Advice For A Complete Beginner

Why not? Those were good listings, btw. Did you research Minnesota fish? I kept finding that they can be found here while looking them up. Thanks! They seem to be all bottomfeeders

What are all these "cons" to carp? What would be the difference between them and koi, as pets?

And what about the smelt I asked about? They're cute, they get a perfect size for a good, schooling fish (7-9 inches) and they'd be super easy to catch. I just need to know if they'd be good aquarium fair.

The fish I listed are found pretty much everywhere. You aren't going to find a species that isn't a predator and grows to your desired size (at least I can't name any off the top of my head).

I have no idea why anyone would want to keep a carp for any other reason than for food. They grow too large for aquariums and have odd feeding habits. Koi aren't aquarium fish either.

If smelt is your thing, then don't let anyone stop you. There are more colorful and better (in my opinion) native fishes suitable for aquariums.

Oh, and as for carp, they are invasive and should be killed when caught.

Do you want Nile Perch this big?

Looks like the perfect tankmate for my Northern Pike. Will they do OK together in a 55 gallon? I hope I can train them to eat chicken.

No, wait, that guy is big enough to eat carp, yes? So the solution to the carp problem is simple - just release a bunch of Nile Perch!

Do you want Nile Perch this big?

I wonder how many endemic cichlids that guy ate into extinction?

Smelt are more-or-less invasive too, aren't they? (Or are there other smelt species besides rainbows?)

Depending on how you define "predator", there are lots of species of all sizes that are not predators. The largest fish in the world is a plankton strainer. There are lots of insectivores/invertivores out there. It sounds like you are just looking for relatively peaceful fish that won't eat their tankmates. Golden shiners are attractive, active schoolers, similar in size to smelt (and a heck of a lot easier to care for). Sunfish would be my choice. There are lots of very attractive SF: longears, orangespotted, bluespotted, etc. There are larger darters that fit your size criteria (e.g., logperch). Half the fun is researching and deciding what you want, half is catching them, and half is enjoying them in the tank.

Why in the world are you insisting on big fish? If you want a big fish, get one and be done with it. If you want to best portray the native environment, you should accept the fact that small fish DO exist, and look into the suggestions made earlier.

Posting here is probably just way too slow to gather a lot of information. I've been doing some research, and let me tell you, the dirth of information on native species - when compared to tropical fish - is depressingly frustrating.

Yeah, exotic fish are way more popular and easier to obtain. I just went to my local library and found tons of books for tropicals, but none for natives. Nature Serve, has a map with watersheds of the US. With details on each fish, pretty wonderful site. So, detrivores, scavengers and algae eaters are what you perfer? I can look up some fish for you. Cent. Stoneroller, Northeren Hog Sucker, Rainbow darter, Mountain redbelly dace, greenside darter, bluntnose minnow, etc... some of those are in your state and some are not. The Northern hog suckers can become pretty big, you can read more about them here.

I'm not sure about detrivores and scavengers. Madtoms and bullheads, I think are scavengers, but I don't think they make good tank mates (I don't know much about them) Some of the fish I listed might be detrivores (stonerollers), they might be your answer instead of carps.

I like arnoldi suggestions:
Topminnows for the top.
Minnows and shiners for the middle.
Darters for the bottom.
An enneacanthus or two for variety.
They vary between 2" and 9"
You can put in any plants you like.
Those types of fish will generally eat frozen food and/or flake.

I also liked drews list:
creek chubsucker, Erimyzon oblongus
northern hogsucker, Hypentelium nigricans
central stoneroller, Campostoma anomalum
and maybe a smaller Moxostoma spp
and similar species

Looks like the perfect tankmate for my Northern Pike. Will they do OK together in a 55 gallon? I hope I can train them to eat chicken.

I would love to see you fit a big Nile Perch into a 55 gallon tank.

I wonder how many endemic cichlids that guy ate into extinction?

Probably a few

I would love to see you fit a big Nile Perch into a 55 gallon tank.
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Oh it's really pretty easy remember the gills are the only part that needs to be under water. Stick it in head first with a powerhead spraying water back on the tail fin sticking out the top of the tank. Actually this might be the perfect fish for one one those bowfront corner tanks.