Anyone ever have a pet Crappie or other wild fish in a tank?

[inlovewithsurfin]

random question i know... but i have recently acquired an 80 gallon fish tank and have been interested in keeping a couple pet crappie in it! they are beautiful fish and it would be fun to watch them eat live minnows. I have already checked with the Virginia State Game Warden and although he said "it is frowned upon" he did not say it is illegal to keep wild caught fish. just wondered if anyone else has done this before and has any pointers...


here is the tank...

[Barnacle Bill]

Go to "Advanced search" and put in pet crappie. You will get quite a few hits.

[Percidae_Papermouth]

Have a buddy who had a few small crappie and bream in a fish tank, it was kinda neat to see em inhale worms. He kept them 3 months or so and then drank too much Budweiser one night and fried em up...

[Boscoe]

I have kept crappies, bluegills ,bass and pumpkinseed. Have to say the pumpkinseed were the most fun, bright colors and they were the easiest to adapt to tank life. They got where they would watch me out the window digging worms to feed them and go nuts swimming back and forth. You have to be careful not to over feed whatever fish you put in there as the ammonia build up from waste can happen quick. A good filter and close monitoring is necessary to keep a balance. Back in the late 70's I used to have a dozen tanks set up breeding African Cichlids, actually was making a little money at it. Blizzard of 80, five days without power and I had tanks in the house with ice on them, wiped them out.

[TapOut64]

I have noticed crappie in the tank at Bob's Fishing Hole, maybe he can give you some pointers. I was at BPS one day for the feeding and was hoping to see them feed the fish minnows but it was mostly pellets and shrimp.

[inlovewithsurfin]

thank you guys! Tap... i never even seen a tank at bobs? but thats good info! James is a great guy there and im sure he will share some tips with me!

Boscoe i have actually been wanting to put a pumpkin seed or two in there also! they are awesome looking fish!


it will be interesting to go fishing for small fish to keep in the tank! haha

[Don French]

I had a bass once, many years ago. It didn't seem to mind life in the tank but the darn thing was too expensive to keep fed. A dozen minnows was just a snack. Let him go, he was a good bit fatter and I was a little wiser!

[HeyCharlie]

You have been given most of the good info I could share,, (I kept mostly SW tanks) If boscoe is close you may want to talk with him more on filtration needed, water replacement, etc. I have read where crappie can handle some salt. You may want to look into hang-on skimmer if you can add salt. fish tanks are cheap, its all the other stuff that ends up costing more than kids! Smallmouth are aggressive and don't play well with other fish ( even 4'' one)

[Kevin M]

I read these replies with interest as I kept bass, catfish, bluegill, crappie, rock bass and pickeral in an aquarium for years. It was 100 gallons and a ton of fun. I finally stopped though because I got tired of catching food. I did not buy a single minnow the entire time. I would always catch my own at local ponds/creeks/mud pits, etc. I did however feed worms when I found those. I would simply catch enough bait to last the fish in the tank for a good week. I never had an issue with excessive build-up of ammonia, but I can see why it would happen.

As noted above, I kept the tank very well aerated. I also never added water out of the tap. I would take water out of the garden house into a five-gallon bucket and leave it in the sun for a couple of days. It was safe to add after that. One note to keep in mind, the fish will grow fast when you keep them fed like I did. My bass for instance would grow more than twice as fast as fish in the wild. My fish were lazy. All they had to do was yawn and they would get a mouthfull of bait. So, they ate, grew and sat there between meals. My tank produced the fattest 10" bass you have ever laid eyes on. It was fun.

After many years I shifted colors and made a pond in my back yard. I kept all the same fish as noted above, but could keep them for years as the pond held about 500 gallons. I kept live aquatic plants in it during the warm months to provide shade from the afternoon son. It also filtered the water and brought down the temp some during the summer. In the winter I would take some of the plants inside and throw the rest away. I would put them back in the pond in the spring and they would spread again like wildfire. I fed these fish the same way as those listed above.

I ran into a school of tadpoles one day while collecting food for the pond fish. I figured what the heck and caught a bunch to throw in for the fish the eat. The fish got most of the them, but not all. For three years after that I always had several frogs around that pond.

If you make the investment of time, you can't go wrong with an aquarium or pond. I'm planning on moving to get a larger yard and I'll be putting in another pond - just bigger than the last.

[Percidae_Papermouth]

The entrance to the Va Aquarium on General Booth in Va Beach. They had some nice white perch as well