CFI is a part of a restoration effort to keep this species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in partnership with the Cherokee National Forest. While Tennessee Dace populations are of concern, they are not yet low enough to warrant petitioning for the ESA. The Cherokee National Forest has restored much of their existing range by implementing stream simulation culverts and restoring large woody debris to both slow the flow of the stream, reconnect the stream to the floodplain, and create habitat.

Tennessee Dace inhabit small headwater streams and are associated with nest builders as they seek out coarse gravel patches or Chub nests to spawn over. During a spawning event, a group of males will follow the females as they make runs over the gravel depositing eggs while the males compete to fertilize them. The fertilized eggs then ping pong between the rocks before water hardening and becoming adhesive, sticking to the rocks with clean water flowing over them.

At our facility, CFI has been propagating Tennessee Dace since 2022 as our contribution to the joint restoration effort of this species. While we ourselves are not River Chubs, we take on the duties of building a nest for the Tennessee Dace, elsewise they would not spawn. We’ve created a structure where we can build the minnow nest slightly elevated, allowing the eggs to ping pong down to the bottom of the tank. From there we can remove the structure and safely move the eggs to a separate rearing container to hatch.

To facilitate breeding, we have found that the Tennessee Dace will spawn a few extra times each season if given the right conditions. With the idea originally coming from a friend of CFI who keeps dace as a hobby fish, we have incorporated into our methods a manipulated photoperiod. We give the Tennessee Dace a few days straight of simulated daytime before giving them access to the pre-built minnow nest. This process allows the dace to lay a larger number of eggs, and does not seem to be stressful or detrimental to the fish in any way.

An interesting discovery that CFI has found from working with Tennessee Dace is their preference for alternative foods. Tennessee Dace have a specialized gut, with long intestines often associated with herbivores. They are unable to digest the high protein of the live and frozen foods we typically feed most of our fish. Instead, the dace in the facility are fed an algae based gel food which simulates algae they would graze on in the wild. 

Ultimately, our goal is to get all of our propagated Tennessee Dace back into the wilds of Southern Appalachia to graze on the algae in the streams within the Cherokee National Forest. We hope that this partnership in restoring and expanding populations of Tennessee Dace within their native range will bolster their numbers and keep them far away from listing potential under the Endangered Species Act.