the water in that tank is 80-82F. As you see theres lots of bubbles. Except for the sunfish, which I caught in a cool water creek, all the other fish came from a drying pond which had water temps much higher near the shore which is where I caught them, because since the pond was drying, there wasnt much cover left so they had to hide from the big fish. Green sunfish can just about survive anywhere. I was told that crappie wouldnt do good in the aquarium and that they would be finnicky eaters. Mine eat anything and everything. Flakes, golfish crumbles, cichlid pellets, Reptomin, frozen shrimp, ghost shrimp, rubys, frozen krill, small crayfish, snails, betta food, dried shrimp, cooked chicken, and crickets. I have a friend that has a 14" largemouth bass in a 120 gal that stays 75-80F, and it does fine too. mostly adjusting the fish to the water is important, after that they can survive almost anything. I think native fish are cooler than pet store fish anyday. Ive caught orangethroat darters in the creek before and those are super cool. I would really like to get a baby bowfin and a baby longnose gar someday. I used to have a 12" longnose gar in a 20 gallon long, lol. He did fine but he had to angle himself to turn around. Those guys can survive just about anywhere. One thing about creek fish tho, they will try to swim upstream, so a lid is important. I have had them jump out of the tank, over the powerhead before. Also, gar are excellent jumpers too. I had one jump out of a 55 gallon barrel once that only had 12" of water in it.



All the fish I have now seem pretty content. Just keep the fish numbers low for the size of the tank, that really helps. And if you have schooling fish, I hear 3 is the minimum, and that it helps to have an odd number of them. I have 2 suckermouth minnows which seem to hang out with each other all the time. They clean up after everyone else. Aquatic plants are a good idea too.



Another thing ive done with nervous fish, although I wouldnt suggest in a turtle tank is to add food color to the tank. It darkens the water, and as far as I could tell didnt harm the fish, but it gave the appearance of muddy water without the mud. And it looks pretty cool under the lights. Blue looked really good, so did green, but if you use green, good luck telling if you have an algae problem, lol.



Just keep lots of current and bubbles, along with plenty of cover so they dont get stressed, and any fish around here will do fine. I used to have creek chubs as well, but I used them for catfish bait.
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