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Banded Pygmy Sunfish


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#1 Guest_jetajockey_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 02:31 AM

Got a new cheap little coolpix camera and still learning how to use it. Forgive me for not wiping down the tank glass!

These are some of the best looking e.zonatum I've collected as of yet.

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#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 09:00 AM

Wow they are so freckled up close. Neat.

#3 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 10:23 AM

When we catch zonatum in NC in late Feb, they often spawn within a day or two after warming up indoors.
The iridescence on yours looks more blue, vs gold-green on our Carolina zonies.

#4 Guest_NVCichlids_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 02:33 PM

nice pictures, iw ould love to see a full tank shot!

#5 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 04:14 PM

You don't have to apologize, those a pretty nice pictures of some very nice fish... glad that you got out there and joined the ranks of the wet and muddy (well not really as I read your other thread and you said you dip-netted from the shore... but you know what I mean... seeing your fish in the native habitat helps you understand the more)
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#6 Guest_jetajockey_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 05:13 PM

You don't have to apologize, those a pretty nice pictures of some very nice fish... glad that you got out there and joined the ranks of the wet and muddy (well not really as I read your other thread and you said you dip-netted from the shore... but you know what I mean... seeing your fish in the native habitat helps you understand the more)

Lol. I do have some wading boots and whatnot, and certain places I will get in, just not in the really sketchy swampy areas. If visibility is good or if I'm in a familiar place I tend to be a bit more brave!


I'll put up a full tank shot later, I haven't finished scaping the tank yet so it's still a work in progress. The tank I usually keep them in is a 40b that just has a random mess of plants all over it. The fish love it, but it's hard to keep tabs on what they are up to.

Do all of these fish look like males?

I went to the same collection places last summer (late summer) and I think that they were 90% females (both e.zonatum and e.evergladei), none had this level of coloration or size, so whoever brought up the idea that the males tend to die off or disappear as the summer wears on seems to be true for me so far. We'll see what happens later this year.

#7 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 05:22 PM

Do all of these fish look like males?

The one in the log looks like a female.

Edited by EricaWieser, 03 February 2012 - 05:22 PM.


#8 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 05:23 PM

Do all of these fish look like males?


well, I am not very good at this... but I suspect that the fish hiding in the drift wood in the third pic is a female... she just has the rounder look to her...
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#9 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 06:37 PM

Look for pink-tan ovaries, usually visible through the body wall once the females are mature. The moss strand in pic #3 is perfectly placed to block our view of the crucial feature, but that does look female. Also female pygmy fins have dark speckles but are otherwise clear; not dusky gray like males. Captive E.zontaum live about 3 years, sometimes 4.

#10 Guest_jetajockey_*

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 08:46 PM

Look for pink-tan ovaries, usually visible through the body wall once the females are mature. The moss strand in pic #3 is perfectly placed to block our view of the crucial feature, but that does look female. Also female pygmy fins have dark speckles but are otherwise clear; not dusky gray like males. Captive E.zontaum live about 3 years, sometimes 4.

Thanks for the tips, that clears it up a lot.




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