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Freshwater tank


perch22

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Hi

 

I am looking into starting up my own freshwater fish tank, not wanting to rush into anything i want to gain as much knowledge as i can before i go ahead. The species i would like to keep are mainly perch, introducing them at a weight of about 4oz's. The tank would be situated in a downstairs living room, what size tank would you suggest?, i would preferably like to get the biggest tank i could get.

 

What do you think?

Also are there any good books on keeping freshwter fish in tanks etc.?

 

Thankyou

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You'll need at least a 48" tank minimum and as deep and wide as possible. 48x24x24 would be ideal. Basically you'll need as big as you can afford. Also you'll need a good filter. I'd recommend a large external as perch are quite messy eaters.

 

Can't think of any books that will specifically help you with natives but there will be sections in most.

If you need any more help I can and will be happy to walk you through the whole process from substrate, plants, stocking, cleaning up to chilling and breeding.

 

A word of warning though, keeping our native fish is far more time consuming and intensive compared to nearly all other fish (except marine of course).

 

Renrag39

This Years' Targets:- As many species by lure as possible. Preferably via Kayak. 15lb+ Pike on Lure...

Species Caught 2012- Pike, Perch.

Kayak Launches- Fresh-8 Salt- 0

Kayak Captures- 14 Pike, 1 Perch.

 

My Website and Blog Fishing Blog, Fishkeeping Information and BF3 Guide.

Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue

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Hi, thankyou for replying.

 

I presume you have kept perch before then as you seem to know your stuff. Yes, information on the substrate, plants, stocking, etc would be brilliant thanks, that would be very helpful.

 

perch22

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This subject has come up before. I have not tried to keep native fish but I do have a tropical tank which has been running without a working heater for several years! The room temperature of 22 deg plus the heat from the lights maintains a daytime tank temperature of about 24 degrees, which doesn't drop below 20 at night. This is way too warm for our native fish.

Even in an unheated room (or shed) you won't be able to use much light, which means you can't grow plants (or see the fish!) If the tank was chilled you'd probably have all sorts of condensation problems.

There are are good reasons people keep tropical fish!

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Don't forget the new byelaws. It's an offence to take coarse fish of over 20cm in length from our rivers. If you take from ponds you need the owner's permission!

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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Right, temperature is the first obstacle as many have pointed out, yes even fluoro tubes generate a fair amount of heat and filters, whether internal or external also generate some too. In fact in a 'normal' house, room temperature is several degrees too high, so to keep Perch, or any coarse fish for an extended amount of time, you need to either spend obscene amounts of money on chiller units/fishhouses etc or take my homebrew example.

 

HOMEBREW CHILLER

Buy 1 large or 2 smaller external filters (gives peace of mind for breakdown/failure of units) Next, buy beer cooler/tabletop fridge and lots of hose. Make a pair or holes for each filter to allow the output hose of the/both filters to enter and exit. REPEAT- OUTPUT HOSE! You don't want to chill the water BEFORE it enters the filter because it will inhibit the efficiency of the Nitrosomnas and Nitrobacter bacteria which turn Ammonia into Nitrite, then Nitrite to Nitrate respectively. Set up the hose accordingly, seal with silicone sealant roung the entry/exit wounds and set the cooler to brass monkeys.

I found wrapping the hose/s round a 2l coke bottle, filled with water, increased the 'chill factor' significantly, along with filling any additional space with liquid to absorb as much coldness as possible. Beer is an excellent liquid to achieve this with! Stubbies being better as you can fit more in. Plus you can also store your maggots in there too, thus ensuring your beer will not go to the squeamish.

 

FILTER SIZE

The size of the filter itself is not really important compared to the flow rate. Ideally, you want an hourly turnover of about 3-4x the total capacity of your tank. What must be taken into consideration, is that most filter manufacturers live in a friction and obstruction free world where everything is perfect. This cannot be, how would you explain me? So its best to err on the side of caution and get 5-8x capacity turnover to account for the extra length of hose/growth build up and optimistic lph/gph ratings.

 

SUBSTRATE

Pea Gravel, large version of normal aquarium gravel, easy to clean, rounded so as not to damage a fishes mouth and plenty of space to allow anaerobic bacteria to do their thing. Needs to be at least 1 1/2-2" deep at the front, sloping back to about 3" at the rear. Rinse it thoroughly before putting it in.

 

PLANTS

Elodea aka Pondweed. Get it from an Aquarists, not your local pond. They have all sorts of nasties on in the wild. I recommend lots of it. It wont hide the fish as they feel more comfortable with somewhere to hide and will therefore behave more naturally as opposed to being pale/nervous shadows of their normally gregarious selves. In a 4' tank aim to have each end densely planted for about 8" at least and loosely scattered along the back wall. Plant each stalk individually, not as sold in the metal wraps or they will rot. Just push each stalk deep into the gravel and it will take hold in time. Be patient, there is no quick way to do this but it's worth it in the end.

 

LIGHTING

Try to get as deep a cover as you can get to house 2x fluorescent tubes as far from the water as possible. I recommend a PowerGlo for the back tube and a SunGlo or AquaGlo for the front.

Have them on a timer for 8-10hrs a day or you WILL forget and your plants WILL die.

 

CLEANING

Get a purpose made 'aquarium vacuum' or make your own. Easier to look at one in the shop and copy it with some hose pipe and a 500ml coke bottle. It'll make sense then I promise you!

Every 2 weeks, you need to remove 10-15% of the water to reduce the build up of Nitrate (which is the end product of the nitrogen cycle).

To do this you must suck on the hose end of the vac with the bottle end fully immersed (clear pipe saves much retching) with the hose end below the level of the bottle. Water will now shoot out all over your carpet because I forgot the bucket. You also need a bucket!

While the water shoots out, firmly push the bottle end deep into the gravel and you will see all the lighter detritus get sucked up and out. Repeat this all over the unplanted area. The detritus around the plants acts as a good fertiliser for them and promotes a healthy growth. Replace water with either day old water from the tap or de-chlorinate with a commercial product.

 

STOCKING

I use a formula for stocking and have modified it for tropical and coldwater aquariums. These stocking levels are the FINAL amount of fish you can have in your tank assuming you follow a rigorous cleaning/water change schedule Multiply the length of your tank in inches by the width and divide by 8. This will give you your TOTAL length of fish to keep. (l x w)/8= T.

In a 48" x 12" tank this gives you 72" of fish to stock.

Fish length is measured from Nose Tip to the Root of the Tail.

 

STOCKING SCHEDULE

Leave the set up as above for TWO WEEKS at least. Not One and a half, TWO!

Then, do NOT put Perch in first. Despite being the greediest buggers this side of an all you can eat buffet they are very sensitive to water conditions. I have experience of seeing a prymnesium outbreak and the first to belly up are the stripeys.

I have always used Tench in my aquariums. They're tough (green and golden) interesting and useful. They will also be compatible with perch as long as they have a few nooks and crannys to get into/under. Slate and bogwood (expensive tho) is perfect and helps round off a natural set-up. Get 2-3 small Tench from a shop (not wild, they're another matter) and introduce them properly by first floating the bag for 30-45 mins to equalise the temperature with the lights off, then undo the bag and gradually mix the water in over a period of an hour or so. Then release and marvel at where the heck did they go. Leave the lights off for the night and set them to come on while you're eating breakfast. They will eventually come out boldly and you can set a routine. Feed yourself, feed the fish. Carp/trout pellets are perfect, just don't overfeed. After 3-4 weeks you can add 4 perch at first (even numbers seems to reduce bullying) of about 4" each (smaller the better as you get to see the gregarious shoaling behaviour that never gets boring. Then a month later, another 2 perch and so on until you reach the limit. Work the limit on your release size. 7" would be great.

I would guesstimate a shoal of 8-10 Perch with the 2/3 Tench to be about right.

Release the Perch AND Tench when they reach 6-7", into the pond you have inevitably built by now and Re-Stock with whatever takes your fancy (gradually of course) and you're well on your way to being an Ichthybore.

 

NOTE

You may have spotted that I have exceeded the stocking limit with 10x7" Perch and 3x7" Tench but please be aware that fish grow at different rates and may be introduced at different stages of life so this 'should' be within acceptable limits.

 

I hope this helps budding and experienced Aquarists alike. I am sure I have omitted many important factors but hope this informs and doesn't confuse.

I am always willing to share what little I know with anyone who believes they can benefit from it. My background for this is 14 years of Fishkeping/Breeding/Ruining Carpets from the age of 12 and is still a passion of mine.

 

P.S. Please observe all laws regarding the removal and re-release of fish from bodies of water and watercourses. If in doubt, contact the owner/manager/authority responsible for the water.

 

Regards,

Renrag

This Years' Targets:- As many species by lure as possible. Preferably via Kayak. 15lb+ Pike on Lure...

Species Caught 2012- Pike, Perch.

Kayak Launches- Fresh-8 Salt- 0

Kayak Captures- 14 Pike, 1 Perch.

 

My Website and Blog Fishing Blog, Fishkeeping Information and BF3 Guide.

Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue

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My favourite were gudgeon tbh, they just seem such 'happy' little fish :-D My nan still has a shoal of about 15 in her pond. They're about 8/9" long now! Like little barbel lol.

 

Renrag

This Years' Targets:- As many species by lure as possible. Preferably via Kayak. 15lb+ Pike on Lure...

Species Caught 2012- Pike, Perch.

Kayak Launches- Fresh-8 Salt- 0

Kayak Captures- 14 Pike, 1 Perch.

 

My Website and Blog Fishing Blog, Fishkeeping Information and BF3 Guide.

Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue

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My favourite were gudgeon tbh, they just seem such 'happy' little fish :-D My nan still has a shoal of about 15 in her pond. They're about 8/9" long now! Like little barbel lol.

 

Renrag

How did you cope with the condensation from having a chilled tank in your house?

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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Well, when I kept them the average temperature of the tank was 14-16C and I was still living at home. My dad was/is quite 'tight' with heating levels so the house was about the same so no condensation problems until middle of summer (north facing, well ventilated room helped too). Also, when it does occur, a strategically placed fan will speed evaporation. Besides this, a quick wipe over once or twice a day will save the woodwork from excessive dampness.

 

Sorry for the delay in the reply,

Renrag

This Years' Targets:- As many species by lure as possible. Preferably via Kayak. 15lb+ Pike on Lure...

Species Caught 2012- Pike, Perch.

Kayak Launches- Fresh-8 Salt- 0

Kayak Captures- 14 Pike, 1 Perch.

 

My Website and Blog Fishing Blog, Fishkeeping Information and BF3 Guide.

Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue

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