Fish in Tank?

[Sandmannd]

That tank is awesome!!

As for dumping, as said by others, I don't have a problem with what you did, but I would make sure it isn't illegal before doing it again. I'm not trying to get on you about it, but I don't wanna see you get in trouble either.

[Sonicrunch]

I tried feeding my game fish (crappies, a sunfish, and a bass) flakes and Oscar food once, but they looked at me like I was crazy, and after that i just fed them crappie minnows, and once in awhile i'd cut up some crawlers for them.

LOL

Once they get hungry enough, they take the fish food. I would recommended cichlid pellets

[trunkmonkey]

I was out on a local lake catching perch and decided to keep a small one for the tank back home. We were fishing in 30-35 FOW and the perch is just belly up in the tank. It's completely alive but it can't swim down it will only float up to the top. Is there anything you can do about this or is he done for?

people think it is better to pull fish from that deep in slow but it is actually better to pull them in fast. i was shocked to read it but its true, i saw it on my states gf&p HSOforum.

[Sonicrunch]

Originally Posted By: dspohn

I was out on a local lake catching perch and decided to keep a small one for the tank back home. We were fishing in 30-35 FOW and the perch is just belly up in the tank. It's completely alive but it can't swim down it will only float up to the top. Is there anything you can do about this or is he done for?

people think it is better to pull fish from that deep in slow but it is actually better to pull them in fast. i was shocked to read it but its true, i saw it on my states gf&p HSOforum.

Weird. I'd want to read it too. Can you link it?

[BLACKJACK]

I've always wanted to do that, get a bass or sunny or crappie in a tank, reading this thread has persuaded me to put it back on my to-do list!! Lord knows I have a lot of crappie minnows that would like to participate!!!

[trunkmonkey]

Originally Posted By: trunkmonkey

Originally Posted By: dspohn

I was out on a local lake catching perch and decided to keep a small one for the tank back home. We were fishing in 30-35 FOW and the perch is just belly up in the tank. It's completely alive but it can't swim down it will only float up to the top. Is there anything you can do about this or is he done for?

people think it is better to pull fish from that deep in slow but it is actually better to pull them in fast. i was shocked to read it but its true, i saw it on my states gf&p HSOforum.

Weird. I'd want to read it too. Can you link it?

http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/fishing/Info/Catchrelease.htm

it's down at "answers to commonly asked questions"

[Tom7227]

I've done this for a couple of years and there are a few things you may want to pay attention to. I bought a 50 gallon aquarium at a garage sale and then got the top light and filter new. I bought my stuff at a small pet shop and the guy was full of information that has helped me a lot. Never would have learned these things from a box store:

1. Set it up and run it for 3-4 weeks before you put fish in it. First of all you need to get enough oxygen in the water. Well water is low on oxygen and city water has chlorine in it.

2. Limit the number of fish. I put in too many and they croaked after a few weeks. The water starts to fill up with ammonia if too much debris builds up. The pet shop guy used some chemicals to test the water and told me what was wrong. Now I have two bass, three small crappies and a perch. I still use a tube device to clean the gravel every 5-6 weeks and replace the filters ever 6-8 weeks.

3. I bought some real weeds and put them in there so fish would have something to relate to. I also have the light on a timer and it stays on for maybe 9-10 hours a day going on around 4 in the afternoon. There gets to be a green algae buildup on the top and sides and so I have to scrub them with a brush maybe once a month or so.

4. I put my crappie minnows or fatheads in the tank whenever I have some. A scoop will last maybe 7-10 days. If there haven’t been any in the aquarium for 3-4 days I’ll go and buy some just to feed the fish. If I have a lot of minnows I feed them the regular fish food flakes you get at the pet store. It take the minnows a couple of times to realize that stuff is food but they do learn. Strange things come with the minnows. I have had a couple of stickelbacks show up and recently my aquarium has small snails growing in it. They had to come with some minnows. I recently got some sort of smallmouth bass looking minnow wish some suckers I bought to fish with. I don’t know what it is with a rounded tail but it took a swim in the toilet last night cause I didn’t like the looks of it.

It’s been educational to have this setup. One thing that are really interesting is to see how the fish move when I move towards the tank even when I am 5-10 feet away and it’s night so there isn’t much light on in the room. They have pretty good vision. The second thing is to listen as they start to feed. There’s this big commotion with water swishing around. It actually seems to happen at certain times like around 6 pm and 10 pm. The fish are in a room that has big windows but they aren’t close to the windows. I tried to figure out if they were feeding at the same time as the fish in the nearby lake but haven’t nailed that down yet.

It's been a lot of fun and kids love to watch the fish.

[brahambaseball]

my aquarium has small snails growing in it. They had to come with some minnows.

I had a tank set up that had never had minnows or game fish in it, and I had bought some live plants at the local pet store. A few days later, i started seeing snails in my tank. I thought it was kind of cool, until i had about 300 small snails just a few weeks later. I went back to the pet store and they told me that sometimes live plants can carry the snails, and the only way to get rid of them was to empty the tank and dry it out for a few days. I tried just pulling them out of the tank as i found them, but those little suckers were in the rocks too.

[Sandmannd]

Snails will show up when you buy live plants and if you think rabbits mulitply fast, wait till you have snails in a tank.

[FishinChad]

Not saying I wouldnt do it myself but it is not legal to mark your fish's tails and realease them.

It is illegal to mark any fish that is being released, I know this because I wanted to start marking fish that I had caught but found out it was illegal. I am almost positive it is illegal to release fish once you have kept them in an aquarium. Like I said I dont see much harm in it, but its illegal for a reason.

[Sonicrunch]

^^That's a good point. While what this guy did was probably okay, albeit illegal, if other people hear about it, they will think it's okay for them to do it as well.

[BLACKJACK]

I've done this for a couple of years and there are a few things you may want to pay attention to. I bought a 50 gallon aquarium at a garage sale and then got the top light and filter new. I bought my stuff at a small pet shop and the guy was full of information that has helped me a lot. Never would have learned these things from a box store:

1. Set it up and run it for 3-4 weeks before you put fish in it. First of all you need to get enough oxygen in the water. Well water is low on oxygen and city water has chlorine in it.

2. Limit the number of fish. I put in too many and they croaked after a few weeks. The water starts to fill up with ammonia if too much debris builds up. The pet shop guy used some chemicals to test the water and told me what was wrong. Now I have two bass, three small crappies and a perch. I still use a tube device to clean the gravel every 5-6 weeks and replace the filters ever 6-8 weeks.

3. I bought some real weeds and put them in there so fish would have something to relate to. I also have the light on a timer and it stays on for maybe 9-10 hours a day going on around 4 in the afternoon. There gets to be a green algae buildup on the top and sides and so I have to scrub them with a brush maybe once a month or so.

4. I put my crappie minnows or fatheads in the tank whenever I have some. A scoop will last maybe 7-10 days. If there haven’t been any in the aquarium for 3-4 days I’ll go and buy some just to feed the fish. If I have a lot of minnows I feed them the regular fish food flakes you get at the pet store. It take the minnows a couple of times to realize that stuff is food but they do learn. Strange things come with the minnows. I have had a couple of stickelbacks show up and recently my aquarium has small snails growing in it. They had to come with some minnows. I recently got some sort of smallmouth bass looking minnow wish some suckers I bought to fish with. I don’t know what it is with a rounded tail but it took a swim in the toilet last night cause I didn’t like the looks of it.

It’s been educational to have this setup. One thing that are really interesting is to see how the fish move when I move towards the tank even when I am 5-10 feet away and it’s night so there isn’t much light on in the room. They have pretty good vision. The second thing is to listen as they start to feed. There’s this big commotion with water swishing around. It actually seems to happen at certain times like around 6 pm and 10 pm. The fish are in a room that has big windows but they aren’t close to the windows. I tried to figure out if they were feeding at the same time as the fish in the nearby lake but haven’t nailed that down yet.

It's been a lot of fun and kids love to watch the fish.

Good info Tom!!! just what I was looking for!!! I did stop by a small pet shop and your info about the water PH and gravel cleaning jives. Its more complicated with a fish tank than I thought!!!

You talked about feeding the minnows. So are you were feeding them after you had put them in the big tank with the other fish or do you have them in seperate tank?

The price did scare me off, I was thinking about going to a big box store and pricing things out, but you're right, I should partake of the small store.

One of you guys mentioned having your tank in the garage, what temp do you keep it at?? What I'm getting to is that I have a heated shop - 40 degrees - was wondering if native fish like bass/sunfish/crappies would survive at that temp?

[Sandmannd]

They survive in lakes that are cold like that in the winter. Won't be extremely active, but they won't die from that. You can get a cheap heater and put it in there to keep it around 60 if you want.

[walleye-]

I think that the colder the water the better it keeps the tank cleaner (less water changes). The tank in my garage is at 50 right now and in the summer it gets up to around 65 any warmer than that and it would be hard to contol the algee. Honestly just so the water isnt below freezing you would be fine. Also I only feed them twice a week and only the amount that they will eat. Cause if you put to many in there I have found that some minnows end up dead and get caught in the filters and can cause fish to get fungis growth on them if you dont clean it in time. I love my tank but it is spendy and time consuming.

[BLACKJACK]

I'm sure my wife will think I'm crazy too!!! But its my shop!!!

How big a tank is big enough? Looked at some 50-75 gallon ones, how many 4 inch sunfish could you keep in there?

[walleye-]

I would say about 4 or so

I have 2 10" crappies a 6 inch pearch and a small walleye in mine and that seems to be about right. I am sure I could get more in there but it would be a lot more cleaning.

[TMF89]

I'd say 4 to 6. I think it'd be easier with 4, a lot less cleaning as mentioned.

[FearNoFish]

Keeping natives in a tank at home I have a 125 gallon and keep 8 crappies for 3 years now I feed the a scoop a minnows or left overs from the weekend fishing. As for size they have maxed out at about 6 inches but feed all the time. I think they are great to watch and learn from, when the fish in the tank are active usually the fish in the lakes or rivers are active. No heater is needed with native fish. One thing I did learn if you keep musky or northerns they will be the only ones left in your tank over time.

[Tom7227]

You have to do a bit of scrounging or garage saling to get a tank at a decent price and they really aren't that hard to find used. Mine's in the family room so I had to get a nicer looking top for it and that did get pricey. Birthday present from the kids.

If I have a lot of minnows left over from fishing I put them in the tank with the bass and crappie. I feed the minnows the flake food from the pet store mainly because it's a pain to clean the dead ones out and they start to stink if you don't.

You can learn stuff about fishing by watching how they react to stuff, and kids are just mesmerized by them.

[BLACKJACK]

If you have native fish in the tank, how often do you have to do maintenace on the tank, such as cleaning the gravel, changing the water, scrubbing the sides?

[walleye-]

I do mine about once a month. I give it a 25% water change scrub the glass and change filters every other time.

[brahambaseball]

If you have native fish in the tank, how often do you have to do maintenace on the tank, such as cleaning the gravel, changing the water, scrubbing the sides?

I had 4 game fish in my 55 gallon tank, and i really didn't have to clean it any more than my other tank that had Oscars in it. The only thing with the game fish tank was the dead minnows. I had a lot of large rock, and fake plants in the tank, and minnows would wedge themselves under the rock and die. I kept my tank in the basement, and just left the water at room temp.

I agree that I learned a lot about how they feed, stalk their food from watching them. I also learned how aggressive my bass was compared to the crappies and sunny.

Once you get the tank set up, there is really no expense besides the food.

If i still had the tank, i would offer it to anyone that wanted it, but my girlfriend made me get rid of it when she moved in, there just wasn't enough room in my small townhouse for 2 of us and 2 55 gallon tanks!

[brahambaseball]

I do mine about once a month. I give it a 25% water change scrub the glass and change filters every other time.

Good point, you never want to change ALL of the water when you change it. 25% is about the most you'd want to change at one time.

[Big Buck Buster]

If i still had the tank, i would offer it to anyone that wanted it, but my girlfriend made me get rid of it when she moved in, there just wasn't enough room in my small townhouse for 2 of us and 2 55 gallon tanks!

I would have gotten rid of the Girlfriend.

[brahambaseball]

Originally Posted By: brahambaseball

If i still had the tank, i would offer it to anyone that wanted it, but my girlfriend made me get rid of it when she moved in, there just wasn't enough room in my small townhouse for 2 of us and 2 55 gallon tanks!

I would have gotten rid of the Girlfriend.

HAHA!