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Joined: Apr 2003
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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.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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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.
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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.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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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.
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Ok, thanks for the advice, Tyw33.
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