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I STILL havent set up my 55 gallon tank,partialy because i cant decide on what i want,i did want to plant it but with me not home for three months in the summer and not getting home until eight most night anyways i dont have much time to take care of a planted tank,not to mention money. So i was thinking maybe one or two larger fish with just gravle and wood might be a better option. I've always wanted a bullhead but always thaught most got too big for my tank,but i noticed in this month's cotm article it says they can live in a 55 gallon. Would brown,yellow,or black be best for the tank? How many other fish could i keep in a tank of this size with one bullhead and what kind of fish would do best?

I have one in my 55gallon 4' long tank. http://community.webshots.com/album/92285359XdgJJp I have had up to 4 sunfish with him as well when he was smaller. My black bullhead (which is pictured on this site) is 6 1/2 " now. I don't think he will outgrow the tank but I can't exactly put 5 crappys in there either. I am comfortable puting in some small sunfish. They tend to get along and compliment each other. I think the amount of other fish would depend on how big they are and how much they eat and your filtration and your diligence in upkeep. I don't change the water nearly often enough and my canister filter cut out for a while. It may have been out for 1 to 3 days. My bullhead was fine but I lost the larger of my sunfish. The smaller sunfish was a bit out of it but got better. They do put out a lot of waste but so do most fish that size. As to what kind of bullhead? I like the blacks but thats just because thats the kind i netted. I would imagine any would be fine. Whatever you can find in your area.

The yellow bullhead is the smallest of the three. The "good" thing is that you can limit the growth of yellow bullheads by keeping them in smaller tanks.
The most suitable tankmates would be North American natives like sunfish.

So the yellow bullhead sounds like the best choice,well i live in alaska so netting one is out of question. I've caught many baby bullheads in florida and ohio but have never thaught of a good way to take them home. I'm going to ohio this winter,and im pretty sure they have garden and pond stores that sell channle cats and koi,what do you think the chances of them having some yellow bullheads would be? How would i get them home? Also what would be some appropriate sized sunfish that would do alright in the tank with them? and how many should i get? Any idea where i'll be able to find them?

Also what would be some appropriate sized sunfish that would do alright in the tank with them? and how many should i get? Any idea where i'll be able to find them?

Pumpkinseeds (Lepomis gibbosus are a good candidate. Many sunfishes are territorial, so it would be difficult to put more than one male in the same tank. Sunfishes are abundant enough to be caught (probably not an option in winter). If you are in the region, you might want to check out Jonah's Aquarium. They have a pretty decent selection of native fish.

I have never seen a bullhead in a lfs, all they seem to have is channel cats, though I really would much rather have a bullhead.

I netted 3 of them from my moms pond in Wisconsin. They were so small at the time that I could get the net around almost 10 of them but they would all fall through. The small ones would come to the surface to get the oatmeal they used to toss out for the sunfish so they became very east to catch. I beleive most fish stores get their fish flown to them so I imagine you could transport yours as well. I've never done it but I'm sure there are ppl here who ship fish all the time. Maybe start a post about shipping fish.

A friend and I had brown bullheads and channel cats. They ended up outgrowing the tank. We did have some plants in there and the bullheads loved them. There also was a pipe and some type of stone structure in the tank. We had those in the tank first, but after the addition of the plants the bullheads pretty much abandoned the other structures. We did have problems with the plants getting out of control and had to trim them back. They were also a pain, because they got stuck in the filter on occasion. If you have the time to take care of plants, they are worth putting in the tank. Good luck on setting up your tank. Bullheads are great fish to have and really fun to watch, especially when it's dark. They get really active then.

xander wrote:I have one in my 55gallon 4' long tank. http://community.webshots.com/album/92285359XdgJJp I have had up to 4 sunfish with him as well when he was smaller.

The pix are wonderful. How do you get the catfish so active?

troi

They are quite tame. My bullheads have always been active. They don't just sit there like bass or pike. From what I have heard bullheads are generally more active than the larger catfish(channel, flathead, blue). He also realizes where the food comes from. That and he likes to chase the sunfish around.

Thanks for all the help guys,after a little more research though i decided that it would cost too much either way to get some bullhead so im just gonna make it a south american communitie of some kind. It's finaly set up now,well it has water and gravle and one piece of wood,not hardly set up,but its a step in the right direction.

My (black?) bullhead seems to be very happy in his 30 gallon with a very large goldfish (roughly 8 inches including tail) and a shubunkin (slightly smaller than the goldfish.) The goldfish's tail makes him roughly 2 inches bigger than him. He's also been kept with sunfish, but an unknown disease struck them down. I have some baby sunfish growing in another tank (and maybe a nice little warmouth bass mixed in ) and hopefully they can eventually move in (of course the other two will probably have to be moved.)

I have two bullheads in a 20 gallon tank with just gravel and some fake plants, I have had the two since i caught them in a local lake with my bare hands. I have had them for a year and a half and they are about 8-10 inches long I would love to get a 55 and put them in there so that they can get alot bigger. Does anyone handfeed their bullheads? We have a African Red Tail Catfish at my work that is over 2ft long and he will eat out of our hands and we can pet him and everything. Can the bullheads do that too???

Our 55 gallon school aquarium has a rafael and a yellow bullhead. The little bullhead only comes out of his ceramic stump if there is a feast of sturgeon food to be found. The largest yellow bullhead ever caught on record weighed an unusual 4 and a half pounds, in Mormon lake - favorable southern conditions for a catfish. An aquarium bullhead will usually not exceed 10" depending on the size of the aquarium. The great thing about yellow bullheads is that they can adapt to silty & low oxygen environments. Zack, if the water's good and it's somewhere between 65 and 80 degrees, you should still consider getting a bullhead. In Oregon, I got my baby bullhead at a pond fish hatchery for $1. Happy catfishing.

Tim >:::o>

Just wanted to let you know for the future, if you decide you want some native cats that are smaller, I sell Tadpole Madtoms that max out at about 3 inches. They look like bullheads but stay small. Check out prices on my site.

I have had the little bullhead running in my aquarium for about 8 months now. I have learned that they are very good eaters and will feed almost anywhere off of any kind of food given to them. My bullhead has grown to about 7" and is competing well with the largemouth bass and bluegill that live in the tank with him.

Take care

Watch out, That catfish might get big enough to eat the others (And out grow the tank).

That's quite a trio you have! What do you have them living in?