Rainbow darters

[keegster803]

I have plenty of worms around! Many bodies of water are very polluted by me due to factories and steel mills.

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That's a bummer, if your every in the Indy area, there is a smallish park just north of Indy, called Cool Creek park, it's got some well stocked streams, I work there for a summer camp, and on creek stomp day we normally catch about 100 fish at least


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[mudraker]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mudraker View Post
Backyard? I keep mine in my room, lol.

One advantage to being an old fart I guess. It's a surprisingly clean enterprise, and good for the environment.

But seriously, I hope the darters work out for you. I love them and they are like no other fish I know.

I love them so much, they are so cool! I mean they actively hunt in the tank, and If they breed, I might feed the young strictly live food so they keep that behavior in the tank. And they just look really good too! And you have your colony in your room? That's pretty interesting, got any pics?

The worm bin is on top of the mini fridge.



The shot of the tank shows mostly greenside darters, but there are six male rainbows and five females also.

Not very good shots, but I haven't had time to try to take something decent.

 

[Fresh2o]

Mudraker - Worm farm sounds likes it's easy to maintain. Do you feed smaller worms to the darters and/or cut up the larger ones?
That is a nice collection of darters in your tank: Are they eating bloodworms in this pic?


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[mudraker]

The worm farm is very easy and surprisingly easy to keep. It's in the BR because I'm still rebuilding my fish room and its taking forever.

I feed all sizes of wigglers to the darters. Two darters will tug on either ends of one large worm, until one gets the lion's share.

A lot of people just dig up night crawlers from their yards to feed darters and other fish.

Yes, they are eating blood worms in the photo.

 

[Gillie]

Keegster, you'll get much better color from those guys if they are kept in heated and unfortunately you really won't see their full color without females present.

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[Fresh2o]

Keegster, you'll get much better color from those guys if they are kept in heated and unfortunately you really won't see their full color without females present.

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Why heated? Does this simulate breeding season?
Makes sense about the courtship display (regarding females being present).


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[Gillie]

Why heated? Does this simulate breeding season?
Makes sense about the courtship display (regarding females being present).


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Stupid auto-correct, I meant unheated, my phone didn't recognize it as a word

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[Fresh2o]

Stupid auto-correct, I meant unheated, my phone didn't recognize it as a word

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That makes even more sense. Yeah, technology!
I figure they would not mind increased aeration and flow rate as well.

 

[keegster803]

Feeding time!



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[keegster803]

Keegster, you'll get much better color from those guys if they are kept in heated and unfortunately you really won't see their full color without females present.

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Turns out, I Id'd them wrong. They are actually both Female rainbow darters. Sadly I cannot release one or add anymore I catch, as I do not thing the tank can withstand the bioload, and I'd imagine they would get territorial.


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[Gillie]

Turns out, I Id'd them wrong. They are actually both Female rainbow darters. Sadly I cannot release one or add anymore I catch, as I do not thing the tank can withstand the bioload, and I'd imagine they would get territorial.


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They are definitely male, just out of breeding color, females will only have mottled coloration and clear fins.
http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/...ma+caeruleum+Rainbow+Darter+Female+3.JPG.html

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