I was just curious if I could set up a perch Aquarium in my home. I have a 20 gallon tank and will be getting a 55 gallon soon. But every day i go down to the local creek and go fishing for some perch. Im not wanting to put the fully grown ones in my tank, but possibly the ones about yay big.
("--------7----------7
If it is possible for them to live in that size of a tank, could you please tell me the correct size filter i should buy along with ALL of the other materials i will need for my tank. I am only hoping to put maybe 1-3 fish in there.
(P.S. Would my perch get along with some Saucerfish?)
Answers:
I caught about 20 yellow perch last week with a seine though I let them go. They are a beautiful fish. There is a spot in Wisconsin where last year I caught the nicest looking yellow perch I had ever seen. It was about 6", nice darker yellow/gold with true black full stripes and red in the fins. The fins went from clear near the fish and got more red as it got near the end of the fins and the last 1/4 inch was a real nice red. Beautiful though on to your question.
You can have a nice perch aquarium. In theory they get about 16" in the wild though I've never seen one this big. In the aquarium I've never seen one past 8 or 9 inches. I have cichlids much larger than this and since they're disc shaped they weight significantly more than the perches. Even at 8-9 inches they will outgrow a 55 gallon and a 6' tank would be a lot better though I would consider a 75 gallon as a minimum. The 75 and 90 are also 4' long so they don't take up much more space than the 55 gallon though the perch would prefer the length of a 100 or better.
Saucerfish? I'm more concerned about the saucerfish than the perch. There are a lot of sunfish out there and most of them will need a large tank. There are a few small varieties of sunfish that don't get very large though you should buy Peterson's Guide or other field guide for native fish of north america and identify what saucerfish you're thinking of. A lot of these are beautiful though they can be very mean and territorial as well.
The North American Native Fish Association (NANFA) is a great group I used to be a member of. Go to their web site at www.nanfa.org and read some of the articles. Better yet join and you'll find some groups in your area that also have an interest in Native fish and how to raise and breed them.
Filtration - Big fish need big tanks and big filtration. I like canister filters and my favorite is the Hagen Fluval FX5 though this is too big for a 90 or less. If you get a 6' tank I highly recommend this filter. Do not use a heater. Do cover the tank. Do add some driftwood and hiding areas. If you add some plants from the creek be very careful because you don't want to add the snails that will almost certainly come with them.
no for long term.
You should never remove wild fish, and wild N.A fish need extra larger tanks with super filteration.
Remember that most companies, ex. fuval etc. They build GREAT filters, but they are meant for petstore fishes. Remember that wild N.A fishes make extremely larger waste.
Also a 20 - 55 gallon tank wont be enough. For full development.
i have a large mouth bass and they will easily get stunted in anything nder 100 gallons. Look at the bass pro shop for a refrence. Look at the size of their tanks and the size of most N.A fishes.
To be 100% honest, dont do it. They will a huge tank with a super filteration, and it may be illegal to take it out of the wild depending on where u live.
i dont think perch get very big. kind of like a sunfish.
im sure the 55ga would be fine for at least 3-4 small one for a few years and maybe there whole lives.
i would get an extra filter too. native fish need lots of filtration because they are so messy.
they can get about 10 inches or so , so you may could just keep 2 or 3 in there for life.
feed them live worms and small minnows a few times a week and do your water changes when neeed.
take out your heater as they are cold water fish. set it up like a lake or river and it will look really cool
hope this helps
o and i wouldnt worry about it being illegal cops have bigger things to worry about. i just woudnt turn them lose after they have been in your tank b/c they can spread diseases
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment