i have a shipment of notropis chrosomus on its way here and i am realizing that i really don't know what kind of water conditions they need. i had figured it would be easy to google it, but i've gotten almost no helpful information. could anyone help me out a little? i should be receiving four, one inch long fish, and i was thinking i would start them in a ten gallon with a smallish in-tank pump and no heater. my tapwater is pretty hard and has a high ph, will this be a problem?
thanks in advance, i am very excited about these fish and don't want to mess it up.
rainbow shiners requirements
Started by
Guest_brynneth_*
, May 15 2009 06:10 PM
31 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_fundulus_*
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Posted 15 May 2009 - 06:34 PM
Rainbows live in relatively cool, clear, flowing water with a pH of about 7.5 and moderately "hard" water. One measure of hard is total dissolved solids, essentially conductivity, usually about 100 - 150 ppm. So I think your initial conditions should be good for juvenile rainbows. Like all shiners they'll take to flake food and will benefit from meatier foods like frozen BS and small earthworms. I'd guess that they'll sex out by Christmas. They're not a hard species to keep and ultimately breed.
#3
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Posted 17 May 2009 - 11:15 AM
<rant>
Important rule of any kind of fish keeping; FIND OUT THE HOW TO CARE FOR THE FISH BEFORE YOU BUY THEM!!!
</rant>
That being said. I keep rainbow darters in 180g unheated "stream tank". By stream tank I mean i have powerheads at one end to provide current like a stream. I don't believe this is a must for rainbows but mine regularly get into the swiftest part of the tank and frolic. They eat just about anything I have offered. Quality Flake Food(www.KensFish.com), frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis, daphnia Magna,grindal worms, white worms, tiny earthworms and occasionally heteradnria formosa fry.
Important rule of any kind of fish keeping; FIND OUT THE HOW TO CARE FOR THE FISH BEFORE YOU BUY THEM!!!
</rant>
That being said. I keep rainbow darters in 180g unheated "stream tank". By stream tank I mean i have powerheads at one end to provide current like a stream. I don't believe this is a must for rainbows but mine regularly get into the swiftest part of the tank and frolic. They eat just about anything I have offered. Quality Flake Food(www.KensFish.com), frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis, daphnia Magna,grindal worms, white worms, tiny earthworms and occasionally heteradnria formosa fry.
#4
Guest_brynneth_*
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Posted 18 May 2009 - 11:14 AM
*looks ashamed* yeah, normally i do my research first, but i saw them on the site, and i had to do it. fortunately i could've handled almost anything. i keep tanganyikans and i am breeding zebra danios at the moment, so i could have both hard and soft water to offer. i am just glad i wont be needing to buy water for these guys. also, i will be offering most of my culls to the new fishies, who should arrive tomorrow, so they will get lots of live food. i feed frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms at least twice a week, too, so i am hoping they will do well. thank you so much for the information. i have almost no experience with native fish, but this could be the start of my fascination with them. i had no idea we had anything this colorful and lively to offer.
ps. how on earth did you get heterandosa formosa to breed? i am very jealous. i purchased a pair of them a long long time ago and while they were cute, i never got so much as a single fry from them. i checked daily for a while and then kind of gave up and put them in my garden pond. never found any more in there either. i had them for at least five months in the house and got nothin. maybe i should give them another try now.
thanks again
ps. how on earth did you get heterandosa formosa to breed? i am very jealous. i purchased a pair of them a long long time ago and while they were cute, i never got so much as a single fry from them. i checked daily for a while and then kind of gave up and put them in my garden pond. never found any more in there either. i had them for at least five months in the house and got nothin. maybe i should give them another try now.
thanks again
#5
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Posted 18 May 2009 - 12:17 PM
I have het formosa's in a couple tanks. One is a 20g with cambarellus shufeldtii, no filter, lot's of rocks, java moss and java fern. They reproduce really well in there. As I mentioned they are also in my 180g but it's hard to mark how well they reproduce in there. IF you decide to try them again let me know. I could throw you few for shipping costs.
#6
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Posted 26 May 2009 - 07:36 AM
ps. how on earth did you get heterandosa formosa to breed? i
Put some in a tank and feed. Seriously though, I brought two females back from Tampa, Fla. 3 or 4 years ago and I've lost track of how many generations have been born. I have 4 fry in my ten gallon right now.
Harry Knaub
#7
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Posted 26 May 2009 - 07:41 AM
Rainbows live in relatively cool, clear, flowing water with a pH of about 7.5 and moderately "hard" water. One measure of hard is total dissolved solids, essentially conductivity, usually about 100 - 150 ppm. So I think your initial conditions should be good for juvenile rainbows. Like all shiners they'll take to flake food and will benefit from meatier foods like frozen BS and small earthworms. I'd guess that they'll sex out by Christmas. They're not a hard species to keep and ultimately breed.
Thanks, Bruce. This is timely for me, also. I picked up a gift certificate for 10 juveniles from Paul Sachs last week. They should do well with our water conditions here.
Harry Knaub
#8
Guest_threegoldfish_*
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Posted 26 May 2009 - 07:51 AM
how on earth did you get heterandosa formosa to breed?
Lots of plant cover. Mine didn't really start going until I dumped a bunch of pearl weed in their tank and it gave the fry a lot of hiding places. Until I did that, the fry got eaten all the time. Also, the tank I have them in has no lights since it's in my front bay window and they really don't reproduce much over the winter.
#9
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 26 May 2009 - 10:22 AM
Thanks, Bruce. This is timely for me, also. I picked up a gift certificate for 10 juveniles from Paul Sachs last week. They should do well with our water conditions here.
Harry Knaub
Hey Harry, you will enjoy those... I got 10 rainbows form Paul some time back (late last summer I think) and they all showed up pretty small... just regular looking shiners, with an orangish band above a dark line... I have been feeding them for 6 months or so, and just this week noticed that the three biggest ones have blue neon, flashed on their backs and have changed theor dorsal fins from clear to orange... beautiful fish... and hardy... I think I got 12 fish when I was due 10 and based on yesterdays count still have 11 going strong.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#10
Guest_gerald_*
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Posted 26 May 2009 - 03:55 PM
Funny you mention tanganyikans, bcuz i keep rainbow shiners (and other american minnows) with julidochromis.
They do well in either hard or soft water, but if its soft DONT let in get too acid (below 5.5) - that will stress and possibly kill them.
They do well in either hard or soft water, but if its soft DONT let in get too acid (below 5.5) - that will stress and possibly kill them.
*looks ashamed* yeah, normally i do my research first, but i saw them on the site, and i had to do it. fortunately i could've handled almost anything. i keep tanganyikans and i am breeding zebra danios at the moment, so i could have both hard and soft water to offer. i am just glad i wont be needing to buy water for these guys.
#12
Guest_dafrimpster_*
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Posted 27 May 2009 - 08:40 AM
In a hurry, only skimmed the other posts, not sure if anyone else said KEEP YOUR TANK WELL COVERED!
I've lost three from premature launches, one through a tiny gap, the other two from forgetting the lid.
Good point. I found a crispy rainbow last time I swept behind the tank. The gaps are very small.
I got mine from Sachs as well.
#13
Guest_brynneth_*
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Posted 27 May 2009 - 07:15 PM
my fishies got here safe and sound. mine also came from sachs, and i got one extra so now i have five. they ended up in a twenty gallon with a hang on the side type filter sending current lengthwise down the tank. they are much bigger than i anticipated. two are about 1 and 1/2 inches long, but the rest are a good 2 or 3 inches. their color is already really pretty. i very much like the red, and it looks like i've got at least one, maybe two, big males so i am excited to see what they will look like in breeding dress.
oh, and thanks for the heterandosa tips. i will try them again next time i feel a need to have some livebearers around.
oh, and thanks for the heterandosa tips. i will try them again next time i feel a need to have some livebearers around.
#17
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Posted 29 May 2009 - 03:57 PM
the shiners have acclimated well, and now i am totally in love with them. i think it would be extremely fun to have a proper biotope for them with other fish from the same region and with similar requirements. does anyone have any suggestions for darters or other fish that would suit such a tank? it would be a future project, since i would need a bigger tank for a stream set-up, but the planning is half the fun.
i was also sort of toying with the idea of just going out and catching some more tankmates for them, since i do have access to a few different creeks. problem is, i live in northern california. i know of a creek where i found stickleback as a kid. that might be fun, but i am not so sure of how they would do with my shiners. other than that, i honestly have no idea what i might come up with, probably a lot of mosquitofish and crawdads. is there any reason that i should not combine my local (probably mostly introduced) fishes with my shiners? i have an extra tank for quarantine, so at least i could do that.
on another note, i am not so sure of what i might find in one particular creek. one time a few years ago, i was mucking around on the bank and i found a soft-shelled turtle. i now live within walking distance of that creek and am very tempted to try my luck there. who knows what i might find?
i was also sort of toying with the idea of just going out and catching some more tankmates for them, since i do have access to a few different creeks. problem is, i live in northern california. i know of a creek where i found stickleback as a kid. that might be fun, but i am not so sure of how they would do with my shiners. other than that, i honestly have no idea what i might come up with, probably a lot of mosquitofish and crawdads. is there any reason that i should not combine my local (probably mostly introduced) fishes with my shiners? i have an extra tank for quarantine, so at least i could do that.
on another note, i am not so sure of what i might find in one particular creek. one time a few years ago, i was mucking around on the bank and i found a soft-shelled turtle. i now live within walking distance of that creek and am very tempted to try my luck there. who knows what i might find?
#19
Guest_brynneth_*
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Posted 30 May 2009 - 10:11 PM
ooh, i did like the look of the snubnose darters. they're very cute.
also, i did end up going down to the creek by my house and i caught six gorgeous fathead minnows. two mature males and four mature females. they were slowly suffocating in a puddle, which was being guarded by a big crawfish. i suspect i was stealing his private fishing stock, but i felt bad for them. oddly enough, i found no minnows in any of the big pools or in the actual stream.
anyway, i got them out of the mud and dumped them in my ten gallon and the males immediately staked out territories. one of them has gone into full breeding display and is cleaning the underside of a little cave.
also, i did end up going down to the creek by my house and i caught six gorgeous fathead minnows. two mature males and four mature females. they were slowly suffocating in a puddle, which was being guarded by a big crawfish. i suspect i was stealing his private fishing stock, but i felt bad for them. oddly enough, i found no minnows in any of the big pools or in the actual stream.
anyway, i got them out of the mud and dumped them in my ten gallon and the males immediately staked out territories. one of them has gone into full breeding display and is cleaning the underside of a little cave.
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