Hey y'all I am getting a 75 gallon from my uncle and I am wondering how y'all would set it up for sunfish. I know he has gravel in there already, but I was wondering if sand is better? Also what types of plants would y'all suggest. The sunfish going in are 2 longears, 1 red-spotted, and maybe a couple of greens. Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance!
75 gallon for sunfish
Started by
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, Jul 11 2013 10:31 AM
14 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 11 July 2013 - 11:57 AM
My favorite setup is an inch or two of dirt, and inch or two of sand, driftwood, and vallisneria. In a 75 with sunfish you would want about 7 smaller sized sunfish. Which kind of Longears are you talking about? Megalotis (Central) or Peltastes (Northern) ?
#3
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Posted 11 July 2013 - 01:13 PM
I've heard them called a couple different names, but I call them southern longears. They were caught in South Louisiana in the atchafalaya river basin. What kind of sand do you use?
#4
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Posted 11 July 2013 - 02:44 PM
There is a third option other than gravel and sand. I use pure ground baked clay. It's marketed as kitty litter with no fragrances or clumping chemicals added, and is sold at $4 for 25 pounds. The advantage to clay versus gravel is that it easily grows plants. The advantage to clay versus inches of soil capped in inches of sand/gravel is thickness. You don't need to cap clay in anything. It stays down on its own and can grow plants in as thin as a half inch. Here is a picture of our native myriophyllum pinnatum growing in a thin layer of kitty litter. You can see where its roots hit the bottom and fanned out from the bend in them:
http://gallery.nanfa...er/018.JPG.html
The clay is regionally mined. Some regions of the US have high mineral content and will impart as much as 17 degrees of hardness to the water. Other regions of the US have low mineral content and the tap water that touches it can stay at its initial 0 DH. I have lived in both. Cleveland kitty litter made the water 17 DH (tap water was 7) and Winston-Salem kitty litter doesn't change the 0 DH tap water. You might want to test the pH and DH of the tap water before and after mixed in a little cup of the kitty litter.
Although, now that I have a Tanganyikan cichlid setup, I am learning that plant will grow in both 0 DH water and high DH water. I tossed some of the 0 DH plants into the cichlid tank to see what would happen and after a month of acclimation they are now growing as rapidly as they had in their old environment.
Information on kitty litter nutrient content: http://www.thekrib.c...rate-jamie.html
http://gallery.nanfa...er/018.JPG.html
The clay is regionally mined. Some regions of the US have high mineral content and will impart as much as 17 degrees of hardness to the water. Other regions of the US have low mineral content and the tap water that touches it can stay at its initial 0 DH. I have lived in both. Cleveland kitty litter made the water 17 DH (tap water was 7) and Winston-Salem kitty litter doesn't change the 0 DH tap water. You might want to test the pH and DH of the tap water before and after mixed in a little cup of the kitty litter.
Although, now that I have a Tanganyikan cichlid setup, I am learning that plant will grow in both 0 DH water and high DH water. I tossed some of the 0 DH plants into the cichlid tank to see what would happen and after a month of acclimation they are now growing as rapidly as they had in their old environment.
Information on kitty litter nutrient content: http://www.thekrib.c...rate-jamie.html
Edited by EricaLyons, 11 July 2013 - 02:55 PM.
#5
Guest_LSUMAN_*
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Posted 11 July 2013 - 03:17 PM
Thanks for the info! The only problem I see is my sunfish like to make nest and it looks like that might cloud up In the process
#6
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Posted 11 July 2013 - 04:22 PM
I use a fine sponge in the filter and it removes all dust.Thanks for the info! The only problem I see is my sunfish like to make nest and it looks like that might cloud up In the process
#7
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 11 July 2013 - 04:38 PM
Kitty Litter does not work well with Sunfish, especially when they have the chance of spawning, I know from experience. As for what kind of sand to use, I would recommend pool filter sand.
#8
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Posted 12 July 2013 - 06:48 AM
Ah, the digging. Well, you can put the plants in terra cotta pots filled with clay and they'll be able to grow well, even if the rest of your substrate is plain old sand or pea gravel. Some people even bury the pots so they're not visible.Kitty Litter does not work well with Sunfish, especially when they have the chance of spawning, I know from experience.
Potting the plants is a good way to avoid the mess that would happen if the digging sunfish moved aside the top layer of sand/gravel and start rooting around in the inches of soil (if the substrate was a few inches of soil capped in a few inches of sand or gravel).
#9
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Posted 12 July 2013 - 07:28 AM
That's what I was afraid of, but I never thought about putting the plant in a potter in the substrate. I want to find some local plants, some floating and some planted in the substrate I think would be nice, now I just have to find a nice piece of driftwood
#10
Guest_kamikazi_*
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Posted 18 July 2013 - 12:58 PM
Not to hijack the thread, but I'm thinking about turning my 75 into a native tank. I would likely want it to have darters, various minnows (shiners/daces etc) and sunfish. I would probably try to go with orange spots and or blue spots. If I can't get those I'd probably go with pumpkin seeds or green sunfish.
If I have darters and minnows in my tank, how many sunfish would I be able to do? Or is that a bad plan altogether?
And to bring it back to topic, if it were me I would collect my own substrate from the stream and use jobe sticks to help plants out. OR use pool filter sand and jobe sticks for plants.
I know, I know there could be nasties in the collected substrate, you could clean it/dry it out in the sun or boil it. But if you get it out of the same water as the fish you have I don't see the need to do anything to it.
If I have darters and minnows in my tank, how many sunfish would I be able to do? Or is that a bad plan altogether?
And to bring it back to topic, if it were me I would collect my own substrate from the stream and use jobe sticks to help plants out. OR use pool filter sand and jobe sticks for plants.
I know, I know there could be nasties in the collected substrate, you could clean it/dry it out in the sun or boil it. But if you get it out of the same water as the fish you have I don't see the need to do anything to it.
Edited by kamikazi, 18 July 2013 - 01:07 PM.
#11
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 18 July 2013 - 01:35 PM
O spots, and any Enneacanthus should be okay. Larger Lepomis are suspect, and green sunfish have particularly large mouths, and will make meals out of your darters and minnows with a quickness.
#12
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 18 July 2013 - 07:26 PM
Not to hijack the thread, but I'm thinking about turning my 75 into a native tank. I would likely want it to have darters, various minnows (shiners/daces etc) and sunfish. I would probably try to go with orange spots and or blue spots. If I can't get those I'd probably go with pumpkin seeds or green sunfish.
If I have darters and minnows in my tank, how many sunfish would I be able to do? Or is that a bad plan altogether?
You need to be careful about mixing sunfish and darters... I know some folks do it successfully so I am not saying no... I am saying be careful. Darters are from the riffles... Enneacanthus are from swampy areas. So you need to plan for the fish and what they need in a habitat.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#13
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Posted 18 July 2013 - 10:56 PM
If you're thinking of using plants as your primary means of biological filtration it would likely take a lot of pots of growing plants. I've tried it before with fast growing plants and wasn't happy with the success of the nutrient use. The pots looked OK in there though so if that's your main goal then it shouldn't be a problem. I've had good luck using a few inches of sand to protect the top soil from nesting sunfish. A shallow layer of gravel sprinkled on top the sand adds even more protection. Another approach could be to limit the lighting somewhat. Mine usually don't start nesting until I forget and leave the lights on for more than 10 hours a day for a few days.That's what I was afraid of, but I never thought about putting the plant in a potter in the substrate. I want to find some local plants, some floating and some planted in the substrate I think would be nice, now I just have to find a nice piece of driftwood
#14
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Posted 19 July 2013 - 06:12 AM
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You need to be careful about mixing sunfish and darters... I know some folks do it successfully so I am not saying no... I am saying be careful. Darters are from the riffles... Enneacanthus are from swampy areas. So you need to plan for the fish and what they need in a habitat.
Not all darters come from riiffles. You could keep swamp, Sawcheek, Iowa, least and several others in a low flow tank with Enneacanthus and a low flow shiner like taillight and they would all do great. You just have to decide what the overall theme of the tank will be and realize that there may be limitations. Don't forget those funky new lake dwelling rainbow darters from the most recent AC either. Just goes to show that some darters are much more adaptable than we might think.
#15
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Posted 19 July 2013 - 09:16 AM
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You need to be careful about mixing sunfish and darters... I know some folks do it successfully so I am not saying no... I am saying be careful. Darters are from the riffles... Enneacanthus are from swampy areas. So you need to plan for the fish and what they need in a habitat.
Not all darters come from riiffles. You could keep swamp, Sawcheek, Iowa, least and several others in a low flow tank with Enneacanthus and a low flow shiner like taillight and they would all do great. You just have to decide what the overall theme of the tank will be and realize that there may be limitations. Don't forget those funky new lake dwelling rainbow darters from the most recent AC either. Just goes to show that some darters are much more adaptable than we might think.
Because of the positioning of my filter outputs I have a higher flow area at the front and a slower flow at the rear. I wonder if there would be a way to make this work more in my favor with a power head near the lower front to increase the flow more in the front without changing the rear flow much? I guess the question is how much difference in the water speed would there need to be.
Edited by kamikazi, 19 July 2013 - 09:17 AM.
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