Daydreaming

[gwand]

I was daydreaming of putting together a tank with fresh water fish native to Maryland with an adult size 2 inches or less. Has anyone created a tank with fish native to their state or country?

 

[GaryE]

I did once with Canadian fish. Temperate fish tend to grow larger than our popular tropicals, and that's a consideration. And a lot of native fishkeepers make the mistake of combing fish from different regional habitats.

I kind of live in Mary Land, since my wife is from a traditional Catholic culture and every woman seems to be a Mary. But I don't think that's the one you're at. What do you have there that's small like that?

 

[gwand]

I did once with Canadian fish. Temperate fish tend to grow larger than our popular tropicals, and that's a consideration. And a lot of native fishkeepers make the mistake of combing fish from different regional habitats.

I kind of live in Mary Land, since my wife is from a traditional Catholic culture and every woman seems to be a Mary. But I don't think that's the one you're at. What do you have there that's small like that?

Maryland fish less than two inches

• Eastern Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys atratulus): This small minnow typically reaches only 1.5 to 2 inches in length. It has a black stripe along its side and a dark spot on its nose. Eastern blacknose dace are found in streams and rivers with clear, cool water.
• Least Darter (Etheostoma microperca): This tiny darter only grows to about 1 inch long. It has a slender body with olive-green coloration and dark speckles. Least darters prefer slow-moving streams and rivers with sand or gravel bottoms.
• Blue Ridge Sculpin (Cottus caeruleus): This sculpin reaches a maximum size of 2 inches and has a mottled brown and green coloration. It has a spiny head and prefers cold, well-oxygenated streams.
• Swampfish (Fundulus catenatus): This adaptable fish can live in a variety of freshwater habitats, including swamps, marshes, and ponds. It grows to about 1.5 inches long and has a silvery body with dark vertical stripes.
• Stargazer Minnow (Phenacobius uranus): This minnow gets its name from its upward-facing eyes. It typically reaches 1.5 to 2 inches in length and has a slender body with olive-green coloration. Stargazer minnows are found in streams and rivers with fast-flowing water.

 

[Back in the fold]

Go with the Fundulus catenatus . You could luck out and get fry . Look up the North American Native Fish Association (NANFA) website and download their sample issue of “Currents” magazine . There’s an article about another Fundulus species in there you might like .

 

[GaryE]

catenatus gets way bigger than that - I've only seen them once I seem to recall about 5 inches.

I avoided our sculpins as the fast water needs are extreme.

We had a small black striped Notropis that stayed small, a not too pretty fish but an interesting bottom grazer. It may be like your dace. Rhinichthys atratulus (I looked them up) apparently can be found close by my house, which I would never have known without your post. They get over 3 inches though. That's tiny for dace. Hmmm. A tank with local killies?
Our dace are 6 inchers, pearl and redbelly. I had a tank of red bellied dace I caught in dark blackwater behind a beaver dam. They lived for years, but missed having a winter in my basement. They are beauties, but you're too far south. It would not be legal for me to collect them now. They aren't in this province.

I have never met a darter, even a brown one, that wasn't interesting. Those are cool fish.

A few summers ago I couldn't kayak due to a chronic back problem, and while killing time on a local riverbank while my wife was out paddling, I spotted a really interesting Fundulus diaphanous. I keep planning a tank for them. They were coppery compared to the ones around Montreal,which I had kept and bred. Ditto for their killie relatives, mummichogs. The latter would be brackish, but are all around here in numbers.

At one point my old dog was lying down in a few inches of water at a blackwater beach, and I realized my pet worlds had collided because a fair sized group of diaphanous killies were picking at the edges of her fur.

 

[GaryE]

You have eastern mudminnows. Not pretty, but a fascinating fish. We have a related one that is beautiful, for two weeks in Spring.

We also share Etheostoma olmstedi, another breeding season beauty. Also caeruleum, a wow darter is in Maryland. The Maryland darter may be extinct, but the other two are found in southern Canada down.

 

[gwand]

You have eastern mudminnows. Not pretty, but a fascinating fish. We have a related one that is beautiful, for two weeks in Spring.

We also share Etheostoma olmstedi, another breeding season beauty. Also caeruleum, a wow darter is in Maryland. The Maryland darter may be extinct, but the other two are found in southern Canada down.

Thanks for the lesson. Helpful and interesting as always.

 

[GaryE]

You got me daydreaming...

 

[Seisage]

This is just providing more fuel to the fire for me... I've also been daydreaming recently about a NANF tank. There's a pond/creek that runs right beside my apartment that has some interesting things in it. Lots of aquatic plants, although I'm unsure exactly what they all are, and many tiny fish. I'm pretty sure the fish are three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), but I haven't yet caught any to get a positive ID. I should do that... Apparently they have really interesting social and breeding behavior. They only get to about 3-4cm (~1.5in) in length at maturity, so I wonder if they'd work well in a 10gal... I really should stop myself before the MTS takes over, but you know, I could make the argument to myself that it could just be a temporary tank that I only keep around for a few months

 

[GaryE]

@Seisage It's MTS - the first prime directive of native fishkeeping is nce caught, never returned to nature. So if you collect natives, they are with you for their lifespan.

We have different sticklebacks, ("piques" as a street name) and their nesting is supposed to be a great thing to watch. You have to catch them early in the Spring. I've never done it, but I had a friend from Finland who thought they were the greatest thing to watch. They build cool nests.

For anyone interested, the last ice age covered my region, and all fish became extinct. The water was repopulated from species that survived in the Mississippi refuge, which is why we find the same basic fish across the continent. There was cool speciation with darters and such, but where I am, they never returned. My strip of land along the ocean has very few freshwater species, even with anglers of long ago transporting their favourites to local water systems. That whole area below the Great Lakes has wonderful speciation, and darters are among the most beautiful fish found anywhere. We have the start of the low eastern mountains, and they were a barrier.

I was doing an aquarium talk in Ohio years back, and my host was a respected Cichlid collector. I suggested we take a look for darters, and while he happily did it, he started out a bit patronizing about my interest. Then he saw the fish. He really got into it.

 

[Back in the fold]

I’ve seen pictures of Darters but never a living one. They are really pretty . I was not aware that they could be kept in aquariums . Gary’s stories about people from other places getting interested in our North American native fishes makes me think that we never appreciate what’s right under our noses . Every time I encounter wild fish of any kind in my backyard I get excited about them but soon forget them . Now I’m daydreaming about the Sunfish and Pumpkinseed’s I’ve always liked .

 

[GaryE]

We're no longer allowed to keep sunfish, but when we could, they behave like very nasty Cichlids. Big ones. I had one for quite a few years, and he was a smart, curious, grumpy fish with beautiful colours.

I'd caught him in a pond that was about to become the wet basement of a condo development.

darters aren't easy to keep. They don't seem long lived, and can be hard to breed. It can be done though. Most midwestern ones like fast water. Wyoming and Montana seem to have E. exile, the Iowa darter, which we also had all the way over to Montreal. I used to see them in lakes, and not fast rivers. It isn't the prettiest, but it's pretty. It's like a tiny perch, with pale green and orange.

There are a few US dealers in natives. The ones that I like best were Ellasoma from Florida. It's a breedable micro-fish with astonishing breeding colours, and very nice everyday tones. I caught some in Orlando, and bought some once in an auction. Great fish. Put it in a single species jungle tank of about 10 gallons, and it breeds slowly and steadily. But it needs live food - artemia in winter.