Pond Boss Forums PHOTO GALLERY Image Gallery Lenman's Pics

Here's pics from Lenman in Southern MN.

Can someone ID these fish and let me know if I should plant them as forage fish in our pond? I believe the first is a minnow in some stage of the spawning process, as I've never seen this coloration in my creek at any other time. It was 1 week ago in Southern MN. For "scale", my son's hand is 3 inches across the palm.

Although I'm certainly no expert, it looks like the first one could be a Blacknose Dace.

Oh I know what you're thinking...."JHAP it's obvious that you're great looking and have a fun filled personality and are the kind of guy that I'd love to buy a beer, but how do you know so much about little fish?"

I don't, I just googled "minnow with bright red stripe" and this was the first link I came up with. Google can make a person appear smarter than they actually are - ain't the internet great!

Link to identification info that I found.

Someone is bound to come along and give you an accurate read on the fish. As I said I'm certainly no expert.

It's either that or maybe a redbellied Dace. (no relation to the bluebellied yankee)

Lenman - great photos! I think you're right on with the Chub, but that shiner looks pretty streamlined for a Shiner...maybe it's because I'm only familiar with the Golden shiner. At that size, if those are adult hands, they should be getting "golden" and should have a taller body - not so streamlined. I'm no fish ID expert, especially not with minnows - but I'm curious what the experts have to say about that specific fish.

The dace, if that's what it is, is a beautiful minnow. Did that come from your pond or a creek? I don't know anything about them, but would like to know if they are a viable species for a pond....anyone know?

Thanks for the link. The fish came from the creek that runs by my house. I dare say its as pretty of a fish coloration as I've seen.
The hands belong to my ten year old and are 3 inches wide.

Where is CJB2003 when you need him. He's know what it is right off the bat!

CJ?

I am not sure what they are(ones with the red stripe) but I know channel cats will chow down on them.We used to catch them in our minnow traps in central Illinois and use them on bank poles.

I was told that the first one was a Southern Redbelly Dace.

Top one is a northern redbelly dace (esshup, I just say that because he is in MN, and that's what they have ). Middle one looks like a common shiner with the diamond-shaped scales. I don't know that third one.

Thanks Dave. Point taken! (check location of fish first!!)

Hey I was 50% correct (got the Dace part) and that ain't bad for a Google-powered answer.

One cannot see the third fish well. I think third fish is very probably a creek chub. I agree with Dr. Dave, 2nd one is probably a common shiner - Luxilus cornutus (old name Notropis cornutus). The scales are not real strong diamond shaped but still diamond shaped. Shiner has eggs.

You are correct Jeff. It is a Blacknose Dace and not a Northern Redbelly Dace. Both inhabit waters of Minnesota. Creeks, pools, lakes and streams.

The Blacknose could probably be picked up, lets say, in some flowing water, like a creek, as was the case! Redbellies kinda hang off to the side in pools and have a more casual life.

Forget the other two, I know. I already posted twice, and this is the third time that a moderator might delete my post on this subject. I copy and paste, save.

At least the Common Shiner was ID after two of my posts were deleted. And I already did the ID

Chub, I kinda wanted them to roll it over so I could see the top. Then you can tell.

But this was also deleted by a moderator.

Ok with me!

I'm not sure why posts were deleated. Can a moderator explain why? I am a moderator and do not know the answer. See other moderator's opinions below.

I think there is some confusion in this post about the fish pictured above. Firstly it is very difficult to identify some fish species with photographs and photos here are IMO less than adequate pictures. Some fish species have small physical characters for species separation that are not evident in photographs from a distance.

I am with-drawing my identification name for the common shiner. I cannot see it well enough for a postitive identification. The shape of the scales do not look correct to me for it to be common shiner. IMO the shiner is too large for it to be many of the common species of shiner. The fish appears close to 4" long to me based on the young person's hand size.

Ive looked at the dace picture in detail and checked a taxonomic key (WI Fish). I don't think the dace is blacknose dace nor a northern redbelly. From what I can see, I think it is a southern redbelly dace. Here is why. Firstly one cannot see well the groove and presence of a fleshy bridge of the upper lip which is an important character separating blacknose from redbelly dace. Only mature male blacknose dace will have red body color. In a male blacknose dace the pelvic fin will reach the front of the anal fin - that does not occur in the above pic. Northern redbelly dace have a smaller mouth and a mouth angle that is greater than a 45 degree angle compared to a southern redbelly dace that has a slightly larger mouth and its mouthj angle is less than 45degrees which does occur in on dace photo above. The fish's mouth is open although still it is pretty evident that it is not angled close to nor greater than a 45 degrees. NOTE: In my opinion, a southern redbelly dace is overall a better pond/forage fish than a northern redbelly dace.

The photo of fish identified as a creek chub was not a very good photo. Creek chubs are very common in Minnesota and chances are good that fish is a creek chub. It does look very similar to a creek chub. Although there are several species of chub that it could be and all would look the same when photographed the same way as the chub above.

I'm not aware of any fish photos that have been deleted.

Generally, posts only get deleted when they violate forum rules. And, any time a post gets deleted, we generally inform each other as to when and why such actions are taken.

I don't think any mod deleted your pics. I did not for sure. It may be something to do with the new changes to the site but I hope not. Were just pics deleted or was text also ?

ewest, It was only text.

Thanks Bill for the clarification. It is easier to ID fish if you are in possession. Looking up the Southern Redbelly Dace, I can see your point.

Mod,s. I really do not know what is up with loosing posts. I am now guessing it is on my end for reasons, but do not understand it.

All;

I noticed a few months back a few of my posts disappearing for no reason. I've tried addressing this with UBB, and their reaction is just a shrug of the shoulders type thing. I can't point to a post that's been deleted, so they kinda dismissed my escalation. It could be a function of the huge amount of data stored [over 40 mbs] or a bug in the software. At any rate I've learned to live with it. I can try to escalate again, let me know if others have experienced this.

TJ

Thanks TJ. Look at the previous post I made. CB and Snoopy are not there, but are on all the other posts. I will have to submit this one, and see if it shows up.

Yep, It did!

On the original post!

No where to be found on an edited post, just from my experiment.

Don't know what I can say about that, and not a big deal. The Blue is starting to drive me nuts anyway

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/52728.html

[img]http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/cyprinidae/redside_dace.jpg[/img]

Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus)

Oh sure Commander Cody. Get all technical on me why don't cha.

Besides are we even allowed to post the words "anal fin"?