# My US Native Planted Tank



## AMcCaleb

Here's a video of my US Native Planted Tank. I got interested in natives last year and decided to set up a tank with all US Native Fish and Plants. Currently the fish list is:
5 Southern Redbelly Dace
4 Spotfin Shiners
7 Rainbow Shiners
11 Iowa Darters

and the plants list is:
Pygmy Chain Sword
Dwarf Sag
Ludwigia repens
Ludwigia palustris
fissidens fontanus
lemon bacopa
radican sword


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## thebuddha

pretty freaking neat man


those darters are awesome, and the dace are so amusing


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## AMcCaleb

The tank has only been running for a few months now. It's starting to grow out but it's low tech so it'll take some time


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## AMcCaleb

Here's a video of my sunfish tank. The only plants in here are a couple pieces of java fern.


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## Lia

Both your tanks are fantastic. What size tank is the sunfish tank and are those what they call longears?


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## AMcCaleb

Both tanks are 75 gallons. And yes those are central longear sunfish. All the fish in the sunfish tank I caught myself. In the planted tank I caught the spotfin shiners and purchased the rest.


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## Down_Shift

super nice man.

How bout some Flag fish?
They've been the rave around these parts lately lol


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## AMcCaleb

I had some but they ate the plants and nipped at the fish. Also, I'm not a fan of the platy body shape. They didn't last long in my tank


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## Raymond S.

First I just got my computer running after a crash so all is not well yet so can you include a link to the you tube stuff cause my computer won't get it from what you put up there...it's a blank screen on my monitor(it just says you tube at the top of it.)
I am trying to keep sunfish but you would need a species tank for the kind I have.They will either eat only live(depending on the individual fish) or live plus frozen bloodworms.
I find that an other fish/ shrimp put in with them hampers your keeping live food in there for them. You would think the baby shrimp would be food but too fast for my sunfish to catch. Acolony of scuds in the tank so far is my only dependable source of food for them. This is a direct link to a place that sells them but they may be caught
if they live where you do.
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/Pygmy-Sunfish/
Looking forward to seeing your video.


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## AMcCaleb

I'll put a link up tomorrow. I'm keeping longear sunfish. I've never tried Pygmy sunfish. They're not located where I live. Mine would only take live food at first but I got them switched over to pellet foods. I rarely if ever feed live food anymore.


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## Raymond S.

I almost forgot...you might be interested in a "pilot" fish. This is also on thatr site list. You might need a separate tank for those also as they ned blackwater conditions as they are only found in dark or cloudy water and stay hidden mostly.
They feed like Groupers so they are really neat IF you can supply them with live food.
I find that they will eat earthworms. If you caught the fish you have then you might be able to catch the food that they eat also as they will eat crayfish(small).
So you may be able to keep them in a community tank if you will provide them/w a dark place in the tank to hide in like a log they can get under.
Most sunfish will eat almost any food after they see other fish eat it. The only exception I know of to this is what is called a Goggle eye'd pearch or War Mouth or Rock Bass...all names for the same fish.


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## AMcCaleb

What's the scientific name for pilot fish? I've never heard of them. Are you referring to pirate perch?


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## AMcCaleb

If you're referring to pirate perch then they are around my area. I'm not really interested in keeping them though. In my one tank they'll get big enough that they would probably eat some of my fish and in the sunfish tank they'd get eating in a heartbeat by the creek chubs.


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## Raymond S.

Yes it was, I just looked it up.


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## AMcCaleb

Raymond S. said:


> First I just got my computer running after a crash so all is not well yet so can you include a link to the you tube stuff cause my computer won't get it from what you put up there...it's a blank screen on my monitor(it just says you tube at the top of it.)






 



 
Those are the links for the two videos I have up here. Sorry it took me so long to post those links. Let me know if you have any questions or need any advice about setting up your native tanks.


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## AMcCaleb

Raymond S. said:


> I am trying to keep sunfish but you would need a species tank for the kind I have.They will either eat only live(depending on the individual fish) or live plus frozen bloodworms.
> I find that an other fish/ shrimp put in with them hampers your keeping live food in there for them. You would think the baby shrimp would be food but too fast for my sunfish to catch. Acolony of scuds in the tank so far is my only dependable source of food for them.


If you're keeping pygmy sunfish then I've been told that they need live food. You might try blackworms. I don't know much about them but I've been told that they are an easy/cheap live food supplement that pygmy sunfish love. If you're keeping the bigger sunfish then you should be able to wean them off of live foods. All of my native fish that I have are pellet trained. With bigger sunfish it takes a lot longer than with the minnows but what you do is you put them in your tank and don't feed them for three days (they'll be fine, don't worry). Then drop in a floating pellet or two on the fourth day. Leave it in there don't pull it out. Eventually they will get curious and take a bite. They will nibble and spit them out for a while but eventually they will get used to the pellets and will take them greedily after only a week or two. If they don't eat anything after a week then you should throw some live food in there for them and then wait two more days and try the pellet process over again. They will eventually learn out of necessity that the pellets are food. Some other natives like pickerel and such that are piscivore predators will probably not ever take to pellets but you can try. But, anyways, the couple different sunfish species that I've kept have all been fully pellet trained within a week or two. Hikari cichlid pellets are a good food for them.


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## Lia

AMcCaleb said:


> Both tanks are 75 gallons. And yes those are central longear sunfish. All the fish in the sunfish tank I caught myself. In the planted tank I caught the spotfin shiners and purchased the rest.
> 
> 
> Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


 
When they spawn will they fight ?


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## AMcCaleb

I have yet to see any spawning so I don't know


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## Raymond S.

Mostly I think the reason I've not tried the blackworms is the $20 minimum order.
From a given up project I do have a container for them so setting up couldn't be that hard/expensive but I do seasonal work and keeping the phone on becomming a challenge is a wakeup call directed at spending "but it only cost" type things for the tank last summer when there was "extra" money. I did manage to get a culture of scuds for one tank, the other already having some but hard to catch. A pile of rocks in a corner hopefully being a "safe house" for them so they can colonize the tank.
They can also escape the fish in the filter and plants.
But in that You tube video, I saw a skipper that I've had and by catching it. Not the striped one but the other smaller one which had kind if cherkerboard looking marks.
What is that one and can I purchase them from...?
Where I used to live I knew a couple of ponds which had top minnows living in blackwater conditions. May be a relative of it here but I don't want to add any other fish to my Pigmy sunfish tank(s) as they would either be eaten or be starved for food.


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## AMcCaleb

I understand having to cut back spending. If the fish you are referring to is the one that hangs out on the substrate, those are Iowa darters that I purchased from Zimmermansfish.com. Jonahsaquarium.com also carries darters. 
Most darters prefer more current than what I have but the ones that Zimmermans sells are the species that do better in slower flow, planted tanks. Jonah's carries a lot more species of darters and some of them have incredible color. Check out rainbow darters and green side darters. They prefer higher flow but I've seen them in planted tanks. Anyways, those two websites are two of the bigger dealers for native fish. There's also aquaculturestore.com and btdarters.com. 


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## kwheeler91

Love natives! My only question is why is there a heater in a native tank?


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## AMcCaleb

Because it's in my basement and the temperature fluctuates a lot overnight. I'm just trying to keep it at a steady temp. I keep it at 70


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## AMcCaleb

No matter what I try, I can't seem to get this video to embed. Anyways, here's the latest video on the tank. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1VS81ZjhWc


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## Wy Renegade

Nice to see someone running a native system.


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## AMcCaleb

Thanks


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## AMcCaleb

Another video of my 75 gallon Native Planted Tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlb8eJLT3Rg


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## jerrytheplater

I thought sunfish required a cold winter to thrive, and especially to spawn. Yes? No?


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## AMcCaleb

They have that in nature but they don't spawn till spring when the water warms up. It's not necessary to go through a winter cycle. You can get them to spawn in a tank without the winter cycle. But I'm not really trying to breed the fish.


Day5FishTanks. Any other native YouTubers on here?


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## AMcCaleb

Just moved and got the 75 gallon native planted tank back up and running. Here's a rundown of what's in the tank currently.


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## AquaAurora

Lovely setup! Do you know what type of wood and rock you have in there?


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## AMcCaleb

AquaAurora said:


> Lovely setup! Do you know what type of wood and rock you have in there?


There's actually 4 pieces of driftwood in the tank. The large piece on the right that splits off into three different pieces is just some driftwood from the Ohio River. The three pieces to the left are all manzanita driftwood. 
The rocks are just some rocks that I found in a nearby creek.


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## nonfucious

Great tanks! That actinic lighting really shows off the colors of the Sunfish. I have some Eastern Dollars in my natives tank and they are jewel-like in natural light. When the tank lights come on they kind of wash out though.


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## ooosparkeyooo

Thats so cool! Great plants for US.


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