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we like to catch 'em, anyone else keep 'em?

iwannausernameiwannausername Member Posts: 7,131
edited February 2006 in The Fishing Hole!
OK, so we all like to catch fish.

But anyone else here keep them? Right now I've just got a 10 gal with guppies, but the wife has given her blessing to me building a LARGE tank - 8ft long x 3 feet wide x 2 feet tall. Planning on keeping locally caught natives in it like warmouth or bluegill.
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  • COLTCOLT Member Posts: 12,637 ******
    edited November -1
    ...had a friend that kept a small red ear (perch) for years in a reg fish tank,...named the fish even. He got big, but then everybody that went over to the tank fed him from a supply of live crickets.

    Tackle store dn at lake fork, keeps a lot of BIG bass, in a huge tank...the Tx. record, 17+ lbs was on show for a short time there, then TP&W had her for a while. TP&W has a lunker program, for studying genes of big fish, good program. If TP&W takes your fish, they have an exact fiberglass mount made for you...[;)]

    mylures008.jpg

    ani-texas-flag.gif
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  • mrbrucemrbruce Member Posts: 3,374
    edited November -1
    Having native fish in a tank is pretty cool, I keep a bunch outside in my front Cement Pond over the winter with no problems for years now, along with some hugh GoldFish.
    Having a big fish tank for gills and perch in the house is on the list.............
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  • ndeltagunsndeltaguns Member Posts: 292 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a crappie that is about 12 inches long now. Eats quite a few minnows. I got him/her when it was about 3-4 inches long. The kids like to watch it eat.
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  • shoff14shoff14 Member Posts: 11,994 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    make sure with a tank that big that you use 3/4 acrylic if you use acrylic. Its easier to work with then glass. Keep the water moving and filtered in the tank. That is a lot of weight to be holding up, so you will want to build something very strong to hold that 1.5 ton tank up. Probably best built out of steel then put wood around it. Leave the underneath for pumps and filters. You will probably need 2-3 pumps, one for back up if one of them goes bad, and a large filter system. There are 3 types of filter systems for that size of tank, check your local fish supply place for recomendations before you build your tank. You may want an under gravel filter system and keep all the pumps and lines out of the side of your tank and screwed into the bottom.

    Whatever you do don't feed the tank with minows from your local bait shop. I had a friend who did this in a 60 gallon tank. They had a disease and killed all the fish in the tank. With only draining the water, he put more fish in the tank, they also died. He had to bleach the tank and bleaching a 60 gallon tank is no fun, let alone a 350 gallon tank that you will have there.
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  • iwannausernameiwannausername Member Posts: 7,131
    edited November -1
    shoff14 - already planned. I'll be using 3/4" marine plywood to make a box, with a viewing window in the front that will have 3/4" acrylic. Seal the insides with fiberglass and then a food safe epoxy on top, glue the acrylic in with silicone, and "its ready" :) The tank will be on a support of 4x4s, running the width of the tank every foot, and the whole thing will be sitting on my massive concrete slab.


    Hrm... think I should get the guys on monsterfishkeepers.com talking about guns now?
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  • MOMMASBOYMOMMASBOY Member Posts: 290 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I PUT SEVERAL BLUEGIL IN A TWENTY GALLON JOBBER ONE OF THE FISH KILLED ALL THE REST OF THE FISH. I NAMED HIM JAWS. HE WOULD KILL EVERY ONE I PUT IN AFTER THAT. I LEFT HIM IN BY HIMSELF. I ONLY FED HIM NIGHTCRAWLERS. HE GREW TO ABOUT THE SIZE OF A MANS HAND AND WHEN SOMEONE WOULD WALK UP TO TANK TO WATCH HIM HE WOULD JUST SET MOTOINLESS BUT WHEN I WALKED TO TANK HE WOULD SWIM BACK AND FORTH REAL FAST. I GUESS HE KNEW I WOULD FEED HIM. LOST HIM WHILE CLEANING TANK. JUMPED OUT OF CONTAINER COULD NOT GET HIM GOING AGAIN. HATED THAT. LOT OF FUN RAISING HIM THO. BEEN THINK ABOUT DOING IT AGAIN.
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  • shoff14shoff14 Member Posts: 11,994 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by iwannausername
    shoff14 - already planned. I'll be using 3/4" marine plywood to make a box, with a viewing window in the front that will have 3/4" acrylic. Seal the insides with fiberglass and then a food safe epoxy on top, glue the acrylic in with silicone, and "its ready" :) The tank will be on a support of 4x4s, running the width of the tank every foot, and the whole thing will be sitting on my massive concrete slab.


    Hrm... think I should get the guys on monsterfishkeepers.com talking about guns now?


    You may want to check and see if you can use either epoxy or PVC glue on the fiberglass, then go over that with the silicone. PVC type glues weld acrylic very well, but I don't know if they hold on to fiberglass.

    Like the fiberglass idea as long as you don't want to see the whole tank. Its probably a lot cheaper then the .50 or so per square inch acrylic.
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  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    When I was a kid I kept a few bluegill, crappie, and one small largemouth in a 10 gal. tank. I recall the longest lived was one of the bluegill, had him a few years. The rest lasted perhaps 6 months to a year.
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