# most aggressive native fish



## andrewthao (Dec 15, 2004)

Hey,

I am interested in having a native fish aquarium, but really only have room for one larger one. What is the most aggressive (in terms of most active, voracious, ferocious, eater. One that does not like other fishes with him)? I have heard Northern Pikes, Large mouth Basses, and Tiger Muskies. Which one fits my needs best, and what size aquarium minimum? Thanks


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## ty (May 14, 2004)

youd need a pond or a ridicolousy huge tank. pikes grow up tp 50 pounds and several feet long and tiger muskies get up to 70 pounds and over 4 feet. Bass also grow rather large. i wouldnt suggest any of these fish unless you have the means to get a big enough enclosure.


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

the smaller sunfish, such as bluegill, greens, and longears are both gorgeous, and are absolutely ferocious feeders, and several could (possibly, assuming they dont decide to kill each other) be kept in a mere 55g.

redfin and grass pickerel, which are miniature pikes, reach only about 10-12". They are very capable little predators as well. A couple of those could be kept in a 75g for life.

Spotted/shortnose gar are very common and readily available at many lfses. They reach 20-24" in the home aquarium, and several could be kept in a 24" wide 125g, or a 180g for life.

the larger bass species, smallies and largies, get roughly 2 feet long in the home aquarium, and a 240g would work for 1 specimen, or possibly several. These are big fish however, and owners regularly complain of spending gratuitious amounts of money on feeding them.

Don't even consider northern pikes and muskies, as ty. already said.


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## Handikapped (Nov 5, 2004)

i dont know about bluegill...i grew up catching blue gilled brim, bull brim, white perch, largemouth and catfish. the thing you need to consider is that bluegill get about 1½ lbs on average, if you put 2 in a 55 you should be good. i had an 8 acre pond in the back yard and a 200 gallon aquarium that my mom had and i used to catch them all the time and put them in the tank if they got too big i ate them and caught more. whats cool is if you get them as babies because the color changes around maturity are stunning. id recomend a 125 for 3-4 brim, if you wanna go bass you need a 240+ (they are natural predators and actively hunt so they lots of room)


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## Fido (May 21, 2003)

Pike < all


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## ty (May 14, 2004)

Filo said:


> Pike < all
> [snapback]819755[/snapback]​


how did you come up with this conclusion.


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## ty (May 14, 2004)

what state are you from? i catch alot of natives such as bass, bluegill, pickerel etc. if you have the tank room let me know. i cant get them now due to the weather but i can when the weather improves.


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

ty. said:


> how did you come up with this conclusion.
> [snapback]820032[/snapback]​


There's a number of users on this site who's posts are virtually guaranteed to be stupid and/or pointless, and you've just spotted one of them. The Ignore feature is the latest program put out to help nullify this ongoing problem.









Quoting them, instead, doesn't help us much


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

misquito fishes are aggressive lil bastards


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## Fido (May 21, 2003)

piranha45 said:


> There's a number of users on this site who's posts are virtually guaranteed to be stupid and/or pointless, and you've just spotted one of them. The Ignore feature is the latest program put out to help nullify this ongoing problem.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


p45







you first off. Yeah show me a bass, catfish or bluegill that will stand up to a northern pike. NONE. There was a bastard who kept dumping Northern Pike into a California lake called Lake Davis. The fish massacred all others in the lake, and became such a problem that the lake was BOMBED, and poisioned to kill the pike. Guess what? The pike where strong enough to come back, they werent all killed, and continued to multiply, and still pwn that lake to this day.

Piranha45, learn to respect other members. If anything your reply was useless, bluegills are PUSSIES and get pwned by Northern Pike.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

In a word.... bowfin


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## Ms_Nattereri (Jan 11, 2003)

Filo said:


> p45
> 
> 
> 
> ...


By this post and your post "Pike < all" aren't you contradicting yourself?

I mean, shouldn't it be "Pike > all"...unless I missed something and need to read the whole thread to understand


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

natt PLEASE, must you do this again just after I mentioned the problem of quoting the idiots







defeats the purpose of the ignore feature...


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## slckr69 (Feb 21, 2004)

i agree with acestro our think about trout also. but bowfin are gorgeous let alone eaters.

i would like to get a tank full of perch just cuz they are gorgeous.


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

the problem with trout is they require a water cooler, and those are expensive....


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

piranha45 said:


> _*There's a number of users on this site who's posts are virtually guaranteed to be stupid and/or pointless*_[snapback]820042[/snapback]​


This (post) counts as one of them as well.

Why must you critisize another? Ones statement might sound ridiculous, but given a chance to state their claim, maybe they'll have a solid reason for their reasons or statements.



P45 said:


> The Ignore feature is the latest program put out to help nullify this ongoing problem.


 And holding back your opinions and IGNORING ways to start problems is another opiton some people forget as well.

Pls continue on with the purpose of the thread...


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## Andy1234 (Apr 23, 2004)

pike are only great eaters, they are week in fighting, stress easily, and dont exstablish or fight for terriotaories like sunfish and bluegill and bass and fish of equal sizes the pike would loose why you must ask? bcuz they dont fight back they jus eat fish


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

indeed, pike are very docile towards anything that doesn't fit in their mouth. But in any case, their size makes them unavailable to the average aquarist...
it seems there is now a "Noone, no matter how stupid/childish/ludicrous they may be, may ever be flamed" rule in place. LOL!


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## Polypterus (May 4, 2003)

Good 100 gallon and a bowfin or a 15 gallon and a shoal of Gambusia,
Have to say Green suns are fun little fish too easily kept alone in a 15 for life.


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

Northern pike and even gars are not particularly aggressive fish as Andy1234 and P45 have already stated. In fact...though they are highly predatory.....they actually make great tank-mates if you have an aquarium large enough to house them. Even largemouth bass aren't particularly aggressive unless they're spawning.

Maybe I missed it...but I didn't see the size of this proposed 'aggressive native' tank anywhere. If it is a large tank then the bowfin (_Amia calva_) might be an option...though none of the ones I've ever kept have been particularly aggressive either (though they were very capable predators). If it is a small tank and you just want something that has a nasty disposition then you could always consider sticklebacks. THEY get downright nasty with most tank-mates. The sunfish are in a similar category as cichlids in the 'aggression' department based on my experience...and like their larger cousins the largemouth and smallmouth basses they can be holy terrors when spawning time comes around.

-Joe


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

i live bout right smack dab in the middle of mn and we catch all these fish yall are talking bout.wit aggression it would prolly be muskies, but they are HARD to get, my grandpa fished for 6 years for one before he got one, not ta mention that ud need a 600+ tank as they need there room. at our state fair the DNR has some natives set up and they have water round 40 degress and the water is like rapids.now IMO no native fish is really practical, cept for sunfish and crappies, but ive watched em at my LFS and there pretty boring.Bowfin are nice if u have the tank, and elepout are F'n awsum, but once again ud need a big tank. But if ur bound and detirmined a Sauger would be what to get.they are Walleye that only get about 12" long(only way to tell em apart is that walleye have like this white tip on there tail, and sauger taste better), but even though they only get 12" theyll need a 90 gallon+ tank, because they tend do die in smaller tanks.Another Possiblity would be some of the smaller bass like rock bass and small mouth bass, but theyd need a 90 gallon tank too.


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