Freshwater fish tank

[lunkerslayer]

I bought a 75 gallon fish tank so I can make a perch bluegill crappie ecosystem.
Has anyone tried to keep these fish as pets? I see a lot of set ups on YouTube and just thought I would see if anyone on here has more experience.

 

[deleted_account]

lol! this has to be illegal

 

[lunkerslayer]

I see online you can buy perch from a hatchery, so being that there is videos of people.keeping these fish as pets.

 

[Bfishn]

Yeah i'm pretty sure that's illegal...that being said you wouldn't be the first to do it. Years ago my science teacher had an aquarium that "some students" put a few small large mouth and bluegill in. The large mouth were crazy. You would come in in the morning and there would be things missing. They ate the bluegill, large mud puppies, frogs, etc. At the end it was just the large mouth. It was all in the name of science

 

[Lycanthrope]

Back in they day, even had a small 'eye' and pike in mine. Its legal depending where you get your fish. Cant catch and keep them unfortunately, another one of those dumb regulations... "Land of the FREE"?

 

[GSM]

The only major difference between just keeping pet store fish and the fish you are talking about is that you will need a chiller on your tank to keep the water colder than needed for pet store fish.

 

[DirtyMike]

The bar/restaurant by beaver bay has some perch and crappie in a tank. Maybe they know something we don't. I think it'd be an awesome tool to use for fishing.

 

[guywhofishes]

I'm pretty sure it's legal.

As long as you don't use hot lights (use LEDs) you don't need a chiller for native ND fish - other than trout. A basement is best but any cooler room is fine - and no direct sunlight unless it's in the basement where it'll stay room temp and not "boil" in summer sunlight.

I have kept and even spawned a variety of ND fish. Search small streams and creeks for small sunfish varieties - WAY better looking than bluegills, stay small, incredible colors, spawn readily - even in 10 gallon tank. Little dwarf sized green sunfish exist in creeks in Fargo area BTW.

 

[JayKay]

There are lots and lots of things I don't know. But one thing I do know is that Oscar(fish) will eat baby bullheads and small sunfish.

Oscars will also eat worms, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, doritos, goldfish, and minnows.

 

[guywhofishes]

I am pretty certain that any fish you catch using legals traps, hook/line (tiny trout hooks catch almost any small fish), etc. is legal to keep in your aquaria. As long as it's harvested legally.

As for transporting live fish - that could be an issue in this modern age of IS.

I'd just do it myself. Good grief what a bunch of hogwash worrying about it being legal keeping native fish in an aquarium.

 

[Bowhunter_24]

dropping a few minnows in a fish tank with some hungry perch is fun to watch

I used to have perch, blue gill, northern and walleyes in a tank. The smaller the fish the better.

 

[Rowdie]

I'm pretty sure it's legal.

As long as you don't use hot lights (use LEDs) you don't need a chiller for native ND fish - other than trout. A basement is best but any cooler room is fine - and no direct sunlight unless it's in the basement where it'll stay room temp and not "boil" in summer sunlight.

I have kept and even spawned a variety of ND fish. Search small streams and creeks for small sunfish varieties - WAY better looking than bluegills, stay small, incredible colors, spawn readily - even in 10 gallon tank. Little dwarf sized green sunfish exist in creeks in Fargo area BTW.

Those Green Sunfish are the best IMO. They are aggressive, and don't get too big. Oscar's are boring I like the Native fish better. Plus add a big crawdad or two. They are funny when the catch a minnow. Plus its cool watching them molt. Creek chubs eat minnows also and I like them in there as well.

 

[fly2cast]

In the past, I've kept dang near every fish you could find in North Dakota. We use to go to the sandbars on the Missouri and find areas with warm, backwater and run a net through there. Caught more different types of fish than you could imagine. The funnest fish to keep are large and smallmouth bass. They would eat anything and follow you around waiting for food. Walleye and perch were boring. Pike were fun because they would attack anything. Bluegill were fine and would adapt quickly. Crappie were very hard to keep. They were very picky about the food. Those carp without scales were interesting. Bullheads were the most aggressive and eat more than even bass. Couldn't believe how fat they would get.

 

[Bfishn]

Just for the record, from NDGF website. I think it comes down to the ANS thing, and people releasing fish back into water they didn't come from.

Can I transport home some small fish I caught from a lake, and use them as aquarium fish?

No. It is illegal to transport any fish in water, away from the water body from which it was caught, except for legal baitfish.

 

[DirtyMike]

Find a private supplier and go from there. Or break (what appears to be) the law.

 

[guywhofishes]

Yes - and never exceed the speed limit. Not even by a tiny bit, because it's the law - and laws are there for YOUR protection. Thumbs Up

 

[Brian Renville]

You can have them you just can't transport them, having fish other than bait in an aquarium is a no-no. That being said I had bluegills a couple times and I gave it up. I'm not sure what the deal was but it could be something nutritional. Gills would be good and active for a couple weeks and it seems all of a sudden they would go belly up. When I see gills in the wild they always seem to be picking at moss/algae...etc and I think maybe that forage was tough to duplicate. They are mealworms and shrimp/krill well though. Wouldn't touch any pellet food. When I was a kid I had a couple green sunfish for a couple years. More fun than any fish I've ever had.

 

[lunkerslayer]

Thanks guys for the posts those that had fish what kind of filtration systems you install to keep the bio-waste down, also did you have a freshwater plants in your tanks. I can get crayfish mussels to put in there. How many little fish can you keep in your tanks

 

[Lycanthrope]

In the past, I've kept dang near every fish you could find in North Dakota. We use to go to the sandbars on the Missouri and find areas with warm, backwater and run a net through there. Caught more different types of fish than you could imagine. The funnest fish to keep are large and smallmouth bass. They would eat anything and follow you around waiting for food. Walleye and perch were boring. Pike were fun because they would attack anything. Bluegill were fine and would adapt quickly. Crappie were very hard to keep. They were very picky about the food. Those carp without scales were interesting. Bullheads were the most aggressive and eat more than even bass. Couldn't believe how fat they would get.

https://youtu.be/l_n5WKCVl1o?t=106

 

[Retired Educator]

Not sure whether it's legal or not but I am pretty sure I've never seen anyone get a violation for a perch in a fish tank. Knew a Sci. Teacher who had such a tank and I'm pretty sure it's not uncommon. I would guess that the G&F has rules about transporting live fish because of people who like to do their own stocking.

Freshwater fish tanks I have seen look pretty much like a lake in ND. They all had some native weeds in the tank, and the water wasn't necessarily filtered like the tanks you see in pet shops or Drs. offices. If you're going to replicate a ND lake it should have some scum on the top and not crystal clear water.

As others have suggested most fish live by eating other fish as well as insects, etc. If you have other fish in the tank you can expect some of them to disappear occasionally. The rule in the wild is that bigger fish eat smaller fish and most aren't very fussy eaters. Not an expert but have been told that a fish will only grow as big as the space allows so don't expect to grow trophies at home in a small tank.

Have a little fun with a few fish but don't get into the stocking business or the G&F will want to know a little more about you.