Hypothetical native tank idea

[loconorc]

How do you think this lineup would work, and what would be a good estimate of required gallons?

Redfin pickerel
Couple orangespotted sunfish
5+ Satinfin shiners
Yellow bullhead cat
2ft+ American eel
And if nothing wont eat them, a couple large crayfish

 

[Noto]

No. The two big problem fish are the eel and the bullhead: they will eat the smaller fish and crayfish and stress out the pickerel. Leave those two out and it might be manageable in a big tank, say 100 gallons or so, provided there's plenty of cover, you keep the pickerel well-fed, and everything else is at least as large as the pickerel when you introduce them. You could of course keep more than the numbers you suggested of o-spots and shiners.

If you don't want a tank that big, I suggest you either keep the pickerel by himself or set up a pickerel-free community tank.

Be careful with crayfish selection as well. Procambarus species are usually OK with mid-sized fish, but the big-clawed Cambarus and Orconectes species are pretty good predators. In a community tank Cambarellus (dwarf crays) would work well.

 

[loconorc]

Thanks for your help, doesnt sound too bad. Would the pickerel go for the shiners, and would the sunfish go for the pickerel? Ive heard of other species biting off all of the pickerels fins until they cant even move, but I also read that orangespots are one of the smallest and gentlest. Would the crays be fine with the pickerel, sunfish, and shiners too? They would be wild-caught, so they are one of the Virginia Procambarus species.

 

[Noto]

I don't think the shiners or sunfish would attack the pickerel, but their activity would stress him out. Pickerel do not like "dithers". Plus, an adult pickerel could take down any but the largest o-spots or shiners.

Crays are always iffy. They would not be OK with the pickerel, he would eat them if they were small enough (the last pickerel I caught regurgitated a 2" crayfish) and would be vulnerable to their attacks if they were too big to be eaten; even Procambarus will sometimes nip slow-moving fish. Procambarus would probably be OK in a sunfish/shiner tank if it wasn't too crowded. Those fish are alert enough to avoid nips. Cambarellus would be better; not sure if you have any native species there in VA, but C. shufeldtii is commonly available from online vendors. In either case make sure the crays have hiding places where they can stay while molting.

There are several other tankmates to consider. Any of the Enneacanthus sunfish or native freshwater killies would be good, as would tadpole madtoms, swamp darters, and most minnows other than the larger chubs (Semotilus and Nocomis sp.) Ghost shrimp would work too; young ones would be eaten, but the adults would probably survive. The common petstore ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus) is also the species native to VA fresh waters.