75g w/ North American Natives

[fitsforfish]

I have a 75g sitting in the floor right now waiting to get set up. I am going to keep North American natives in it. I live on a river, I also know people who work in the local fishery. I am going to keep: blue gill, perch, bass, catfish, minnows,... I was thinking about using a Fluval 304, but I am concerned that it won't be enough. Jush looking for some feedback/ ideas/ thoughts. Thanks

 

[Christmasfish]

Most of the fish you have listed seem to big for even a 75g. The crappie are the smallest fish you have listed (other than of course minnows) and they like to school. Most natural catfish are pretty big fellahs as well as a danger to tankmates. I wouldn't think you could keep perch and Bass in anything smaller that a pond. And don't most perch have brackish or marine aspect of develpoment? Some Bass too.

Minnows and catfish are all I know of that are sucessful in home aquariums....
Throw the adult sizes and species behavior out there (minimum group size) and you'll get a better opinion from the experienced fishkeepers of the board. My specialty is labyrinth fish which are distant relatives of perch and even so; they are a whole different taxonomic Family.

Not many here are into releasing fish into the wild no matter if they were wild to start or not. So what do you plan to do with the adults when they outgrow your tank before the year is even up? :?

 

[fitsforfish]

I am planning on keeping only fingerling (sp??) I will be releasing the fish once they become to large for the tank, and replacing them with smaller fish. The release of the fish will not be a problem since they will come from the same river I release them in. The ones that I will get from the hatchery will be released to, which is what they were hatched for. I've talked to the people in the local hatcher and they assure me that this would be the best way for me to care for the fish. I will also be getting fingerlings from the hatchery instead of the 6-8" fish they usually release. The max size in the tank will be about 5-6".

In addition to the Fluval 304 I am going to use addtional filters till I get turnover in the neighborhood of 7-8 times an hour. That will help on the tank load.

This fish should get along o.k. even though their all semi-aggresive to very aggressive. As long as I keep the sizes proportional. "technically" the only fish that should get eaten are the minnows, which will be replaced from a minnow trap in the river.

 

[Thaiboxer]

For filtration, get an Emperor 400 to supplement the Fluval. They're really reasonably priced at some good online stores, and they're nice filters!

As for the fish... I'm no more qualified than the others, but instead of release I'd fillet I'd recommend Walleye instead! Mmmmm...

I love my fish... and my fish!

 

[madasafish]

www.bigalsonline.com has the Emperor 400 for $40. That's the best price I've seen on the filter. www.drsfostersmith.com also has it for more or less the same.

 

[fitsforfish]

big als online has some great prices!!!! The Fluval I was fixing to chunk 134.00 is 69.00!!!!!! This looks like a great web site, is it trustworthy???? I am kinda skeptical about buying stuff online...Do you get what you pay for?? Thanks

 

[dralarms]

I buy stuff from them all the time, Yea they are trustworthy. They had a problem a few weeks ago with shipping but that is cleared up now.

 

[patryuji]

I just made my first order with bigal's a week ago and the shipping seemed prompt. I could not beat the price of the Emperor 280 anywhere else I looked (local it is nearly double the price bigal's online has it listed for).

 

[dralarms]

I've placed 2 orders in 2 1/2 weeks, 200 gal IO, 2 powerheads, all kinds of stuff. They have gotten better with their shipping dept.

 

[mattpiaszak]

I've ordered several times from Big Al's. I've never had a problem or a single item arrive in less the perfect shape. The local stores around milwaukee are charging 3 times as much as Big Al's does. On to your tank question, I've got a 55 gallon tank with 2 bluegills that are about 6" now and a 5" pleco. The tank is probably going to be too small for both the bluegills shortly, you will be surprised how fast yours grow! You might want to start off slowly with your lake tank and only have 1-3 fish in there depending on the species. Let us know how it works out!

 

[nyghtone]

Heya, I've seen this done a number of times, growing up in a poor community in montana, kids always "find" old fishtanks and then go to the river for fish, because most of them can't afford to actually buy any fish.

I saw a kid keep two channels in a 55 gallon tank just by changing the water everyday from a well, they lived to be quite large, but tasted like CR@P when he just to filet them, haha.

Good luck with this, I've never seen it done with actually aquarium setups, I'll be interested to see how it works out..