Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) Very excited to be receiving about a dozen Southern Redbelly Dace today (Chrosomus erythrogaster / Phoxinus erythrogaster). I’ll be uploading photos, but I do t expect them to be in vibrant breeding dress in spring / summer. I found an excellent public domain journal article on NANFA here. They seem to maintain a diet of filamentous algae in the wild, along with micro invertebrates, etc. Aquarists seem to find success feeding them finely crushed flake food, frozen brine shrimp, etc. I’ll be trying out Omega One Kelp Flakes, Bug Bites Spirulina Flakes, and Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp. Of course, each week, I’ll also be feeding the entire fishroom freshly hatched brine shrimp. Stay tuned… I shall update. Edited August 16, 2022 by Fish Folk 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameCzar Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 Looking forward to your progress, and some pics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) Here they are, spawning in the wild… Edited November 4, 2021 by Fish Folk 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 Here’s an honest video of a small clutch in a small aquarium… 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 Here’s a helpful email sent by my source for U. S. Natives re: acclimating cold-water fish from cold shipping to room-temp. aquaria… ”Rapid warming will kill your fish! Your box of fish may be quite cool when it arrives at your door. You must acclimate the new fish carefully to keep them safe. Do not open the bags. Do not float the bags in your tank. Instead, open the box and see how cold the water in the bags feels as compared to your tank, feel it from the outside of the bags. Keep the bags closed! If it feels cooler in the bags, follow this procedure: Leave the bags sit, closed, in the room air until they slowly warm to room temperature. This may take some hours. Be patient. The fish can stay in the closed bags as long as needed. Opening the bags will let the oxygen escape, and the fish will die. When the bags have reached room temperature, you can float them, still closed, in the tank until they reach tank temperature. Then the bags can be opened and the fish immediately released. Maintain good aeration in your tanks. The warming will cause the fish to need more oxygen.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) Here’s a look at the typical sexual dimorphism between male / female Southern Redbelly Dace — male above, female below… Reports indicate that large females will color up just like the males during spring spawning season as daylight lengthens. Edited November 4, 2021 by Fish Folk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 They’ve arrived! The water in my tank is ca. 70°-F. Water in the bag is ca. 55°-F, having been shipped with cold packs. So, I need to let the fish rest in room temp in their bag, unopened, until the water gently warms up before floating. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 So, it turns out that Dace as _very_ sensitive to vibrations, air-bubbles, etc. in their tank, and are notorious for jumping. So, I’ve added a plastic guard along to back to limit escape holes… And you can hear them jumping up against the styro lid as I add an air bubbler to their water… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 After sitting in room temperature air for almost 3-hrs, I begin to siphon tank water into their shipping water… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 Here’s a first-look at the Dace. Not very colored up. Maybe young, stressed, out of breeding season, etc. They school very nicely… 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 First feeding… 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 Thanks for the updates. Real fun stuff! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 One of the Dace is starting to display some color… 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 Early observations… (rambling)… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 12, 2021 Author Share Posted November 12, 2021 (edited) Bah-humbug! Dace have Ich. Here’s the discovery. I was so unready for it, I couldn’t believe it at first… I’m treating with Ich-X. Problem is I cannot raise temp like I do with Tropical fish. Best result is some live, and I don’t spread it to other tanks. Seasons of temperature changes tend to see increased Ich break-outs. One theory is that Ich may have a dormancy period, and crops up at different times, having always been there. I’m not sure about that theory. But I definitely failed to quarantine and treat these fish before adding. Basic fail… Edited November 12, 2021 by Fish Folk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 Made it through Ich. Lost 2x Dace. Got one coloring up nicely on variety of foods… 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDukeAnumber1 Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 They're looking good. One of my favorite natives, glad to see someone is keeping them. I managed to collect some a long time ago, your definitely motivating me to revisit that spot and try to find them again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 Been a quiet winter. Signs now that maybe they’re “awakening” into spawning colors with seasonal change… Here’s a video taken mostly just to troll y’all who hate algae… 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonder Boy Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 I love these fish. Super cool project. Are you planning to breed them? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 On 3/14/2022 at 1:16 PM, Wonder Boy said: I love these fish. Super cool project. Are you planning to breed them? Yeah. I'm looking to get a clear butter-dish top to invert, place small landscaping rocks in, and slot down in line with the hydor powerhead flow. You used to be able to get these at any dollar store. But they've been designed differently of late. I use cube-like clear glass containers for breeding Rainbow Shiners, but I'm wanting a longer one... I do have a small bread-loaf glass dish I could use. Maybe I'll go this route since I've already got it... If these are indeed Southern Redbelly Dace and not Northern Redbelly Dace, they rock / pebble tray should trigger them. Here's an excel comparison article on NANFA examining breeding differentiation between the two: http://www.nanfa.org/articles/acredbelly.shtml 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) You're probably looking for something a lot longer but sugar packet organizers (glass) and drawer organizers (usually plastic and lots of sizes) come to mind. Edited March 14, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonder Boy Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 You might also be able to use those off-brand glass Tupperware/Pyrex dishes. Those might have the shape and size you're looking for. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 Time for a SRBD update! (Southern Red-Belly Dace) So! Males are coloring up nicely… I’ve got a stone tray set under a small hydor powerhead in a 20 gal. long… Here’s 30-sec of footage… They do not seem to be focussed on the stones. I’ve reached out to two experienced breeders. Here’s some initial feedback; (1) lengthen photoperiod to 12 hrs (2) They might be spawning over the plants, etc rather than the stones. A bare tank with only one good option to spawn might yield better. (3) Maybe try putting a few plants in the stones to bring them over to them (4) Look at the females to see if they’re ready So, I did a water change, reorganized the stones, removed some excess algae, lengthened photoperiod, and slightly buried the stone tray in the sand. Now it looks like they’re grouping up (maybe spawning?) in the back… behind the bleachers… 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 15, 2022 Author Share Posted April 15, 2022 Alrighty, ye NERMs!! Today is a good day. For reasons better than this. But this also happened… I came upon my SRBDs behaving like this… So i decided to check the stone tray for eggs. WARNING ⚠️ LONG, BORING VIDEO… I got some eggs! Here’s what that looks like… In a photo, basically this is the breeding setup now… I added a cover over the floating fry tray, and added some M-blue. Stone tray returned for more breeding. This video explains the setup… 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted April 15, 2022 Share Posted April 15, 2022 You're killing me with these native fish!! I'll need to double my fishroom at this rate. This is not good for my marriage @Fish Folk! Hahahaha love following these projects. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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