Last Post for April

So, with the whole COVID-19 stay-at-home stuff going on I have been kind of bored.

So, I spun up 3 new aquariums.  They are small aquariums, two 10 gallons and a 15 gallon tall.  It has been fun... and they are community aquariums, unlike the usual ones I set up where all the fish would just assume kill each other and bite you as well.

Two of the tanks are freshwater tropical.  The third, which does not yet have its inhabitants, is a freshwater native set up.  I am excited about this one because, well, there are a lot of interesting and attractive fish in the 48 contiguous states.  None of the ones I have purchased are particularly flashy, but that is alright.  Here are the fish for my native setup:

Qty      Descrip
3          Elassoma gilberti, Gulfcoast Pygmy Sunfish 2M 1F
7          Rosy Red Minnow
4          Lined Topminnow
2          Central Mudminnow

I had also considered Darters instead of mudminnows but...  for whatever reason I was a little concerned about them as far as maintaining them in an aquarium goes.  Thinking back, the Pygmy Sunfish are probably more difficult.

I have kept a native aquarium before, years ago.  I went back to the person who I ordered from previously because they have been good to me... Jonah's Aquarium.  Now, native fish are not inexpensive.  In fact they can be more expensive than tropical fish, partly because of the effort involved in either collecting or breeding them in small batches.

The pygmy sunfish are native to Florida, and have some interesting banding, blue speckles and in breeding season the males are quite handsome, very flashy.

I am sure people recognize that the "rosy red minnows" are basically... feeders.  Yes, you can go to pet stores and often find these in the "feeder fish" tanks.  But they are pretty hardy and a nice schooling fish so... why not?

The lined topminnows... they are something interesting!  Related to killifish, they are silver with black banding but... the most interesting part is this:  males have vertical black bands, females have horizontal black bands.  I don't know why but I find this fascinating and am really looking forward to these fish.

Finally we have the mudminnows.  They are actually a little scary because they can grow up to almost 4 inches long over time, and at that size they might pose a threat to the other fish... so I will have to monitor them closely.  They are bulky little things with a brownish base color and some banding and splotching.  They basically hide at the bottom of mucky areas and try to blend in with the mud, even partially burying themselves.  Unfortunately I do not have that kind of substrate for them, but I am hoping plant and rock cover will work for them.

Anyway, those fish are supposed to arrive tomorrow, looking forward to it!