Captive Care Notes: Finescale Shiners (Lythrurus, Family Cyprinidae)

Maintenance of Lythrurus should pose no special problems. Species collected from fast, clean waters are prone to fin rot if kept in aquaria in which biological filtration has not been fully established. Given enough light (at least 15 hours) and live foods, most Lythrurus should retain their breeding colors through the fall and possibly into winter.

The aquarium spawning of Lythrurus has not been reported. Scientific studies of Lythrurus spawning over sunfish nests were conducted outdoors in artificial ponds or 5 x 2 x 0.5 m (16.4 x 6.5 x 1.6 ft) metal tanks. In the latter experiment, L. umbratilis spawned from early June to early August. Since most species of sunfish readily spawn in aquaria, it would be a worthwhile experiment indeed to see if Lythrurus will spawn along with them.