I actually have had a few at one point. They are amazing predator fish imo. They aren't all too aggressive with fish close to the same size as themselves but anything bite sized is as good as gone. I had 3 in a 60g, definitely recommend atleast a 100-150g if you want more the 1-2 adults, as they can reach upto 12-16in, with lots of rocks, plants and driftwood. They grow pretty fast in their first year, got mine at 3in and they grew to 7in in about 6 months. Also if your looking for one of the best predators to feed live food to, look no further then the yellow perch. They pretty much hunt like wolves, 1 hides behind something in the tank while the others chase the prey towards the ambush, once the prey reaches the perch in hiding it gets hit from all sides in a feeding frenzy. Never seen another freshwater fish hunt with such tactics before. Mine also got along great with my Bala shark I had at the time, it was roughly the same size and shape as them so it became another "perch" in their eyes. It even hunted with the perch just so it got some scales to snack on. They aren't very entertaining when it comes to pellets tho but they do hit them fast and hard so expect to get wet lol. Also a neat fact about perch is when they spawn they create "egg ribbons" like this here pic I got from Google shows. These ribbons also need something to anchor to such as rocks, plants or driftwood. They also do what you could call a "community spawn" where it's not a pair of fish that spawns but the entire school/shoal instead.
They sound awesome, thanks for all the info! That ribbon is kinda trippy
They tend to hang around the mid to bottom levels of the tank. They like having allot of cover to weave in and out of. They will get along just fine by themself but ya won't get that wolf like behavior with just 1 or 2 needs to be a group of 3 or more for em to hunt with tactics. But yeah they should be fine with other fish as long as they aren't small enough to eat. A word of warning tho is that they can be very skittish at the start. They can also take a bit of a beating from other fish due to their extremely rough/tough scales. Very sand papery feel to their scales. But yeah with my experience with em they aren't a very aggressive fish, more often then not they will shy away from a fight even tho they have teeth. When it comes down to a fight they tend to turn tail and rocket away with blinding speed and then hide in any plants they can find.
Oh ok thanks, I think the only one I might have to watch is my belly crawler pike, but he’s not bad, just guards his cave fiercely. I have 3 bichirs that also occupy that area but they’re not aggressive at all. I have a green severum that kind of meanders everywhere, he’s kinda nosy but not aggressive or territorial and a warmouth and a leopard gourami that hang near the top but they don’t bother anyone. . This would be the last fish I add until I upgrade at some point, but damn a group of perch sounds cool. I have lots of drift wood and two very large plants, but I have about 50 extra plants on hand. Do you think this could work with my current stock?
As you said might have a few problems with the pike but that would be more or less just the pike picking on the perch.
Do you know their temp range? I keep my tanks at room temp, it’s around 74-75. I’m in AZ so it doesn’t get cold
Cool thanks, I figure at some point if I get one I’ll have to either upgrade my tank or rehome one or two fish as they get big. A crappie and walleye are two others I’ve been considering but the perch seems to be the best
