Thinking about a 125g native tank....

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J

JD7.62

Dovii
MFK Member
Sep 13, 2005
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I have been debating on rather or not I sell my "monster fish" (pbass, ray, B. Juruense, ect.) and turning my 125 into a native tank rather then upgrading my tank size for my monsters.

Here is what I am thinking. I have a beautiful creek near my house that I do my collecting and fishing in. In it I can catch 20+ species of fish. I hope to make a "Harrods Creek" bio-tope. My stock list includes:

6x: black stripped top minnows
12x: darters of various species
10x: madtoms of various species
6x: crayfish
8x: cyprinid species that I cant think of the name right now, but are very beautiful purpleish color with red on fins and a silvery mettalic like sheen to them!

My main fish will be three longear sunfish, one male and two females. They usually max out around 6". I chose them because of their small size and beauty. I cant go any larger for fear of the fish eating my other fish. I also may add some other interesting fish or other aquatic critters I find.

For substrate I will use gravel from the same place I found the fish as well as several large stones also from the creek. I am kind of hoping I will get that SW "live rock effect" by introducing these rocks and get some hitch hiked inverts like worms and insect larvae. Perhaps a few pieces of drift wood that I find there will be added with out cleaning as well. There will also be plenty of current in the tank from two powerheads.

The tank sounds totally kick ass to me, but the 125 is the main tank in the house and the one tank that I want to be really nice and "wow people". My problem is that most of these fish are small, less then three inches. The majority (darters and madtoms) will be on the bottom hiding most of the time, so I think the tank will seem empty and unexciting so to speak. I dont wont to get rid of my rather hard to come by fish to keep fish I catch everyday and be dissappointed.

Any thoughts or suggestions on my tank?
 
Between the longears and the crayfish, you will have to replenish your minnow and darter population on a routine basis.

A native tank will be different that what you have currently. You will have to decide what type of tank you want and will be happy with. If you want a "monster" tank, you are going to want to go with larger species such as pickerel, bullhead, largemouth bass, perch, sunfish, and a quite few others. If you want a community tank (in my opinion still impressive) you can fill that 125G with tons of smaller fish that will not eat each other and have a lot of movement and action.

Darters and madtoms will not necessarily hide all day. Tadpole and margine madtoms will come out and swim during the day (my speckled madtom won't). Darters will dart around all day looking for food. Minnows and dace are always active swimming around. Mine never stop moving around long enough for a good picture.

I would also rethink bringing home gravel/wood/etc from the creek without cleaning them first. You may bring things into the tank that are harmful to the fish you are keeping.
 
My native tank is a largemouth bass, a large school of Mexican tetras, and three Texas cichlids.

I could add crayfish but i want the Texas cichlids to breed
 
What would be harmful if I brought the rocks from the source of the fish with out cleaning them?

With this tank I would want it to be like I took a section of Harrods creek as is and put it into a tank. Not really concerned about it being "monster" just authentic so to speak.

Replenishing stock wouldnt be a problem except for the winter when I cant go collecting so I guess I will have to leave the crays out. I knew they were crazy preds, but I figured just a few wouldnt cause too much problems.
 
JD7.62 said:
What would be harmful if I brought the rocks from the source of the fish with out cleaning them?

With this tank I would want it to be like I took a section of Harrods creek as is and put it into a tank. Not really concerned about it being "monster" just authentic so to speak.

Replenishing stock wouldnt be a problem except for the winter when I cant go collecting so I guess I will have to leave the crays out. I knew they were crazy preds, but I figured just a few wouldnt cause too much problems.
Click to expand...

Your aquarium will be smaller than the creek so if you brought in rocks or wood with harmful pollution on it the tank would have less water to dilute it and it may build up. I admit though, I am guilty of adding outdoor stuff to virtually all of my native (at leas the natives) and nothing bad had happened yet.

A note on the longears, they are great fish but are fully capabile of eating darters, I learned this the hard way thinking the same as you. Maybe use larger species, for example...rather than darters use logperch that also grow to 6".
 
JD7.62 said:
What would be harmful if I brought the rocks from the source of the fish with out cleaning them?

With this tank I would want it to be like I took a section of Harrods creek as is and put it into a tank. Not really concerned about it being "monster" just authentic so to speak.

Replenishing stock wouldnt be a problem except for the winter when I cant go collecting so I guess I will have to leave the crays out. I knew they were crazy preds, but I figured just a few wouldnt cause too much problems.
Click to expand...

Sandtiger said it well. You may also get some critters that your fish may not eat and may be unsightly and be hard to remove once established. I don't know exactly what would happen but just something to be aware of.

Sunfish can devour a tank of minnows in short time. You would have to get larger shiners, full-sized darters, madtoms, and maybe sculpin in order to prevent fish from being eaten.
 
sandtiger said:
Your aquarium will be smaller than the creek so if you brought in rocks or wood with harmful pollution on it the tank would have less water to dilute it and it may build up. I admit though, I am guilty of adding outdoor stuff to virtually all of my native (at leas the natives) and nothing bad had happened yet.

A note on the longears, they are great fish but are fully capabile of eating darters, I learned this the hard way thinking the same as you. Maybe use larger species, for example...rather than darters use logperch that also grow to 6".
Click to expand...

also the rocks may look clean in the water since it has the steady waterflow from the stream running through them...but as soon as you do put them in your tank without washing them first it will make the water extremely cloudy
 
I know! upgrade your tank for the fish you have currently so that that is the main display tank, then you will have the 125 available to put somewere else and fill it with natives. Now you can have the best of both worlds!
Don't argue, just do what I say, and post pics.
 
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