All fish / Gasterosteidae

Brook Stickleback

Culaea inconstans

Also known as brook stickleback, five-spined stickleback, fivespine stickleback, black stickleback, 溪刺鱼

This is a small, slim native fish of North American streams and ponds, olive with pale mottling and usually five short separate spines along the back. In the breeding season males turn almost black. Keepers of native and cold water fish like it for its bold behaviour and nest building.

Care at a glance

Care level

Moderate

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

5 cm

Temperature

4 to 20 °C

pH

6.5 to 8

Smallest tank

60 litres

Keep as

A small group, ideally one male with several females

Diet

Carnivore: live and frozen bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp and small insect larvae; often refuses flakes

Swims

Middle of the tank

Lifespan

2 to 3 years

Water

Freshwater

Wild range

Northern North America: Canada and northern USA, from the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins to Hudson Bay and Alberta

Breeding

The male builds a small nest of plant material stuck together with kidney secretions, attached to stems above the bottom, then courts females and guards the eggs and fry. Breeding is fairly easy in a cool, well planted tank given live food and a seasonal temperature drop.

Good to know

It needs cool water and can be territorial and nippy, so keep it apart from slow or long finned fish. Collecting or moving wild fish may be restricted by local or state law, and it is invasive outside its native range in parts of the western USA.