Sculpin are usually easy to feed but they require cool water (low 70's tops) and very high DO. I currently have dozens of darters all of which eat DRY food. Most darters are very easy to care for and don't require much room. Each darter has different requirements so selection for your tank is key. Even the more touchy darters will eat frozen food quickly, so don't be frightened by the live only feeds that so many people subscribe to with darters. Many darters thrive in various water temps and flow rates so don't worry too much about that either. Again selecting the right darter for your tank is important for the success of the fish.
killifish/topminnows are one of the easiest native to care for. They seem to eat any floating food you can put in the tank (dry small pellets, flake & freeze dried foods). They're one of my favorite natives, I currently keep about 10 species of them.
I agree with all of this, and I think topminnows are an excellent fish if you want to start keeping natives. Topminnows will pretty much accept any food that floats around the top of the water, much like a betta. They're very calm and relaxed also, they remind me a bit of a very small koi.
The ones I kept were Blackspotted topminnows.
Darters - I keep an orangethroat and he eats mostly dried foods. They're not massively great hunters...the only way he gets guppies is by ramming them into the substrate and stunning them while trying to get them in his mouth.
We used to have several darters and they're fun to watch "battle" and flare at each other. They don't hurt each other but they will try to will display to each other when trying to gain or posess territory. All of our darters were caught in a local creek, all ate dried foods, so I would not worry too much about them accepting it.
We started with 16, we only have one darter now, where did the rest go? Read below...
Sculpin will eat just about anything that will fit into their mouth. It doesn't really matter what type of fish, if it will fit in their mouth (this sometimes includes fish that are over half its size), they will attempt to eat it and usually succeed.
As stated above, sculpin need water with a high dissolved oxygen content. You preferably want a large amount of water turnover and perhaps a current. The water must also be CLEAN, this means don't slack off too bad on water changes and make sure your tank is fully cycled.
Conditions that sculpin require are preferrable for most darter species also, one exception being a swamp darter.
We've had trouble getting ours to accept non-live food, but he recently ate a carnivore pellet so it's not impossible. Since they're ambush hunters they do prefer live foods, so keep this in mind. If you want to accilmate them to dry or frozen foods you will have to wiggle it in front of their mouth since this triggers their ambush instincts. Otherwise they won't really notice it.
Other small natives include:
Pygmy sunfish - these get to 2 or 3 inches, often smaller.
Madtoms - this is a small catfish around 3 inches max usually. They have a painful barb and many fish won't attempt to eat them.
Blackbanded sunfish, banded sunfish and fliers.
If you can't find any of these fish in your state, or regulations don't permit you catching them, most can be bought. It's not quite as fun as catching them yourself, but if you're looking for species that can tolerate cooler water it's an easy way to find some.
