Help me identify my mystery Driveway fish

[TheAmlinals]

So, my kids found this fish in a puddle in our driveway last year. (There were actually a few, but this guy is the only one who survived past a couple of weeks. Driveway has a actually grown a lot. ) How they got into the puddle in the first place is still a weird mystery, but I'd like to at least figure out what kind of fish he is. I'm not very familiar with different fish species.
Now, he now Thinks he's a kuhli loach. Those two have become best friends and spend all their time together under the left hand log, until the lights go out, then he'll do the same big repeated circular swirls along the tank wall as Slither does. It's hilarious.
It's hard to get a good picture of him when he's hiding under the log, obviously. And he's pretty fast-moving when he's out and about.

Here's a couple pictures I managed last night under the log. See if you can make him out.

I have some clearer ones that I took last year, but they're not on my phone any more so I'll have to find them on my bigger computer later or pull them off of Facebook or something.

 

[Fishanatic]

The eyes don't look a lot like a kuhli loach though :/

 

[TheAmlinals]

The eyes don't look a lot like a kuhli loach though :/

Hahaha, no not at all. I just meant I would normally describe his behaviour to help you figure it out, but I don't think it will help cause I think he has identity issues and just acts just like his best friend. Lol.

 

[Fishanatic]

Hahaha, no not at all. I just meant I would normally describe his behaviour to help you figure it out, but I don't think it will help cause I think he has identity issues and just acts just like his best friend. Lol.

Oh i'm sorry, i miss read that LOL
That's funny

 

[thursyanna]

He's a cute little guy. Reminds me of a minnow. I don't suppose you have any ponds nearby?

 

[TheAmlinals]

He's a cute little guy. Reminds me of a minnow. I don't suppose you have any ponds nearby?

I know, I haven't been fishing in years but the eyeball, size and silver colour reminded me closest of a minnow. So that's what I assumed he was. My dad has fished all his life though and when he visited he said it wasn't quite like the minnows he was familiar with so he wasn't sure.

As he's grown his top has gotten curvier, more rounded, and I think that's what throws me off when I've googled pictures of minnows its close but not quite right..

And no, no ponds. I live out in the middle of the county, surrounded by farm fields, the only ditch deep enough to collect water isn't even on my side of the street, and is down a little way past my driveway. Lol. I only have a neighbour on one side, and they don't have a pond, and didnt dump any buckets out, they even refused to believe we found fish in the driveway until I showed them! It was too far up the driveway from the road to have been someone who pulled off the side of the road to dump a bucket of bait, and besides there are a million better places to do that on this road. Lol. The only slightly feasible explanation is that either it rained fish, lol, or a bird had some in its mouth and flew (quite a ways from the nearest fishing area) and then just happened to spill a few right above my driveway.

 

[aqua_chem]

He kind of looks like a chub. Wish we could see his mouth better.

Remember that he's a wild fish on a domestic diet. Compared to a natural diet of bugs, inverts, and small minnows, what we feed is basically the equivalent to protein bars and vitamins (some brands more than others), so you should expect him to be paler and possibly lacking identifying marks that we would expect a species to have.

 

[Scottyhorse]

I bet feeding him blood worms for a couple weeks would help him develop colors so you can identify him easier.

 

[vicdad999999]

he does look alot like a chub, I looked it up and found this picture, unless you can get a clearer pic of it, looks alot like this guy. (the head anyways) silver chub Macrhybopsis storeriana hope we get to see more pics of it.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

He looks like a minnow of some sort to me. Most likely dropped by a bird that caught it somewhere nearby

 

[piao liang yu]

He looks like a minnow of some sort to me. Most likely dropped by a bird that caught it somewhere nearby

If the puddle has been there for any amount of time prior to finding them then it is most likely from eggs that birds got on them. Birds will go to water and look for food and while doing so eggs stick to them. They fly to other bodies of water and they come off of them. This is likely what happened.

 

[Autumnsky]

One time after a rain storm I found several 3" blue gill after I had pulled over in my car to let the heavy rain pass, no waterway in the immediate area, lake, ditch, pond at least 1/4-1/2 mile, figured maybe a water spout! Wierd world. Thought a good place to share my fish out of water story lol.

 

[mikem691]

Try this or google fathead minnow
Google Image Result for http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Cyprinidae/fathead_minnow.jpg

 

[Psylk87]

I agree he looks like a chub to me. Maybe more exact a River/Creek Chub? Like this little guy?

 

[Brown dog]

Looks like a creek chub to me

 

[mikem691]

Maybe stuck in some seaweed on a birds feet untill it landed in the puddle??

 

[TheAmlinals]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I agree he does look quite a bit like the ones you mentioned, but not quite.. The thing is, his head (or back, or whatever) is really arched up now whereas most of your suggestions when I googled them are more flat-backed. Does that help?
I took like a dozen more pictures yesterday but only one turned out not blurry (he's fast!! Lol)

 

[Autumnsky]

Juvenile fish can look very different from adults too!

 

[mikem691]

Yep that does not look like my suggestion. With the high back I have no clue.

 

[Autumnsky]

Maybe you can email a pic to the local Fish and Game Department for your state and ask them!