European themed aquarium.

[esoxlucius]

It's been mentioned on here several times in the past regarding hobbyists over looking what's on their doorstep, and opting for a stocking list from half way around the world. And I, for one, are guilty as charged, lol.

Being a keen angler I know full well what my native options are, some beautiful fish, and at the moment I am ruing the choices I made 7 years ago when I came back into the hobby after many years away.

I've been checking out some you tube videos of European themed tanks, and have shared my favourite below. I think there are two tanks here. The first has roach, rudd, tench and bream. The second tank is my dream tank, a European Perch set up. Hope you enjoy.

 

[Milingu]

I just wonder if I filmed the same tank last year...

Tinca tinca are really cool fish.

 

[tlindsey]

It's been mentioned on here several times in the past regarding hobbyists over looking what's on their doorstep, and opting for a stocking list from half way around the world. And I, for one, are guilty as charged, lol.

Being a keen angler I know full well what my native options are, some beautiful fish, and at the moment I am ruing the choices I made 7 years ago when I came back into the hobby after many years away.

I've been checking out some you tube videos of European themed tanks, and have shared my favourite below. I think there are two tanks here. The first has roach, rudd, tench and bream. The second tank is my dream tank, a European Perch set up. Hope you enjoy.

The European Perch are attractive.

 

[latapy10]

It's been mentioned on here several times in the past regarding hobbyists over looking what's on their doorstep, and opting for a stocking list from half way around the world. And I, for one, are guilty as charged, lol.

Being a keen angler I know full well what my native options are, some beautiful fish, and at the moment I am ruing the choices I made 7 years ago when I came back into the hobby after many years away.

I've been checking out some you tube videos of European themed tanks, and have shared my favourite below. I think there are two tanks here. The first has roach, rudd, tench and bream. The second tank is my dream tank, a European Perch set up. Hope you enjoy.

i saw also some sticklebacks behind big fishes.The another type of freshwater european tank you can make also from smaller species like ruffe,white finn gudgeon,common gudgeon or stone loach...

 

[duanes]

I was having a conversation with my Panamanian dentist about divorce, who mentioned one of the reasons his wife dumped him, was his obsession with his tanks.
I told him my tanks were the nail in my coffin, as to my divorce
So of course I then asked what he kept, and he replied beautiful and colorful mbuna cichlids.
To which I said, I keep Panamanian Cichlids, and he looked astonished, implying he'd never heard there were cichlids in Panama.
I told him Panama had (IMO) some of the most beautiful cichlids in the world.
I think he thought I was BSing him.

Same in the states, I used to scuba dive with darters, and certain sun fish, that would rival any cichlid, or tropical species in beauty.
I guess its always greener.

 

[jjohnwm]

Yeah, people rarely appreciate what they have right in their own back yards...but import a fish from halfway around the world and they've just gotta have it. Call it "rare" and you can double the price, too; as if "rare" somehow makes it more attractive or interesting.

The perch are nice, and seeing them live and in motion instead of just a still shot makes the difference between your Euro perch and my Common perch a bit more noticeable. Yours seem to have that slightly hunched-shoulder look with a more pronounced "forehead" than my locals. Sadly, both species are at their colourful best during the spring spawning run; much of the year they are a fairly dull shadow of their spawning beauty, although still attractive.

A lot of my fishing buddies laugh at me when I switch over from "normal" mode...in which I am, like the rest of them, looking to catch the biggest specimens possible...to what my wife calls "fish-nerd" mode...in which I specifically try to catch the smallest, most aquarium-friendly specimens. I've gone through a lot of hats in my time; many hats don't stand up well to being used as emergency nets... Nowadays, my truck is always equipped with a cooler, small air pump/line/stone, at least a couple nets...you know, all the paraphernalia that a dedicated fish-nerd might need at a moment's notice.

All my friends have livewells in their boats; I'm the only one with a livewell in my truck...

 

[Milingu]

The problem with a lot of European fish is the water temperature. They need cooler or in some cases cold periods that you normaly cannot provide in your home. Some need permanetly cooler water. Some people manage to provide these temperature in their basements but even there its often too warm on the long term. For example Perca fluviatilis needs winter temps below 6°C / 43 °F and can't stand above 20°C / 68°F for longer time periods.

 

[jjohnwm]

The problem with a lot of European fish is the water temperature. They need cooler or in some cases cold periods that you normaly cannot provide in your home. Some need permanetly cooler water. Some people manage to provide these temperature in their basements but even there its often too warm on the long term. For example Perca fluviatilis needs winter temps below 6°C / 43 °F and can't stand above 20°C / 68°F for longer time periods.

Is that a generally accepted set of temperature parameters...or is there much disagreement on that?

Perca flavescens, very similar to your Perca fluviatilis, are widespread in North America, including here in Canada where they live under thick ice for months each year. Water temps are in the 35F range in many instances...but the species lives for years in basement tanks that never get below 55F. I had several Perch in a tank in my parents' basement when I was a kid, and that small group was installed when I was in the first year of high school (grade 9) and was still going strong when I graduated from grade 13 (I think it only took about ten years... ). I doubt that water ever got colder than 55F, and probably never quite hit 70F, so nowhere near the range they would have experienced in the wild. They grew decently well, although not as large as wild fish, and they coloured up each spring as well, although I never witnessed actual spawning activity.

That was in extreme southern Canada, but we still had solid ice each winter for a few months and the fish saw very cold temps in nature. I am fairly certain that our winters there were somewhat harsher than those in much of Europe; I'm positive that the winters where I live now are much harsher than anything Europe has to offer, and P.flavescens thrives herel..but surviving extreme cold is not the same as requiring it. I'm sure that they would have suffered if kept at 70F room temperature year round, although they certainly live through several months each year at that temp or higher in the wild...but I don't think they need those extremes either.

I think that in many cases, other problems arise with the keeping of native fish, some of which quickly or eventually result in death...and that the lack of extreme cold is used as an easy and convenient excuse.

Goldfish can easily survive under the ice each winter...but the vast majority of captive goldfish spend years or decades at room temperature. Different species, of course, but an example of the same idea. My Perch weren't kept in a species tank; they were in a "bait-shop community tank", as my Dad called it, and lived with Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Bullheads, Emerald Shiners, a succession of Bullfrog tadpoles and other assorted local catches. All those species seemed to do well without freezing temps.

 

[Milingu]

Is that a generally accepted set of temperature parameters...or is there much disagreement on that?

Thats what I have seen and heard over the years. From time to time somebody tries to keep them inside. You either never here from them again or the fish died in "mysterious" ways during the summer.
And at least all the zoo tanks I know have cooling systems.
But I haven't found any literature that mentions long term keeping temperatures.

 

[esoxlucius]

But I haven't found any literature that mentions long term keeping temperatures.

Me neither.

I think perch prefer to live, and thrive, in cold water, colder the better. Most of my best perch catches from yesteryear came in winter, hard frost or snow on the ground, the water iced up. And I could catch them in the relatively shallow margins when other species, except pike and some silverfish, would be holed up in semi hibernation.

My best summer perch catches on the other hand were always from deeper cooler water, and usually at dusk. Fish such as perch probably regard summer water temps as a pita, and look forward to the winter cool down.

In the home aquarium though they are likely to experience these pita summer temps permanently, because we simply can't cool the tanks down to the extent that they virtually have a skin of ice on the surface!

If it's critical for their true long term wellbeing that perch require this winter cooling off period then keeping them in home aquariums is probably not a good idea.

Incidently, the biggest European Perch tend to be found in Scandinavian countries, which speaks volumes really.