Bob Bock wrote:
> Hi, all. Last Sunday, several NANFA members met up to do some collecting in
> Paint Branch Creek, which runs along the edge of the University of Maryland
> campus in College Park.
>
> Chris and Stephanie Scharpf joined us from Baltimore, Harry Knaub made the
> trip down from York, PA, and Ed Bielaus came from nearby Bethesda. The
> creek is in on of the last places you'd expect a creek to be, behind a
> treeline at the edge of a massive asphalt parking lot. Judging from the
> species diversity, the water quality appeared to be very high, especially
> for a stream the drains a heavily populated Washington, D.C. suburb.
>
> For the most part, the stream had a Sandy bottom. In the slow-moving, flat
> stretches, we found several minnow species. For my money, the most
> impressive of these was the satin fin shiner,
> http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/satinfin.html.
>
> Not only did we find these in the sandy flats, but a few were also schooling
> in the riffles just below the bridge that spanned nearby Route 1. These
> were a really pretty fish. They're gilt-edged fins glittered in the
> sunlight as the lazily held in the current below the riffles. They'd
> probably be a really nice pond show fish, especially if they had a current
> from a slow water fall to swim against.
>
> Other species in the sandy flats included swallowtail
> (http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/swallowtail.html) and spot tail
> (http://www.nanfa.org/meetings/2001/pictures/cs/cs.htm) shiners.
>
> An unexpected finding was banded killifish, which I'd only seen in the
> freshwater parts of the tidal Potomac. These were easy to net after
> stirring up the sandy bottom. The fish showed up to feed upon items
> dislodged from the substrate.
> http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/juvindex/banded.jpg
>
> Further down stream, just below the riffles, we encountered both longnose
> (http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/longnosedace.html) and blacknose
> (http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/fishspecs/minotext.html#longn
> osedace). Both are nice, peaceful minnows that do well in a community
> coldwater tank. The former is one of my all time favorites. I call them
> airplane fish, because in an aquarium, they spread their pectoral fins wide
> and glide into the filter current, reminding me of an airpline. While
> snorkeling, Stephanie said she also identified some cutlips minnows,
> http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/fishspecs/minotext.html#cutlip
> sminnow. These are a bottom dwelling native minnow, best kept in a single
> species tank. (In close quarters, they will eat the scales--and even the
> eyes--of other fishes kept with them.
>
> We also found both white
> (http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/tools/ndfishes/sucker.htm) and Northern
> hog (http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/species_acct/aqua/northernhogsucker.jpg )
> suckers. These are gentle bottom feeders that are often difficult to keep
> in captivity. They feed on algae covered rocks on the bottom of stream
> beds. NANFA member Dan Logan once told me that the trick to keeping them
> alive is to rotate a fresh supply of stream rocks through an aquarium.
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/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
