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North Mississippi Native Tank


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#1 Guest_MScooter_*

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 12:33 PM

Here are Pictures of my first tank. All material in the tank (Sand, Sandstone, Rock, Driftwood, and Plants) is from a single lake here in Oxford, MS. Inhabiting the tank are 8 yoy Bluegill, 1 mature Bluegill, 1 yoy Largemouth Bass(I think), and a Pond Slider Turtle(also guessing). More local plant and animal species to come. Please correct me if any ID is wrong. I am an eager to learn fisherman not a Taxonomist. Irate Mormon, I am pretty sure everything in the tank will die - am I right?(sic.)

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#2 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 01:08 PM

Actually, my outlook is favorable! I don't know how the turtle/fish combination will work out - you may lose a couple of the smaller fish. Or maybe not.

#3 Guest_fuzzyletters_*

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 01:37 PM

I REALLY like that mock riverbank on the left side... what size tank is this?

#4 Guest_MScooter_*

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 01:58 PM

I REALLY like that mock riverbank on the left side... what size tank is this?

The tank is a 55 gallon standard with hang on the back filter and two 18" lights -wallyworldspecial. The bank was made by piling rock and backfilling with sand and muck. I needed a platform for a turtle as well as substrate for our local chimney maker crawfish to use.(which brings up an invertebrate question) The amount of material needed shocked me at first but then i realized how much more surface area for natural filtration I was adding and went all in. Thanks for the complements.

#5 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 02:43 PM

Nice tank! Could your mature bluegill be a redbreast? Also, I am thinking your juvenile largemouth may be a spotted, or whatever equivalent you have in your area. The separation in the dorsal seems a bit too high for LMB.

#6 Guest_Scenicrivers_*

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 10:35 PM

I agree with Irate Mormon and I would really caution about mixing turtles and fish. Turtle love to eat fish. The tank may be large enough that a crayfish may not get a hold of your fish. My friend had a 55gal and the turtle devoured the fish. when I first got started with natives I had a 30 gal with a cray fish and small bluegill and shiners and the crayfish would get a hold of the shiners and well had a good snack. Your tank looks really nice, good set up.

#7 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 15 July 2007 - 11:51 AM

That's no bluegill. My first thought was redbreast. You got these in Oxford? What watershed is Oxford in?

#8 Guest_dredcon_*

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Posted 15 July 2007 - 12:17 PM

It looks like a Mississippi bluegill to me.

#9 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 15 July 2007 - 03:37 PM

It looks like a Mississippi bluegill to me.

Bluegills get that colorful in Mississippi? Wow!

#10 Guest_MScooter_*

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Posted 15 July 2007 - 04:44 PM

Bruiser is 100% Bluegill, and these photos are not of him flashing his colors. Here is a clearer picture of his spot. Notice also that the operculum is a near perfect circle once it leaves the gill plate rather than being elongated or squashed. Local Bluegill (Yocona,Little Talahatchie,Yalobusha Watersheds) are not only vibrantly colored but also vary tremendously depending on which of our three soils;Clay,Sand and Rock,River muck, their habitats are surrounded by.

I could be wrong , uhhhh... but, the yoy Bass has to be a Largemouth given the small 1 3/4 acre lake he came from only has LM B's in it. I took a second look at the photo and then Chuck Norris(her name) and concluded that the photo is deceptive with regards to the dorsal. The Largemouths that I catch in the smaller, more isolated ponds and lakes around here do not have quite the extended lower "jaw" and tend to be longer and more acrobatic than LMB I have caught in other areas. I always attributed it to a homogenization of multiple LMB subspecies through stocking of gamefish making the generic "LMB" we all think of. The trend to stock FLorida Strain LMB in this area infuriates me for this exact reason.

I will be fishing the next couple of days and will try to photo some of the color variations of the Bluegill, as well as pics of the indigenous LMBs.

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#11 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 25 July 2007 - 12:39 AM

Thats just a big male bluegill, they get just as colorful here up north too if your lucky enough to find a population that has some of those big bull males.

#12 Guest_why_spyder_*

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Posted 27 July 2007 - 08:37 PM

Great looking tank.

#13 Guest_sandtiger_*

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Posted 29 July 2007 - 11:57 AM

It's a great looking tank but you'll experiance bio-load, overstocking and aggresion issues if you don't upgrade at some point.

#14 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 29 July 2007 - 10:52 PM

I would definitely advise putting your RES in a seperate tank on his own. How big is his carapace now? If he's still pretty young, they thrive on a higher protein diet, which means he'll be hunting your smaller fish.




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