Help Me Stock a 75 Gallon Native Aquarium

[nickag9]

Hey guys,

I'm going to be picking up a new 75 gallon aquarium for my living room here in a few weeks and I'm trying to decide what kind of native coldwater species of fish I'd like to stock. Right now I'm leaning towards the Lepomis species (Warmouth in particular) and possibly the Ambloplites species (Rock or Shadow Bass) if I can find them. I was wondering what other fish might fit into this type of mix. I don't know a lot about any of the other species so I'm open to suggestions. Let me know what you guys think and we can discuss from there.

- Nick

 

[Noto]

You'll probably be pretty well stocked with just those guys. They both are lurkers, so invest in some nice driftwood.

If you upgrade to a bigger tank, you can keep these guys with other medium-to-large sunfish, large minnows, perch, and so on. Some have kept these fish with black bass (largemouth, smallmouth, etc.) and bullheads, but I find these fish too rough for a community tank.

My 330 gallon has both warmouth and rock bass; longear, green, and redspotted sunfish; golden and striped shiners; creek and river chubs; stonerollers; and a black bullhead who needs to come out. Fish that I have tried in the tank but didn't do well (bullied or outcompeted) include northern studfish, northern hogsucker, and central mudminnow. Fish that I intend to add and think will do well include crappie and various other sunfish species.

I suggest you train your guys to pellets as quickly as possible. Warmouth are easy to pellet train, rock bass are not.

 

[nickag9]

Ok great. This is exactly the kind of input I am looking for. I would love to add a few Crappie to the mix but my concern would be that they would out grow the 18 inch deep tank. And since I don't plan on upgrading I'd like to keep a community of fish that will not outgrow the 75 gallon in their lifetime. My only concern would be finding fish that won't end up a meal for the Warmouth and Rock/Shadow Bass. I know I can source Orange Spotted Sunfish locally but I don't know if they will grow large enough to avoid becoming a snack...

And yeah, I'm going to try to pellet train them early. However, I'd also like to keep them interested in live food. Especially given how exciting it can be to watch them destroy worms and chase small minnows or crawdads around.

 

[Noto]

If you get the orangespots as adults they will probably be OK. Central longears are another option for a colorful sunny that you can get locally; they are similar in size to warmouth. Longears are often very common in the same streams as rock bass.

 

[fishkeeper1]

I would look into one of the longear sunfish. They range from 4-7 inches maximum depending on which specie. With this tank being in your living room, I would imagine that you would want a fish that is colorful and doesnt lurk in the shadows. Longear sunfish are colorful and will not hide as much as a rock bass. You could even buy a captive raised fish that already eats pellet foods from http://zimmermansfish.com/Price.html who is a quality breeder who has very high feedback. But thats just me, this is your tank. Thats just my .02

 

[warmouth]

Although I really like Warmouths....I have to agree with NOTO that its hard to beat Central Longears for color and beauty plus they max out at 8 inches so they arent tank busters. you could also add in some common shiners and stonecats if you wanted dithers. Jonahs aquarium and Sachs Aquaculture also have Longears in stock.....MERRY CHRISTMAS!