5 replies to this topic

[Ad4m123]

Greetings from Nebraska everyone! Im working on setting up a 72 gallon bow-front native tank, and im struggling to figure out what to stock it with. Creek chubs seem cool, but im not sure if the tank is big enough, and the same goes for bluegill and other sunfish that reach 12 inches. Considering looking for some orangespotted sunfish, but finding them is the challenge. Anyone from the Nebraska or great plains area have any stocking ideas or advice for me? Thanks in advance!

[Michael Wolfe]

Step One - Buy "The Fishes of Nebraska" by our very own Bob Hrabik (and it has an O-spot on the cover)

 

And without hardly cracking my copy open, I see that you have red shiners and they would be great in a tank that size... and I am sure you have other minnows and mad toms to make a very interesting tank.

 

I would be very careful with Creek Chubs... they are omnivores with a huge mouth...  and the rule of fish is "if it fits it goes in"

[Ad4m123]

I remember coming across that book on amazon once but completely forgot about it. Ill be sure to get my hands on that, thank you!

[JasonL]

The pivot point is whether you want a tank of 10-15 or more micro species or a tank of 3-5 larger species.   Creek chubs get big enough and are tough enough to hold their own with larger Lepomis species, but anything that could even remotely fit in their mouth will be a goner sooner rather than later.  
 

If you go the micro route, you could mix orangespots with a wide array of local minnows and darters.  Likely from nearby watersheds. The book above would be a good starting point for your collection efforts.

[Josh Blaylock]

Step One - Buy "The Fishes of Nebraska" by our very own Bob Hrabik (and it has an O-spot on the cover)

 

And without hardly cracking my copy open, I see that you have red shiners and they would be great in a tank that size... and I am sure you have other minnows and mad toms to make a very interesting tank.

 

I would be very careful with Creek Chubs... they are omnivores with a huge mouth...  and the rule of fish is "if it fits it goes in"

 

 

I had 2 river chubs in my 125 community tank.  There were multiple times that I found a live fish in the mouth of one of the River Chubs.  Same may happen with the Creek Chub when it get big.

 

Check out what you have nearby @  www.fishmap.org 

[UncleWillie]

Yep - As everyone mentioned, if it fits, it gets ate.  You have a tank plenty large enough for creek chubs, but you just need find out what type of tank you want and how willing you are to have some fish become meals.  I will echo what Jason said.  You can either have a tank with larger Lepomis that really the tank, and have larger, tough minnows that are large and fast enough to hold their own, OR you can go with smaller species in higher numbers that will potentially have little less tank chaos.  I've gone both routes, and each have their pros and cons.