Yellow Perch question

First Id like to say hi to everyone. Im new to the board. Just got into the native fish hobby. I live in Washington state.

I just got my first specimen. Its a 3-4" Yellow Perch. I have had him in the tank 4 or 5 days now. My concern is his behavior. Most of the time he just swims into some fake plants I have in the tank and lays near the bottom hardly moving at all. The only way i've been able to tell he is even alive is slight eye movements and a little movement from his gills. Im no expert on fish by any means, but this doesn't seem like healthy behavior. The fish does seem to be feeding though. I had about 10 small fish in the tank on his introduction, and there are currently only 6 left. Is this behavior consistant with others here? From reading other posts it sounds like it might be, but wanted to check.

More on my tank set up... I have a 55 gallon glass tank. I got this as an established tropical tank with some cichlids. I sold them to a pet store and prepared it for natives. Aquascaping and such. In the mean time I introduced 10 zebra danios just to keep the bio filter going. I figured once I got my natives they would turn into feeders which they have. As far as filtration goes I have a Fluval 305 and Aquaclear 70. The nitrates/nitrites are pretty much non-existant. Water temp today is about 66F.

Other plans call for 1 or 2 more fish. Either Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, or Rockbass. I have to wait a little while longer for those since the water temps around here are still colder, and those fish aren't as active yet. I wish we had more variety up in the NW like some of you else where.

Kevin

Welcome to the site. I believe it to be normal behavior as mine did that for the year+ that I had it. It might be a different story if you had a school of them in a big tank. You will want to at least upgrade to a 75G in a year's time as the 55 will be too small. I kept mine with green sunfish and warmouth so you shouldn't have too many problems keeping them with sunfish.

When I've kept Yellow Perch they did the same thing but only for a couple weeks. Once they get used to the tank they are fine especially if they get used to you providing the food. Once the feeders are gone hold off a couple days then drop in the feeders for one feeding at a time till you are recognised and welcomed.

When I've kept Yellow Perch they did the same thing but only for a couple weeks. Once they get used to the tank they are fine especially if they get used to you providing the food. Once the feeders are gone hold off a couple days then drop in the feeders for one feeding at a time till you are recognised and welcomed.

This was my experience also. You don't need to feed it live feeders, though. Mine devours freeze-dried freshwater shrimp. Actually, it devours anything I feed it, which includes occasional live feeders, but mainly the freeze-dried.

They are peaceful toward all other tankmates, so long as the tankmates are not small enough to eat. Beautiful fish.