i have a 55 and want to make it completely native Florida fish and plants. i want be be able to catch all the fish myself. i can get some plants form my pond but i want to make sure they are native. what are some species of fish(sizes of fish too please0 and plants. i want to have a green sunfish and a warmouth and some kind of catfish and some kind of Sculpin(dont know if this are in Florida). the more pics and info about the fish and plants the better. will buy some stuff but want to find a lot of it. thanks
starting a native 55
- Thread starter Snook000
- Start date
Green sunfish are quite aggressive, they might bully the more passive warmouth in a tank that size, try to get them when they're young if anything. I'd recommend one of the madtom species, and skip on the sculpin.
I agree that keeping greens and warmouth together in that size tank could be a problem. But if it's densely planted and has lots of hiding places, they'll probably be all right. Most other Lepomis sunfish species would also work; avoid bluegill and redear, as they grow too big for a 55.
Madtoms will get et. I suggest you try for a snail or spotted bullhead; these are smaller than the common brown, black, and yellow bullheads (any of which would outgrow your tank, and possibly kill your sunnies), but bigger than madtoms. Both occur in northern FL. They could be hard to catch, though, and hard on your plants too.
Sculpin are not native to FL, and can be tricky to keep. A somewhat similar species that would work better for you is the fat sleeper, Dormitator maculatus (AKA jade goby). This is a robust cousin of gobies and mudskippers.
You could keep a greater diversity of fishes, and keep your aquascaping intact, if you went with smaller, less aggressive species. The Enneacanthus sunfishes (black-banded, blue-spotted, and banded) are small and peaceful, and could be kept with native cyprinids, killifishes, livebearers, darters, and so on.
Lots of info on FL's aquatic plants here: http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/34?categoryId=13
Madtoms will get et. I suggest you try for a snail or spotted bullhead; these are smaller than the common brown, black, and yellow bullheads (any of which would outgrow your tank, and possibly kill your sunnies), but bigger than madtoms. Both occur in northern FL. They could be hard to catch, though, and hard on your plants too.
Sculpin are not native to FL, and can be tricky to keep. A somewhat similar species that would work better for you is the fat sleeper, Dormitator maculatus (AKA jade goby). This is a robust cousin of gobies and mudskippers.
You could keep a greater diversity of fishes, and keep your aquascaping intact, if you went with smaller, less aggressive species. The Enneacanthus sunfishes (black-banded, blue-spotted, and banded) are small and peaceful, and could be kept with native cyprinids, killifishes, livebearers, darters, and so on.
Lots of info on FL's aquatic plants here: http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/34?categoryId=13
i want some fish that will eat live because i making a 12gl to breed ether mosquito fish of killifish. ill loook at all those fish and i think i have a black banded sunfish
Where in FL are you? It will make a difference as to what you will be able to find. In terms of ease of feeding, and lower aggression levels, and stocking, you may want to consider smaller fishes. I did briefly have a small snail bullhead, but I was missing some fish every morning - so it has been donated to UF (it was collected outside of the listed range for the species). Some of my favorite fish are darters - they have a lot of personality, and almost act like little dogs running around on the bottom. If you want some colorful fish - you can't get much better than golden topminnows! And there are several different species of minnows you could collect.
I haven't been able to find any blackbanded sunfish yet, but bluespotted sunfish are around, and do well with the species listed above. I just recently found some flagfish, and they are doing quite well, and are very colorful also!
Good luck collecting!
I haven't been able to find any blackbanded sunfish yet, but bluespotted sunfish are around, and do well with the species listed above. I just recently found some flagfish, and they are doing quite well, and are very colorful also!
Good luck collecting!
Forgot about plants...
You need to think about how much light you can furnish - If you can get enough, you can try some of the smaller saggitaria species, Ludwigia repens, or ceratopteris for the aquarium.
You need to think about how much light you can furnish - If you can get enough, you can try some of the smaller saggitaria species, Ludwigia repens, or ceratopteris for the aquarium.
i live in palm beach i just got 3 fish tonight idk what they are cant post pics right now but they have a huge mouth and 5 or 6 black strips down there side their about 4" really cool
PICS!!! And where are you in FL? Im in the Orlando area. I'd get rid of the green sunfish. I used to have a warmouth and they only take like a week to get them on cichlid pellets. That warmouth is the only sunfish i'd keep. what you can do though is get some of those tiny chartreuse tube baits, the proper weighted hooks for them, and put then on the wire/spinner from a beetle spin, or some crappie jigs, but with those, its easy to catch tiny bass. If your down south. You may be able to catch a freshwater snook fingerling with the same setup, just like your username. Snook are my fav game fish. But dont stock too fast, how long has your tank been running? and you should only have like a maximum of like four, 6" fish.