Everglades Aquarium

[powellmacaque]

Since I am soon to be getting a 75 gallon tank, and since I live in Florida, I thought it would be cool to do a Florida Everglades/swampland environment. I did some research on species that are found in the everglades (the link is http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~sylv/HTML/Work/Everglades/specieslist.html), and found some interesting things, like that Oscars, although are very rare there, occur wildly in the everglades. My question is, would it be overstock/death wish to have an Oscar, Warmouth, and some other kind of sunfish/cichlid in the same tank? If it is legit, then what are some suggestions for some filler fish besides the Oscar and the Warmouth. Also, filteration, heating, substrate, feeding, and other ideas are very welcome.

 

[mooman]

Hey powell, I did a little research and found that the population of oscars in florida is non-native, probably from people releasing them when they got to large, so you might want to avoid that option since it isn't a native species and would take up most of the room in the aquarium and eat any "supporting actors" that you might add.

site one the warmouth
http://www.millevolte.com/nativefish27.html

link to page about oscar homerange and non-native pop in Florida

You could do tank with some of those killifish, and sunfish (might eat killis). I think a 75g would be to small for more than one or two of the large predators on the list, but I'm not an expert. I've always wanted to try a sunfish tank, but not sure if they work because i've never seen any posts about them. The ones i've seen around here tend to live in schools and don't get too big. You could keep maybe five or six of them, a couple of each species maybe.

 

[tricksterpup]

Powell,
there are many wonderful fish that live in florida that make tank mates and work well in a tank that size.

Elassoma okeefenokee (Pygmy sunfish)
Heterandria Formosa (least killiefish)
Jordanella floridae (flag fish)
Lucania goodie (bluefin Killie)
Fundulus chrysotus (golden topminnow)
Gambusia Affinis holbrooki (Eastern Mosquito Fish)
Etheostoma fusiforme (Swamp Darter)
Notemigonus crysoleucas (Golden Shinners)
Fundulus cingulatus (Banded Topminnow)
Fundulus lineolatus (Lined Topminnow)
Poecilia latipinna (Sail Fin Molly )

Try these guys out instead of doing some predatory tank, try a community tank of these other locals. It will prove far more interesting than one fish just hanging in your tank waiting for food.

 

[cloud]

Hey powell, I did a little research and found that the population of oscars in florida is non-native, probably from people releasing them when they got to large,

Yeah, I figured that would be the case. Reckon there's probably a whole bunch of tank tusters residing in the wrong lakes of the warmer parts of the world.
I also read a report a while back saying there are guppy populations in the sewers of florida as people keep flushing the fry down the toilet.

 

[Nuriel]

Powell,
there are many wonderful fish that live in florida that make tank mates and work well in a tank that size.
Try these guys out instead of doing some predatory tank, try a community tank of these other locals. It will prove far more interesting than one fish just hanging in your tank waiting for food.

i agree, however different floats for different boats, ya know!!! but i scored some of those Least killis from the feeder guppy tank here at pet not so smart- beautiful lil guys and VERY fun to watch!!! :dance2:

 

[tricksterpup]

i agree, however different floats for different boats, ya know!!! but i scored some of those Least killis from the feeder guppy tank here at pet not so smart- beautiful lil guys and VERY fun to watch!!! :dance2:

That is really cool, another fan of the little hets. They are a wonderful peaceful fish and are constantly by passed for their fancy cousins.