Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Minnow ID

FHM



Red Shiner



Bluntnose minnow



Chart showing FHM, RSH, BNM, Unknown, PK shrimp and carp.

I think the unknown is rainbow darter ... maybe?



Very similar anyways ... probably closely related. Do these do well in ponds?

A bit of a surprise sorting today.. have quite a few.
Not sure that's it, these are thick in Colorado..

OK. I "might" have found it ... Etheostoma exile the Iowa Darter.

Kenny,

Thanks for posting that. There sure are a lot darter species out there. I found that one species that occurs in Colorado is also widespread in Missouri. The orange throated darter. Every drainage in Missouri has a different color scheme. Very, very interesting. You wouldn't think they were the same species just by casually looking them. Very ornate with very different patterns and colors.

Thanks Kenny.

I've seen a lot of little rainbow looking minnows around here over the years. When I was a kid I pretty much lived in the creek.

Snipe - the minnows that are labeled as BNM bluntnose minnows Pimephales notatus,,, I think are bullhead minnows Pimephales vigilax. Bluntnose have a slightly more rounded snout compared to bullhead minnows. Bullhead minnows have a slightly more shiner shaped body and slightly more shiny scale colored body compared to bluntnose. Fresh caught bullhead minnows will have small dark crescent shape on each side of the snout. This is sometimes not real distinct. Bullhead minnows do not get quite as big as bluntnose. Both species have a black spot on the caudal peduncle and both are cavity spawners.

Do all the pimephales begin spawning about the same temperature or is one earlier than the rest? I ask because the FHM look VERY rotund and full of eggs. I thought from the pic of FHM that both are females and gravid.

Oh just noticed. Happy Birthday BobSS!

I didn't catch any adults yesterday Bill. Those are juvies and I do know what you are talking about the rounded nose, and it's way more obvious on the larger adult fish. My stock came from Mark Zimmerman. I'll get an adult caught and added to the pic. And yes, the adult Bluntnose are quite large compared to FHM.

beautiful pictures from another site that describe the rich diversity of minnow types in the waters in SE Michigan. A whole world to discover and Mark Zimmerman seems to be in his element helping out with identifications. I need to get some waders and a sampling net or seine net and see what I can find in SW MI!!

more minnow ID

If those minnows are from your forage pond then the BNM could be BNM and not bullhead minnows. Snipes pictures of his BNM do not look a lot like my BNM. It could be due to dead fish and the camera angle. Snipe's 2.5" long and wide body BNM could be plump females with eggs. Try and cut one open to see if it has eggs.

New pics of a 4" adult..
As good as I can get in a square bottom bag.

My buddy in CO thinks the darters are "Johnny Darters" but what I find on them shows no color phases.

Snipe - Much better pictures of your minnows. Now it is easier to see important characteristics that need to be present for them to be bluntnose minnows. Better proper pictures always help for internet fish identifications. When fish do not have normal coloration and have faded body colors the fish is more difficult to correctly identify. The shape of the nose (snout) on this 4" fish verifies these are indeed BNM.