general darter questions

I am new to keeping darters and have a couple of general questions:

1) if i catch a darter that is a male but does not have breeding colors, when will it get breeding colors in a tank

2) if a male darter does have breeding colors how long will it keep them?

thanks!

It is all up to you. Water quality, temperature, food quality and quantity will factor into both.

so what do i need to make sure to do if i want them to be in breeding colors?

Depends on the darter species you are interested in, however, the majority of Etheostoma and Percina species frequent cold, fast flowing, and highly oxygenated water with plenty of structure. An ideal set-up would contain airstones, great filtration, a chiller, and some massive powerheads with many rocks and other types of structure available.

Furthermore, diet is very important. Darters fulfill an ecological niche in which they essentially "graze" all day, therefore multiple feeds per day of high quality food is optimal. Not saying you can not achieve nuptial colors other ways, but the aforementioned ways are good places to start. View post by Farmertodd (Todd Crail) and Skipjack (Matt DeLaVega) on their large-scale darter habitats!

The up-front cost is usually steep, but the results are well worth it!

Good luck,
Blake

An ideal set-up would contain airstones, great filtration, a chiller, and some massive powerheads with many rocks and other types of structure available

Agreed, but chillers are colossally expensive and not within the means of a typical aquarium person. I have kept several species (rainbows, greensides, orange throat) in a 125 gallon tank @ 78F with no obvious problems whatsoever. The amount of surface agitation was decent, which seems to be more important than the actual tank temperature.

All of them colored up pretty well with this set-up and brine shrtimp/black worm feedings .