11 replies to this topic

[Gilly13]

Hi all. I joined back in 2017 amd posted a topic about sunnies and setting up a native tank.
I had lots of wonderful advice from here and Zimmermans and was all set to rehome my remaining comrts and start on the new tank.
Than life came in like a sledghammer with my grandpa having a stroke, my dad dieing and then caring for my grandfather for 2 years then of course covid. So all aquarium plans derailed.

Fast foreward to now and I have one remaining comet that i am attempting to rehome, i have had him for 9-10 years (if i can convensr my mom i swear she loves that fish more then me).
I was digging into all my old emails and notes about my origional proposed setup which was,

4 Blue Spot/Black Banded sunnie mix i think (also hade notes about Orange Spots)
2-4 Darters Savanah, Iowa, or Rainbow
And then schooling fish which is where my notes get confusing as all hell cause i have notes and ideas on about 20 different fish.
Blue fined Kilifish, Shiners(someone told me those were more a breeders fish) and flagfish

So im here to try to one agai get ideas for this tank fleshed out....again
I run a Eheim 250 Canister filter on a 36gallon bowfront. Currently have 4 snails with the vonet 2 nerite 2 mystery.
I would also be open to suggestions to good plants and hardscape ideas as I will be making it a planted tank.
Thanks again for all the help hopefully i can put all the knowledge to practical use this time.

[littlen]

Sorry to hear all that youve had to go though. Hopefully setting up
a new tank can bring you some peace. I think I speak for many here when I say that fishkeeping brings a lot of joy to my/our lives. Seems that your comet has brought your mom a lot of happiness.

You could do quite a lot with your tank. Local shiners and darters are a great combo that youll find a lot of info on with some quick searches. Blue-spotted and Black-banded sunnies would make another great tank with the addition of some live plants.

All of your choices are great and easy fish to care for in my experience. Just figure out which species interests you the most and we could supply some tips for keeping those specific species.

Best of luck.

[Gilly13]

Thanks I hope so as well.
Had a bit of a eruka momemt this am dont know why it took me so long to think of it, but I will use some of the stimilus money to finally be able to redo my outdoor pond, move the comet out their get him a friend and everyone will be happy lol.

Someone from my previous post commented on Shiners being more os a "breeders fish" because of how their life cycle is? I guess i would like peoples ideas for the schooling fish.

Ive pretty much settled with the B. Spots and B. Banded sunnies just looking at quanity now.
Same with the darters. All of these ive been told will be personable "wet pets" like my comets and koi.
Also that the slightly larger sunnies like Orange Spots that i heavly considered arnt as good a choice in a comminity tank.

[littlen]

Im not sure what the shiners are more or a breeder fish but is about or what the person who told you that was talking about. Shiners make great additions to community tanks and are peaceful. They are schooling fish and a decent sized group of them would fill the mid/upper water column for you.

If you share where you are located (no need to be too specific, state/county/local river or body of water) and we could help
figure out some species that you could collect.

[Gilly13]

Im in Saginaw MI so anything in the Tri City area Saginaw, Bay City, Midland and surrounding areas.
Also talking to Brian at Zimmermans.
Ok with the shiners the post im refrencing is in the old 2017 topic i started.
I had a lot of helpful responses but wanted to see whats changed in 4 years.

[PBK]

Gilly, try catching some banded Killies or Northern Redbelly Dace from you area. They’ll be easier to feed and don’t need ph adjustment
for the water. Do your research.

[Gilly13]

I had just started looking into the Redbelly Dace as a schooling fish, as opposed to shinere.
Which of the fish that im considering are ph sensitive?
Its been tricky digging for info on specifics of care for some of these fish in a aquarium setting, but im doing my best to have as much research and knowledge beforehand.

[Robert Lamb]

Which of the fish that im considering are ph sensitive?

 

 The bluespotted and blackbanded sunfish

I am seconding PBK's banded killifish suggestion, and redbellies are very nice.

[Gilly13]

Ok so doed that inculde all sunfish?
Because my main point behind this tank was to have a main "wet pet" type fish, and my research and suggestions by other in the hobby led me to sunfish and the b.banded and b.spot.
I had also looked into the Orangespot but was told i would have to forgo any of the other fish in the tank.
How ph sensitive? Are they too touchy for aquarium setting? This is new info for me.

[Michael Wolfe]

No, not the case for all sunfish.  The Enneacanthus group lives in extremely low pH environment and if you want to recreate their habitat then that is a consideration.  However, I would offer a different opinion and say that these sunfish are not really pH sensitive and they do quite well across a large range of pH.

[littlen]

Beating a dead horse here, but a school of dace would be great. Redbellies are very attractive fish and can be bred fairly easily in captivity.

The sunnies will do fine in your water. I had Bluespotted breed in D.C. tap water which is right about 8 (pH).

Great suggestions/advice all around.

[Gilly13]

Thanks good to hear.
I think I will go with a school of 6 redbelly dace,
2 rainbow darters, and either just 2 b.spot sunnies or add in 2 b.banded as well.
Can anyone give me a idea on life expentancy on these fish?
Ive heard 4-5 years on the sunnirs, 2-3 on darters and have no clue about the dace.
Thanks for all the suggestions.