Mottled Sculpin and Darters
- Thread starter The Masked Shadow
- Start date
Agree with this.
I tried to keep them years ago, and killed them because I couldn't keep water cold enough, or provide high enough saturated oxygen levels.
With a chiller keeping water down to almost 50'F, a couple air stones may still probably not be enough, something on the order of a large powerhead, with a venturi would be advised.
And although certain species of darters wouldn't need it, many need a heavy current and the same level of saturated oxygen (min 10ppm).
I used to snorkel regularly in an area where rainbow darters were common in Wisconsin , and only find them in areas where I had to hang on to not to be swept down stream by the current, and water temps barely ever hit 70'F (most of the time, only in the 50'sF).
The pic below shows a Venturi pushing water and the bubbles it provides, along a 6 ft tank for tropical rheophillic species.
Last edited:
I’ve seen them in Lake Michigan (Duane - Lake Michigan is a large lake in the upper Midwest in case you were wondering haha) and by my work I would watch them in a Fen, they were in these very shallow springs that I would see them fight and swim around, Lake Michigan is cool year round as for the fen springs I’m guessing the springs were also cool? Another similar fish around is the round goby, an invasive in Lake Michigan but I’ve also caught them literally in my backyard in the Des Plaines river, which isn’t cool temps at all…
round goby is easier to keep in aquarium than sculpin.
iTs demands on oxygen and water quality are not so high...
It could be compensation for sculpin.We have round gobies in Danube river.But goby can be quite agressive fish in aquarium.
Last edited:
The round goby's have taken over the near shore habitat in Lake Michigan.
I caught this little one after a storm washed it into puddle near shore.
I caught this little one after a storm washed it into puddle near shore.
A friend of mine tried to keep round gobies and he said they died in the aquarium, the river in my backyard has them and know it’s warm in the summer months and I see and catch them in water from a few inches to maybe a foot? that water isn't cool and prob isn’t highly oxygenated..
My personal experience with keeping the Rainbow Darter. successful for 2yrs until the Central Air Conditioner stopped working and temperature in the family room went above the 75° mark. I've replaced the Darter with Rosy Red minnow and believe it or not it's been more than 2 yrs. The temp in the aquarium is below 70 and during summer around 70+ under 75 when Air Conditioner is functioning.
Temp of the aquarium with the minnows.
Temp of the aquarium with the minnows.
I keep my tanks at room temperatures downstairs of my home. In the winter, temps are in the low 50's, and in the summer as high as 75 degrees. We had a hot weekend, so the temperature in my river tank today was 73. All of my fish are fine. I have a thread on here with videos and pics. My current species include several darter species, shiners, minnows, dace and a bluehead chub (I thought it was a river chub up until recently). Anyway, the only species in my tank that I worry about this time of year are my Mountain Redbelly Dace. They seem to be doing fine now though and survived last summer when my water temps were high. I have a good amount of flow from my canister filter/spray bar, and a circulation pump on one side of the tank, and heavy plant growth on the other side of the tank. I think that helps. My largest darter to date was a greenside darter that recently passed away. It caught it as an adult and lived 5 years in my tank. I think an adult sculpin would make a meal out of him. They will try and eat anything that will fit in their mouth. Likewise, an adult bass might make a quick meal out of the largest of sculpins. For such a tank to work, you'd have to heavily feed all of the fish so they don't feel like hunting their tank mates.
