GA Fish ID
- Thread starter MadDog24
- Start date
Quick question. If I were to set up my 55 gallon aquarium as a native fish tank, what fish would you guys recommend? I know I want an American eel, but that's as far as I've gotten. Also, how would y'all suggest I obtain them? Would local river caught specimens be OK? Thanks for any help y'all can give me. I greatly appreciate it.
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the American eel gets too big to put any thing else in a 55g tank...it would have to be a species only tank (american eel). 55g tank is perfest for red shiners and crescent shiners, medium sized to small sized sunnies (western dollar, spotted, Northern longear, Bantam sunfish, orangespotted sunfish) and stonecats some large sculpins or a redfin pickeral tank, yellow perch etc.
Thanks for those suggestions. 
I might just wait & get a larger tank to do native fish in. That way I can have the eel & other fish.
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I might just wait & get a larger tank to do native fish in. That way I can have the eel & other fish.Sent from my DROIDX using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Another thing you might want to check on is how long you can keep american eels in a freshwater aquarium, have you ever thought of Chestnut lampreys?Thanks for those suggestions.
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I have to say an american eel gets too big even as the only fish in a 55g. They get the length of the tank and they get quite thick. They're not like a moray or something that bends every which way and stays in rocks. Note this pic from fishbase: http://www.fishbase.us/images/species/Anros_u1.jpg
But you can keep them in freshwater their entire life. They spend most of their life in freshwater, going into saltwater to spawn, then the juveniles make their way back to freshwater to spend most of their life and repeat the cycle. They can live for many years (possibly 40), become large, and I wouldn't take owning one lightly.
I don't think a chestnut lamprey is a good substitute for an eel, and they're not entirely simple to keep. They spend most of their life as filter feeders, buried in substrate (5-7 years), and only spend a couple of year at most parasitically attached to other fish before they spawn and die shortly thereafter. An article on keeping them: http://www.nanfa.org/captivecare/lampreys.shtml
For a 55g, think darters, or if you want something a little larger than that, logperch. Sculpin, medium sized sunfish like longears, pumpkinseed, orangespotted, dollars, madtoms (small catfish), killifish/topminnows, or various dace/shiners/minnows, etc.
You can probably find a list of fish in your region on google, and go from there. To check max sizes, fishbase is usually a decent resource.
But you can keep them in freshwater their entire life. They spend most of their life in freshwater, going into saltwater to spawn, then the juveniles make their way back to freshwater to spend most of their life and repeat the cycle. They can live for many years (possibly 40), become large, and I wouldn't take owning one lightly.
I don't think a chestnut lamprey is a good substitute for an eel, and they're not entirely simple to keep. They spend most of their life as filter feeders, buried in substrate (5-7 years), and only spend a couple of year at most parasitically attached to other fish before they spawn and die shortly thereafter. An article on keeping them: http://www.nanfa.org/captivecare/lampreys.shtml
For a 55g, think darters, or if you want something a little larger than that, logperch. Sculpin, medium sized sunfish like longears, pumpkinseed, orangespotted, dollars, madtoms (small catfish), killifish/topminnows, or various dace/shiners/minnows, etc.
You can probably find a list of fish in your region on google, and go from there. To check max sizes, fishbase is usually a decent resource.
Wow! Thanks for the info. And that's a nice looking eel. I'm certainly going to need a bigger tank if I get one. I love darters & want them and then some variety. I'll have to check out the fish you mentioned.
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Good article, thanks I have a very limited knowledge of eels (or lampreys for that matter), I knew that they spawned out in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and no idea they could live their whole lives in freshwater.....fascinating.
No problem.
Actually it's thought they (american eels) may die once they go out to the ocean (the Sargasso Sea exclusively) and spawn, since they haven't been recorded migrating back inland, but it's not proven as far as I know. They stay inland in freshwater for 5-15 years before they go back to spawn. In captivity they can be kept freshwater forever, and in fact I'd assume (haven't researched it) that if you convert them to saltwater as adults it may trigger spawning behavior and death. In captivity in freshwater they can live over 40 years (43 max recorded), and a european eel (another anguilla sp.) was reportedly kept for over 80 years.
Lampreys are neat creatures for someone interested, but they're very specialized, and the other problem is many of them are endangered and threatened in various places. I don't have anything against them in general, just didn't think that's what the OP was going for.
One I forgot to mention is a siren. Not technically an eel, but an amphibian with gills, undersized front legs and no back legs. They're not especially hard to keep or feed, but you don't want to keep them with any fish that may pick on their gills.
I'm going to try to net one tomorrow in the ditches and I'll take pics if I find one. They're very prevalent around here. My friend rakes them up constantly when he's collecting crawfish.
I know in some states they are illegal to collect, but you can find them online periodically.
Actually it's thought they (american eels) may die once they go out to the ocean (the Sargasso Sea exclusively) and spawn, since they haven't been recorded migrating back inland, but it's not proven as far as I know. They stay inland in freshwater for 5-15 years before they go back to spawn. In captivity they can be kept freshwater forever, and in fact I'd assume (haven't researched it) that if you convert them to saltwater as adults it may trigger spawning behavior and death. In captivity in freshwater they can live over 40 years (43 max recorded), and a european eel (another anguilla sp.) was reportedly kept for over 80 years.
Lampreys are neat creatures for someone interested, but they're very specialized, and the other problem is many of them are endangered and threatened in various places. I don't have anything against them in general, just didn't think that's what the OP was going for.
One I forgot to mention is a siren. Not technically an eel, but an amphibian with gills, undersized front legs and no back legs. They're not especially hard to keep or feed, but you don't want to keep them with any fish that may pick on their gills.
I'm going to try to net one tomorrow in the ditches and I'll take pics if I find one. They're very prevalent around here. My friend rakes them up constantly when he's collecting crawfish.
I know in some states they are illegal to collect, but you can find them online periodically.
