Taxonomy & naming
Baird and Girard described the species in 1853 from Otter Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Red River in southwestern Oklahoma. It was first placed in another genus, and the authority is therefore in parentheses under Cyprinella. The family is Leuciscidae, the minnows and shiners of the Northern Hemisphere. Hobby sellers list it under its scientific name, and the English name is red shiner.
Morphology
A deep-bodied, laterally compressed shiner. FishBase gives a maximum of 3.5 in TL for males and unsexed fish. Breeding males flush red to orange on the fins and flanks, which gives the species its English name.
Habitat
The red shiner is native to the Mississippi River basin from southwestern Wisconsin and eastern Indiana west to Wyoming and south to Louisiana, and to Gulf drainages west of the Mississippi to the Rio Grande, plus northern Mexico. FishBase describes adults as living in silty, sandy and rocky pools and runs, sometimes riffles, of creeks and small to medium rivers. It tolerates siltation and high turbidity, which helps explain its success outside its native range.
Feeding
FishBase reports that it feeds on terrestrial and aquatic insects and on algae.
Mating
Mating behaviour is not described in the FishBase summary. Aquarists report that males colour up strongly in the breeding season.
Breeding
Breeding is not described in the FishBase summary, and the atlas has no documented captive spawning protocol for it.
In the aquarium
FishBase gives a temperature range of 59–77 °F, pH 7.0 to 7.5 and hardness of 10 to 20 dH. That points to a cool, hard-water, well-oxygenated tank with open swimming room, kept as a group. It is a fish for native-fish and cool-water setups rather than a heated community tank. The species has been introduced widely in the United States, so check local rules before keeping or moving it, and never release it.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List category is Least Concern, assessed on 27 February 2019. FishBase notes introductions across the United States, and the species is regarded as a problem where it has been introduced, since it can displace native minnows.