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Looking for info on Bridle Shiners



I sent this to the folks at NANFA also, but thought I would throw it up
here in case any of you folks can assist me...

I am looking for info on a fish native to Massachusetts with the common
name of Bridle Shiner and a sci name of Notropis bifrenatus.

About 1+ years ago, I was at the New England Aquarium where they had a
very nice tank set up featuring these fish. I was very intrigued with them
and was going to look into them more, especially since I was planning on
starting to keep native fish anyway.  Well I just finally got out of my
apartment and into my first home and now have the room to dedicate to some
native fish tanks and possible breeding attempts. So I have starting
thinking about the Bridle shiner again.

According to the New England Aquarium's research, this fish is now found
in only about 1/4 of the places it use to be (I believe with respect to
reports compiled from the 1950s). I am unclear if they are actually listed
as endangered, threatened, or of special concern with any organization or
the state of Massachusetts. Checking the list at www.nanfa.org under the
Massachusetts listing, the Bridle Shiner is not listed (maybe it should be
added?).

Finally, I have not attempted keeping (let alone breeding) Native fishes,
I would be interested in learning to keep and breed shiners who are
closely related to the Bridle Shiner and either share same breeding habits
or at least might be suspected to share nearly identical breeding habits. 
The idea of course, is that maybe someday, I might be able to assist in
some way with the breeding of Bridle Shiner either directly or indirectly
in order to preserve the species. Obviously, I should be starting with
commonly (read:  not threatened) found shiners. Does anyone have any
suggestions on possible species to look into?  Are all shiners more or
less the same in their care and breeding or does that vary widely from one
species to the next? 

Any help or tips (links) would be greatly appreciated.

Patrick Timlin         http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/
ptimlin at geocities_com

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