Hello all,

I recently found this forum as I was doing online research about starting a native fish aquarium. There is a ton of useful, helpful, and informative stuff on here, so I thought I would sign up for the forum. I'm very much a newbie at aquarium keeping, but am learning a ton from this forum as well as some help from others.

I'm located in north central West Virginia. I live in the Monongahela River drainage, but frequent several others including the Cheat, Tygart, Youghigheny, Potomac, Elk, New, and Greenbrier (lots of watersheds -- advantages of a headwater, high elevation state). I have a MS degree in fisheries management/research, and did my thesis on Brook Trout distributions within WV. I sampled a ton of streams (about 150) spread across the state while doing my thesis field work, and saw lots of "new to me" species, and gained a lot of respect for native non-game fish. That's a lot of what prompted me to want to start a native aquarium.

So back to my aquarium. I have a 50 gallon tank that I have set up (for the most part). Given my location and the types of streams I'm most familiar with, I wanted to set up a "riffle tank." See the pictures below. I intend to put a powerhead on the right-hand side of the tank (tracking says its supposed to be here tomorrow). I also will probably get a few more creek rocks for the substrate. Since these pictures have been taken, I've added 3 small rosy red minnows to start the tank. They are happy and getting acclimated nicely.

I will happily take suggestions/criticisms/tips on my tank project. Mostly I will probably be a silent member and learn some things from the forum, but may ask for help from time to time or chime in occasionally to topics I'm familiar with. Thanks in advance for responses.

Hello and welcome, Brookiechaser!

Your tank is looking good so far. What do you plan to stock in it?

Oh yeah....forgot to mention what I plan on putting in there.

Well I guess it depends on what I find exactly, but some darters, maybe a small sculpin or two, and some "cool-water" minnows.

To start, I should be able to find the following:

Blacknose Dace
Longnose Dace
Fantail Darter
Mottled Sculpin
Stoneroller

Eventually I'd hope to be able to find some of these species as well for the tank:

Rainbow Darter
Mountain Redbelly Dace
Rosyside Dace

I also know of a local stream that is stupid thick with scuds....I'm hoping to get them established as well, at least in a filter or separate tank if the fish gobble them up too much.

Be careful with sculpin- they are both delicate and voracious. Any sculpin in your tank are likely to die, and may take some surprisingly large tankmates down before they go. I suggest you stick with minnows, darters, and perhaps some killies, madtoms, and small suckers.

Scuds should not be too difficult to raise. There are a few threads on them in the Live Foods subforum. Good luck!

Who was the guy who had a sculpin choke to death on the head of a catfish bigger than it was (killing both)?

Welcome!

I knew sculpin were voracious. During a field sample one time, we had a large sculpin choke to death on a brook trout about twice its size in the "revival tub". I didn't know they were so delicate though. Thanks!

Edited by brookiechaser, 02 February 2010 - 12:48 PM.

Ha! Turning the tables, eh? That reminds me of a grass pickerel I caught that regurgitated a sculpin. I was surprised! The pickerel was in a stream eddy, but I wouldn't have thought it would go into the riffles to feed, or the sculpin venture into the eddy. Shows what I know.

From what I understand, successfully keeping (eastern) sculpins almost necessitates a chiller. Some of the western sculpins may be more heat/oxygen stress tolerant.

The ones in WA state are generally extremely intolerant of warm water and crowded conditions. Maybe different in California, but typically I wouldn't expect to find sculpin in slack water of any kind except near creek inlets.

Are you a Petty or Hartman student? Just curious if we've met elsewhere.

There are lake-dwelling sculpins in the north. Still, cold water.

Are you a Petty or Hartman student? Just curious if we've met elsewhere.

Petty. Was in grad school from 06-08.



I really would like to be able to keep sculpin. If the problem is mainly temperature associated, I may be able to get by. My tank is in the garage/basement, and it stays pretty cool down there. I will hold off until I see what the summertime temps will be down there though. If my mind remembers correctly, Potomac Sculpin (Cottus girardi) inhabit fairly large, warmer streams, that may be my best bet if the other parameters are suitable.

Edited by brookiechaser, 02 February 2010 - 07:43 PM.

Potomac sculpin and for that matter Blue Ridge sculpin, are in by no means coldwater obligate fish. Blue Ridge stay fairly small, but I've seen some monster Potomac sculpin that could eat your finger.