I Went Insane and Bought 30 Longear Sunfish!!

[warmouth]

Have been thinking this over, I thought about cutting back on the number of fish. I talked the fish over with Zimmermman's and they said for the longears, 10 gallons per fish. They also said that 30 for the 300 gallon would be great because it will cut down the aggression significantly. They said since I am not looking to breed them and this would be fine.

But I wonder still if this is TOO MANY?? I might need to cut back, got make my mind up by Tuesday.

Rays I dont think it would be if you have enough filtration and aeriation.

 

[Matt724]

Thanks for the awesome link! Much appreciated

 

[ShadowBass]

Oh, I wouldn't do 35. I was thinking more like 12. Like I said I am a noob, so I will probably have some loses just because I don't really know what I am doing, but that is why I have been doing research for the last six months, and will probably still be a few more months before i buy a tank. I guess unlike most noobs, I want to be resonsible and know what I am doing before I jump in.

Also, you really think 15 would work in a 120? I thought 8 would be pushing it, but I guess I don't quite have stocking criteria down for natives.

15 would be fine compatibility wise. More to spread the aggression. Bioload wise it will be a lot so you'll have to do a lot of water changes. They're kind of like cichlids in that you can overstock them to keep the aggression spread out. I had 8 longear in a 125g, but I also had other sunfish and a red devil cichlid, and they were all fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz07zK02jKU that was my tank during a normal water change. You notice how low the level is and all the fish are having fun. None of them were ever stressed from large water changes. Assuming the water going in from the tap is similar to what's going in the tank (your tapwater stays relatively stable), you will be fine.

Have been thinking this over, I thought about cutting back on the number of fish. I talked the fish over with Zimmermman's and they said for the longears, 10 gallons per fish. They also said that 30 for the 300 gallon would be great because it will cut down the aggression significantly. They said since I am not looking to breed them and this would be fine.

But I wonder still if this is TOO MANY?? I might need to cut back, got make my mind up by Tuesday.

No 30 for a 300g will be fine compatibility wise. It will just be a lot of bioload so you will have to do a lot, or large water changes. But with longear you will not stress them doing large water changes, so you should be fine. I was doing 90% water changes on my 125g and the fish liked it actually, and all were healthy and thriving.

This was my tank during a normal water change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz07zK02jKU. The fish actually liked big water changes. So you should be fine. As long as your tapwater stays fairly consistent every time you do water changes.

Tank wasn't that heavily stocked in that vid since that was before we added more longear though.