creating FL biotope tank

Hi,

I'm brand new to this forum. It looks great. I currently only have one fish after making a long move from IN to MT and am in the process of putting a new ~210gal tank together (literally). I have a male dollar sunfish from northeastern FL that made the move with me and some Malayasian trumpet snails. Prior to the move he has lived with a range of other fish. I've never noticed him preying on other fish but saw some posts mentioning this... I've had him for a few years and fed him various inverts (alive and frozen).

I've read several posts suggesting they will pick off other fish which has me concerned. Is this more likely with females than males? I thought maybe they have greater energetic demands with egg production.

My tank build can be viewed on another forum http://www.reefcentr.....ighlight=~210 . I plan to make it a Florida biotope tank (FL springs, etc. may be a mix of spring, lake, etc. inhabitats). Here are some tentative ideas for fish to include:

Fish (#s are really tentative)
2 dollar sunfish (Lepomis marginatus)
4 blue spotted sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus) [these sound harder to keep and may not be included]
12 salfin mollies (Poecilia latipinna)
10 least killifish (Heterandria formosa)

Current ideas for plants:
Sagittaria kurziana (strap-leaf sagittaria) (grasslike plant)

Some that may produce emergent (above water growth) leaves/stems
Ludwigia repens (red Ludwigia)
Hygrophila costata

short foreground type plant
Elocharis baldwinii

I'm wondering if adding more dollar sunfish will be bad or if I should avoid all the smaller fish and just have sunfish? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I now live in Montana but have family that lives in the Ft. Myers, FL area. So I usually do some collecting during visits home.

Thanks,
Kurt

Hi,

I'm brand new to this forum.

Thanks,
Kurt

Hi Kurt,



Welcome aboard.

One of the first things most of us look for when talking fish is where you're from. We don't need an address to your house or anything. Most of us like to post what state we're in and maybe the nearest city or what water basin we're in (looking at my profile on the left, you can see I've got both listed). You can set that from the My Controls link above, and from there you can click on Edit Profile Information.

Tom

I'm a Florida boy living up in Montana. So collecting is something that I can only probably do once a year (typically around Punta Gorda, FL [north of Ft. Myers]). Otherwise, I'm relying on purchasing specimens through a couple of dealers & aquabid.

I'm a Florida boy living up in Montana. So collecting is something that I can only probably do once a year (typically around Punta Gorda, FL [north of Ft. Myers]). Otherwise, I'm relying on purchasing specimens through a couple of dealers & aquabid.

Depending on what you're looking for check out the commercial vendor section. They are all good people and are in different parts of the country so they may be able to get you some of the species you want.

Tom

Hi Tom,

I'm really hoping to get some tips on what to try and what to avoid when building a community tank. Any suggestions on what will work in terms of compatibility would be great. Originally, I was thinking of adding some more dollar sunfish and getting some smaller fish through the online vendors. After reading some posts, I think that my fish might be atypical in its avoidance of eating other fish...

For example, I've heard alot (not 100%) of stories about flagfish being aggressive towards other fish...

There used to be a site called something like Spike's Everglades Aquariums. He sold native S FL fish and talked about his multiple community tanks. He kept dollars in a community tank. I don't want to get more dollar sunfish and add e.g. least killifish if the sunfish is/are likely to pick them off--especially if I'm paying a premo for the killis. Obviously the behavior of the fish is not 100% predictable and some predation may occur. I'm trying to avoid some obvious mistakes in terms of placing differnt fish together in a tank.

I'm hoping the size of the tank and it being a planted tank will help ensure that several species coexist...

If I were in Florida then I would be more likely to simply experiment and add all sorts of stuff and see how things sort themselves out. I can often catch bluefin killies, least killies, salfin mollies, brook silversides, flagfish, hog chockers, etc. in an afternoon near where my mom lives. [all freshwater btw]

Dollars can eat smaller fish so I would not include least killifish, and bluefin killifish may also be too small depending on the size of your sunfish. Mollies and flagfish would both work well since they grow larger and are a bit wider-bodied. Bluespotted sunfish would also be a good tankmate (they are not hard to keep). Other fish found in the same biotope that would do well in your tank include golden topminnow, marsh killifish, mosquitofish, coastal shiner, and golden shiner. All the plants that you listed are good for a south Florida tank.

As far as flagfish being agressive - mine hide in the vegetation most of the time and do not bother anyone

Thanks mzokan.

So I guess I'll probably limit my tank to the one dollar sunfish and keep him well fed with bloodworms, worms, etc.

In my previous tank, I had an overflow that created some problems with topminnows. I'm hoping in the new tank it will be less of a problem so I may try them again. Maybe I'll try some flagfish again and would love to try some bluespotted sunfish.

I would love to have something that forms tight schools. I saw golden shiners available before and thought that they would be good except for their large size. The coastal shiners that you mention may work though.

Thanks again for the great suggestions. Kurt

Thanks mzokan.

So I guess I'll probably limit my tank to the one dollar sunfish and keep him well fed with bloodworms, worms, etc.

In my previous tank, I had an overflow that created some problems with topminnows. I'm hoping in the new tank it will be less of a problem so I may try them again. Maybe I'll try some flagfish again and would love to try some bluespotted sunfish.

I would love to have something that forms tight schools. I saw golden shiners available before and thought that they would be good except for their large size. The coastal shiners that you mention may work though.

Thanks again for the great suggestions. Kurt

Keeping him well-fed will not keep it from eating the least killifish(which aren't even killifish, they're livebearers). Sunfish NEVER get full. I've had bluegill, warmouth, a longear, and a redbreast all gorge themselves to the point of death. I put a lot of minnows in the tank thinking they would eat them all over a period of time. They were gone overnight and I found my warmouth, bluegill, and redbreast dead. The same thing happened to my longear, except with bloodworms. Luckily, all of those fish were easily accessable, and I still had 4 longears left, but it just goes to show that "well-fed" doesn't always prevent predatory instinct. Since sunfish are oppertunistic(sp?) feeders, they eat all they can, while they can, since they can't always eat everyday. Just wanted to warn you.

[1] I plan to make it a Florida biotope tank (FL springs, etc. may be a mix of spring, lake, etc. inhabitats).

[2] I would love to have something that forms tight schools. I saw golden shiners available before and thought that they would be good except for their large size. The coastal shiners that you mention may work though.

Notropis harperi - redeye chub (reportedly may soon be moving to Pternotropis-land) are often found in loose schools in N. Fla. springs and spring runs, nicer looking fish than the rather bland coastals. Often found mingling with bluefin killies. Excellent under-loved aquarium and community tank fish.

Pternotropis hypselopterus - sailfin shiner - would be another pretty good choice, schools well, found in peninsular Florida. Likes moving water tho.

HTH

Doug