# 55 Gallon Native Fish/Plants Natural



## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

I used to have a tank set up as a non-planted tank (complete with clown ***** gravel etc.) and it was a fish-eating whirling vortex monster of terribility. I have decided to reset it after reading Ecology of the Planted Aquarium (thanks very much Ms. Walstad, incredible book). Hopefully I'll be able to pull this off with my limited experience.

Not only will I be trying this method, I'll be stocking the tank with local plants and fish. I've purchased everything so far except a suitable powerhead and a fishing license, both of which I hope to procure by tomorrow.

I'm posting this as a half-journal, half-help-me-dear-god thread, so if anyone sees anything that's going to sink me please speak up! 

So far I have:

55 Gal Aquarium
Dip Net, Aquarium Net
5 Gal Bucket + Lid, 2 x 2 Gal Bucket + Lid
Lg. Air Pump, 2 x Sm. Air Pump (for transporting fish)
2 x Thermometer (1 for main tank, 1 for buckets/stream)
Dechlorinator
Ich Medication
Combined pH, Hardness, Nitrite, Chlorine Test Kit
Ammonia Meter... Test... :S
4' Shoplight strip (to be suspended above tank)
2 x 40W 'Cool White' fluorescent bulbs
100 Lbs Quik-rete All-Purpose Gravel
2 Bags Topsoil
1 Bag Potting Soil (all unfertilized I hope)
3 Pcs. Found Wood

Here is a picture of the stream from which I will be collecting my fish (and perhaps some plants):









Any recommendations on the powerhead (preferably related to strength and silence)? There is just a trickle in this stream but I'd like a bit of circulation and it's hard for me to gauge the strength of the flow based on gph :S

Also, what should I do to the wood? It was collected on land and uh... it's very dry.

Thanks!


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

sounds like a cool project.
Choose a small powerhead/cheap.

The wood is tricky.. Maybe better to buy from the store. But you can do what mother nature does with driftwood. Strip any bark and boil the heck out of it. It'll remove any harmul parasites & natural resins in it.

Let it soak for weeks/months, fully submerged, in water with salts. The salts can be table salt & epson salts and other minerals like calcium. You basically want to mineralize the wood so It doesn't leach out too much organic compounds & disintergrate.


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## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

I'd pay attention to Walstad's ideas on light and soil, but I think you'll be off to a good start. Also, make sure you have a good filter for your aquarium because natives can be a little messy. Most natives are fairly tolerant of a wide range of water conditions and in my experience, more difficult to kill than most exotics. If you set the tank up properly and keep all the environmental perimeters in safe levels, you'll do just fine.

Do be on the lookout for snakes down at the creek!


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

Why cool white bulbs? You don't have much light, might as well make it all usable.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Well, one thing that I didn't mention is that the tank is near a window and will receive at least indirect sunlight for a lot of the day, which is part of the reason that I have so little lighting. The other reasons are that I don't want too-rapid growth and that I don't have a bottomless budget . I chose the Cool White bulbs because in The Book it said that they produced respectable growth and they are a lot cheaper than the other bulbs I've seen.
Also, I think the natives that I'll be keeping will be minnows of some kind (haven't sampled any for an ID yet) and maybe a Fundulus Notatus or two, which I think I've seen in this creek. I was actually hoping not to have to use a filter or powerhead... I tentatively decided that I wouldn't use one this afternoon. One question that I haven't been able to find a conclusive answer to is what kind of cleanup crew I could find locally to stock the tank with... as far as I can tell there are no native snails, so would crayfish work or do they just destroy your plants?
Thanks for the heads-up on snakes... I actually saw one down there once while fishing, so I'll keep my eyes peeled, but I have been getting a little careless lately... :S

This afternoon I bought:
8' Airline Tubing, Airstones (for transportation)
1 Gal Kritter Keeper (for field pictures/observation)
Fishing License D)


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Do you have your tank put together already? I just was curious if you used all that gravel and topsoil. I have a 55gal and only used about 40lbs. of topsoil, and about 30lbs of gravel. 

I don't know what types of parasites the fish or plants may carry, if any, but if you start running in to issues with that you may want to look at a UV sterilizer. JBJ makes a cool one thats a combined powerhead, its called the "Submariner", I have one quite nice. 

Well that's my two cents about the parasite possibility. 

This sounds totally cool, I wish I had a nice little creek to do this with. Keep us updated and pics too!


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

No, I haven't set it up yet. I'm waiting to decide how to suspend the light strip... I might mix the soil tonight or tomorrow though and get that out of the way. I figured it would be better to have extra than too little, and it didn't cost much, so I went crazy.
WRT the parasites, ouch. I hope I don't have a problem, because those things sound really nice and inherently expensive. :S Thanks for the suggestion, though; I really appreciate it. I'll definitely post pictures of something... though it may not be the tank if it turns out too badly.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Will you use the actual pond water? That would be an interesting experiment. I wouldn't think it would be too cloudy given the smaller amount and depth (front to back). 

On the shop light, maybe some garden hooks. The kind used to hang hanging pots. Attached to a wall with the shop light suspended from them? Don't know if that's an option or not.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

I was thinking that I would use tap water so that I had a better idea of the base water parameters, but that would be a very interesting experiment... it is pretty muddy, as you may be able to see in the picture, but it would be cool to try and I bet it'd bring in a lot of invertebrate life.
I think I'm just going to hang it from the ceiling, but thanks for the suggestion!


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Yesterday I bought two heavy-duty toggles and some chain to hang the light from the ceiling.
Afterwards, I collected plants from a local lake and stream. I saw what I'm almost positive were Gambusia Affinis as well as another small fish (juvenile sunfish?) in the shallows... I may try to keep these if all else fails. :S
Also, there were hundreds of tiny snails on the shore of the lake. Neither Natureserve (as far as I could tell) nor the Kentucky Fish & Wildlife database listed any snails as native to my county, but they appeared very similar to common pondsnails which made me think that maybe they were Lymnaea Palustris (Marsh Pondsnail) which is native to KY somewhere.
Most of the plants I collected were very small, but I have them under lights and at least some of them seem to be turning upward, which I guess means they're growing. Available cameras were terrible for taking pictures of the stuff in the buckets, so this is the only picture even remotely worth looking at:








So many weird inverts in these... I've been debating whether to bomb these buckets with H202 or to just let the things go... I think there were snail eggs on one of the plants, but I could easily get more if I use those. It's pretty funny to watch the flatworms in the one bucket because they are so light they glide along the surface of the water thanks to surface tension and what I think is bacteria growing at the surface.
I went to sample from the fish in that creek to see if I could get an idea of what they were yesterday, but it had just rained and the water was really muddy so all I caught was a crayfish with black and orange bands on the tips of its claws. I tried to ID him but couldn't, and the pictures are really blurry from that too... if anyone wants to see I could put one up though.

One question about Natureserve... does anyone know if there might be species that it wouldn't list due to their commonness... duckweed or pondsnails, for example?  Both of those would be really useful in this tank for controlling algae I think.
I'd also really like to hear everyone's thoughts on the H202 in the collection buckets if they'd be willing to provide them. Thanks!


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

I would love to see anything you have! I'll live out my dreams through you.  My wife would NEVER let me do this. Maybe when I retire. 
Try using your macro setting on your camera, it's the picture of the flower.

This fascinates me, I used to play in the creek and catch crawdad's and little fish as a kid. I wanted to fashion my tank as natural as possible, but you actually are doing "Natural". I'm with you every step of the way! :mrgreen:


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Haha thanks for the encouragement... I don't think the camera I have has a macro setting; I'll try to get my girlfriend to bring hers so I can get some decent ones, then I'll upload some worth looking at finally.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Here are pictures of the buckets full of plants... sorry about the glare :S
























Well... today I did some sampling. I first went for what I believe were Gambusia affinis at a local lake and caught a few as well as (accidentally) a juvenile sunfish(?). Later I caught what I think is a Slenderhead Darter (Percina phoxocephala) in the creek near my house as well as a large crayfish and another medium sized one. I released the crayfish but I've put the darter in a bucket with some of the plants from one bucket and most of the contents of the other (it had insect larvae and darters are invertivores). Here are some pictures (none of the darter yet):
















Anyone know what kind of snails these are?


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

I have very little experience with snails, only recently that I got really interested. Look at this site, you have to go down the species list (the middle area under "Gastropods"). It gives listings of types of snails by region. http://members.aol.com/mkohl1/Sitemap.html
Clean up some of those snails and take a look and see what you find. 
The link below is the closest I could get just by shape alone.
http://members.aol.com/Mkohl1/Rissoacea.html
Scroll down to North America.

The second photo looks like some sort of Frogbit, and some very cool hairgrass type plant. If you get 
that hair grass going, depending on how it grew, I would be very interested in purchasing some 
from you!
On the last plant photo, it looks like Ludwigia.

Those are some great looking plant and fish specimens! I always wanted to see what would 
happen if I put my left over minnow bait in the tank.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Thanks for the help with the identification... I agree with you about the Ludwigia (repens? one of the plants that I collected was red in the stream for a while) but I haven't had a chance to check on the other ones.
I'm going to start setting up a 10 gallon tank for the darter (at least temporarily) as both a better home for him and my first NPT ever. I'm pretty nervous. :S Hopefully once it's safe for the little guy I'll get some pictures and put them up.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

It would be a good idea to test at least the basic water parameters of the creek/pond your collecting from, try to match it as best as humanly possible. 
I'm curious, *and hopefully someone else can chime in on this*, I wonder if you could use the actual substrate from the pond instead of buying topsoil?! That would be awesome if you could!! It could also help you match the pond environment better for your fish and plants. They wouldn't have to adjust as much.


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## dymndgyrl (Jan 22, 2007)

And don't forget that one problem with keeping native species in aquaria has always been simulating proper seasonal weather conditions. Natives from temperate zones often require winter dormancy (cold temps and low light) - hard to simulate indoors without a chiller.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Having trouble getting the darter to eat.  I've tried flake, freeze-dried bloodworms, and frozen market shrimp.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

He's probably used to things like mesquito larvae, probably has no idea that that's food your feeding him. 

Either try brine shrimp (may work), or just keep trying. He'll get hungry enough and attack just about anything you put in, and he'll learn what's food. On the other hand, he may die from our "fish food" because it's a shock to his system. That's what we get for being on top of the food chain, we get to experiment and learn.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

10 gallon set up


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I agree, why use coolwhites? It will only make everything look more yellow. Daylight bulbs dont cost much more that coolwhite.

I caught some small fish last week from a little stream. I was so excited. They almost look like a goby, only about 2" long. All three died within 24 hours. I was never even able to ID them. I think I am just going to buy some native fish from hobbyists/captive breeders instead of trying to keep wild ones.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Robert Hudson said:


> I agree, why use coolwhites? It will only make everything look more yellow. Daylight bulbs dont cost much more that coolwhite.
> 
> I caught some small fish last week from a little stream. I was so excited. They almost look like a goby, only about 2" long. All three died within 24 hours. I was never even able to ID them. I think I am just going to buy some native fish from hobbyists/captive breeders instead of trying to keep wild ones.


Chances are they were darters. They look very similar.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Really? Know where I can find a picture? I tried looking for Oregon native fish and all that kept coming up was salmon and trout.

What I found so fascinating was where I found them. They were in a pool of water that is on the bank of a stream. I swear the pool was only about six feet square and the water only about three inches deep. It wasn't connected to the stream so the fish were trapped there, but there were dozens of them. There were tree roots and things in the little pool for cover but except for the fact they were real fast swimmers it wasn't that hard to catch them. I got a little net and just scooped them up! I brought them back to my shop that evening and put them in a ten gallon tank that had plants in it, and the next morning they were dead. I was so disappointed!


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Robert Hudson said:


> I agree, why use coolwhites? It will only make everything look more yellow. Daylight bulbs dont cost much more that coolwhite.
> 
> I caught some small fish last week from a little stream. I was so excited. They almost look like a goby, only about 2" long. All three died within 24 hours. I was never even able to ID them. I think I am just going to buy some native fish from hobbyists/captive breeders instead of trying to keep wild ones.


As I pull out my definitive guide (IMO) to plants, I begin to pound away at the keyboard to quote.

*Page 181*


> Aquatic light is unique. This is because the water itself absorbs red light, while DOC (Dissovled Organic Carbon) absorbs blue light. What's leftover for plant photosynthesis is mainly green-yellow light. Aquatic plants may have adapted their photosyntheic manhinery (over the course of evolution) to use green-yellow light fairly efficiently.


*Page 180*


> The fact that plants did very well with Cool-White, which produces mostly green-yellow light was an unexpected result of this study.


Taken from "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist" by Diana Walstad

Excuse me if I missed any "T"s in any words, my T key dosen't work very well. 

I'll leave this here for now and come back when I finish looking around for some Oregon fish ID sites.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

That's where I was getting my information  Thanks.

I agree with Mr. Green... I've seen darters described as "crippled minnows" because they have underdeveloped swim bladders and they sit on the bottom with their upper half at a slight angle to their bottom half. Many of them have rounded heads as well, which would make your goby description even more apt. My darter has been living in a 2 gallon bucket with a bubbler, a rock, and some gravel for 5 days or so. When the ammonia levels come down in the new tank I will put him in there, hopefully with a tankmate that I'm going to try to catch in the next half hour or so.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Well I never said the plants wouldn't grow in cool white, but do you want everything to look yellow? A full spectrum daylight fluorescent only cost about a dollar or two more than cool white and is a real nice crisp white light that really brings out the colors of the fish and plants. Both GE and Phillips have a daylight bulb around 6500 kelvin, 48" fo 5 or 6 dollars each. Thats what I use.

I looked up darters on the net and found out there is dozens and dozens of different species and I couldn't find a picture of the exact specie I caught, but that is definetly what I had. That is very nice to know! Some are actually endangered species, so now I am worried I killed an endangered specie!


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Robert Hudson said:


> Well I never said the plants wouldn't grow in cool white, but do you want everything to look yellow? A full spectrum daylight fluorescent only cost about a dollar or two more than cool white and is a real nice crisp white light that really brings out the colors of the fish and plants. Both GE and Phillips have a daylight bulb around 6500 kelvin, 48" fo 5 or 6 dollars each. Thats what I use.


I misunderstood your question then, and should have responded with this. 
According to tests conducted with different spectrum lights "Cool White" (only) resulted in more oxygen production than any other normal off the shelf flourescent light. The Phillips Daylight (only) resulted in about half as much oxygen production as Cool White (only).
I would have to say the reason is because the Cool White emits more of the green-yellow spectrum.

But as you said Robert Hudson, they will still grow. It comes down to personal preference on appearance. I have 2 Cool White 80W 4100K PC bulbs. Yes it has a yellowish tint, but to me it looks more natural, and plant growth has exploded since I got them.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Yeah I was thinking earlier about what you said, Mr. Hudson, and I really do appreciate the suggestion... I hope I didn't come across as obnoxious. Right now I've spent so much on these tanks that I'm probably not going to replace the bulbs unless they explode (which the first set did leaving Lowe's) but again, thanks for the input.

Also, you're probably more likely to catch something that's not endangered than something that is (that's why it's got a special conservation status ) but if you want to know for sure, your state fish and wildlife people might have a "species information" type link on their website that might tell you what lives in your state, and if you're lucky, your county. If this fails, the Natureserve.org engine can be configured to search for fish in your county I think.


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## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

Robert Hudson said:


> I caught some small fish last week from a little stream. I was so excited. They almost look like a goby, only about 2" long. All three died within 24 hours. I was never even able to ID them. I think I am just going to buy some native fish from hobbyists/captive breeders instead of trying to keep wild ones.


Look up sculpins sometime. They are close to darters and share the same habitat, but require cool, highly oxygenated, fast-moving water. I used to catch them all the time in streams I visited in the Northeast. Unless you have pretty good water flow, they came be kind of hard to keep. They are pretty neat though.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Haha I used to catch those little guys with my bare hands in Pennsylvania when I was younger... they're cool looking (though I don't think they have the vibrant colors of some of the darters). The lake/streams that I caught them in were fed by limestone springs so I think the water was very hard and very clean with natural bubblers to provide aeration.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

rohape said:


> ... I have 2 Cool White 80W 4100K PC bulbs. Yes it has a yellowish tint, but to me it looks more natural, and plant growth has exploded since I got them.


Sorry to hijack this thread. I am just curious, rohape, in addition to the 2 Cool White bulbes that you are using, do you have your aquarium positioned against a window where it is receiving some indirect or filtered sunlight? Thanks.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

The tank dosen't get a thread of light from the sun. Just normal daylight that lights the room. That's why I chose the 80W.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

rohape said:


> The tank dosen't get a thread of light from the sun. Just normal daylight that lights the room. That's why I chose the 80W.


Thanks. To me that is proof that the Cool white light may be sufficient in of itself to grow aquarium plants. By "PC" bulbs, are you referring to the brand "President's Choice" brand. I am experimenting with different lighting(comparing differences on algae and plant growth under same conditions) and want to add Cool White to my list. I know there are lots of brands of cool white but since these exact ones worked for you, I want to test with them. Thanks


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

By the way, yesterday I put two small creek chub in the tank and they did well until last night when I suspect the larger of the two attacked and ate the head of the smaller one. This comes a day after the largest of all the chub (there were 4 originally) ate the smallest while still in the bucket. I wanted to introduce my darter today, but I'm afraid to now.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Collected another Percina Phoxocephala (Slenderhead Darter), an Etheostoma Nigrum (Johnny Darter), and a Fundulus Notatus (Blackstripe Topminnow) today. There are a LOT of darters in that little stream. I'm really happy about the topminnow; I wanted to keep them over everything else but happened to catch a darter first. Hopefully I will put pictures of the fish up in the next few days.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Only fatalities so far are the eaten creek chub... knock on wood. I love the fundulus; killies are really cool. I'm pretty sure he's male. He eats like a little pig, but likes freeze-dried bloodworms over flake food. The darters don't seem to be getting along badly and they're cool little fish, although I wish I could tell they were eating. My girlfriend says they're more like lizards than fish, which is sorta true. This is a really fun project. I think I'm going to rig my 55 gallon soon and plant that. Then I will have the 10 gallon to put the leftover chub into, which would be nice since I don't think I should release them and I don't want to euthanize them. Another possibility I'm flirting with is making the 55 gallon a sunfish tank. I'm a bit afraid that sunnies will eventually get too big, but I don't think it would happen within the next year or so so we'll see. Must... do... more... research.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

I'm thinking that the 55 gallon will have a colony of orangespotted sunfish (lepomis humilis). Anyone have experience with these? Tankmates? Plants? :S


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Well, if any of the silent masses wanted pictures here they are (sorry for the blurriness):








Current setup








Johnny Darter (Etheostoma nigrum)








Slenderhead Darter (Percina phoxocephala) with parasites on tail (out of focus)








Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus)








Current shot of tank (needs aquascaping :S)








Closeup of Slenderhead








Foliage








Slenderhead again


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Um... my Slenderheads are Fantails (Etheostoma flabellare) :S

And the parasites on one might be anchor worms.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Good news! The parasites are leeches. I can't get them to come off though, even with anti-parasite medication. :/
Bad news! Tiny spots and threads of algae are forming on the glass in the tank. :/ I don't think I'm planted heavily enough. All my duckweed has died or been eaten or something.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Manually removed leeches last night by holding the fish in a net and gripping them with tweezers.


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## andrew__ (May 18, 2007)

cool project. I've been thinking about setting up a tank for rainbow darters which are (apparently) fairly common in southern Ontario.

That topminnow's pretty cool looking too.

good luck with this tank :-D


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Thanks! Darters are (in my limited experience) a really neat first fish, as are topminnows. One of my darters regularly comes up to the glass to look at me when I'm watching it; another has survived a fall onto carpet and leech extraction. Rainbows are pretty too, so that's a plus. The topminnow is a little pig and he spends most of his time in the upper reaches of the tank, so that adds a bit more interest above the gravel as well. I'm not positive but I think Rainbows would require more flow than my Fantails and Johnny, though if you upped the flow on my little pump in my 10 gal I bet it'd be ok. You might wanna look at this if you're interested and enterprising. Sorry for rambling... let me know if I can help or if you decide to give it a go.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

You definitely need more plants in the 10 gallon. a mix of rooted plants and fast growing stem plants/floaters would be good.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Thanks... I was wondering; algae was starting to form on the glass. The problem is that I don't really know what I have so I don't know what does what, and this is my first planted tank. Do you think if I cut the smaller stalks off the larger one that looks like ludwigia and replanted them it would help?


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## andrew__ (May 18, 2007)

fuzzyletters said:


> I'm not positive but I think Rainbows would require more flow than my Fantails and Johnny, though if you upped the flow on my little pump in my 10 gal I bet it'd be ok. You might wanna look at this if you're interested and enterprising. Sorry for rambling... let me know if I can help or if you decide to give it a go.


Cool  There's another thread in the DIY section over at cichlid-forum where someone made a river tank for his clown loaches though that might only work with a bigger than than I have at the moment. That link you have there looks like it would be a lot easier to do & cheaper.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Smaller Creek Chub decided its tank was too wet last night. :S Today I caught another topminnow to go with the one I have. I need to feed my darters more; they seem to be losing a bit of weight. Algae is starting to go crazy and substrate is bubbling occasionally.  I think I'm about to fail at the Walstad method. :S


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Add more plants like Dataguru suggested. Try transferring your fish to a holding tank till your substrate settles down. Or put the fish back to catch them later while the plants work and settle out your tank. You haven't failed unless your tank explodes!


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

I think the tank is about to turn around... I did some trimming and replanting etc. today and I think the tank may be on the mend. The fish are doing fine, so I think I'll leave them for now. Also, darters (as well as the killies, though they're indiscriminate feeders) love little sliced earthworms, which is good because they were starting to look like they were losing weight.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Tank doing MUCH better. Water is finally clear 
Here is a picture taken with a bad camera (I'll get better ones later):








I'm keeping a Southern Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) as well so it'll be a while before I get around to the 55 I think. Things are going well with the 10 though; I think I'll bring it to college with me.
By the way, anyone know what pH is dangerous for fish on the high end? :S


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

It's been a while since I've updated. I've decided that since I can't find any Orangespotted Sunfish around here, I'm going to take this 10 gallon and 2x2.5 gallon tanks to college with me. One of the 2.5s will have the salamander and the other will have a trio of Bluefin Killifish (Lucania goodei) that I spotted in a tank of cheap fish at my lfs (as well as a stowaway ghost shrimp). The 10 gallon is completely overgrown at this point... hopefully I will post some pictures soon.

By the way, anyone know where I could find the types of plants that would be associated with a fish (biotope information)? I want to keep the new killies in somewhat natural surroundings, so I'd like to have some plants that at least occur somewhere in their native range.


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## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

i wish i had a river next to me. Id love to start a native tank.. awesome tank man


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Thanks! If you don't have a river by your house, you might want to try your Department of Fish and Wildlife website for public fishing sites in your area. Also, there are a number of suppliers of native fish online, among them KSI Aquatics, Ohio Valley Natives, Jonah's Aquarium, BTDarters, and Zimmerman's Captive Raised Native Fish.


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

I'm moved in at college and these are some pictures I took after a thinning-out and replanting:


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## Conankills (Aug 26, 2007)

AHA!! Another student/aquarium geek!

I am doing a half-native thing in my Naturally planted tank (10g), though I will keep exotic fish and a few exotic plants. Right now I have Duckweed, Eurasian Milfoil, and a couple of unknowns from a local pond, plus snails and other water fleas that were stowaways on the Duckweed. 

One question I do have which might be valid for you to wonder about too is this: will the native plants do the seasonal thing like the fish or will they grow year-round? 

I was going to do a totally native tank like you, but decided against it since info on local/regional wildlife is often hard to come by (as in domestication of water inhabitants).

Keep up the work and pictures!:bathbaby:


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## fuzzyletters (Jan 20, 2007)

Awesome... glad someone else my age appreciates natives. I encourage you to use two resources to find out about your local aquatic habitats and inhabitants... the NANFA forums and the Natureserve explorer. NANFA has a number of people (maybe even some in your area) who know more about caring for many native fish and plants than is published. Natureserve will allow you to find fish (or any kind of animal) that live near you, pictures, and ecological information about them. I like to read this forum too (so please don't kick me off for advertising others :S) but those are more helpful sites for people interested mostly in natives. Sometimes it helps me to contribute there, though, that I have read so much about NPTs here.


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