and die in a few weeks. If you can be picky I personally think specimens greater than 60 mm TL will do best for lab conditions. My personal best at keeping them was about 5 months, they were seined, and when I brought them in I acclimated them for 24 hours in a bucket and mixed water frequently. I collected some large individuals in late summer early fall from a spring influenced stream and they did fairly well. Not sure what came of them after they were used for glochida infestation...I just collect the fish.

Thanks Matt. I hadn't even thought about their possible role as glochidia hosts. The three times I've been to our study site to be, Hurricane Creek at the Walls of Jericho in AL, I think we've spotted maybe one mussel valve even though it would seem to be good habitat. What I hope to do with some of my students is to make monthly collections of adult Telescopes to assess reproductive condition and activity, starting the first weekend of February weather allowing. It's easy enough also to check for glochidia. And I also plan to keep some in aquaria just to observe them.

When I was lower in the Paint Rock (snail darter territory) we actually found quite a few fresh dead shells, occassional to frequent live species, and a great old midden. Things were mostly chalky but periostracums were still good, just had to get the clay off. After we came back it was a 'why didn't we check the mussels box on the permit too!'.

Yup, telescopes are hosts for several species.

The ones that lasted the longest for me were collected in March if that helps any.

Bruce,

Sorry, I'm just now reading this. I've been off the forum for a while. I've kept Telescopes from the N. Fork Holston at times for over a year and rarely had any problems at all. Usually if I have any trouble at all it's just after I catch them when sometimes their tails want to rot off. Usually a little salt clears it up shortly.

Rick

Bruce,

Sorry, I'm just now reading this. I've been off the forum for a while. I've kept Telescopes from the N. Fork Holston at times for over a year and rarely had any problems at all. Usually if I have any trouble at all it's just after I catch them when sometimes their tails want to rot off. Usually a little salt clears it up shortly.

Rick

Thanks Rick, I'm glad to see you're on the forum. I hope to keep some telescopes starting in the next month or two; to date I've just been collecting and euthanizing them for laboratory examination. We're getting some interesting results so far; females collected on March 3 have advanced, but not mature, ovaries, and females are significantly larger in both length and mass than males. They're underappreciated fish, I'm sure of that.