40 Breeder, Coldwater Stocking

[Notophthalmus]

I've been wanting to try a hillstream loach/darter/dace setup myself. They should all do well together. As far as plants go, rushing waters tend not to have much submerged flora, but moderate current areas of my local streams often have Ludwigia palustris, Podostemum ceratophyllum, and various mosses.

BTDarters is another good supplier of coolwater fishes. Pretty much everything he carries would work well in your tank, except for brook sticklebacks. Just be sure to provide a varied current regime, with higher and lower flow areas, so the fish can choose their preferred spots.

 

[PaulJ69]

So far my canisters are arriving friday and am going to see how much they actually put out. I might get a Zoomed powersweep to give them more of a wave motion instead of a constant current. Ill also try to get a Big piece of drift wood and a big rock so they can hide behind. For the substrate, I was trying to get soilmaster select, but can't seem to find it anywhere, so I might just get some smallish polished river stones or something. A couple of small pieces of drift wood to attach some moss onto.
For the fish I was thinking of hillstream loaches, Mountain Redbelly Dace, Okefenokee pygmy sunfish, but since I'm not going to have that many plants, mostly moss, I don't know if he would be good in there. But I'll probably get a rainbow darter or two or three.
Now I need to go find a rock and some wood...

 

[jpappy789]

I'm not positive but the canisters may end up being enough...my Rena XP1 had to be turned almost all the way down in order for my fish to be able to swim by LOL and I've heard that with fish like hillstreams and darters its more about DO2 than the actual flow rate.

I'll definitely be following your progress.

 

[Notophthalmus]

I suspect Soilmaster would blow around in the current; you might want to put some gravel on top of it to keep it in place. If you're going that route, you could also use some good old topsoil and fallen leaves as your planting medium.

Vals do fine in current too. In fact they look rather nice, and really emphasize the current.

The tank is inappropriate for pygmy sunnies, as they are strictly slackwater species and fare poorly in current. They would disappear in such a big tank anyways.

The darters and dace will love it. Any Clinostomus, Phoxinus, or Rhinicthys dace will make a good addition. There are many other stream-loving cyprinids that are quite pretty as well, such as many Campostoma, Cyprinella, Hybopsis, Luxilus, Lythrurus, Notropis, and Phenacobius species. Avoid Nocomis, Notemigonus, and Semotilus species.

Phoxinus (including mountain redbellies) and Campostoma are algae/aufwuchs grazers, so they will do well on the same diet as your hillstreams but will also take flake. You may need to keep a close eye on the hillstreams to make sure they are competing well enough with the minnows.

 

[PaulJ69]

New plan!
AMERICAN BIOTOPE!
So I'm throwing out the hillstream loaches.

 

[jpappy789]

Oh No! LOL

Still going to follow this as I want a darter/dace setup sometime :drool:

 

[PaulJ69]

Jungle Val Vallisneria americana native to America!

LOL pappy, it will be a biotope for a while, then i might add some hillstreams

 

[Notophthalmus]

Sweet! Lots of native plants are available in the trade, actually; I had a list typed up at some point, I'll see if I can find it. Are you still doing a stream setup?

 

[PaulJ69]

Yes I am!
Here's a short list I just started

Jungle Val -Vallisneria Americana
Blood stargrass -Didiplis diandra
Creeping rush - Juncus repens
Pearlweed - Hemianthus micranthemoides
Narrow leaf chain sword - Echinodorus tenellus
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]Banana plant - Nymphoides aquatic[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]Baby tears - Micranthemum umbrosum


And a aquatic carnivorous plant.
Lesser Bladderwort - Utricularia minor

 

[Notophthalmus]

Quoting my own post from another forum:

Several are available from aquarium and pond suppliers, including hornwort (Ceratophyllum submersum, a different species of the same genus as our native C. demersum, but so similar as makes no difference), cabomba (Cabomba caroliniana), red ludwigia (Ludwigia repens or L. palustris), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), banana plant (Nymphoides aquatica), dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis parvulus or E. acicularis), pygmy chain sword (Echinodorus tenellus), guppy grass (Najas guadalupensis), various Sagittaria species, American val (Vallisneria americana), duckweeds (Lemna, Spirodela, and Wolffia sp.), mosquito fern/fairy moss (Azolla caroliniana), and probably several others I'm forgetting.

I had a longer list but can't find it. Propagating your own wild-collected plants is fun too, and gives you greater variety.

By the way, be sure to check out http://forum.nanfa.org; it is the best place on the web for info on keeping North American fish in captivity.