45 gallon native tank

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Nigelk8485

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 3, 2014
462
1
18
Louisville, KY
I bought a 45 gallon tank to use as a quarantine for new fish coming in. I know it's a little early to be planning what to do with it once it has served its purpose, but half the fun for me is researching and planning. I do have a smaller quarantine in case of emergencies, I just needed a bigger one to house the amount of fish coming in. I was thinking about using this 45 as a native tank and just looking for ideas. It's a smaller tank, 36"x13"x24", so what are some suggestions you may have? I know absolutely nothing about native fish so any recommendations or information is appreciated.


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I just ordered some natives from zimmerman's fish to get my tank started. You could easily do dollar and bantam sunfish without a problem.
 
If you're in Kentucky then I'd highly recommend a stream community with darters, shiners, and dace. Google Candy Darters and Southern Redbelly Dace and you'll be pleased with what you find.
 
Nigelk8485 said:
I'm loving those southern redbelly dace, almost like a knockoff of Denison's barbs.


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Me being a natives guy I see it the other way :). Check out these as well, they'd be a bit of a drive for you to get but who's not up for a collecting toadtrip! Mountain Redbelly Dace:image.jpg

Also, Orangespotted Sunfish: image.jpg

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divemaster99 said:
Me being a natives guy I see it the other way :). Check out these as well, they'd be a bit of a drive for you to get but who's not up for a collecting toadtrip! Mountain Redbelly Dace:View attachment 1054971

Also, Orangespotted Sunfish: View attachment 1054972
Click to expand...

Those are nice but I'm more a fan of the simplistic solid bold lines of the southern rather than the blotches of color. Do you think golden and silver shiners could live together fine? And....how does one go about catching these fish?


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Not a native kind of guy but those dace are real lookers!


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Nigelk8485 said:
Those are nice but I'm more a fan of the simplistic solid bold lines of the southern rather than the blotches of color. Do you think golden and silver shiners could live together fine? And....how does one go about catching these fish?


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I gotcha. Yeah, they'd live fine together, there's a lot more colorful shiners than silvers though with simplistic color patterns, such as the rainbow shiner. I catch mine mainly with a seine in my local creeks and rivers and I occasionally micro-fish for them with hooks that are size 16-30. You can also use a minnow trap, dipnet, cast net, or fyke net among a few other methods. If they're big enough fish you can fish for them normally. It's a blast to collect fish and you feel accomplished knowing you caught the fish you're watching in your tank every night.
 
It is really fun to catch your own fish! I love my natives and I think my small native have the most personality I have had in a small fish. Most darters have a lot of personality. Also black nose/long nose dace get super tame. Mudminnows are plain looking but once they are used to captivity they get super tame and personable and act like little pike. Some small sunfish species could probably be housed with darters, and in KY you have tons of neat darters.
 
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