The small fishes of North America are rather unknown in Europe. Yet the genus Notropis alone includes 91 accepted species! Many of them are very colorful at spawning time. In their native country Notropis species are called “shiners” in the sense of a shining object, so much do the colors of these fish shine. But unfortunately they only show this from time to time. Especially the juveniles are quite inconspicuous.
Notropis lutipinnis is native to the Atlantic side of the continent in the USA and is found from the Santee River in North Carolina to the Altamaha River, upper Chattahoochee River and upper Coosa River system in Georgia; further occurrences are known from the Little Tennessee River system in North Carolina. Here it inhabits smaller standing and flowing waters with rocky bottoms and clear water in the headwaters of the above rivers. The species reaches a length of about 7.5 cm including the caudal fin. They are peaceful schooling fish, roughly comparable in aquarium biology to our native minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus). Feeding is done with all common ornamental fish food of suitable size, any tap water suitable as drinking water is also suitable for the care of the fish.
We can now offer for the first time offspring of this beautiful species and thank the breeder very much for providing us with pictures of the courtship active parents. The whitish animals are by no means the females, but simply specimens that are not in spawning mood. Females that are ready to spawn differ only slightly in color from the males.
According to their origin, Notropis lutipinnis are “energy-saving fish” that do not require additional heating in the indoor aquarium. In summer they can also be kept outdoors. The occurrence of the species between 35°N – 33°N corresponds – very roughly speaking – to the climate in the Mediterranean region, i.e. with mild winters, in which, however, snow may well fall once in a while.
For our customers: the animals have code 439691 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text Frank Schäfer, photos Aquarium Glaser & Frank Schäfer
