I don't know how many of you are interested in this, but I am having such a blast with it so I thought I would post it for those that are. It's kind of long, but here goes.

My oldest daughter recently gave me a hand-me-down 55 gallon aquarium that she acquired from a friend. I decided to set it up with pond fish rather than tropicals. I got some stocking fish from the "fish truck" on Sept 26, and from them I put (4) 4" CC, (7) 2" LMB, (15)2" RES into the new aquarium. I set the aquarium up with sand and gravel bottom, rock formations, a flat rock ledge, caves and depressions. I planted aquarium plants, installed a power filter and an aeration ring. I got some stocking fish from the "fish truck" when it came through on Sept 26. From that purchase, I kept out (5) 4" CC, (7) 2" LMB, and (15) 2" RES and put them in the new tank. I also put in (2)FHM that were in an existing smaller tropical tank. The rest of the stocking fish went into the pond (see my earlier post about renovation of an existing 1/4 ac pond).

Anyway, it has been incredibly interesting watching these little guys interact. I read everything on this site about feeds and feeding, especially pretaining to the RES. At first, none of them seemed to know what to do with the various offerings that I gave them. I had fish food around for the tropical fish so I tried flake food (no interest from any of them), I tried goldfish crumbles (slight interest from the RES), I tried freeze dried krill (the RES and LMB took pieces in but immediately spit them out), I tried finely chopped turkey, and finely chopped ham (the LMB will take some of the ham, but the RES don't like either, the CC will eventually clean up what the others don't eat, but they are not real enthusiastic about the chopped meat), I gave them thawed out frozen brine shrimp (they are coming around to that pretty good, especially the RES), and I tried some 50% protien pellets from the aquarium shop (the LMB were reluctant at first but will readily take them now; the RES are beginning to take them, especially the larger fish, but the smaller ones take the pellets but immediately spit them out), I chopped up meal worms (none of them would touch them, actually I only tried them once early on, so I really haven't given them a fair chance), I chopped red worms (and as expected they all love them). I also bought 30 feeder guppies (1/2 - 3/4") and put them in the tank. They lasted about 5 min. I actually didn't see the show. Nothing happened immediately after I released the guppies, so I went into the other room to fix myself a sandwich. When I got back (literally 5 minutes)they were all gone. I couldn't believe it.

It is so interesting to see first hand the difference in agression between individuals. There are 2 of the LMB that will eat until they are gorged. They will actually swim down onto this large flat rock shelf and just lie there on the bottom with their huge swollen bellies. Others will only take a couple of pieces of food and then move away from the action and suspend at mid depth.

They RES are very tuned to the bottom. They are becoming more agressive about hitting food as it falls, but they tend to wait until it is on the bottom before picking it up. Some will hover over a morsel for the longest time with their snout almost touching before taking it. Sometimes after the long investigation they will just swim off.

The CC are incredibly shy. They stay in the rock caves I created, or hang under some of the plants in a depression in the corner when the light is on. You can see them but they stay in the cover. When I turn the light off at night they immediately come out and begin hunting. It is funny to watch them when they find food. They scour the bottom until they find a morsel then when they take in the food they jerk their head to the side like they are trying to tear off a bite or keep some one else from getting it.

The 2 FHM have become part of the RES school. They are the most agressive feeders in the tank. They are accustomed to tank food. They were left overs from a fishing trip a year and a half ago and have lived in the smaller tank all this time. They seem to like all the extra food they are getting now in the big tank, but I don't think they know what is in store for them when the other fish get a little larger. In fact right now they are bullying the bass, bumping them and pushing them away from the rock caves and snatching food from them.

I did put a couple dozen snails in the tank with the hope of some reproduction for the RES last friday but all but the largest two are gone already.

All of this has taken place over a little more than a week. All of the fish are getting more and more acclimated to the tank and are getting more aggressive with each feeding. They already anticipate a meal when I open the cover on the right side of the tank.

I can't get over how interesting these fish are. I find myself sitting and watching these fish like a televsion program. If any of you are interested, I will give periodic updates. Otherwise I just thought I would share.