Flowing River Tank?

[Fishman0]

There are too many choices to list. Here are a few questions to narrow it down:

Are you interested in a biotope? There are many schooling stream species available from eastern/central North America, Amazonian South America, and Southeast Asia, and a few from Africa and Central America.

What size will the tank be?

How large do you want your largest fish to be?

Do you want a heated or an unheated tank?

1) North America or South America

2) Probably a 48" x 18" x 20" 75gal

3) 6-8"

4) Probably room temp [68-72]

 

[Noto]

I can help you with the North American species. Some fish to check out just to start:

Campostoma anomalum
Clinostomus funduloides
Cyprinella galacturus
Etheostoma blennioides
E. caeruleum
Fundulus catenatus
Lepomis megalotis
Luxilus chrysocephalus
Lythrurus fasciolaris
Nocomis micropogon
Notropis chrosomus
Noturus miurus
Percina caprodes
Phoxinus erythrogaster
Rhinichthys atratulus

This is a small fraction of what's out there, of course, and is strongly biased towards schooling cyprinids.

 

[Cichlidlove4all]

i've seen something like this done a pretty long time ago, they put tetras in the river tank that had three levels, two with fast flowing water. they showed instincts never seen in a normal aquarium, they would jump like salmon up to higher levels, supposedly to avoid the stronger current

 

[Fishman0]

thanks Noto i really like the Phoxinus erythrogaster, but where would they be available? should i try a local fishery?

and im reconsidering the tank... i was going to use the 75 but may build one out of wood in order to plumb in the suction line and wall jets, but i dont have a plan yet

 

[Bawb2u]

I've done several variations of this style over the years. The easiest way is with two Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers and a canister filter. Not the most beautiful but it does what your talking about.
I get two containers sized to just fit in the tank, drill holes in the lids, cut an appropriate sized hole in the side I'm using for the top, get fittings or bulkheads and plumb the intake and output of the canister filters to those and set them on the ends of the tank.
I do all my tanks with a laminar flow, some simple and some very elaborately.

 

[Noto]

thanks Noto i really like the Phoxinus erythrogaster, but where would they be available? should i try a local fishery?

and im reconsidering the tank... i was going to use the 75 but may build one out of wood in order to plumb in the suction line and wall jets, but i dont have a plan yet

Availability of NA fish can be spotty. There are several vendors and a trading dock linked on the NANFA forum: http://forum.nanfa.org/index.php/forum/213-native-fish-market/. Another good source is Sach's aquaculture: http://www.aquaculturestore.com/fwverts.html#minnows-shiners.

Of course, you can also collect many of these species yourself. New York has a rich fish fauna. Just be sure to check the laws first, and know what you're catching so you don't accidentally take home a protected species. The NANFA forum is a good place to find netting partners and advice.

 

[Fishman0]

I've done several variations of this style over the years. The easiest way is with two Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers and a canister filter. Not the most beautiful but it does what your talking about.
I get two containers sized to just fit in the tank, drill holes in the lids, cut an appropriate sized hole in the side I'm using for the top, get fittings or bulkheads and plumb the intake and output of the canister filters to those and set them on the ends of the tank.
I do all my tanks with a laminar flow, some simple and some very elaborately.

any pics? im trying to visualize but id rather see how you have done this first.

and what i know about fluid dynamics.... laminar flow would only occur if the flow has a place to exit, otherwise you will get turbulance at the other end... just a thought

 

[Fishman0]

0f course, you can also collect many of these species yourself. New York has a rich fish fauna. Just be sure to check the laws first, and know what you're catching so you don't accidentally take home a protected species. The NANFA forum is a good place to find netting partners and advice.

yeah nothing would be better than walking from a stream or lake with a bucket and a cast net and seeing one of the DEC officers.... no thanks i think the fine is either $30-50 per fish plus surcharge haha