Sunfish Aquarium?

I just about have my aquarium up and running. I'm thinking of putting 5-7 full grown male sunfish in it and would like for you guys to give me some ideas for the species. My aquarium is 360 gallons.

Rio's, Warmouth, Greens and Longear do well in tanks. Redear and Redbreast can be hard to feed if you put them in as adults.

That does not look like 360gl. What are the dimensions?

A few greenies and some red spotted sunnies would give it some nice colors

It's 4'x4'x3'. Doing rock with a sand/gravel mix to fill in the gaps. Also looking for a nice piece of drift wood for the center piece. The filter is a DIY 75 gallon aquarium.

Just for reference the five bass mount above it weighed 49.7lbs

How big of a piece of driftwood are you looking for? I happen to have a lot of big Malaysian driftwood pieces.

The openings at the top are 30"x14" so it would have to fit through that and could be up to 3' tall.

Best of luck on your Aquarium! Andrew (Fitz) has one heck of a tank! Would love to see another one!

look forward to seeing it when done

Me to!

Looks nice dude!

I'm a huge aquarium buff, and that is going to be one rocking setup!

Thanks Chuck! The redspots you caught for me are doing awesome. They were a little small in the beginning for my 225 that has Guad Bass, Alligator Gar and big Sunfish swimming around, but could probably hold their own now. They are in my 175gl planted tank that has 2 Chinese Water Dragons (1/2 water and 1/2 air) perfect setup for dragons that need water/humidity and I like having sunfish in their also.

I too look forward to seeing this project and pics.

Fitz
How big is your aquarium in gallons and dimensions? Also how many fish are there in your aquarium? How many do you think I should put in mine?

Its 225gl. More of a rectangular shape. 6ftish long, would need to measure the width and height again but roughly 3ft and 4ft.

Thats as heavy of a load of fish I have had.
Pros- the fish are less territorial b/c they have have to "share" the space and not "own" a space.
Cons- lots of waste, predator fish carp a lot so have to stay on top of water chemistry.

I would start slow on adding fish, make sure you have the nitrogen cycle down, ect. I started with goldfish to get the bacteria going.

It's really trial and error. Some fish will do well in captivity and others won't. But you have 360gl to work with, have fun with it!

no doubt... I would also recommend you start with something you don't care for when it dies. It's going to take that filter a while to get going strong.

Maybe in the end a ratio of 2 inches of fish per gallon? Maybe 5 inches of fish per gallon... I know a lot say 1 inch per but.......

Awesome tank Andrew! Love those Rio and Bluegill! Those are some nice ones.

I have a smaller tank setup now with an AC110 filter and a nice green sunfish that I have eating pellets. I'm planning on taking all the sand and filter media and putting it in the 360 to speed things up.

I've got one last thing to do on the plumbing and my finishing it this Friday. A buddy is coming over to help me shape a piece of 1.5" flex pvc. They are flexible but not so much in tight areas. My plan with the drift wood didn't workout as planned but I found an awesome piece today while fishing with my son. It's approximately 2'x4'. I might have to trim it down a little to get it in the aquarium. Hopefully it will be full of water this weekend.

This was my son's best from today. A nice spotted bass from Lake Ray Roberts.

Man, I love the work yall are doing. I would love a bluegill tank for my son. We'll settle with a beta I think.

Man Fitz, I will never grow old of looking at pics of your tank!! I have had fish tanks since I was a young boy. Started with simple goldfish and natives I caught in creeks. Then advanced to South American cichlids and other store bought fish. Even did some African cichlids for a time. That was years ago and I have not had an aquarium in awhile...but been wanting one (still have some empty tanks sitting in a garage)! I subscribe to some YouTube channels about the aquarium hobby so I still have a strong interest in it. I live in a very small apartment now and I don't have the room to do a real tank. But I saw the below video this weekend and thought...this I can do (The guy is kinda annoying but he does have a cool idea). I have a 10 gallon sitting around. I think I'll clean it and head to some of the local creeks to start setting it up and stocking it. I know a 10 gallon won't hold much, but to start again and to participate in the hobby, I think I'll do a simple native landscaped tank (plants and substrate from creek) and add a few small ditch minnows, a small crawdad or two and a few freshwater ghost shrimp.

Solid thread! Love these aquarium post!

Ran into a few leaks in the plumbing and I haven't had time to fix them. Hopefully it will be running soon.

Very nicely done! Awesome.

its going to be very nice!!

Nice tank. Hope to see some fish soon!

Thanks guys. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Banker I just need to get down your way and catch me a few nice red breast, Rios, etc

Let me know when ever you plan on coming down.

Finished the stand today.

Wow. That is one AWESOME tank. Nicely done Sir!






Side Note: Just think of the relaxing times you will be having watching those native Texas sunfish!

Very nice indeed! Good job.

Instead of cabinet doors I made panels that just pull off. The panels are held in place with magnetic cabinet latches. Ready for spring so I can get a nice variety of sunfish.