Darters?

[Jim Powers]

I bet they will not be imported at all now with the new regulations in the UK banning certain temperate fish. I would imagine many of these species would find themselves at home in English trout streams.

[Mark Janssen]

i'm not talking about the island of england but europe ...

[lstaunt]

Lou,

thanks a lot for the link: lots of material to look through...

through your link, I found this table. It claims that 72F-76F is the range for several species, including the rainbows. So maybe they are an RT option after all.

Great -- glad it was helpful, Mike! I searched the NANFA forum last night, but couldn't find anything that answered the question about mixing darters and loaches, much less specifically hillstream/brookstream type loaches.

(I did see Rainbow darters listed as a good "starter darter" on one of the threads and there were a couple mentions of people on the forum having clown loaches & dojo loaches, so at least there are some there with some loach experience.)

The forum or Brian at BTDarters seem like good places to start for more info on deciding which might be able mix with which loaches. I believe I remember seeing Tessellated Darters on Frank's site in the past, so he might also have some experience to share.

Lou

[mikev]

Lou,

thanks a lot for the link: lots of material to look through...

through your link, I found this table. It claims that 72F-76F is the range for several species, including the rainbows. So maybe they are an RT option after all.

Great -- glad it was helpful, Mike! I searched the NANFA forum last night, but couldn't find anything that answered the question about mixing darters and loaches, much less specifically hillstream/brookstream type loaches.

It was very helpful and interesting...I never thought that there are interesting NA fishes (other than the dojos).
I think I've read the "starter" thread you are referring too, looks pretty encouraging.

I'll do some more reading and then probably head there asking more pointed questions....I'm not getting into this right away, maybe in a few months.

One point of concern right now is that the fish in a tank will be denied the seasons that occur in the wild...I don't know if this matters. 80F top limit may be of concern too, I may not be able to keep it under 84F on the worst days, but this did not hurt any hillstreams.

From what I've read so far, it seems that the best loach companions will be small peaceful schistura species....probably not hillstreams... but it really does not have to be a mixed Asia/N.America tank.

I wonder if there is some suitable NA dither.... is there some local analogue of White Clouds?

[Ken]

I wonder if there is some suitable NA dither.... is there some local analogue of White Clouds?

As they say in these here parts, there ain't no shortage of minners 'round here.

[Jim Powers]

There are several minnow species that would work well. Of course that would vary accross the US, but here are two cool ones.

http://www.nanfa.org/fif/rfshiner.shtml

http://www.nanfa.org/fif/srdace.shtml

[Jim Powers]

Here's another cool American species that sometimes shows up in fish stores as "Fire Barb" or "Danio Dace" or something stupid like that. Its common name is the Red shiner Cyprinella lutrensis
http://www25.brinkster.com/aquavisie/Fo ... ensis.html

I have had this species and its gorgeous, but behaves a bit like a goldfish. Haven't seen it lately in any shops though.

[mikev]

I _think_ I saw Fire Barb's like this a couple of times....

Those daces look very intriguing. I looked around the genus, P.oreas looks great too....and these are also smaller.

[Jim Powers]

Have you gone to the Jonah's Aquarium site and looked at all the available fish? Group 4 fish are the most amazing.
http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/index.htm

The guy that runs this company used to live in Ohio. He once came to the Circle City Aquarium Club in Indianapolis for a presentation that I attended. It was very interesting.

[Ken]

There are some amazingly beautiful NA species but most of them look good for only a short period of time during spring.

The orange spotted sunfish is one of my favorites. A male in breeding coloration is as good as it gets.
http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/images/fish ... 20Jeff.jpg

[Jim Powers]

That is a beauty.
Don't forget the longear sunfish, its a beauty too.
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfruf/images/bi ... unfish.jpg

[shari2]

The pumpkinseed sunnie is gorgeous too. But man are they aggressive when in breeding mode! Cichlids got nothing on these guys when it comes to warfare.

[mikev]

An entire new universe

[shari2]

Jim, are the longear and the pumpkinseed the same fish?

[Jim Powers]

No, they are two different species. However, some people call longears Pumpkinseeds (my brother is one).
True Pumpkinseeds are Lepomis gibbosus
http://www.ittiofauna.org/webmuseum/pes ... 14-500.jpg

and the Longear is Lepomis megalotis

The pic you posted looks like a Longear to me.
Longears are generally stream fish found along with Rock bass and Smallmouth Bass. Pumpkinseeds are more associated with lakes.
As you said, they are aggressive when breeding. I have heard they are like keeping cichlids in that regard.