Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Largemouths and Shiners in the Aquarium

I just put in 10 shiners to one 10 gallon tank, plenty of plastic plants, good lighitng, excellent filtration, and 2 two inch largemouth bass fingerlings into another 10 gallon tank with alot of live plants, good lighting, and very good filtration. What should I be feeding the largemouths? I have only been feeding them very small minnows from a local pet store, do they need a more varied diet than this? As for the golden shiners, what do they eat? I have been trying to feed them fish flakes to no avail. I read somewhere recently that golden shiners eat plankton/algae/plant matter, so should I be putting some live plants in the tank? They have also been doing something kinda wierd. 9 of the shiners on the first day started to gang up on one shiner and began trying to eat his tail. The next morning I discovered the picked on shiner with no tail, and dead on the bottom. The same day, the remaining 8 began beating up on one individual with the same outcome. I am now left with 6 shiners. What in the heck are they doing, are they just hungry? Thanks for any advice in advance.

It sounds like they are increadibly over crowded. Most "Lake Fish" need a 125 gallon tank. I want to set up a tank for a N. Pike, you have to have at least a 75 gallon tank and they out grow that in one year. My friend managed the aquarium section of a large pet store, he told me I could have any lake fish in less than a 75 gallon tank. Even the shiners sound over crowded. How big are they now? Your best bet is get bigger tanks.

I doubt having 9 or 10 1 inch shiners in a 10 gallon tank or 2 2inch bass in another 10 gallon tank is overcrowding. The general rule for small fish (less than 3 inches), is that you can keep about 1 inch of fish for every gallon of water comfortably. These are temporary residences until I finish the construction of my 240 gallon plywood/acrylic tank. There are only 4 shiners left now, but they look pretty healthy. Check out some pics at this other message board http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=76490. On keeping pike, I don't know about keeping a specimen until maturity, you would need a tank a lot bigger than 75 gallons for that. Also, pike require temperatures around or below 72 degrees, and you probably will need an expensive (200 bucks for a cheap one) cooling device to keep the temp down.

The point is that lake fish are designed to have room, to find food, shelter, and the the correct temp. It is almost impossible to duplicate this in a tank and for any chance at all you have to have at least 125 gallon tank. I was just suggesting that the shiners felt cramped and ganged up on the weakest member in some sort of population control device. What would happen if you put 8 dogs in a closet? They would fight. Maybe the fish felt the same way? Just a guess.

Ok, thanks for the advice, Tyw33.