Loaches Online Forum

I am thrilled to be the proud owner of a Florida native darter. I got this guy for free from a feeder tank. He lives with my trio of Peacock Loaches in the nursery tank. Very cute.

He's very pretty - I like his subtle markings.

He came to live with me on Tuesday. He should look a bit better when he has eaten well. They are very subtle fish. He is very cute propped on his pectorals. I always look in feeder tanks for interesting fish. I have found Blue Finned Killies (another FL Native), Whisker shrimp, kuhlies and darters. And some larve like dragon fly.

Very nice! We almost never see this stuff in Europe. Hoping to get some Lucania goodei soon but would love to keep some Etheostoma or Percina at some point.

I see these occasionally in with feeders, too. I have been tempted.
There are also a number of local darter species I have been tempted to keep, but they would need to be kept cooler than I can provide at this time.

That's really funny, Mat, because the Lucania goodei are the Blue Finned Killies I got at auction last weekend. I got 3 males nad 4 females. I used to get them in as feeders all the time, and thought they were minnows. I took them home, because I didn't want them to be feeders.

Jim, whenever you see the darters, take them home. If you see the killies take them too. They are such cool fish, require virtually no care, and don't deserve to be feeders. I will keep looking in feeder tanks. I would love to have a tank full of darters.

With my fish club, I hope to go on collecting trips. I will post pictures of what we find (besides alligators!).

I have seen the killies and almost did take them home, but one of the fish store employees was planning to taking them so I was just glad they got a good home.

Looks like Etheostoma fusiforme, which is the darter I usually find in the feeder tanks. If you find larger, vertically banded killies they are probably Fundulus seminolis. The F. seminolis are a bit more aggressive than the bluefins.

E. fusiforme is unusual for a darter in that it does well in warm, still water. A lot of the other species would do well in the same conditions as hillstream loaches; I'm surprised the combo isn't tried more often. I certainly intend to try it when I get a large stream tank set up.

Jim, as long as they get a good home. I totally understand. I am happy when they let me have them. We have lots of killiefish enthusiasts, and they breed all sorts of them.

The killies I got at auction, but the darter was a freebie from the feeder tank. I was pretty thrilled.