Some of my personal favorites which may do well with flag fish include the
Fundulus notatus and olivaceous - they get good sized, fairly peaceful, easily
fed, occupy a separate niche in the aquarium and are pretty fish. A couple of
other fish include Fundulus cingulatus and chrysotus. Also some of the shiners
might also be good.
Shireen Gonzaga wrote:
> When setting up an aquarium as an educational exhibit,
> be it at a public library, school, or wildlife refuge visitor's
> center, there are some constraints that have to be observed
> in order to make it a manageable project.
>
> * It has to be easy enough that a staff member with little
> or no aquarium experience can take care of daily chores
> like feeding, cleaning algae, and removing dead fish.
>
> * The fish do not have fussy dietary requirements like live
> or frozen foods. They should be able to thrive on dried
> foods (flakes, freeze-dried bloodworms, tubifex worms,
> krill, etc.)
>
> * They need to be eye-catching. I know this sounds
> superficial but that's what attracts people's attention and
> gets them hooked. So the more colorful and interesting
> the fish, the better.
>
> * The fish should be small- to medium-sized (depending on
> the size of the tank), and be able to co-exists relatively
> peacefully and comfortably with other tank inhabitants.
>
> Having said all these, here are my questions:
> 1. What kind of native fish do you recommend?
> 2. For a given species, what are its tank size, food, and
> community requirements (does it co-exist with other
> fish species or does it have to be a single-species tank)?
> 3. What are it's eye-catching attributes that would make
> them interesting to people?
>
> Just to kick things off, I'm personally interested in using
> American Flagfish for future education exhibits.
> - They will accept dried foods.
> - They can be housed in relatively small tanks like a 20g long,
> perhaps with 2 males and 5 females. (Tank would have to be
> well-planted so the males can establish their territories.)
> - The flagfish I have are not too aggressive (unlike the
> Sheepshead Minnows that were always looking for trouble.)
> I would be able to include a few other small peaceful fish
> that are not as attractive-looking but equally valuable. (At
> home, I keep my flags with mummichog and banded killies
> in a 30g. I call it the party tank. :-)
> - The males look like miniature American flags, the kids
> would get a kick out of that. And like all pupfish, their
> behavior is always entertaining.
> - I've heard that flagfish are fairly easy to breed. If time permits,
> this could add an extra dimension to the exhibit.
>
> I'm interested in hearing your suggestions for other easy-to-maintain
> native species?
>
> thanks,
> shireen
>
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