Creek Minnows
By: Woody Walker
1/01/11
When my daughter was 11 years old I took her to a local stream where she netted some tiny creek minnows with her butterfly net. We raised them in fish aquariums. I naturalized the fish tanks with sandstone, limestone, sand, pebbles, and other river-elements from their native Kentucky habitat.
Male Rainbow Darter blending in with Sandstone Background
(note orange and blue coloration on fins and body)
This native fish with its spunky personality and beautiful coloration is understandably in high demand overseas, but most American aquarium hobbyists haven't heard of the rainbow darter. Perhaps that is just as well.
Darters don't have swim bladders -- they have no buoyancy and must live on the bottom. As their name suggests they move about erratically and then sink to the bottom to blend in with their surroundings. I've been feeding them brine shrimp and mosquito larva (a favorite food).
Sand Darter with Trilobite Limestone Fossil
Kentucky is situated on a geological foundation of sandstone and limestone fossils. The grey rock with a rippled surface came from an ancient crustacean that resembles a horseshoe crab. I found it where I work and it took a minute to figure out what it was. In the picture (above) a sand-darter hides around crevices like it would in its native environment .
Tennessee Red-Bellied Dace
Tennessee dace are quite attractive at spring breeding season. The stomach on both male and female turns bright red around March. Males have lemon-colored fins and females have white fins. There are two males and one female in the picture. A black dace swims at the extreme left with the tail section in view. A sand darter rests on sandstone at the lower right (pictured above).
Green Sunfish
This fish is called a "brim" by most people, like one you might catch out of a pond. The green coloration is iridescent and flashy in natural sunlight. I think it 's as colorful as a tropical Jack Dempsey with more personality. Note the rainbow darter's dorsal fin protruding from behind the rock as it defends its territory. The sunfish eventually grew large enough to eat several of the minnows so we returned it to the creek.
After almost four years we still have the rainbow darter and some of the dace. You can find out more about native fish at this forum: