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Coarse fish in a tank


Anthony78

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p.s. you can buy bacteria that you can seed your tank/filter with!

 

I remember as a youngster in the late 50s us kids used to fish in a tiny farm pond that was stuffed full of stunted fish. We used to get perfectly formed fully scaled carp no more than 4 inches maximum, beautifull little fish. We also had the occasional tench but the most impresive were perfectly formed minature golden rudd, they were the equal of many tropical fish to look at and I remember having a couple in a goldfish bowl. Unfortunately they did'nt last long when my brother introduced a giant pond beetle.

 

Barry

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go to 'pets at home' (the big shop with the green logo) you will get free advice there and some books and booklets will be available. also look on line, there will be articles somewhere, plus the guys on here have steered you in the right direction.

 

best of luck

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Small roach or rudd (less than a couple of inches long), minnows, sticklebacks, gudgeon, stone loach, bullheads, crucian carp, tench, lots of possibilities. You just can't stick 6oz fish in a 4' tank, and you have to recognise that the larger species will eventually outgrow your tank. Oh, and leave off the predators in a community tank! ;)

 

 

Yes, very good advice (and in the other post re pike) The most important thing is NOT TO OVERCROWD YOUR TANK.

 

When I kept fish many years ago I wound up with a lot of tanks!

 

It is also important to remove waste matter by filtration and siphoning off debris. Thats fine, but soluble nitrates will build up in the water also. One way to minimise this is to replace about a third of the water with rainwater every month or so - I found another solution Naias microdon (if my memory serves me) a free floating weed that mops up nitrates, grows like crazy and just needs a handful taking out now and again to keep the nitrates within bounds. It also provides shade and cover for the fish. The only downside is it looks "untidy" but I was keeping fish for study, not for show.

 

Have kept all the fish mentioned by Steve, plus a few others, including SPINED LOACH.

 

Kept about half a dozen for a couple of years - lovely little fish, and quite, quite different in appearance and behaviour from stone loach. Most books on British fish are pretty clueless about spined loach (they think them similar to stone loach) but whereas stone loach are bottom-dwelling throughout the year, spined loach are found in mid-water weedbeds in the summer.

 

Has anyone else experience of spined loach?

 

 

BTW all the fish I kept were taken from the wild (and returned to the wild) No Section 30 in those days !

Edited by Vagabond

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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have you put this topic on the aquarium forum? to be honest i would build a big pond in my back garden and put coarse fish in there

 

To be honest I didn't even know we had one.

If one of the mods could move this for me that would be great.

Thanks for all the advice folks.

Ant

Effort equals reward!!

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Hi Ant,

This all really depends on quite a few things. what is the length height and width of the tank in inches. By a bit of number jiggery pokery you can find the water capacity of the tank when it is empty. Obviously you have to take into account what you put in the tank as this will decrease the water capacity of the tank. I.e gravel pots sinking wood etc. Then you will need good filtration undergravel i recommend. Once again by jiggery pokery with numbers you can then work out how many fish inches the tank can support. Never though and this is important NEVER put the max in at the start you have to give the tank time to mature. If you bought a good book on golfish keeping or coldwater fish keeping all of this info should be in it for you so ask advice at the local aquatic shop on the best book that you can afford. Any problems and diseases/parasites etc are usually the same for the fish. You could then decide if the effort is worth it. I think it is as you can learn from your fish about theirn habits etc.

Try a channel cat you only need one they grow rapidly when fed on one frozen prawn a day when they get to about 3.5 inches long some aquatic centres have them. Then feed accordingly. They grow fast so you may have to get a larger tank in a few years time. Why not go to the local brook or ask a farmer of you can take a few sticklebacks and minnows to start with. These hardy fish will help to mature the tank. about 4 of each would do for the first few months. Any other info required please ask.

Dont forget you can get small carp from the local garden centre as well as tench too.

Good luck Nempster :thumbs:

 

Hi nempster,

Thanks for all the advice, I have put it on the back burner for the time being. I need to go to the library and get some books. I would still love to have freshwater fish though so this is what I will be aiming for.

Do you know what the max temp carp can live with?

Effort equals reward!!

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sorry i meant have you had a look for a aquarium forum somewhere else and put it on there

You do need to go and read a bit first. FWIW the depth of a tank has little to do with how many fish your tank will support. The surface area is the important thing.

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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