Advice needed on Native Floridian public tank

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Phalaeo

Registered Member
Jan 14, 2008
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Ok, I've been assigned the job of finding native Floridian fish to populate a 1,700 gallon aquarium that will be on public display in a botanical garden. The main purpose of this tank is to show off plant life, so if we can't accommodate fish, we can't, but I want to check out all of the possibilities.

I've kept freshwater tanks for over 25 years, so I'm fairly knowledgeable, it's just learning how to apply this knowledge to a larger tank and different species than I'm used to.

So far, I'm looking at redear sunfish from both a size factor as well as an availability factor. There is a 2" intake on the filter right now, and we're hoping that we will not have to restrict it to prevent smaller fish from getting sucked through.

Problem is that I don't know anyone who has kept them in captivity- what do they eat, what temperature do they need? The ambient air only goes down to 68 at night, and I'm going to be putting a max/min thermometer in the tank to see where the water temp goes.

What is the stocking rate for redears? Everything I'm, reading is by the acre, not by the gallon.

And, if there are any other suggestions for species that will not eat up plants, I'm all ears- I'll consider any advice you guys are willing to give.

Many thanks!
 
I can't anwser your question about redears, but if they don't work out, you could always try bluegills. They're native, get about the same size as the redears, school, and don't eat plants. That's about all I know about them, as I live far too north for any to be near me, and I've only read about them on a quick search.
 
Have you tried websites or phone numbers for the State of Florida? Their fish and game people might be helpful.
Beasts
 
ditto TheFanatic and Beats
 
TheFanatic said:
Channel cat (Ictaluras Catus) and Mud Cats (Ictaluras Melas).

Small and large mouth bass. Gar? Maybe to predatory. Crappie?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't channel cats eventually eat any other fish? And don't they destroy plants? Don't know about "mud cats"...
 
If you end up with any fish that might find the filter inlet too large be aware that fish will sense a flow from side to side but not up and down. I used to work at a place that used long pipes to bring in cooling water from the ocean. The screens that kept fish out of the equipment would remove tons of fish per day. When they figured out to space a flat cap a couple of feet above the opening, the fish trapped by the flow dropped off to less that 10% of the original amount. In that situation fish were a negative as they had to be kept out of the equipment. In your case you want to save the fish but the same approach should work. Your want the inlet to have a horizontal flow path.
 
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