Native Fish for the Home Aquarium

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The late Dr. Innes might be amused to know that his joke is still playing. Today red shiners are actually bred in Singapore and sold by the aquarium trade in the U.S. as "flame barbs." The barbs are a large group of popular aquarium fish of mostly Asian origin, and most dealers and aquarists are doubtless unaware that the forebears of their precious flame barbs swim contentedly in the Missouri River.

No offense to the fish breeders of Singapore, but I'd derive more pleasure from Notropis lutrensis, the aforementioned red shiner, if I knew where it came from and could attempt to simulate its habitat in my home aquarium. Assuming that .many of MOTHER's readers share my feelings, let me go on to mention a few of the native fish you might keep, saying a little about how you might obtain and maintain them.

As the flame barb story suggests, among the most attractive groups of native fish for aquarium use is the large group of cyprinid fish, which has more than 100 species, known as shiners. As the name implies, most of them look metallic and bright. One common and beautiful type is the golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas), which is often sold as a bait fish. Individual golden shiners are eye-catching, but a school of these flashing beauties is a nonstop, living kaleidoscope of gold, silver, and red.

The shiners are among those fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae that can properly be called minnows. The daces, another notable group of attractive minnows, run mostly to boldly painted color patterns. Among the truly spectacular daces are the three similar species of redbelly dace (Phoxinus spp.) that feature alternate bands of black and flaming chartreuse, with splashes of scarlet on the belly and elsewhere.

Along with the shiners, the greatest diversity among native fish is to be found among the darters (there are nearly 150 species, all of which are of suitable sizes for the home aquarium). Besides being good-looking, the darters have "personality." Perky is an adjective that comes to mind whenever I see a darter peering around inquisitively, with the front quarter of its body propped up by its pectoral fins. Darters include some of the world's most fantastically colored fish. (See Handbook of Darters, by Dr. Lawrence M. Page, for more pictorial proof than can be offered here.) Some of these fish have very limited distribution or are federally protected, or both, but some of the most beautiful of them-such as the rainbow darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, which is alternately banded in brick red and peacock blue-green-are also among the most common and widely distributed.

Just about everyone is familiar with sunfish, and particularly with the larger species that serve as food and sport fish. But do you really know them? Take a good look at the photo of the pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus). That's one of the most .familiar North American fish you're looking at, properly displayed in an aquarium habitat. And, in addition to such panfish species as the pumpkinseed, there are a number of smaller sunfish that are seldom encountered by the angler but are equally beautiful and perhaps even better suited to the home aquarium. Furthermore, all varieties of sunfish have the potential to become true pets, learning to recognize their people and willing to take food from the hand.

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