darters

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cyberwaste

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 29, 2010
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Des Moines
i got ahold of a darter from a local stream and i have it in a 12 gallon all by its self and its about an inch long. now my question is where can i find out more info on these little guys there pretty neat and i have a 30gallon with a few bala sharks and a rainbow shark and a pretty big pleco

can i mix them? or will the heater mess with him? and it seems to be eating flakes but what do they eat in the wild?

anyinfo would be sweet
 
Do you have a picture of the darter? There are quite a few different species in IL.

I don't think your darter would do well in the community tank. They are not aggressive feeders and your cyprinids would probably outcompete it. They can survive in low-end tropical temps (80 or below) if the oxygenation is very good, but do better at room temp or below. If you want to set up a darter tank, make sure there's plenty of flow and aeration/surface agitation.

Darters are invertivores. They love small live foods like brine shrimp, daphnia, blackworms, bloodworms, aquatic insects, small snails, etc. Most will also take frozen versions of these foods, eventually. Some can be trained onto pellets, flakes, etc. It sounds like yours is adapting to flakes already.
 
i cant get a picture of him cause the only thing i have for a camera is my phone and hes too small to get a good pic of

but i was able to determine that hes a "channel" darter

and for some reason theres a ton of baby creek snails in my tank... haha dont know how they got there but would he eat them?

and i have a filter on the tank and there seems to be enough bubbles from it that i think it should fine

il look into more food options



any ideas on what i can mix with it? i have a betta i can put in there... ha
 
Who ID'ed it for you? Channel darters are a riverine species, not likely to be found in a small stream. They are also not known to occur in Illinois. If you tell me what stream you got him from, I can link you to a list of species known from that drainage.

He may or may not eat the snails, depending on his species and their size and hardness.

There are lots of other native fish that do well with darters, including other darters, dace, smaller shiners and chubs, and madtoms. As far as petstore fish, you'll need something that is fairly small, peaceable, and doesn't mind cool water with some current. I don't think a betta would be a good choice. Zebra danios, white cloud mountain minnows, and rosy reds would all work. If you set up a dedicated stream tank with lots of current, you could keep some of the "hillstream" loaches like Gastromyzon, Beaufortia, and Schistura species.
 
catfish creek in dubuque iowa is where i got him and hes colored like a channel darter but like i said i did some research but nothing that i thought was legit enough

and i might go back and see if i can get more it just rained so im not sure how its gonna turn out

and i have a HOB filter hanging on the side will that work ? or should i try something else?

btw thanks for helping me with this
 
You said it looks like a channel darter,most likely you have a johnny darter. In the wild they feed on insect larvae. They prefer pools of slack water. So you don't need much current. They get to be about 1.5 to 2.5 inches long.
 
ok well know that i know there official name and what they eat

how do i go about feeding them in a tank?
 
The HOB should be fine. If he's very small, use foam or a strainer over the intake. Darters are attracted to movement, so live food is best, but food moving in the current can also attract them. I've had good luck using a turkey baster to squirt thawed bloodworms into the tank. Also, be sure to provide some rocks, pots, or other hiding spots; the darter will acclimate much more quickly and eat better if he feels secure.

Here are the fish species from the Maquoketa drainage, which is as close as I could get. Should be substantially the same species as Catfish Creek: http://www.natureserve.org/getData/dataSets/watershedHucs/hucTable.jsp?huc=7060006

The darter species on this list include Johnny darter (Etheostoma nigrum), rainbow darter (E. caeruleum), banded darter (E. zonale), fantail darter (E. flabellare), least darter (E. microperca), slenderhead darter (Percina phoxocephala), blackside darter (P. maculata), and logperch (P. caprodes). I hope that helps you narrow down your ID; picture-booking the 200+ species of darters is no small task!
 
it looks like hes a slenderhead darter

so im gonna try bloodworms since i have them any other ideas?
 
Mine go for live black worms. I get them at my local fish store.
 
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