125 gallon-MN Native fish

Hi I am new to this forum and am interested in setting up a new 125 gallon with MN Native Fish. I have a Mag Pro 350 with Biowheel and and Empire 400. I would like to have a planted community tank if possible (bass, perch, walleye, sunfish-maybe a muskie). I do have a backyard pond loosely stocked with bass, bluegill and some walleyes, in case the fish get too big and need to be re-homed.

What is the rule of thumb for how many fish I can keep, peacefully, together? Is one combination better? Also, if I do collect from the wild, do I need to worry about parasites? ?And if so, how to treat? There is a hatchery close by where I can get fingerlings also.

What about water temp? Do I need a chiller, or can the fish adjust to room temperature. (I live in northern MN). I appreciate any and all advice.

Hi I am new to this forum and am interested in setting up a new 125 gallon with MN Native Fish. I have a Mag Pro 350 with Biowheel and and Empire 400. I would like to have a planted community tank if possible (bass, perch, walleye, sunfish-maybe a muskie). I do have a backyard pond loosely stocked with bass, bluegill and some walleyes, in case the fish get too big and need to be re-homed.

What is the rule of thumb for how many fish I can keep, peacefully, together? Is one combination better? Also, if I do collect from the wild, do I need to worry about parasites? ?And if so, how to treat? There is a hatchery close by where I can get fingerlings also.

What about water temp? Do I need a chiller, or can the fish adjust to room temperature. (I live in northern MN). I appreciate any and all advice.

As you may already know, the larger game fish will likely outgrow that tank eventually. Is your pond connected to a creek or any other inlet/outlet? If so, I would encourage you not to release your fish, since they can introduce parasites, diseases, etc to native populations.

In my opiniong, bass tend to be aggressive, especially larger ones. I don't know about muskies and walleye though. What kind of sunfish are you planning to use for the tank?

Room temp is fine. Walleye live in deeper, cooler parts of lakes though, so they might need cooler temps.

The larger gamefish are not the best candidates for a tank that size or a community. To acquire gamefish you typically will need to get them from a private pond, hatchery, or by whatever legal means your state fishing regulations state. For example if you wanted yellow perch and could only get them from the wild you would have to get a fish that is over the size limit (if there is any) in Minnesota. As you increase your biomass in the tank you may want a little more filtration. That MAG 350 is rated for a 55 gallon if I remeber collectly, maybe 75. That may influence how and what you stock into the tank. A couple bluegill, perch, and maybe a bullhead would make a nice lake community tank.

Welcome to the forum and community.

Thanks for the reply. The 350 pro is rated up to 100 gallons and the empire is rate up to 40 I believe. There is a hatchery close by so that would be the way to go for me. I look forward to finding out more about the native fish aquarium.

You could try to raise some walleye for your pond.

Walleye don't usually spawn in ponds and must be restocked every so often

Hold a minute! You want add walleye and muskie to 125 gal tank? That would be no-no. And there are laws in Minnesota that you can keep some gamefish in home aquarium legally. But as long as you can get some walleye, northern and muskie from hatchery then you're safe, avoid collecting these fish from wild. Legally, you can collect "panfish" species only such as sunfish, perch, bullhead and crappies. Forget largemouth and smallmouth bass they aint worth it. "Baitfish" in Minnesota terms which usually mean minnows, suckers, darters, scuplins, madtom, mudminnows, stickleback and other small fish species, so you can collect the "baitfish" legally as long as you don't catch any protected species.

Legal "panfish" species:
Bluegill
Pumpkinseed
Warmouth
Longear
Orangespotted
Hybrids
Black crappie
White crappie
Rock bass
Yellow perch
Yellow bullhead
Brown bullhead
Black bullhead

That's it, you can collect these panfish from wild legally with fishing license with only line and hook. Then there's commerical vendors and you can check them out in other forum.

I think sunfish, crappie, perch, rock bass and a BLACK bullhead or stonecat would be work. Maybe add common, golden shiners or creek chubs if you want have schooling fish, without bullhead in the tank.

Forget about stocking walleye in your pond, its not worth it as they grow too big and need cold water. They rarely reproduce in ponds. Its pointless to have walleye in your pond.

Thanks for all the replies. My pond is private pond in our backyard that we built. There is not inlet/outlet except for rain and ground water.

Perch, crappie and bluegill all sound interesting to me (not sure sure about the bullhead) as well as the bait fish. How many of each fish would work in a 125 gallon?

Thanks for all the replies. My pond is private pond in our backyard that we built. There is not inlet/outlet except for rain and ground water.

Perch, crappie and bluegill all sound interesting to me (not sure sure about the bullhead) as well as the bait fish. How many of each fish would work in a 125 gallon?

You could probably get away with one or two perch and crappie, and a few bluegill. If you did want a bullhead, I would only get one, as they can be pretty aggressive.

Hold a minute exactly! Stacir explicitly stated that the walleye are in her private pond and not being collected out of wild populations managed by the state. She has already stocked her pond with walleye and wasn't asking for fisheries management advice or opinions on the pond. While it's fine to point out that recruitment is minimal if successful in small ponds, it is certainly not pointless to stock a private pond with walleye if you want to grow them for a put and take fishery. Please take a deep breath, read completely and thouroughly, and then respond, especially when someone is a first time poster looking for genuine advice.