55 gallon help

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bgator12

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 16, 2009
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Mansfield, Ohio
I am looking at purchasing a 55 gallon aquarium and stocking it with native fish. I have one bluegill currently so he will go in there and I would like to put a catfish of some type in but don't know very much about them so if you have any recomendations that'd be great. I was also looking at putting an undergravel filter and hang on the back for cleaning purposes. Do you think this is a good idea? Also how many and what type of fish should I look at keeping?

Thanks for all your help!
 
The bluegill sounds good for the 55. The only kind of native catfish that would do well in a 55 would be a bullhead (any of the three species. Yellows are my personal fav). These fish could live together, as long as the bluegill is larger than the bullhead and stays large enough for the bullhead to not eat. Because of the temperaments and growth max of these two fish, I'd say that you could put one other bluegill, green sunfish, or pumpkinseed sunfish. Smaller fish will be eaten, fish of the same size but less dominant temperment would be bullied to death. Personally, I'd do one bullhead and one bluegill in the tank, period.

Madtoms are also a good, small catfish for an aquairum, but I'd be afraid that the bluegill would eat them when it got large enough.

However, your choices are far more ranging if you didn't put the bluegill or bullhead in there. There are so many colorful darters, smaller sunnies, dace, gobies, etc.
 
i would say that a bluegill and a small species of catfish, like madtoms, might work in a 55.
The size of that tank really limits what you want to do- a 55 will not be enough for two sunfish, unless the second was a pygmy. You would need very good filtration for that tank as it is, because bluegill get pretty big, 14-16 inches when full grown. So I wouldn't recommend adding a larger catfish species such as bullheads.
 
You could try some of the darter species, smaller sunfish species, madtoms would work, bullhead get to be pretty good size at least 14-15''. If you haven't bought the tank yet compare the price of a 55 and a 75, only difference is it is a little wider and gives you a much better footprint to work with, you could prob check and see what is on craigslist in your area and pick up a nice used one for pretty cheap, 200-$250? You could keep some fish that get a little bigger in there rockbass, the bullhead, and bluegills.
 
Thanks guys for all your help! I have another question though. Do u recomens undergravel filters? I was just thinking about putting one in with all the waste that comes from the bluegill. Also is it possible to keep plants with that type?

Thanks for all the help!
 
your plants won't last long with a bluegill. Well, at least - mine didn't years ago when i had one. They tear them apart much like cichlids
 
yeah sunfish are like oscars-they like to rearrange things as they please :D
 
bgator12;3246230; said:
Thanks guys for all your help! I have another question though. Do u recomens undergravel filters? I was just thinking about putting one in with all the waste that comes from the bluegill. Also is it possible to keep plants with that type?

Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
No, get an aquaclear 70 or something along those lines, just syphon out the waste as needed. If you get a 75 go Aquaclear 110, I always get a little bigger filter than what is rated for my tanks. I think malaysian driftwood would look alright, you could try potted anubias for plants. Both are easy to find your lfs should carry them.
 
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