Help ID darter and insect!

[ColdwaterCreekGuide]

Well the mosquitofish aka guppies are too hard to catch without getting IN the water, as are most all the fish but sculpins and darters. They can easily be caught from the bank with a dipnet. For some reason my LMB won't even look at earthworms. I've successfully transferred my smaller LMB to dried shrimp and krill, but the bigger one has no interest in pellets or anything not alive for that matter.

Does anybody know what kind of darter I caught?? With red blue & green on the top fins?

 

[ShadowBass]

Don't use darters as feeders, there are many more abundant fish you can use. And those are nice ones.

What is wrong with darters as feeders as opposed to other fish?

Around here some species of darters are as prevelent if not more than some species of bait minnows. You can collect them as bait fish if you want.

The only thing I would suggest is make SURE the species you use is one of the more prevalent ones. It's pretty easy to mistake some of the less prevalent darters for the very common ones.

Sorry, I can't really help with your darters I.D myself. Doesn't look like any of the kind I've caught and I don't know much about Alabama species.

 

[ColdwaterCreekGuide]

What is wrong with darters as feeders as opposed to other fish?

Around here some species of darters are as prevelent if not more than some species of bait minnows. You can collect them as bait fish if you want.

I am rather partial to the pretty little fish myself, but sometimes my bass just needs to EAT! I look at it this way, if the bass was still in the creek, I am sure he would snack on these guys, whether they are pretty or not. Fish don't care about such things, but I won't be feeding them any darters until I know they are a prevalent and abundant species. Anyone with a proper ID or a site with info on darters in Alabama, I'd be much obliged!

 

[MicropterusSalmoides]

I've successfully transferred my smaller LMB to dried shrimp and krill, but the bigger one has no interest in pellets or anything not alive for that matter.

how big is your bigger LMB and how big was he when you got him?

 

[teleost]

What is wrong with darters as feeders as opposed to other fish?

Around here some species of darters are as prevelent if not more than some species of bait minnows. You can collect them as bait fish if you want.

The only thing I would suggest is make SURE the species you use is one of the more prevalent ones. It's pretty easy to mistake some of the less prevalent darters for the very common ones.

Sorry, I can't really help with your darters I.D myself. Doesn't look like any of the kind I've caught and I don't know much about Alabama species.

Many Darters are difficult to distinguish from others. Even though a darter is abundant in a location does not mean they are secure. Some darters live in a few streams or a single river system. In many cases they are considered threatened or endangered (in some cases federally listed which carries huge fines and bad karma) due to declining water quality as well as other issues.

Many darters inhabit small streams or riffles of larger streams. Not places you're likely to find a bass. Removing darters as food honestly pisses me off. If you want to use them as food, breed them and use the fry. The fact is...removing darters or any fish from small streams for fish food is pretty bad. I'm certain I can remove an entire population of darters/minnows/killifish/sucker from a stretch of stream in a short period. Every fish you take from a small stream changes the future make-up of that water.

It's VERY important that you know exactly what you're taking before you take regardless of abundance. If you must take wild fish for food, please take the most common minnows from larger rivers. These populations are more durable and harder to impact than small streams.

Even when you see lots of a particular fish, you can still make a negative impact on populations. Remember the passenger pigeon??

 

[ColdwaterCreekGuide]

how big is your bigger LMB and how big was he when you got him?

It was about 2" when I caught it, and now it's like 5" or so.. Since I caught it this summer, it has mainly eaten mosquitofish and crawdads. But now that its cold outside, the mosquitofish are way harder to catch.

Many darters inhabit small streams or riffles of larger streams. Not places you're likely to find a bass. Removing darters as food honestly pisses me off. If you want to use them as food, breed them and use the fry. The fact is...removing darters or any fish from small streams for fish food is pretty bad. I'm certain I can remove an entire population of darters/minnows/killifish/sucker from a stretch of stream in a short period. Every fish you take from a small stream changes the future make-up of that water.

It's VERY important that you know exactly what you're taking before you take regardless of abundance. If you must take wild fish for food, please take the most common minnows from larger rivers. These populations are more durable and harder to impact than small streams.

Even when you see lots of a particular fish, you can still make a negative impact on populations. Remember the passenger pigeon??

The creek I live on is spring fed and has an average discharge of 31.2 million gpd. Definitely NOT a small stream. The area I most often see the darters is about 4 feet deep, and is dammed by beavers most of the year.. Its a nice big pool filled with bass, bluegill, hogsuckers, shiners, and many others... The darters just hang out on the bottom.

I get what you are saying though.. And I have decided that I need to breed something! I would assume mosquitofish would be the easiest choice to breed in a 10 gal?

BTW Thank yall SO MUCH for putting up with all my questions and misinformed actions. Yall are teaching me so much! God bless MFK!

--Jon

 

[ColdwaterCreekGuide]

I'd still like to have that darter identified! See page 1 of this thread for pic.
Any help or even guesses are appreciated!

--Jon

 

[drewish]

Can you get a better profile picture?

closest thing I could figure out is Coosa darter, Etheostoma coosae

 

[JD7.62]

Tomorrow if I think about it I will email my buddy who graduated last year from Auburn in fisheries management. He did numerous studies on darters. There are more darter species in Alabama then any other state. I believe more FW species for that matter except for maybe Tennessee.

Anyhow that darter looks similiar to the VERY common ones i see in any size stream around me Louisville, we call it the fantail darter, but the common name is used for several different species.

 

[ColdwaterCreekGuide]

Can you get a better profile picture?

closest thing I could figure out is Coosa darter, Etheostoma coosae

Well upon inspection of pictures of the Coosa darter, I am pretty sure thats what I had.. If I catch another I'll take another photo, but I'm pretty sure.. I usually look on outdooralabama.com but sometimes their pics are a little strange.. The other pictures on the web look just like the species I am finding. And since this creek is part of the Coosa river drainage, I think that it is.

Thanks again for your help!