Edited by Dylan, 04 June 2011 - 10:45 AM.
New to "Native fish collecting" but not to the fish keeping hobby
#1 Guest_Dylan_*
Posted 04 June 2011 - 10:43 AM
#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 04 June 2011 - 02:41 PM
If you want an example of one pygmy sunfish setup, here's a description of my tank:
Size: 55 gallons (although I think pygmy sunfish can be kept in basically any size tank, I just wanted to give them a lot of room).
pH: About 7.5 ish.
Degrees of hardness: 16-20 DH (my old 10 gallon setup was 6-8 DH and they bred at that hardness level, too. It doesn't seem to matter)
Substrate: Special Kitty brand kitty litter purchased at Walmart. I chose it because of this substrate analysis by Jamie Johnson: http://www.thekrib.c...rate-jamie.html
Plants: Cabomba caroliniana, Myriophyllum aquaticum, various anubias species (barteri, nana). I also used to have Ceratophyllum demersum, which they loved.
Tank mates that have in the past proven to not eat the pygmy sunfish: Neon tetras, guppies, swordtails, platies, baby Neolamprologus multifasciatus but I think adults would eat them.
Lighting: A four foot long shop light from Home Depot fitted with full spectrum, high lumen output fluorescent bulbs. It only cost $20 for the four foot long light fixture and $8 for two bulbs, and it's 2750 lumens output per bulb. The plants love it.
Here's kind of an outdated picture of the tank:
http://gallery.nanfa...Clumps.jpg.html
And here's a picture of a male Elassoma gilberti:
http://gallery.nanfa...resize.jpg.html
Edited by EricaWieser, 04 June 2011 - 02:46 PM.
#3
Posted 04 June 2011 - 06:51 PM
Take some time to read old threads here... there is a lot of data to be reviewed and much that you can learn.
I highly recommend the Peterson's Guide... the new second edition is great.
#4 Guest_pylodictis_*
Posted 04 June 2011 - 10:37 PM
#6 Guest_pylodictis_*
Posted 04 June 2011 - 11:35 PM
Don't restrict yourself to natives, at least for me I don't care if it's an invasive or not, it's native somewhere. My tank has three highly invasive species in it right now from the gulf drainage and I'm just glad to get them out of the river. I get the feeling that a lot of folks would rather fly across the world to catch a fish out of it's native range than remove it from their back yard.
I'm using invasive as a blanket statement for all non-natives, as I believe any non-native to be by default a invasive.
#8 Guest_Kanus_*
Posted 05 June 2011 - 08:26 AM
Be careful, what you believe doesn't matter to a game warden. They'd still nail you for keeping, say, a green sunfish, that was netted and not caught on hook and line, despite them not being native.I'm using invasive as a blanket statement for all non-natives, as I believe any non-native to be by default a invasive.
#9
Posted 05 June 2011 - 08:34 AM
Well, we have talked this before (search the forum) but I think we agreed that there are only a few good options... Leptolucania omatta was on that I have done before... and I have also kept smaller florida flagfish in with pygmies (but that was a larger tank where they could partition habitats).Thanks guys for the input. What types of native fish could I keep with Pygmy sunfish? (could Pygmy sunfish and dwarf sunfish be kept together?)
Pygmies are pretty calm fish and casual feeders (not aggressive at all like say Lepomis or even most shiners) they don't "go after" food... they sort of just ease up to it...
Also from a behavioral standpoint, read Erica's recent experiences with having other fish in her E. gilberti tank... they just dont appreciate much commotion... they are from quite ditches and swamps... and then mostly the weedy edges of those... they like a lot of cover and not a lot of company.
#10 Guest_jetajockey_*
Posted 09 June 2011 - 11:31 PM
I've been keeping least killies with the elassoma that I've collected thus far and they seem to work out. They are definitely a laid-back kind of fish, I try to keep lots of plants for cover (that they often use) and plenty of pest snails, since snail eggs seem to make up a portion of their diet in the wild. I don't have a ton of experience with them though so I often just fall back on the advice given by those here.
#11 Guest_davidjh2_*
Posted 14 June 2011 - 12:46 PM
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