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You only have a month or two to worry about cold water. You can raise the salinity a touch during that stretch if freezing is a worry. Salt also has the benefit of keeping a number of pathogens in check. A cup and a half of salt in 100 gallons should raise you to about .1% salinity. I think...

It's a Bluespotted Sunfish! https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=377

According to the farmer at https://www.hanoverkoifarms.com/ , it is also important to "maintain the proper kH/alkalinity", give the page a read if you are in the mood for a good rant.

My favorite mix for my 125 gallon is Crappie, Buffterfly Koi, Waken, and Comets, which I've been running about 4 years now.

I have not been able to put Black Crappie with any aggressive fish. I have sucessfully put them with Yellow Perch, Large Goldfish, and Koi. I have lost Crappie to Pumpkinseed half their size. I give mine worms and feeders from time to time., they will not take pellets. They do eat freeze...

The picture is not good enough to say for sure. Sunfish, and rock bass, and crappie can all change color to a degree. From time to time I will fish a dark one out, and within a minute or two in the bucket they are back to normal. I've also seen sunfish become really dark when sick. Although...

Personality: Best: Green, Worst: Redbreast Shape: Best: Bluegil, Worst: Longear Color: Best: Longear, Worst: Bluegil Overall favorite: Pumpkinseed

You could always try to catch one yourself if they are local for you: http://www.bowfinanglers.com/maps.html

Assuming you are raising the trout for food, I would suggest googling aquaponics and/or fish farming. There is a ton of information out there, and several good forums to get advise from people that do this for fun and/or profit.

Cool fish, how is their swimming style? Would they swim fast enough to compete for food in a community tank with commons/comets/koi of similar size?

A pair of Lemons and a pair of Wakins

My favorite for koi are goldfish and crappie. I've been keeping crappie for about a year and a half now, lost one to a pumpkinseed half it's size, and then another to an angelfish in a semi-aggressive tank. For me the crappie do best in the peaceful community, I was surprised that they really...

Goldfish and Koi are coldwater, and very popular. I think the barrier to natives is all the regulations restricting them. The LFS doesn't want the hassle, and the vast majority of the customers will just pick from stock anyway.

Yes, for the most part, but even so, Lepomis are aggressive and territorial, so some losses to aggression are not uncommon, and typically more so with someone trying them for the first time. Crappie on the other hand are not territorial, much more gentle, and cannot hold their own with Lepomis...

No, it's not heated, but it's on the first floor, and I keep the house at 68 or higher. They did take well, the only difficulty being they cannot be placed in the same tank with any aggressive fish, a sunfish will beat them down, even a much smaller one.

My crappie are completely domesticated now, they beg for food when I walk by, and hit the food hard when it hits the water, no shyness left in them at all. They eat whole food and freeze dried, but still do not take pellets, I have not given them live food for quite a while now. My yellow...

I have a yellow perch in with my crappie, and have been happy with the combination. I have a small bullhead I'm planning on trying with them when it grows big enough. Neither species has been overly aggressive for me, either in feeding or temperament.

I've had problems over the years with store bought feeders bringing disease into the tank, fortunately my crappie took to frozen and freeze dried fairly quickly. I went from live earth worms, to dead earth worm pieces, to freeze dried krill, and made sure they were nice and hungry by giving...

A 7" bullhead will likely eat the 1" crappie as soon as the lights are out. My son and I started keeping crappie for the first time this year. Brought 3 home in the 5" to 6" inch range. We tried them in our 125 with various sunfish, and they got harassed. We lost the 5" to aggression from a...

A RES will grab any fish it can get it's mouth on, hold on tight and rip it to bite size pieces with it's sharp claws and strong arms. Any sunfish or catfish is at risk unless the fish is very big and the turtle is very small. I was surprised to find that small creek chubs work well with RES...