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First Native Tank. Help and opinions much appreciated.


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#1 BISHOP710

BISHOP710
  • NANFA Guest
  • California

Posted 23 September 2016 - 12:29 AM

Hello! I'm planning on getting 65 gallon aquarium and was thinking of stocking it with the fish from Jonah's Aquarium, Aquaculture Store, Zimmerman's Fish, and BTDarters because I have no nearby creeks where I live. I wanted to know if the fish I've chosen below are compatible and if not which ones should I get rid of, I prefer to keep the sunfish and the madtom. I also wanted to know how many of each fish can be put in the tank because I don't want it overcrowded. Also other things I would like to know is, what to feed each fish, what decor should I put in the aquarium (is fake plants ok?), what filtration system should I use, and also the overall pH and temperature of the tank (is no heater ok)? I compiled a list of fish I want to put in the tank below and also put down the dimensions of the fish tank. Sorry for the long post and sorry for the absence of photos as I am not sure how to upload them.

Thanks in advance.

 

Fish Species

 

Name: Mexican Dwarf Orange Crayfish

Max Size: 2in max

Feeding: ?
 

 

Name: Eastern Starhead Topminnow

Max Size: 3in max

Feeding: ?

 

 

Name: Blackside Darter

Max Size: 4in max

Feeding: ?

 

 

Name: Tadpole Madtom

Max Size: 5in max

Feeding: ?

 

 

Name: Blue Spotted Sunfish

Max Size: 3.75in max

Feeding: ?

 

 

Name: Banded Sunfish

Max Size: 3.75in max

Feeding: ?

 

 

Name: Blackbanded Sunfish

Max Size: 4in max

Feeding: ?

 

 

Name: Bantam Sunfish

Max Size: 3.5max

Feeding: ?

 

Aquarium

 Aqueon® 65 Gallon Aquarium Ensemble

65 Gallon

$199.99

 

Dimensions: Tank: 18.4"L x 36.4"W x 25"H
Stand: 20"L x 37.9"W x 30"H

 

Temperature: ?
pH: ?
 



#2 Drx

Drx
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 23 September 2016 - 01:29 AM

the crayfish would become a snack pretty quickly  the madtom more then likly will eventualy eat the starheads. Room temp is great for them. I wouldnt mess with ph stable ph is more important then hitting a secific ph. I perfer canster Filters as there out of the way sunsun filters are a cheep but work very well. For filters your looking for a turn over rate of 7-10(pumps all the water x times an hour.) The sunfish you picked out are some of the less agresive ones which is good. I would highly sujest looking into planting your tank as all of those sunfish come from heavey plants and will behave and color up better with live plants in the tank. I would ether do 1 madtom or a group of 3-4 darters. Darters will be harder to feed as the sunfish are highly agressive during feeding. A pair of each type of sunfish would work as long as you set up your tank with sight breaks anddifferent territory for the fish to claim. For some more active fish I would look in to a group of 4-6 shinners would bring alot of action to the tank. This would be right around max stock and would take weekly large water changes filter with good turn over rate and good maintenance practices.



#3 itsme

itsme
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 September 2016 - 10:38 AM

Yes, the Madtom may eventually eat the Topminnows, but you'll have some time with that unless you get a really big madtom.  Speckled Madtoms would be safer.  I can supply those if you give me some notice.  The Madtoms are going to go after the crayfish for sure.  The Sunfishes are more or less compatible, but all these species will be territorial when in breeding condition.  It is likely that one of the species will dominate and drive the others into the shadows.  But, having a mix of species helps to disperse overall aggression.  So in that case, maybe two to three of each species.  Bluespotted and Blackbanded are less aggressive, so will likely be dominated by the Banded and Bantams.  I have Bluespotted and Blackbanded in stock.  Some recommend soft, acid water for the Ennecanthus, but I have never does this and have has no problems in that regard.  So pH 7 and medium hardness is fine.  Temp can vary widely.  Do not use a heater.  In warm water aggression is higher, fish require more food, are under greater oxygen stress and are more susceptible to illness.  Room temp is great.  Maintain good aeration at all times for the darters.  These sunnies don't feed as aggressively as the larger Lepomis, so keeping the darters fed may not be that difficult.  

 

Feed frozen Bloodworms, Brineshrimp and Daphnia to all of them.  If you do the crayfish, alfalfa pellets are good.  Some Freeze-dried and flake and pellet feeds can be used too.  Live foods are always great.  Just needs to be small enough for these small species to wrangle.  

 

I'd shoot for about 30 fish total for this tank.

 

Live or artificial plant cover is very desirable for these species.  Live is always better if you have a setup that will support the plants you choose.  Rocks and wood would be great too.  Topminnows and Percina like open areas for swimming.   Madtoms like caves.  Don't need to be big ones.  They will squeeze into any corner.

 

Email me for our latest stocklist.  The web site is not up to date at the moment:  jonah@jonahsaquarium.com



#4 BISHOP710

BISHOP710
  • NANFA Guest
  • California

Posted 23 September 2016 - 06:50 PM

Thanks to "Drx" and "itsme" for your detailed informative responses. I will definitely use the advice you guys gave me. Also just a couple more questions, what live plants would you would recommend, what's a good substrate and finally how much lighting would I need.Thanks.

#5 Drx

Drx
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 23 September 2016 - 09:53 PM

Lighting depends on the plants you want to keep and budget you could go with t5 shop lights for the cheep end or a led like fenix planted + 24 for a medium price tag. the nice thing about led is that you don't need to replace bulbs 1 a year like the shop lights and they cost less to run. Also the one I mentioned is adjustable.

Plants dwarf sagitarius, jungle Val, java fern, java moss, anubius, and sword plants are pretty bullet proof add a floating plant like frog bit to soak up extra nutrients. Substrait is a matter of prefrence I use home depo pea gravel which is about as cheep as you can go. Eco complet is a great aquarium plant specific substrait. With the plants mentioned they should be more then happy living off of just fish waste but a sword would like root tabs such as Osmocote Plus.



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