Hello to the forum folks,
I've had this forum bookmarked for a while and didn't realize it would be a great place to learn about the fish I like and keep.
But first a question about an odd fish I've never seen before or after in any other place than where first I caught one. I presume it to be a type of Darter. I found a few of these while
collecting when I lived in the aria of the Pearl River Game Management Aria(Honey Island Swamp). The fish was Dater shaped and had no swim bladder. The length was always
between 1.25" and 1.65". The odd thing about it was that it had a triple Dorsal fin. The main body was about 3/16th inch in diameter. Ever seen/heard of it ?
I have had a Pigmy Banded sunfish for about two and one half years now. Don't know for sure about you people as I suspect my habits may not shock you AS MUCH AS it would
if a tropical fish person read this but I like to add "collected" water also to my tank. This is especially true when first setting up.
http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1423.l2649
This is why. I get this mixture by "collecting" water samples from a suitable location(s) and scraping the bottom of same with a small minnow net and looking through it for the scuds.
The banded sunfish came in/w a gallon of "collected" water as a 5/16th inch juvinile and I thought it was a young from a marbled molly I had in that tank till they grew and he stayed
small. Eventually I found out what it was and have been a fan ever since. I never made any attempts to feed this fish till it was full grown and attribute his survival to the link above.
Once he reached an adult size(before then you might not see him for a couple of weeks at a time) I induced him to eat frozen bloodworms. Now he looks for them but you still
see him closely watching the bottom and walls for those what I call freshwater plankton. I mentioned this for two reasons. First you can actually get them to eat frozen, both
bloodworms and mosquito larva. Second you can have a natural food supply if you stock what is in the link though I would think that most of you already know this part.
But you may know it and not consider using it because the normal filters tend to harm these animals if only by filtering them out. I have solved this problem as I believe that
the "freshwater Plankton" are just as facinating as any fish. My home made built in bio-filter has no screen/pad that might catch them or fish fry etc. Inquiries about it are
welcome of course. I should mention that it does ...not...filter out particals from the water. I am now using small (ten gal) tanks for cost reasons till it is completely perfected.
Then I'll move it to a 55/45 gal tank. See pics in attachments. Original design without bio media/second design when first set up/after 8 months/side view of second design.
And last is first design re-do just set up.
I see no mention of Sheapshead minnows here. If anyone has an interest in them please let me know as I'd like to find out about them from a person who has them.

That's amazing! How do you circulate the water?

I don't have Sheepsheads now, but I used to breed them for bioasassay use. What do you want to know about them?

Hi RaymondS, welcome to the forum. You will find very knowledgeable folks here who share your enthusiasm for native fishes. I am interested in the fish you describe in the first paragraph. As far as I know, the only species with three dorsal fins are marine (cods, triplefin blennies, coelacanth, etc.). In theory you could have collected a triplefin blenny, but this would be quite a novel find! My guess is that we will need more information before we can help narrow down the search. I will say that I am often stumped by Ctenogobius, which are nearshore/freshwater gobies that look like they have three dorsal fins. This is because the caudal fin seems to fall in line behind the second dorsal. Just a guess.

Regarding the pygmy sunfish, you and I have the same approach to captive care. I occasionally grow cladocerans in culture, but most times I feed my fish live water collected down the road. It is fun to see which critters the fish chase down first, and I agree that the critters are interesting in their own right. Also, it is the best way to breed fish in a community tank, because the food comes in all sizes (bacteria to scuds). I feed some of my tropical fish the same way. The criticism is that the fish may be exposed to novel parasites/diseases, but in 20 years I have not had any problems (at least not this kind of problem...).

Edited by Elassoman, 24 February 2013 - 11:56 AM.