50 gallon and crappie?

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wasilvers1074

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
8
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United States
Hi, just found this website today (can't believe it took this long).

I have a 50 gallon (36x18x18) tank. Is it possible to keep a black crappie comfortable in here (once the tank is cycled)? I have kept fish off and on for 25 years - and have been very successful at both freshwater and marine. But now am thinking a northamerican fish would be cool. Bass seem to grow too fast or that would be my first choice. I hear gills can be aggressive unless in a group, and 50 gallons seem small for a group.

I'm not that familiar with the crappie (and it's hard to find info on them) besides I like to fish for them.

Thanks for any help!

Will
 
wasilvers1074 said:
Like 6 or 12 or 24 months?
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Depends on where you catch it from. Northern strains come from colder water and southern from warmer water. The warmer it's native water the faster it will naturally grow (as far as I know). Probably something like 12 months at room temp on average I'd say.
 
Thanks for the info. As much as I like the idea, now I'm shying away from it. Id hate to stress a fish out unnecessarily. Thinking of some shorter version from of a gill. Or even just some fathead minnows. Still in the native fish categroy, but not cramping them too much.
 
wasilvers1074 said:
Thanks for the info. As much as I like the idea, now I'm shying away from it. Id hate to stress a fish out unnecessarily. Thinking of some shorter version from of a gill. Or even just some fathead minnows. Still in the native fish categroy, but not cramping them too much.
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If it stayed in the 8-9" range (they don't always) you could do a single pumpkinseed or bluegill.
 
wasilvers, Im not sure where your located at but there are many native species that would be good for a 50g tank, theres madtoms as a bottom dweller, topminnows for the top of your tank, shiners, dace minnows and small to medium sunfish for the middle of your tank. The centrarchids (sunfish) small and medium could be the Enneacanthus sp. (Bluespotted, Banded, and Blackbanded sunfish) or in the Leopmis (Orangespotted, Bantam, Dollar, Northern Longear), also Fliers would work (very peacefull for their size); or you can buy them online from Jonahs aquarium, Sachs aquaculture, Bt darters and Zimmermans fish which are all excellent native fish LFS's.
 
Thanks Warmouth! I'm going to research these and stock accordingly. To startup/cycle my tank, I put in some fathead minnows (and one brook stickleback)from my local bait store - and added filter media from my daughters tank. Once it is done, I might keep a few, or give them to a friend for his Oscar.
 
Your welcome! I forgot to tell you, I wouldn't mix the Lepomis sunfish with the Enneacanthus sunfish, (the Lepomis are more aggressive, especially the Dollars who act a lot like Cichlids). Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
 
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