What Type Of Stiphodon?

[Weiro792]

So What type of stiphodon is this? I've done about an hour or two looking through pictures trying to identify this little guy. I'm pretty sure it is a female since it has very little color. But I'm seriously at a loss...
 

 

[juhason]

That is actually a fish known as the darter, a native fish species to the U.S. They do look a lot like stiphodons though... But I know my natives and that has to be a darter! I'd say either the johnny darter or swamp darter. Did you buy him labeled as a stiphodon or from a feeder tank? Just curious. 

 

[Weiro792]

initially I bought him as a hara hara catfish. But still a fun little fish!

 

[juhason]

initially I bought him as a hara hara catfish. But still a fun little fish!

Wow that doesn't even look anything like the hara hara catfish... how could they mislabel that? Lol
Anyways they are definitely neat fish. Once they associate you with food they will "sit" on their little fins and beg for food at the front of the tank. Gotta love them!

 

[Weiro792]

 
Wow that doesn't even look anything like the hara hara catfish... how could they mislabel that? Lol
Anyways they are definitely neat fish. Once they associate you with food they will "sit" on their little fins and beg for food at the front of the tank. Gotta love them!
 

 
Lol, yeah thats why I bought them... I knew they weren't Hara hara catfish, though I thought they were stiphodons as I had recently requested that they get them. But oh well. They still act similar, and they're fun little fish! Honestly though, they're probably a better fit for my tank setup anyways!
 
In their defense... I don't think it was mislabeled, they usually have hara hara in that tank and just put them in the tank and forgot to put the correct label. When I asked the people, they didn't really know so they guessed the hara hara. I proceeded to look it up on my phone. Though I knew it wasn't the hara hara.
 
Thanks for the tip on the darter by the way! I completely agree! I'm pretty sure they're the swamp darters. I ended up getting the other 2 that were at the store for a total of 3!
 
Any tips on how to keep them? 

 

[juhason]

Any tips on how to keep them? 
 

 
 
They are fairly easy fish to keep. One thing is that since they are native they like their water a little cooler. If they are swamp darters then they are more tolerant to warm water than others, but still temperatures in the mid 70's are probably the max you should go. (No higher than 78 F for a long periods of time). Some darters, since they are most likely taken directly out of the wild, don't exactly know that flakes and pellets are food. They will readily accept all frozen and live foods however. Sometimes starving them for a day or two and then putting in the fish food works, or you can soak the fish food in some of the "juice" from thawing out your frozen foods to help them learn that it's food. Once they learn that it's food they beg for it. Swamp darters naturally come from sluggish swamp waters that are heavily planted, so a tank like this is appreciated, but not necessary. If you have any other questions you can ask me or visit the NANFA forums, which is a forum dedicated to our lovely natives! Good luck with those three!