Fellow monster fish keepers, I have been asked to help consult with a new public aquarium exhibit with native Michigan fish. The tank is 14' x 9' x 3.5' with a total volume of 3300 gallons. The idea of the tank is to house native fish which are commonly caught by anglers around the state. The system will have an appropriate chiller and a full commercial filtration system.
I have experience as a public aquarium biologist and have been in the commercial side of this hobby for two decades now, but I am not too ignorant to think I always have all of the answers so I figured this would be the best forum to look for some ideas and bounce ideas off of experienced native fish keepers. This is your chance to have input on a truly monster native aquarium.
My ideas are as follows:
Proposed species
largemouth bass
smallmouth bass
bluegill
warmouth
pumpkinseed
longear sunfish
green sunfish
longnose gar
shortnose gar
spotted gar
bullhead catfish
lake sturgeon (have access to hatchery raised fish and can exchange when they outgrow the system)
bowfin
This list is not all encompassing but the species composition maximizes the diversity of the tank and also allows for fish at all levels of such a deep tank. While species like musky, pike, pickerel, walleye, trout, perch, etc. were all discussed as well we have left them out because of either necessity for cooler water, poor competition with other species, high aggression or predation possibility, etc. Structure will mimic natural structure as much as possible. Rocky and sandy areas with submerged driftwood and possibly some realistic fake native plants.
Thanks for your time and help with this, I will post pictures as soon as the system is up and running.
I have experience as a public aquarium biologist and have been in the commercial side of this hobby for two decades now, but I am not too ignorant to think I always have all of the answers so I figured this would be the best forum to look for some ideas and bounce ideas off of experienced native fish keepers. This is your chance to have input on a truly monster native aquarium.
My ideas are as follows:
Proposed species
largemouth bass
smallmouth bass
bluegill
warmouth
pumpkinseed
longear sunfish
green sunfish
longnose gar
shortnose gar
spotted gar
bullhead catfish
lake sturgeon (have access to hatchery raised fish and can exchange when they outgrow the system)
bowfin
This list is not all encompassing but the species composition maximizes the diversity of the tank and also allows for fish at all levels of such a deep tank. While species like musky, pike, pickerel, walleye, trout, perch, etc. were all discussed as well we have left them out because of either necessity for cooler water, poor competition with other species, high aggression or predation possibility, etc. Structure will mimic natural structure as much as possible. Rocky and sandy areas with submerged driftwood and possibly some realistic fake native plants.
Thanks for your time and help with this, I will post pictures as soon as the system is up and running.