I was wondering what native fish would be best for a novice? I'm going to be using a 10 gal. tank; In a few months I'm going to buy a bigger aquarium (50 gallon maybe). I'm not wanting to keep anything bigger than a warmouth.

I was wondering what I might also need to buy for keeping Native fish? I have a ph test kit, dyno power filter, and Biozymes.

are you a novice aquarist or a novice to native fish?

are you a novice aquarist or a novice to native fish?

I've kept tropical fish before, with no problems. I've kept guppies, gold fish, mollies, bettas, bala sharks, and a few others.

I've tried to keep 2 small mouth bass (both were about 1 inch in size) on 2 different occasions, both lasting around 2-4 weeks. I tried to also keep a bluegill (about the size of a nickel, maybe just a bit bigger), with about the same success as the bass. I think the bluegill lasted almost 2 months.

--Edit--

I would like to try darters, I don't know if they would be good for a novice. If they're not, I would like to try some sort of small minnow (or slow growing). I live in between the New River and Greenbrier river. I'm also near Bluestone Lake (within walking distance).

Shiners are where it is at! You should definitely try a Notropis sp. minnow. There are several that are pretty colorful, hardy and active, but would be OK in a group of 5 or so in a 10 gallon tank... and they look even better in a larger tank. Not sure what the species is in your area, but yellowfins are common in my area and a great fish for your situation (Gerald, you are online and know these fish well, what is a shiner of the same group as yellow fins and rainbows that is in his area?). They eat easily and are good tank neighbors... the only problem is they do sometimes jump.

I've kept tropical fish before, with no problems. I've kept guppies, gold fish, mollies, bettas, bala sharks, and a few others. ...I would like to try some sort of small minnow (or slow growing). I live in between the New River and Greenbrier river. I'm also near Bluestone Lake (within walking distance).

I've kept tropical fish before, with no problems. I've kept guppies, gold fish, mollies, bettas, bala sharks, and a few others.

I've tried to keep 2 small mouth bass (both were about 1 inch in size) on 2 different occasions, both lasting around 2-4 weeks. I tried to also keep a bluegill (about the size of a nickel, maybe just a bit bigger), with about the same success as the bass. I think the bluegill lasted almost 2 months.

--Edit--

I would like to try darters, I don't know if they would be good for a novice. If they're not, I would like to try some sort of small minnow (or slow growing). I live in between the New River and Greenbrier river. I'm also near Bluestone Lake (within walking distance).

Do you know about the cycle process...It sounds like you didn't cycle your tanks.

Chad

I have a few 10 gallon tanks set up that contain mainly darter species native to ohio. they seem to do very well if you make sure to add a powerhead to create current for them. they'll eat anything from small aquatic insects, to brine shrimp, and cut up worms. i started out about a month or so ago, but i have the fish fever really bad. i know have 5 tanks set up with about 30 or so different species, 13 of which are darters. and im proud to say i havent killed a single fish yet. (knock on wood) but ill have to agree you need to make sure you properly cycle your tanks to create bacteria that will regulate the levels in your tank. simply put you need to set up your tank, throw in a few fish that you do not really care what happens to them. after a week or so take them out, check your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels and you should be good to go.

Shiners are where it is at! You should definitely try a Notropis sp. minnow. There are several that are pretty colorful, hardy and active, but would be OK in a group of 5 or so in a 10 gallon tank... and they look even better in a larger tank. Not sure what the species is in your area, but yellowfins are common in my area and a great fish for your situation (Gerald, you are online and know these fish well, what is a shiner of the same group as yellow fins and rainbows that is in his area?). They eat easily and are good tank neighbors... the only problem is they do sometimes jump.

The only shiners in my area that I would like would be the crescent shiner and the spotfin shiner. Another one caught my intrest, but it's listed as vunerable.

Do you know about the cycle process...It sounds like you didn't cycle your tanks.

Chad

I have known about the cycle for awhile, but I didn't know there was a way to test the nitrates (I live in a small town and they don't keep much for fish aquariums). I also knew about "New Tank Syndrome" for quite awhile (his feeders were living in the tank for awhile before him). I use to do 25% water changes every week (for tropical fish), but when I kept natives I did 33% water changes every week.

I have no idea what happened to those bass, they were eating minnows just fine. They looked healthy, they didn't seem to be that stressed. I forgot to mention that I had gathered other minnows before him and they survived just fine (so I have a tiny bit of experience with natives).

I have a few 10 gallon tanks set up that contain mainly darter species native to ohio. they seem to do very well if you make sure to add a powerhead to create current for them. they'll eat anything from small aquatic insects, to brine shrimp, and cut up worms. i started out about a month or so ago, but i have the fish fever really bad. i know have 5 tanks set up with about 30 or so different species, 13 of which are darters. and im proud to say i havent killed a single fish yet. (knock on wood) but ill have to agree you need to make sure you properly cycle your tanks to create bacteria that will regulate the levels in your tank. simply put you need to set up your tank, throw in a few fish that you do not really care what happens to them. after a week or so take them out, check your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels and you should be good to go.

I don't have a powerhead, I have one of these. I don't know if Wet (not my local pet store) Pets store carries powerheads (it's possible they have them since they expanded their store), I have never seen one of those before (except here). I'll probably have to order some stuff online.

I'm wanting to try and collect some darters, I know exactly where I can find some. I'm wanting to add a few other minnows also. I want to be sure to not over crowd the tank.

I saw you said you wanted nothing bigger than a warmouth. Why not get a warmouth? They're awesome fish. I have two. I did have more but they disappeared from my pond. If you get small ones(1"), they can live in a 10g for a while. That would give you time to set up a larger tank. If your going to get a 50, you might want to consider even breeding them. I think they can breed in a 50g. Not sure though. Either centrarchid or Brian(smbass) would know. Like I said, awesome fish. There are also other smaller sunfish. Any of the Enneacanthus sp. are great for the home aquarium, as long as they are not protected by your state.

... as long as they are not protected by your state.

I presume you mean protected in the state in which you collect them. If they're protected in your state, get them from another state where they can legally be collected, unless they are also banned in your state. Go fishing out of state yourself, or ask someone here to get you one legally.

I have two.

I think you need to update your sig, which says "1 warmouth".

I presume you mean protected in the state in which you collect them. If they're protected in your state, get them from another state where they can legally be collected, unless they are also banned in your state. Go fishing out of state yourself, or ask someone here to get you one legally.

Well, here in GA blackbandeds are protected becuase they're endangered within the state of GA. So a fish he wants, although it may be considered common throughout the rest of its range, may be considered endangered in his state.

I think you need to update your sig, which says "1 warmouth".

Yeah, I know. I get a little lazy about that becuase I get fish and lose them all the time. I did just have 1 warmouth. Then I caught one last night, and this morning I caught two more. So like I said, the amount of fish I have is constantly changing.

Edit: Now I have 6 warmouth. As you can probably tell, I love these fish.

For me if you bought a 50 a warmouth is hard to beat. I would try to find some young fish. Chamelion of the water world the warmouth is. As long as you throw a few minnows in there or gambusia better yet from the wild and do not let the water get to over 80 degrees I think the warmouth is a tough and subtly beautiful fish to keep and despite its name it is very non aggressive. Then you could keep some northern long ears in there. I had a central long ear in with my warmouth and the warmouths eyes started to get foggy. I read about (central) long ears and found out they like to nip eyeballs of other fish. Read it somewhere anyway. I removed the central long ear and the eyes of the warmouth cleared up. Why I did not remove the warmouth speaks of its desireability as a aquarium fisn. The central long is is a gaudily pretty fish but the subtle beauty and the calm nature of the warmouth I find hard to beat. I say try norther long ears with him because I am told they stay smaller and very less aggressive. Well I am trying them for the first time. I recieced my shipment of three that were caught in norther Ohio I think. A friend caught them for me and shipped them to me.

So those two, warmouth, and northern long ear. As far as other fish go maybe more suggestions from other members would help. Catfish just get too big. Unless you can get a madtom with some decent size to it. So as not to fit in the warmouths large bass like mouth. I love sunfish so so much it would be hard to say what one species I would keep. If I did it would be western dollar sunfish. I have one now in a fifteen by itself. It is by itself because it has been in there by it self for so long anything I throw in there it harrasses to no end. They are a little scrappy for their size and aggressive to say the least. But in a large tank if I were to have a large species tank and were forced to keep one fish it would be the dollar sunfish from the Mississippi watershed sysetm. Western dollar sunfish WOW STUNNING.
Lots of cover and lots of dollar sunfish to keep the aggression down. If you want a sunfish of sheer beauty that western dollar at least for me can not be beat. But they are aggressive and much so for their size. As far as hard to keep. That I would not worry about in the least. Anyone can keep a sunfish alive indefinatly I believe. The can be trained to eat anything. When I say trained. You throw food in water and they eat it.

As far as how many it depends on how much work you want to make that tank. More fish = more work as far as frequent water changes especially with sunfish who like to put it out, if you get my drift.

Good luck.

Northern longears are a good choice too, but they can be aggressive. I think they would be fine with a warmouth though, as long as they were the same size or the warmouth larger. I have 5 N. longears and one of the males is starting to get some color on him. He's really starting to look good.

As far as a catfish with the warmouth, if you get a decent sized cat that won't outgrow your tank, it should be fine. My 5" warmouth is living with a 2" bullhead. A midnight snack if it weren't for those spines. Most warmouth won't mess with catfish because of the spines on their fins. So something like a larger madtom, a stonecat, for instance, should be fine with a warmouth. And stonecats won't grow 18" long like a bullhead would.

I'm going to be using a 10 gal. tank

I've got a 10 gallon with 2xblackstriped topminnows, 2xfantail darters, and 1xjohnny darter, and it's been a great first native tank. The killies have been the easiest to care for, but it's not like the darters have been tremendously difficult.