Jenn's 55gal native species build.

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Mogurako said:
Looks likes a salmon or trout to me, I would personally take this comets out if your serious about keeping natives in that tank.
I've been researching and I think it's a salmon.

I agree about the comets. They are going to get too big and that salmon won't eat them. And we are going to have to hold off on getting a bass because it will eat the salmon.

I was surprised to see such a little guy! I thought my husband would have come home with a 6-8 inch bass! Not a big ol catfish, bug, and a little tiny salmon!
 
Salmon are really sensitive and probably wont do well in a small home aquarium long term. Collecting native fish is no different than buying fish from a LFS, proper research and tank size needs to be taken into account. Not just throwing whatever you catch into a tank.
 
Mogurako said:
Salmon are really sensitive and probably wont do well in a small home aquarium long term. Collecting native fish is no different than buying fish from a LFS, proper research and tank size needs to be taken into account. Not just throwing whatever you catch into a tank.

I agree. I told my husband not to bring home anything else unless it is bass or bluegill and to make sure he checks the bucket for strays. I've been researching bass bluegill and crawdad's. I wasn't expecting a salmon. I didn't know what it was but I didn't want to flush it either.
 
I'd stick with bluegill, sunfish or maybe rock bass unless you're going to a 200 gal+ then just maybe you'd be able to keep smallies.
 
Mogurako said:
I'd stick with bluegill, sunfish or maybe rock bass unless you're going to a 200 gal+ then just maybe you'd be able to keep smallies.

Bluegill and sunfish are really pretty. How many do you think I could have? Maybe 3?
 
Bearchumjs said:
Bluegill and sunfish are really pretty. How many do you think I could have? Maybe 3?

In a 55?! Two or three would be pushing it, Ideally you'd want a 125-180 for a small group of 3-5. Don't quote me on that, that's just what I would do. I'd ask Jeta he'd be the guy to talk to about native stock levels.
 
Mogurako said:
I know I'd personally love to have a big 220 with lilly pads, driftwood and a group of about 5-6 sunfish.

That would be awesome. I think I'd need to put that size tank in the garage! Lol!
 
I know!! But a 220 would fall through my floor. LOL! I'll just replace part of the floor with plexiglass and put the tank under the house. Hahaha!
 
Well I came home to find that the baby salmon had died. I'm so sad that he died. I'm down to 3 goldfish now. I'm kind of rethinking this whole native tank thing. As cool as it will look I don't have my heart into it. I really just want saltwater. I have to get saltwater equipment and that's going to take some time. So in the meantime we don't want an empty tank... I have researched the hell out of saltwater. I don't really want to research native species anymore... It's very hard to find good information on them. *sigh*
 
It's official. I'm not going native. It was a fun idea but I can't handle the guilt of them dying. I'll get some glo light tetras.
 
Bearchumjs said:
It's official. I'm not going native. It was a fun idea but I can't handle the guilt of them dying. I'll get some glo light tetras.

Any type of salmonoid is going to be extremely sensitive so really it's not all that surprising it died. Let the tank get established for awhile get lots of plants and other micro fauna established and then try to add three small sunfish or bluegill. Make sure to try an match temp, ph and gh/kh from where they were caught, also take the time to drip acclimate them.
 
Mogurako said:
Any type of salmonoid is going to be extremely sensitive so really it's not all that surprising it died. Let the tank get established for awhile get lots of plants and other micro fauna established and then try to add three small sunfish or bluegill. Make sure to try an match temp, ph and gh/kh from where they were caught, also take the time to drip acclimate them.

I didn't drip acclimate the salmon. I did the one where you add water and remove water.

What micro fauna are you talking about?

I just feel like I need a bigger tank to have natives, I'm not sure what to feed them, crawfish will eat the plants... My daughter has already cried over the dead fish and the fact that the other fish will get eaten by the big fish. It's life. That's how it works, but I don't want her to be sad that her fish got eaten.

What I really want is saltwater. That's what my passion is for. I'm thinking I can get some small fish that I can rehome or move to a 20-30 gallon tank one day. If I catch fish I can't re-release them without worrying about the effect on the environment and I won't be able to move them to a smaller tank. This isn't to say I won't change my mind. I may decide to go native afterall, but today has been hard. Between the 2 goldfish deaths, the salmon death, and the near betta death (my 2 year old dumped the whole thing of food in his 5g tank. I won't be keeping the food in the 55's tank stand anymore... I had to get him out before he bloated himself to death. I cleaned the entire tank. And it's good now) I just need to sit back and think about what I want to do with this new tank. Thank you guys so much for your advice, knowledge and encouragement. I truly appreciate it!
 
Native is not easy... huge tanks, laws, having to match water parameters exactly... seems like lots of work (although I'm just learning along with you in this thread)...

In the end you gotta do what you love, and if that's salt, then I say go for it.
The tank you have opens your saltwater options a lot more than native options (I would think, correct me if I'm wrong).

Glofish are actually really cool. We have 4 of them in a "colorful" tank my gf put together! They're goofy and always swirl into these little pretzel clusters lol
but unless you have actinic bulbs they don't glow as strong as they do in the store, so don't expect them to be like glo-stick bright or anything.

Sorry to hear you changed your mind about native, but either way it's been a learning experience!
 
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