NANFA-- Re: nanfa V1 #691

Triovlaif_at_aol.com
Tue, 17 Oct 2000 22:51:00 EDT

In a message dated 10/17/2000 6:25:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
owner-nanfa-digest_at_aquaria.net writes:

<< I'm wanting to try spawning the least madtom. If this works out we might
have
baby ones next summer. We could probably give some of these away since
they're not listed. Anyone need any brindled madtoms? We have quite a few
little ones right now!

J.R. >>

I'm very interested in trying the speckled madtom. From what I have read, it
is among the smaller species. I have a 55 gallon aquarium currently stocked
with very young dollar sunfish (8), blue spotted sunfish (3), everglades
pygmy sunfish (3), banded pygmy sunfish (3), and two Fundulus notti females.
I am due to receive 6 tessellated darters for this tank. As the dollars
mature, I plan to put some of them in my garden pond next spring, so the
population will thin as the fish grow. Does anyone know about the madtoms as
community fish? I read that they are peaceful and interesting, but I don't
want to overwhelm this tank, and I don't want a messy fish that might uproot
plants.

I have been writing about Gambusia and Guppies in our local waters. I
originally tried to keep some Gambusia holbrooki in this 55 gallon tank, but
all my sunfish tails were nipped and the entire population of the tank with
the exception of the Gambusia seemed very nervous and retiring. I decided to
net out the Gambusia, and lo and behold, the whole tank has come alive, the
tail fins are healing and all the sunfish are very active, ranging the whole
tank, and seeming very unflustered. I had read that Gambusia were not good
community fish, and now I have proved it. With the guppies, I noticed all
tail fins were torn. No Gambusia tailfins were torn at all. When trying to
decide if a young specimen was a guppy or a Gambusia, I learned that the
Gambusia have a black teardrop mark beneath the eye, lacking in the Guppy.
When I thought I had made the i.d., but wasn't quite sure, I checked the tail
fin. If it was torn, it was a Guppy, if not, a Gambusia. How's that for
fish identification? (The black edging on the scales and the black spots on
dorsal and caudal fins of the Gambusia are not always clearly evident when
they are very young.

Thanks for any advice about the madtoms.

Best,

Dick Norwood
Columbia, SC

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"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