Sunfish in a 10 Gallon Aquarium?

[Blue Kayak]

My 14 year old daughter has a 10 gallon aquarium and would like to put in some small sunfish. Has anyone had any luck with sunfish in small aquariums? If so, how many and what size would be good in a 10 gallon tank? Are there any other fish that would be good? Is there a place in the metro area to purchase native fish if we can't catch them?

[eyechaser99]

You could probably get quite a few small sunfish in a aquarium. One of my relatives has perch and small crappies in as well. They feed them fish food at a store and minnows or worms would work as well.

[hanson1287]

I don't know that I would recommendputting sunfish in a 10 gallon aquarium. From the experience that I have had raising native fish, it is that sunfish, crappies, bullhead, and catfish all tend to grow athigher rates than they would in a lake. I would recommend getting at least a 30 gallon tank if you would like native fish. There is a store down in Rochester if you are willing to take the drive. It is called Fish N Pets. They usually have a variety of stock including Large mouth bass, sunfish, crappie, walleye, bullhead,catfish and even a gar if you catch them at the right time.If you do go with the 10 gallon then one sunfish would be what I would suggest in it.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I agree. Stay away from natives in a tank that small unless you're talking minnows. Along with the size issue, sunfish are very messy and will pollute their water in a hurry.

[hitormiss]

Once i caught a small sunny and dried to put it in my 30 gallan tank. Did not work. I think the fish went into shock from the diff type and temp of the water. You would be better off getting your fish from the pet store.

[LocalGuide]

My cousin has a 10 or 15 gallon tank with about 6 sunfish that he and his brother caught while trapping fatheads. He just has a little water filter in there and they do just fine. But the fish are only 2" to 4" long so they are not big at all.

I have a 70 gallon tank with 7 sunfish, 2 carp, and 1 little river shiner in it. The carp really clean up the bottom of tank, that is nice, and the sunfish are fun to watch. Mine are 1.5" to 3.5" in length too. Of course I got mine in a local creek trapping minnows too.

Once the sunfish get a little bigger I should be able to feed them little minnows, but for now its just 2 kinds of fish flakes and shrimp pellets.

[Bobb-o]

I have a perch, a sunfish and a bullhead in a 20 gallon and have had no problem, other than the fact that the sunfish does not like to let the perch into his corner.

[WildBill33]

Hey All-

I have a twenty gallon tank with a largemouth in it my fish has grown to be fairly big it was around three inches when i got it and now it is around eight inches. Im thinking of putting it in a local lake. If I was to put anything in a 10 gallon tank, I would go with a sunfish or a crappie. A great place to go is primere pets in ramsey.

-WildBill

[icehousebob]

When my sons were young and foolish, they brought an eight inch northern home from a local lake. They kept him all winter in a 20 gallon aquarium and fed him all my crappie minnows. By spring when they let him go again in the same lake, he had grown four or five inches. And I was out several bucks in minnows. It sure was fun watching him stalk and eat those little buggers.

[JollyT]

Two points. Fish in an aquarium at home count against your possession limit, and the DNR really frowns on fish kept in an aquarium for any length of time being released back into the wild.

There are regulations in the fishing rule book about keeping live native fish, especially game fish.

[hanson1287]

For those of you who do not know the conditions of keeping a game fish in an aquarium here is what the DNR states directly from the fishing regulations handbook.

It is illegal for anglers to transport live fish, including in livewells of trailered boats, except for display in a home aquarium under the following conditions.

1. Gamefish purchased from an authorized licensee transported with the necessary documents( such as a sales receipt)

2. Anglers 16 and under may legally transport Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, rock bass, black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish, orange spotted sunfish, and black, yellow, and brown bullhead. No more than 4 of each species may be transported at any one time, and any indivdual fish can be no longer than 10 inches. At no time may water from infested waters be transported.

[SomethingFishy*]

I would not recommend this, I personally have 9 fresh water aquariums at home with fish from lakes in Africa and Central/South America. The general rule to go buy when keep fish is an inch of fish per gallon (ex. in a 10 gallon aquarium would hold (2) 4-5 inch fish.) You also have to take in to account the gravel and any structure or decoration you put in the tank will lower the water capacity. The reason for the inch per fish rule is the amount of waste that the fish will produce, overcrowding will lead to higher levels of ammonia. I would recommend a weakly water change of 20-30% of the water, anything more could lead to shock.

Hope this helps.

Quote:

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My 14 year old daughter has a 10 gallon aquarium and would like to put in some small sunfish. Has anyone had any luck with sunfish in small aquariums? If so, how many and what size would be good in a 10 gallon tank? Are there any other fish that would be good? Is there a place in the metro area to purchase native fish if we can't catch them?

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[WildBill33]

I would agree that this goes against the DNR rules. But when the fish are purchased from pet stores that have the license to sell them I am pretty sure it is o.k. to have them.

-WildBill

[icehousebob]

Yeah, I know that my boys shouldn't have kept that northern but they were little and I wasn't home. By the time I got home the choice was kill it, let it go, or let them keep it. I think they learned a lot by watching him all winter. And it sure beat some of the other critters they dragged home over the years.

[ironman]

I think we've covered most points on this..good info out there guys. I'll add a few things. Because fish are cold blooded you can regulater their growth with water temp and food availability. If you keep the water really warm and offer food daily those little sunnies wont be for long. I would recommend no heater and twice a week feedings while they are tiny and once a week when they get bigger. This will keep them smaller longer. Also, dont go too crazy with plants to decorate, native really tear up a tank and you'll be re-planting those plants all the time. I recommend rocks and driftwood. I'm speaking just from my experiences, to each his own.

On a side note...I noticed in the regs it doesn't metion walleyes, pike or muskies in the legal fish, yet I've seen all three available in the pet trade. Dont know if that means you can legally, at least by DNR standards, have them or not. I'm sure someone out there is already searching for the answer. I dont plan on calling TIP anytime soon If I see someone with one in their tank though. They are fun too watch and also a good learning tool.

[Sonicrunch]

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Im thinking of putting it in a local lake.

-WildBill

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ILLEGAL

[Blue Kayak]

Thanks everyone for your great comments. I told my daughter if she does a good job with the 10 gallon aquarium and pet store fish, we'll look for a larger tank for some native fish. I appreciate all your comments.

[Ebiz]

I believe Aquatropics in Crystal sells freshwater gamefish for aquarium use. I hope this isn't against the rules, but their web site is www.aquatropics.com