Native Keeper Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) Hi everyone! I plan on buying some Common Shiners (Luxilus cornutus) from a bait shop near me and keeping them in a couple of my tanks. If you have experience with keeping them, or any other shiner, please feel free to leave any information you can, thx in advance! Edited February 9, 2022 by Native Keeper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) On 2/9/2022 at 7:44 AM, Native Keeper said: Hi everyone! I plan on buying some Common Shiners (Luxilus cornatus) from a bait shop near me and keeping them in a couple of my tanks. If you have experience with keeping them, or any other shiner, please feel free to leave any information you can, thx in advance! Awesome! I keep some southern Redbelly dace (Chrosomus erythrogaster), and some Rainbow Shiners (Notropis Chrosomus). They’re drift feeders, and will accept a variety of foods — crushed flakes, bug bites, etc. — as well as frozen foods like blood worms, Spirulina brine shrimp, daphnia, etc. Mine appreciate some flow. I use hydor fan / powerheads. As well as small pond pump, HOB, sponge filters. I also add extra air. Here’s a look at my Dace when they first arrived (20 gal long)… And here’s a look at my Rainbow shiners yesterday (29 gal)… Edited February 9, 2022 by Fish Folk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) I don't have any experience with them other than seeing them 'in the wild' while fishing or sometimes catching a fish that has one in its mouth. They can get pretty darn big, so be prepared for that. A 6"+ shiner isn't uncommon. I've been mulling over the idea of someday trying a native "creek" tank and @Fish Folk has a couple pretty examples there. 🙂 We have some neat fish in Iowa (and the whole country, really) and I think it would be pretty cool to collect them as well. (unsure of the legality of this or if they would be able to thrive in captivity) Redside Dace Southern Redbelly Dace Now... these are likely in their breeding colors in these pictures and are probably more drab most of the year. But most of them remain pretty small and I think it would be neat to make a higher flow creek-type setup. Edited February 9, 2022 by jwcarlson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Native Keeper Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 @Fish Folk, I agree, Rainbow Shiners are gorgeous.@jwcarlson, I'm getting these commons cuz they're cheap, though one day I would like to keep Bleeding Shiners (Luxilus zonatus), shown below. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Oh, the only other word of caution would be that typically bait shop fish aren't particularly healthy. It's usually pretty fast turn over and since that fish is going to be dead *momentarily* there's usually not a lot of consideration for the state that it's in when they dump them in their troughs. That said, I've also bought bait from some smaller shops running out of their garages that have really well cared for bait. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) On 2/9/2022 at 9:18 AM, jwcarlson said: I don't have any experience with them other than seeing them 'in the wild' while fishing or sometimes catching a fish that has one in its mouth. They can get pretty darn big, so be prepared for that. A 6"+ shiner isn't uncommon. I've been mulling over the idea of someday trying a native "creek" tank and @Fish Folk has a couple pretty examples there. 🙂 We have some neat fish in Iowa (and the whole country, really) and I think it would be pretty cool to collect them as well. (unsure of the legality of this or if they would be able to thrive in captivity) Redside Dace Southern Redbelly Dace Now... these are likely in their breeding colors in these pictures and are probably more drab most of the year. But most of them remain pretty small and I think it would be neat to make a higher flow creek-type setup. You’ve got some cool Darters in Iowa! Edited February 9, 2022 by Fish Folk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expectorating_Aubergine Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Might need to get a chiller.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 On 2/9/2022 at 8:23 AM, Native Keeper said: @Fish Folk, I agree, Rainbow Shiners are gorgeous.@jwcarlson, I'm getting these commons cuz they're cheap, though one day I would like to keep Bleeding Shiners (Luxilus zonatus), shown below. Pretty fish 🙂 When I maybe, eventually start looking at a native tank I want to collect them myself (again, no idea of legality here, just spitballing). In the past we've seined creeks for trot line bait. And ran minnow traps with cat food to catch creek chubs for walleye fishing. There's all sorts of stuff around to go find. Doesn't get cheaper than that. 😄 Years ago I bought all of the stuff to start "microfishing" and have never done it. Now that my kids are a little older I think they would like to do that, so might start recon work for native tank this summer. I don't know where you live, but our DNR has a list of native fish along with maps where they've been documented as well as ranges they *probably* inhabit. My main concern with natives is the fact that most of them live in (probably) high quality, faster water. And also cool (or cold). Most of our creeks here are quite cool in the summer. We keep our house at 62 in the winter and like 76 in the summer. I'm sure they're fine with the cooler stuff, but not sure about the warmer temps. And then there's the water quality question, can they handle some waste build up that's inherent in a home aquarium? Shiners seem to be just about everywhere around here though, so I think they're pretty hardy. On 2/9/2022 at 8:27 AM, Fish Folk said: You’ve got some cool Darters in Iowa! They might be ultra rare in one corner of the state five hours from me for all I know 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 On 2/9/2022 at 9:43 AM, Expectorating_Aubergine said: Might need to get a chiller.... I looked into this. I’ve found that the key is really dissolved oxygen. Cooler water holds more oxygen. So, the key is adding air. For my Banded Darters, I have two sponge filters, an additional airstone, and airline added to a powerhead. Temperature is just room - 70-74°-F. But the amount of added air helps their health. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) On 2/9/2022 at 9:50 AM, jwcarlson said: Years ago I bought all of the stuff to start "microfishing" and have never done it. Now that my kids are a little older I think they would like to do that, so might start recon work for native tank this summer My son and I love catching darters, sculpins, crayfish, and dace from our tiny backyard creek here in Western MD all summer long. We’ve never tried keeping them in our aquaria, but it sure is fun to see native life up close! Edited February 9, 2022 by Fish Folk 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 I’m gonna shout-out here to @WhitecloudDynasty who has a great knack for breeding native U. S. Fish. He might have some insights on breeding common shiners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) Sculpins are awesome 🙂 Never seen one in person. DNR says that we have mottled and slimy sculpins in the state, but their range seems really small (unsure of accuracy). I know that when we walk the creeks in the summer there's always a lot of stuff darting around... a lot more fish in them than I ever realized when I was a kid. A pretty big part of me struggles with the ethics of catching a native fish and chucking it in a home aquarium. Mostly because I would be very concerned that I don't understand what it needs and will make it suffer. If I could replicate the environment reasonably accurately at home, I could handle it. Out of my own curiosity I'm going to start bringing test strips with when we're creek stomping or when I'm bow hunting. And additionally, not knowing their rarity/endangerment. When I was a kid we had bluegills and bass in a bigger native tank (my dad claims it was a 125, but mom and I think it was smaller because I'm pretty sure my 75 was the biggest tank we'd had) and as I've gotten older I think I've realized we probably weren't great fish keepers. They weren't sick, but were for sure over stocked. Sorry for my part in derailing the thread. 🙂 Edited February 9, 2022 by jwcarlson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 On 2/9/2022 at 10:26 AM, jwcarlson said: A pretty big part of me struggles with the ethics of catching a native fish and chucking it in a home aquarium. Mostly because I would be very concerned that I don't understand what it needs and will make it suffer. If I could replicate the environment reasonably accurately at home, I could handle it. Out of my own curiosity I'm going to start bringing test strips with when we're creek stomping or when I'm bow hunting I do appreciate this concern. I think it depends on the species, your inside set up, and the level of care certain fish need. If you’re reasonably experienced, I think it’s possible some fish do _better_ in home aquaria than in situ. There’s no natural predators to kill them, and a good aquarist can provide loads of quality food. The transition from one type of water to another is always risky. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Native Keeper Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 @jwcarlson, Sculpins are cool! it's a fish I'd love to have in my collection, cuz I've seen them near me. This spring & summer, I plan to do a lot of collecting (ethically, ofc)! I have a journal on my page, so when I do start collecting, I'll likely document it there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 One of my favorite fly fishing shop had a chilled river tank set up with native sculpins from the Yakima river drainage. That was cool but they took it up a notch and added a freshwater Burbot from the lakes in the same drainage. I think they were working with the local department of fish and wildlife on some education and conservation programs and the tank was part of that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitecloudDynasty Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 They normally lay over rock pile made by chub but I seen them spawn over plants before also. They are very beautiful fish when spawning 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bende13 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 I’ve been keeping some Redfin shiners, creek chubs, fat head minnows and Dace at times. I use them as bait but I like experimenting with plants and tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Native Keeper Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 @Bende13, my grandfather got into the hobby that way! He's the reason I even know about those bait shiners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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