All materials in this fishtank were collected from natural areas. Except the sand, which i bought in a large bag. The logs were bleached and dried, rinsed, then used. I also had deer antlers in this fishtank. They looked great, but some sort of biofilm covered them and upon removal from the water, they emitted the WORST smell ever, so i will not do that again. I assume it was some sort of bacteria. The areas i collected were usually shallow, very rocky with open areas, had many floating leaves, logs, and sand - mud bottom. Very little vegetation was found under the water. Thus, i tried to recreate this so that the fish would interact as they would in nature. It is very interesting to observe the fish's behavior and interaction amongst each other, especially because they are acclimated to each other from living together naturally. I tried to collect juvenile sunfish, as they are easier to acclimate, and if caught early enough, learn to tolerate each other. Older individuals have a hard time acclimating and are very aggressive. I have kept many sunfish species, and i would say the long ear's maybe the most mild mannered, and also the most colorful (i have had greens, bluegills, warmouth, ). They also have a pretty small mouth, which keeps them from eating tankmates.
The fish i have include long ear sunfish (juvenile, 4), 1 bluegill, 1 bullhead, 5 shiners (unidentified), 2 bluntnose minnow, 2 striped topminnow, a few rainbow darters, 2 creek chub, and one other fish that is very similar to the creek chub, but with an inferior mouth.
With this said, the most aggressive species is the bluntnose minnow, as it will chase and harrass any fish regardless of size (chases fish much bigger). The long ears are only aggressive toward each other, they seem to be territorial. The catfish comes out at night and sort-kinda harrasses other fish, its weird to watch. The rainbow darters are hard to feed, only accept bloodworms. Other than this, everything seems to work out, occasionally a fish will become injured, and all of the inhabitants of my fishtank go into a sort of "frenzy" and attack the injured fish until it dies and eat the remains. They also go crazy whenever a crayfish molts, i assume there is some sort of chemical emitted during this process. The creek chub are just cumbersome and eat anything, rarely aggressive, but will fight back when provoked. The shiners just stick together, and also eat anything. The topminnows chase each other, but are the most peaceful fish.
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Edited by tadpoleboy, 09 December 2008 - 05:34 PM.
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