55 Gallon Tank Florida Man, Step Aside for the Florida Fishkeeper

[cichlidL]

I'm a junior in college studying marine science. As a side project, I keep and maintain a 55-gallon freshwater aquarium in the school's environmental science building. All of the critters in this tank are Florida natives. Current inhabitants of the tank:

- 2 American Flagfish
- 3 Metallic Shiners
- 1 Southern Studfish
- 1 Pugnose Minnow
- 1 Melanistic Eastern Mosquitofish
- 1 Blue Crayfish

I've been caring for these fellas for a little over a year now, with very few issues. No aggression, disease, or anything of the sort. What there has been is plenty of mischief, lots of spilled water, and a whole lot of questions from my classmates. I love teaching people about these fish and sharing my adventures with them. So here's a thread for that.

 

[BigManAquatics]

Particular interest from me for the flagfish!

 

[cichlidL]

Particular interest from me for the flagfish!

They're a joy. Anything in particular you wanna know about them?

 

[BigManAquatics]

They're a joy. Anything in particular you wanna know about them?

Mostly behavior between themselves and other fish. Really thinking hard on getting some.

 

[cichlidL]

Mostly behavior between themselves and other fish. Really thinking hard on getting some.

They're model citizens in this tank, but there are only 2 in a 55 gallon tank with lots of cover. They sometimes chase each other, and other times they swim around like mates. Odd, considering they're both males.

 

[BigManAquatics]

They're model citizens in this tank, but there are only 2 in a 55 gallon tank with lots of cover. They sometimes chase each other, and other times they swim around like mates. Odd, considering they're both males.

I know my LFS that sometimes has them, he suggested i do either a m/f or a m/f/f trio.

 

[SotaAquatics]

These type of threads need pictures! I always get sad when there aren't any!

 

[cichlidL]

These type of threads need pictures! I always get sad when there aren't any!

I'm working on it. My camera is stubbornly refusing to upload photos.

 

[Corygal8857]

The title of this thread brings me so much joy I can't even tell you! Looking forward to reading more and seeing the pics!

 

[StarGirl]

Following! I love Florida. From a Michigan Eskimo.

 

[wrs2]

As much as I am not a fan or Florida, I wanted to try something like this on a much smaller scale, so I would love to see how it turns out!

 

[cichlidL]

Some shenanigans happened while vacuuming the gravel yesterday. A metallic shiner swam into the siphon. I immediately yanked the siphon out so he wouldn’t get sucked up. Fish was fine, but I ended up spilling several gallons of aquarium water on a carpet floor in a public building.

I then had to run down the hall to the bathroom and steal an entire roll of paper towels.

 

[BigManAquatics]

Some shenanigans happened while vacuuming the gravel yesterday. A metallic shiner swam into the siphon. I immediately yanked the siphon out so he wouldn’t get sucked up. Fish was fine, but I ended up spilling several gallons of aquarium water on a carpet floor in a public building.

I then had to run down the hall to the bathroom and steal an entire roll of paper towels.

Been there done that....about due for it to happen again!

 

[StarGirl]

I overflowed my bucket a little yesterday too.

 

[Ouse]

Whenever I spill water, it is because I either pour water down the sink/toilet too quickly or because I flick the siphon to scare the cats away from the bucket.

Yesterday, when doing a water change, I spilled water for both reasons.

 

[cichlidL]

Much-anticipated photos! Top to bottom: American flagfish, bluefin killifish, melanistic eastern mosquitofish, metallic shiner, golden topminnow, and Florida blue crayfish.

 

[BigManAquatics]

That flagfish and studfish are gorgeous!

 

[cichlidL]

That flagfish and studfish are gorgeous!

Thanks! Their names are Cap and Rocket, respectively. Rocket has an awful jumping habit.

 

[cichlidL]

For anyone wondering what this crew eats, I feed a mix of Fluval Bug Bites, Hikari Seaweed Extreme, and Omega One Shrimp and Lobster pellets. They go absolutely nuts for this mix.

 

[Chris1212]

Awesome looking fish. I love the flagfish and my lfs usually has them in stock but I heard they can be nippy. Would they be a bad combo with my skirt tetras (long fin variety because that's what the kids wanted)?

 

[jjjjh]

I'm a junior in college studying marine science. As a side project, I keep and maintain a 55-gallon freshwater aquarium in the school's environmental science building. All of the critters in this tank are Florida natives. Current inhabitants of the tank:

- 2 American Flagfish
- 3 Metallic Shiners
- 1 Southern Studfish
- 1 Pugnose Minnow
- 1 Melanistic Eastern Mosquitofish
- 1 Blue Crayfish

I've been caring for these fellas for a little over a year now, with very few issues. No aggression, disease, or anything of the sort. What there has been is plenty of mischief, lots of spilled water, and a whole lot of questions from my classmates. I love teaching people about these fish and sharing my adventures with them. So here's a thread for that.

Stop posting this without pictures! !

**OOPS sorry, Didn't see the pictures at first. My bad!! Can we see a picture of the whole tank??

 

[Ouse]

Stop posting this without pictures! !

He did post pictures later on. Some people aren’t having them displayed recently.

Welcome to FishLore BTW.

 

[Unknown9182]

You should get some cypress darters or least-killifish, I have caught both from my lake in Florida and they are great to have.

Much-anticipated photos! Top to bottom: American flagfish, pugnose minnow, melanistic eastern mosquitofish, metallic shiner, southern studfish, and Florida blue crayfish.View attachment 812883View attachment 812884View attachment 812885View attachment 812886View attachment 812887

I have a feeling that the second fish shown is a blue fin killifish but this is a female. The 5th one is a golden top minnow. I catch those fish commonly in my lake.

 

[cichlidL]

Awesome looking fish. I love the flagfish and my lfs usually has them in stock but I heard they can be nippy. Would they be a bad combo with my skirt tetras (long fin variety because that's what the kids wanted)?

My flagfish are super chill. However, a long-finned fish could be too tempting. I wouldn’t recommend it.

You should get some cypress darters or least-killifish, I have caught both from my lake in Florida and they are great to have.

I have a feeling that the second fish shown is a blue fin killifish but this is a female. The 5th one is a golden top minnow. I catch those fish commonly in my lake.

Huh. It really doesn’t look like other golden topminnows I’ve seen, but I’ll take your word for it. I used a really water-damaged black-and-white field guide to identify these guys and probably messed up.

Edit: totally a golden topminnow. Thanks!

 

[Unknown9182]

My flagfish are super chill. However, a long-finned fish could be too tempting. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Huh. It really doesn’t look like other golden topminnows I’ve seen, but I’ll take your word for it. I used a really water-damaged black-and-white field guide to identify these guys and probably messed up.

I had some trouble identifying those fish when i first caught them. The brighter the color of a golden top minnow means its healthier, if you can see the red that means its doing great. The differnece between the blue fin killifish and a pugnose minnow is the tail. The minnows have a scissor shaped tail while the killifish have a rounded tail.

 

[cichlidL]

I had some trouble identifying those fish when i first caught them. The brighter the color of a golden top minnow means its healthier, if you can see the red that means its doing great. The differnece between the blue fin killifish and a pugnose minnow is the tail. The minnows have a scissor shaped tail while the killifish have a rounded tail.

Thank you so much! I definitely want to put accurate information when I make the info sign for this tank later.
I actually love being wrong about fish because it means there’s still more to learn. Sounds weird, but it’s true

Stop posting this without pictures! !

**OOPS sorry, Didn't see the pictures at first. My bad!! Can we see a picture of the whole tank??

Here’s the whole tank. Not much. I wanted it to be comfortable and not tacky, which I think I accomplished well enough.

 

[wrs2]

The Mosquito fish is awesome! Look like a Molly with a guppies body. I've had the regular grey mosquito fish before. Evil little things haha! Is this version just as nippy as the regular basic ones?

 

[cichlidL]

The Mosquito fish is awesome! Look like a Molly with a guppies body. I've had the regular grey mosquito fish before. Evil little things haha! Is this version just as nippy as the regular basic ones?

He doesn't bother anyone.

 

[Chris1212]

Here’s the whole tank. Not much. I wanted it to be comfortable and not tacky, which I think I accomplished well enough.

The tank looks good. I know it is common but what is the long plant on the right? I like how it goes to and then across the surface.

 

[cichlidL]

The tank looks good. I know it is common but what is the long plant on the right? I like how it goes to and then across the surface.

I want to say Sagittaria, but it wasn't labeled as anything but "grass."

 

[cichlidL]

I would love to plant some hornwort and/or elodea. I've grown both and they provide fantastic cover and comfort.

 

[Basil]

Cool tank and cool project!
In high school (ahem, many years ago ), I took care of the native Chesapeake Bay tank in the biology classroom. Luckily it was a tile floor!
Even with the more efficient syphons of today (versus a piece of hose!) I still refer to water change days as “water change/clean hardwood floors day” lol!

 

[cichlidL]

Friday vibin’ Levi

 

[OxymocanthusLongstrinosus]

I'm a junior in college studying marine science. As a side project, I keep and maintain a 55-gallon freshwater aquarium in the school's environmental science building. All of the critters in this tank are Florida natives. Current inhabitants of the tank:

- 2 American Flagfish
- 3 Metallic Shiners
- 1 Southern Studfish
- 1 Pugnose Minnow
- 1 Melanistic Eastern Mosquitofish
- 1 Blue Crayfish

I've been caring for these fellas for a little over a year now, with very few issues. No aggression, disease, or anything of the sort. What there has been is plenty of mischief, lots of spilled water, and a whole lot of questions from my classmates. I love teaching people about these fish and sharing my adventures with them. So here's a thread for that.

nice stocking. id get some darters if you can. dont let anyone devious lick the fish.

 

[Ouse]

devious lick

That trend... isn’t taken lightly at my school. Many soap dispensers have already been stolen.

 

[OxymocanthusLongstrinosus]

That trend... isn’t taken lightly at my school. Many soap dispensers have already been stolen.

all our bathrooms were stripped empty no ceiling no floors no mirrors nothing. half the buses lost their turbos also

 

[cichlidL]

All the Wet Floor signs at my school are vandalized.

 

[cichlidL]

Someone came up to me while I was feeding the tank and told me they think the fish are so cute and that watching them is better than therapy.

I’m so happy.

 

[BigManAquatics]

Someone came up to me while I was feeding the tank and told me they think the fish are so cute and that watching them is better than therapy.

I’m so happy.

Was at my LFS yesterday, was looking really hard at the flagfish...they all almost went home with me! Then i had to remind myself i need to setup the tanks in my garahe BEFORE buying fish.

 

[SouthAmericanCichlids]

Was at my LFS yesterday, was looking really hard at the flagfish...they all almost went home with me! Then i had to remind myself i need to setup the tanks in my garahe BEFORE buying fish.

Really?!? No! Just put them in a bowl. (My dad's words not mine, when I was at his house for the week, luckily the cochu's blue tetras were still there)

 

[cichlidL]

It's understandable, but slightly sad to me that American flagfish are the only Florida natives most fishkeepers will ever encounter. There are so many amazing fish here.

Well, I guess mollies are also Florida natives, but I don't know many people with wild-type mollies. Maybe I should get some...
However, I'm extremely limited right now because I got in a car accident. No one was hurt, but my car is currently not safe to drive. Maybe I can go ditch-searching on foot. It is Florida after all. Flooded ditches everywhere, and I'm always looking for an excuse to play in mud.

I'm pretty known around campus for just that. There goes L in the pond again. Straight from the lab to the pond. Yeah.

 

[cichlidL]

I had a dream that the faculty demanded that I remove Leviathan from the tank because he was flipping students off.

pretty sure Levi doesn’t have the right machinery for that…

 

[cichlidL]

Live black worms were a hit today at mealtime!

 

[cichlidL]

I got locked out of the building this morning!

 

[Ouse]

I got locked out of the building this morning!

How did you get locked out?

 

[cichlidL]

How did you get locked out?

The ID card reader was broken and no one was willing to fix it just so I could give the fish their chow.

 

[Ouse]

The ID card reader was broken and no one was willing to fix it just so I could give the fish their chow.

Shame. At my school, people simply used to pull the doors open with force. The ID card readers worked, but, whatever...

(I used to be one of those people )

 

[cichlidL]

I got in and Levi is looking SHARP after his molt.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I had a dream that the faculty demanded that I remove Leviathan from the tank because he was flipping students off.

pretty sure Levi doesn’t have the right machinery for that…
View attachment 814255

Oh but crayfish, if they could flip people the bird, they totally would! All. The. Time.

 

[cichlidL]

Oh but crayfish, if they could flip people the bird, they totally would! All. The. Time.

I should edit the photo I took today and censor one of his claws.