I collected six fish in early spring (Feb-March?). The sex ratio was, I
think, 1:1. Spawning occured much like Wojtowicz's account. The fish were
put in a 40 gallon long aquarium in an unheated garage. Temp. was not
documented. One evening a few days after collection, I noticed that the
fish were swimming very rapidly, and pushing against one another, usually
in pairs. No pit of any type was ever dug out. My hyopthetical reasoning
behind this is that maybe the pea gravel substrate was too large to
facilitate nest building (3/8" in size). I doubt it, though.
Eggs were never seen being released that evening and although I never
looked for eggs in the days following, stoneroller fry soon appeared in the
tank. Diet for fry: I fed them powdered, dry daphnia (I witnessed them
consuming it) but I would imagine that they fed heavily on the thick algae
growth in this established tank. Within six months, I probably had 40 fry
left (out of what was probably 200 fry). I had approx. 20 live to be 2
years old, but they were brought to an unfortunate end when I introduced
what was obviously a too-large-for-conditions stonecat.
As for the parents- two died of what was probably poisoning from the
freshly cured paint that lined the tank (constructed of plywood) and the
others jumped, coming to an end as a piscine raisin. By the time the eggs
hatched, the tank was completely devoid of adults.
I originally had good intentions of writing a spawning account, but as I
was 15 at the time, my dedication to scientific documentation and desk work
that wasn't assigned by a teacher was somewhat lacking.
I hope this can be of some help to you. Good luck with your work.
Travis Haas
Hazel Green, Wisconsin
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