Am I setting my self up for a disaster?

[Tropicalfishking]

Hello everybody!

Would I be able to keep Western Dollar Sunfish and Rainbow Darters in the same tank?

The tank that they would go in would be a 75 gallon.

 

[MN_Rebel]

There won't be any disasters.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Make sure to add a power head for the darters.

 

[Tropicalfishking]

Make sure to add a power head for the darters.

I plan on having the current go from left to right. So, the output of my Cascade 1000 and a powerhead will be put in place. What kind/size of a power head do you all recommend?



Also, how many of each fish should I start out with? Tank size is a 75 gallon as mentioned earlier.

 

[MN_Rebel]

Rainbow darters don't need some current as there are few populations thriving in the lakes with no currents.

 

[warmouth]

What you would need is some big rocks for the darters to hide behind and play on.....they will also use them to breed with.

 

[Tropicalfishking]

I plan on having varying sizes of river rocks in this tank on top of a sand substrate.

I think that I will start with 8 Dollar Sunfish and 8 Rainbow Darters. I emailed the people from the website I am ordering from and they recommended that number.

 

[warmouth]

Dollar sunfish can be very aggressive so I would make sure the darters are bigger than the sunnies to start with.... this sounds like a very interesting combination please keep us informed on how it goes.

 

[Tropicalfishking]

Dollar sunfish can be very aggressive so I would make sure the darters are bigger than the sunnies to start with.... this sounds like a very interesting combination please keep us informed on how it goes.

Then maybe what I will do is order the Darters first and then wait till they get almost full grown, and then order the Dollar Sunfish. The tank is all ready. I am just debating on wether to use the Sand that I have or to go out and get some "Special Kitty" brand cat litter for substrates...

The cat litter will allow me to grow plants, but it is from Walmart and I don't know if I can live with myself buy from that place.

The down side to the sand is that it won't have any nutrients in it at all. But I do already have the sand in my room just waiting...

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Use the sand. Just use really low demanding weedy plants they will grow. I use sago pondweed, anacharis, hornwort, java fern, anubias, duckweed, frogbit, banana plant etc. Over time (may take over a year) the sand will start accumulating nutrients. I don't do gravel vacs I only remove water when I do water changes. I don't have any issues and my tanks do not look dirty. In one of my tanks it is planted as well and I use sand and I have several rooted plants that grow fine. I use dwarf sag and Ludwigia. But my sand is mature. In another tank with sand I grow dwarf clover and dwarf hairgrass. But like I say I never gravel vac. You can use root tabs to help out meanwhile. I just wouldn't use kitty litter.