Originally posted by quick061
btw i wouldn't suggest keeping any sort of trout at all. trout are much more of swimmers than bass or cats and need a ton of room if you even want to think about keeping them. i don't think anything but the largest of tanks (> 100 gal) would work but i don't have any hard evidence of it. i just know from their behavior that they would need a lot.
I don't think I'd keep a trout in anything that mother nature didn't make. Trout in general live in cold streams and lakes with very good water conditions and water movement. They grow rainbows in Va in raceways and ponds but keeping one in a glass aquarium could turn out very bad for the fish. A few reason being they like to be kept in schools, like to move around a lot, are VERY skidish, and need very good water and good current.
My nephews and I spent half the summer in many trout streams in Va watching brooks (we call them natives here and gosh they are beautiful), browns, and rainbows. One place we visited at least twice a week and spent hours (sometimes all day) there floating above thier heads. They never got used to us being there. The chub, smallmouth bass, bluegill, madtoms, and perch didn't mind after a few times. But the trout would always leave the deep hole when we entered for water we weren't able to float in. We were able to get close to the trout at times but it required us cornering them and being perfectly still. Any slight movement and they would rush to a different area.
Beautiful fish though. I myself would like to keep them at home but know they don't belong there. Personally I wouldn't keep them in anything except at least a 10,000 gallon tank that was exactly like thier natural habitat. But I'd still probably feel bad about it. But that's just me.
You've got a rather small tank there for native fish but if you want to keep something how about some small minnows or daces? Red-sided dace are really pretty little fish with thier red sides and yellow-green fins. Black banded sunfish are also small and could maybe be kept in a tank that size. A bass or larger gamefish however is going to need something very big. I you want to keep something native and are limited on tank size try the smaller fishes. Someone posted a very good site with great info earlier in this string. Another site to check out for native fish info is
Virginia Techs Virtual Aquarium. Click on the minnows section and you'll see the fish I'm talking about.
Another thing to keep in mind is this. In some states game fish are illegal to keep as pets. And the game wardens I know wouldn't have a problem writing someone a ticket for that.
A great fish in my opinion for a 75 or larger tank is a sculpin. They are native here and wonderful lil fish. They need live fish and insects however. I recieved 6 from a friend that were very small and kept a mated pair in my 90 gallon. The rest were returned to him and he placed them in an outside pond that has an awesome lil creek that runs into it.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT NATIVE FISH IS THIS. NEVER release them back into the place you found them. Follow the "
Once caught, Once bought, Never returned" rule. If you want to keep natives have a place to keep them if they outgrow your limits of providing for them. An outside pond is an idea place for most of them.
Sorry for rambling. I just get heartbroken when I see someone keeping a bass or some sort of large gamefish in something barely big enough for most tropical fish.