Any of you try keeping brook trout? I was interested in keeping one or two because their a nice looking fish and readily available in my area.

Brook Trout are very hard to maintain in aquaria. They need fast flowing, cold water with high DO content. I'd say a 180 gallon could maintain around 3 adult fish if maintained at around 56-58 degrees via a very cold room or a chiller with 2 or 3 very large powerheads for flow and some excellent mechanical filtration to keep the water clean. So, not a good fish for beginners. I plan on trying to growout a few sometime this year in a 33 long with excellent water quality but even so I'm not sure I'll be able to cool the water enough for such an experiment as I theorize they'll start to kick the bucket around 64 degrees or higher.

You wont be able to.  they need cold water, preferably high flow, and are one of the most sensitive fish ever.
 
Sean will chime in any second now haha, #1 brookie fanclub president there hahaha.

You know me to well Josh .

I told you where they're at lol. I'll be sure to grab you one and a bowfin if I can find a small one this weekend when I go up there.

haha I dunno man! I'm still skeptical there are grass pickerel and bowfin there!  If you find them definitely grab them haha

Edited by predatorkeeper87, 13 May 2015 - 12:18 PM.

I went fishing tonight and caught a 19 inch pickerel 

I went fishing tonight and caught a 19 inch pickerel 

man...I'd kill for those fish here.

Haha, I saw a bunch of em. Tried to catch one that was like 7 inches but I couldn't manage too. Too small for my crank bait and too fast for a net. 

are you allowed to use a cast net in your state? That'd be your best bet for those torpedos with teeth.

No, cast nets are illegal for freshwater use, which is weird because all the walmarts have a large stock of them. 

My best idea currently is to put a large net where I know the small one likes to sit and wait till he swims over it

My best idea currently is to put a large net where I know the small one likes to sit and wait till he swims over it

haha ive done that with dipnets, I leave them for 20-30 mins and let the fish get used to them, then yank 'em up when they are comfortable again

small pickerel are very easy to catch, just use smaller bait, they attack anything, also ,the small ones hang out near shore and can be dipnetted,

small pickerel are very easy to catch, just use smaller bait, they attack anything, also ,the small ones hang out near shore and can be dip netted,

I didn't have anything (other than worms) small enough for it to hit and if any of my lures got near it it shot off so Im going to go with the dip net approach next time I'm there

I didn't have anything (other than worms) small enough for it to hit and if any of my lures got near it it shot off so Im going to go with the dip net approach next time I'm there

at that length any small silvery minnow-esque lure should work.  Walmart has my all time favorite lure, the SonicMinnow.  It'd be perfect for pickerel, should check that out

at that length any small silvery minnow-esque lure should work.  Walmart has my all time favorite lure, the SonicMinnow.  It'd be perfect for pickerel, should check that out

I might have one....cant remember exactly. But I didn't have all my fishing gear with me so I didn't have many options as for size. 

How do you get wild fish to eat fish food?

which type of fish are you trying to train onto food? and what type of food are you using?

I have some sinking shrimp pellets and some floating food

What species do you want to convert to pellets?

Sunfish and perch

_{Sunfish and perch}

 

 

both are easy to convert.   just starve them and only offer pellets, they'll take them.  my perch and sunfish eat any type of pellet I put in the tank.