Is it realistic to plan to stock a 150 gallon aquarium with bluegill, black crappie, smallmouth bass, and crayfish? (from the family cambaridae, if that helps).
Someone is asking my opinion about whether or not that's a good idea and I don't have any experience with those fish, so I'm extending the question to all of NANFA. If you think that's a good stocking plan then please say so. If you think the fish are all going to kill one another, I'd like to know.
150 gallon tank stocked with bluegill, crappie, bass, crayfish?
Started by
Guest_EricaWieser_*
, May 21 2012 09:25 PM
18 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_davidjh2_*
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Posted 21 May 2012 - 09:36 PM
Interesting mix Erica. You'd be able to get combine the fish fairly easily as long as you didn't heat the tank and kept the oxygen content high. the crayfish wouldn't have a chance though. The Smallmouth and crappie would eat them quickly. I'm keeping some fairly large crayfish with my adult Bluegill with no problems but the larger mouths of the Crappie and Smallmouth would have no problems scarfing them down
#3
Guest_EricaWieser_*
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Posted 21 May 2012 - 10:03 PM
thank you, that helped. 
#4
Guest_steve_*
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Posted 22 May 2012 - 12:33 AM
I can say from experience that eventually one smallmouth bass will be plenty for a 150 gallon. That's what I have in my 150. It's 17" long and may very well still be growing. Just going on how it looks in the tank, I don't think I'd want to add any more fish to it. Before adding an algae scrubber to the tank, I was doing about 4 or 5 twenty percent water changes a week just to keep the nitrate level down too, and that's with just one fish. If a community predator tank is what is desired, I'd probably leave the smallie out, but that's just my opinion. Others may have different experiences.
#6
Guest_exasperatus2002_*
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Posted 22 May 2012 - 07:19 AM
Crayfish are a staple in a smallmouth's diet. Good to feed it to them once in awhile.
#7
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 22 May 2012 - 11:17 AM
You can do it but swapping bass out as it gets larger will be needed. With respect to bluegill a monosex population will exhibit longer term social stability. Crayfish can even be kept with smallmouth bass but a great deal more cover in the form of large rocks will greatly increase lifespan of the crayfish used. Having bass pellet trained may decrease effort it expends targeting crayfish.
#8
Guest_davidjh2_*
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Posted 22 May 2012 - 11:38 AM
I'll never put pet crayfish in a tank with bass again. I had a young largemouth in a tank a few years back along with 2 6 inch channel catfish. All of my crayfish regardless of size eventually disppeared. I won't keep bass anymore and even though I want to get a couple of Margined or Tadpole madtoms I'm nervous about putting even dwarf catfish in with my crayfish.
#9
Guest_MichiJim_*
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Posted 22 May 2012 - 04:57 PM
I've kept all of those fish. Every tank is different, but I think that would be a difficult one to manage. The comments above are good - smallmouth love to eat crayfish, bluegills (as all Lepomis) do well in a heavily stocked group of other Lepomis of similar size (my experience, others may differ). That is a lot of sloppy eaters. Also, my experience with crappie is they like their tank mates a little more calm than bluegills or bass.
A heavily planted tank with a group of black crappie and larger, calmer minnows (do you have finescale dace - Chrosomus neogaeus - in NC?) would be beautiful.
A heavily planted tank with a group of black crappie and larger, calmer minnows (do you have finescale dace - Chrosomus neogaeus - in NC?) would be beautiful.
#10
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 22 May 2012 - 05:58 PM
I don't think a dace would last much more than a minute in a tank with a Crappie of any considerable size.
#11
Guest_hornpout_*
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Posted 08 September 2012 - 06:02 PM
Erica, I think the crayfish and dace will be snackcakes for with big-maw fish like bass and crappie. Smallmouth bass are eating machines that will grow two feet and eight pounds, eventually outgrowing all but the kind of massive custom tank we all dream of owning 
...I'd stick with sunfish, crappie, and big minnows. I'm not sure what's available in your area, but I've had great luck with big shiners and chub in tanks with bigger fish. They're assertive eaters and school hard, which works well with sunfish and the like. Crappie can live a full life in that tank and grow plenty big.
...I'd stick with sunfish, crappie, and big minnows. I'm not sure what's available in your area, but I've had great luck with big shiners and chub in tanks with bigger fish. They're assertive eaters and school hard, which works well with sunfish and the like. Crappie can live a full life in that tank and grow plenty big.
#12
Guest_butch_*
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Posted 08 September 2012 - 07:18 PM
Eight pounds smallmouth bass?
#13
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 08 September 2012 - 09:22 PM
Fed quality food year round I not be surprised if 8 lbs realized. I had some very respectable largemouth in only four years and they were fed mostly pellets. To my eye they also looked much better than anything you might see at a Bass Pro display tank. Raising one a tank smaller than 100 gallons would be rude.
#14
Guest_butch_*
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Posted 08 September 2012 - 10:20 PM
I'm not saying that 8lbs smallmouth bass do not existed.....but they are not excatly common or average at that size, let alone in a home aquarium.Fed quality food year round I not be surprised if 8 lbs realized. I had some very respectable largemouth in only four years and they were fed mostly pellets. To my eye they also looked much better than anything you might see at a Bass Pro display tank. Raising one a tank smaller than 100 gallons would be rude.
#15
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 09 September 2012 - 05:40 AM
I meant to say 1000 gallons.
#16
Guest_hornpout_*
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Posted 22 September 2012 - 09:42 AM
Sure, sure. I've never caught an 8 lb bass or seen one caught in front of me- the biggest I've caught was closer to three and a half or four pounds. My point is that smallmouth bass get plenty big plenty fast, and many people bite off more than they can chew trying to keep guys. Even a two or three pound bass is going to push the limits of most regular fishtanks. You pretty much need a custom tank or pond to accomodate them through maturity. That, and in spite of the name "smallmouth", the mouths are silly-big and they inhale fish 3/4 thier own size. I'd consider keeping one myself in a specimen tank, but I hesitate on account of the fact that you can't really set them free, so euthanasia is, by and large, inevitable. As part of my fishkeepin' philosophy, I keep only fish that can live out full natural lives in my tank, but pass no judgement on others who cull.
#17
Guest_wargreen_*
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Posted 22 September 2012 - 02:32 PM
Erica, did you ever get the 150g stocked and running?
#18
Guest_EricaWieser_*
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Posted 23 September 2012 - 08:37 PM
Oh, no. That was a theoretical tank someone asked my opinion on. Having no expertise in the subject, I started this topic here. I think the group consensus is that the crayfish would become a snack for the fish. Also the fish load would lead to a very fast nitrate accumulation rate and high maintenance frequency. Therefore I recommended that the aquarium not be constructed (as originally designed).Erica, did you ever get the 150g stocked and running?
Edited by EricaWieser, 23 September 2012 - 08:43 PM.
#19
Guest_wargreen_*
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Posted 24 September 2012 - 05:53 PM
Ahhh, it helps to remember the original postOh, no. That was a theoretical tank someone asked my opinion on. Having no expertise in the subject, I started this topic here. I think the group consensus is that the crayfish would become a snack for the fish. Also the fish load would lead to a very fast nitrate accumulation rate and high maintenance frequency. Therefore I recommended that the aquarium not be constructed (as originally designed).
thank you for replying.
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