Black Crappie info?

[BPags52]

Can someone provide some general info for caring for black crappie in an aquarium?

I have a 6ft. 125g tank and have been considering going native with the rest of the setup...current stock are tropicals so it'd be a mixed tank.

Current stock:
7 3" silver dollars
5 3 1/2" red hook silver dollars
1 4" Lima Shovelnose cat
1 3" L-264 sultan pleco (adding 2-3 more plecos next month).

Considering adding a small shoal of small crappie (3"-4" if I can find 'em). Are they aggressive toward their own species in an aquarium? Toward other species? I know my tank isn't big enough to house a fully grown monster crappie, but will be good for a couple years at least I'd imagine (at which point I'd find them a new home).

Thanks for the input!

edit: Searched this part of the forum before posting this and didn't find much info, mostly found a pic here and there...

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

crappie are not outwardly agressive towards other fish they can push the others out the way for food though. You could keep 1 in there for life I would stick to one. Wild ones can be tricky to convert to tank life and to pellet train. So far ive got mine off of live and on to market shrimp. The only problem i could see is the silver dollars nibbling on his fins. but i have had little experince with silver dollars as mine are still young and only about 3 inchs long.

 

[BPags52]

Hmm I haven't seen my silver dollars display any aggressive behavior against other fish, but they are small like yours.

Just 1? Was hoping for 3-5 so they can shoal together while they are young (and if/when needed, will remove the ones that outgrow the tank).

I'd be ordering them from a fish farm, wouldn't be wild caught from a local body of water...thinking of getting a warmouth also.

Hmmm.....decisions decisions....

Thanks for the input!

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

Yeah it would be nice to keep a shoal but for the fishs sake its better to plan on keeping what ever you get for life. My silver dollars havn't been bad latly but a while back they nipped up the other fish in the tanks fins (pleco, oscar, and knifefish).

 

[AppStateBimmer]

crappie might eat the other fish, as they love minnows

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

crappie might eat the other fish, as they love minnows

I dont see this, as silver dollars all get way out of the size range crappies can eat

 

[BPags52]

I dont see this, as silver dollars all get way out of the size range crappies can eat

Yeah...the only thing in danger of being eaten (if i added crappie today, which I'm not ) would be the lima shovelnose because of its narrow shape/small size. But even then, it would have to be a fairly large crappie, and I plan to start with 3" juvies.

How high of a temperature can crappie be happy in? If I get crappie, i was planning on setting heater at about 80 degrees. Don't want the temp any lower than that since I do have tropicals stocked already.
Thanks again for the input.

 

[AppStateBimmer]

misread that post, haha. silver dollars should be safe.


however, 80 degrees is wayyy too hot. Remember, these are native temperate fish.

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

even for my tropicals i keep the tanks in the high 70s my Piranhas are at 76 and my silver dollars and other fish are at like 78. Silver dollars being from the amazon where there is still a cold season can handle lower temps i would go aroung 76-78 myself maybe even 75.

 

[le patron]

you have all those SDs already and you expect to get a shoal of crappie? sorry that wont work. the silvers get big, you know. also crappie get up to 16" so they would be too big for that tank even alone