125 Native Stocking Ideas?

[appleton71]

I've kept many types of fish over the years including fresh and saltwater. Now I want to try something different. I just tore down my 125 saltwater tank and built it into a wall between the laundry room and rec room in my basement. I want to give freshwater natives a try but I can find very little info. Can anyone give me some stocking ideas? I'd like to keep it fairly peaceful and avoid anything that could outgrow the tank.

 

[Red Cichlids]

Lots of North American natives at Jonah's Aquarium.

I think you could have some fun using a combination of shiners, minnows, darters and pygmy sunfish. I would check with Jonah's to see which fish shoal together because a shoal of 8-12 schooling fish could be your centerpiece, with a few extras around the margins.

 

[appleton71]

I've had Jonah's bookmarked for a while now. Definitely the best selection I've seen for natives. At first I was thinking one or two bigger fish with a few others but I like your idea better. A shoal would be a great centerpiece.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Chub minnows are a personal favorite of mine.

 

[tlindsey]

I suggest keeping the temperature of the basement cool if you choose to keep Rainbow Darter's.

 

[Kelly_Aquatics]

Maybe check out grass or red fin pickerel part of the esox family they look like pike but only get 12 inchs and paired with some sunfish would be cool

 

[Hendre]

The local fish in the states are quite pretty, I find stream tanks to be highly enjoyable since they bring out some incredible behaviour in the fish! Darters would be my vote

 

[appleton71]

I suggest keeping the temperature of the basement cool if you choose to keep Rainbow Darter's.

Temperature won't be a problem as I've never seen my basement above 70 degrees. If the pumps and other equipment add too much temp I have a chiller left over from my saltwater setup.

 

[tlindsey]

Temperature won't be a problem as I've never seen my basement above 70 degrees. If the pumps and other equipment add too much temp I have a chiller left over from my saltwater setup.

Great to hear definitely get a group of Rainbow Darter they are very entertaining non stop lol. I miss the group I had unfortunately they started dying when the air conditioner went down in the summer here. If I put them in my basement instead of the first floor the Darter's probably would have survived. I got my group from Jonahs Aquarium Mark was a pleasure of doing business with and fish arrived healthy and alive.

 

[tlindsey]

Great to hear definitely get a group of Rainbow Darter they are very entertaining non stop lol. I miss the group I had unfortunately they started dying when the air conditioner went down in the summer here. If I put them in my basement instead of the first floor the Darter's probably would have survived. I got my group from Jonahs Aquarium Mark was a pleasure of doing business with and fish arrived healthy and alive.

This was my group