native dither fish (Minnows?)

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Owain4

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 9, 2011
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amongst the trees
Hey guys, as most of us have experienced having one species of fish in a tank
is sometimes boring if they dont swim around too much. I've had 4 perch for 3 months in a 55gallon and they dont swim around too much. recently i added a black stripe rasbora (I know its not native but it is a very native looking type fish) it is winter now so i cant catch minnows, but im wondering what types of native minnows or other fish have you added to your tank that are schooling and more active, that have managed not to get eaten by your natives?
i was thinking maybe some lake chubs, i live in canada so we dont have killifish or mosquitofish native.
 
Common and golden shiners and creek chubs would all be good choices. They get large enough to avoid being eaten by the perch and are fairly hardy. The 55 might get a little cramped with them, though. I'm not familiar with lake chubs, but they'd probably be OK if they are 5" or larger.
 
i love the look of creek chubs, that would deffinatly take some looking to find their habit, too many lakes and rivers but not enough creeks etc. i plan on getting a 125 in may, so i'd love to fill it with lots of minnows, common shiners look very nice aswell. ever kept minnow with rock basses? i'm more worried about general aggresion towards prey fish.
 
Yes, I have several species of large minnows in a tank with rock bass, various sunfish, and a bullhead. Rock bass seem generally to ignore fish they cannot eat, while sunfish are more likely to show territorial or feeding aggression- but this is mostly directed at other sunfish, and the minnows are pretty good at staying out of the way. I haven't kept perch and can't speak for them, but I've heard they are usually less aggressive than sunfish.
 
pickerel. its a miniture size pike. It grows to around 12 inches. The only thing is, a pickeral a powerpredator so you won't be able to have tankmtes. 55 gals would be a bit small too....
 
I have found that creek chubs will school and are extremely active. They are constantly moving around and go absolutely nuts when you feed them.
 
are creek chubs well limited to creeks or found in lakes also? did you guys trap your own or buy them?. im looking at just netting in the river or lakes, what i do i walk out waist deep and just run my net through the weeds catches tons of minnows (only have caught fat head minnows so far though) and lots of crawfish. I actually have one 2" rasbora (not native i know) but i wanted to put it in because it was big and they actually just leave it alone, chase here and there but not much else. what i'll have to do is make a minnow trap or just hand net and then raise all the minnows till they get a good size. Noto did you put them in when they were small or did you raise them a bit in a different tank?
 
Creek chubs are usually in fairly small creeks, knee-deep down to tiny trickles that support no other fish. The lakes around here are too warm and de-oxygenated for them, but they may occur in lakes up your way; other fishes that are strictly stream-dwelling in my area (sculpin, some daces, brook trout, etc.) occur in lakes up north.

Seining through runs and pools is the best way to catch them; minnow traps, unbaited or baited with bread, are also effective. Dipnets are not very effective for these minnows- they are not usually in the weeds, but rather in open water, and can see the net coming. I got my minnows when they were already 4-5" long, so they went straight into the big tank (after quarantine).
 
AOmonsta we dont have strict no-live fish for bait regulations where im from so i have to go with the wild caught option. i'll have to go check out the creeks south of here. thanks for the tips guys
 
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