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'ello all!

Started by Guest_Joshaeus_* , May 02 2013 09:57 AM

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8 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Joshaeus_*

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 09:57 AM

Joshaeus does the greeting! I am a teenager from New England who is planning to own a pygmy sunfish (and by extension a group of daphnia cultures) tank in the next few months. I am fascinated by the dances and coloring of the males...
Anyhow, I am hoping to benefit from this forum.

#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 02:07 PM

I am not sure if you have read these or not, so here are the links.
Short form: http://www.nanfa.org...Egilberti.shtml
Long form: http://forum.nanfa.o...ssoma-gilberti/

#3 Guest_Joshaeus_*

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 05:22 PM

On second thought and reading your article, it looks like those pygmy sunfish are VERY shy - perhaps a little too shy for my tastes. Do you agree with that perception? And if so, do you know of any other behaviorally complex native fish which can be kept in a 10 gallon tank?

#4 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 06:00 PM

Darters - lots of small interesting species to choose from in the 2.0 to 3.5 inch range that would do well in 10 gallons. They're fascinating and much more people-friendly than pygmy sunfish. Of course NOTHING dances quite like a pygmy - but you do need to sit patiently and watch to really enjoy pygmies. They often hide if anything is moving outside their tank.

#5 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 08:13 PM

They often hide if anything is moving outside their tank.

This was my experience as well. Sitting completely still and dropping in grindal worms was the only way I got them tame enough to let me stare at them. Staring at non-hand-fed pygmy sunfish whose food is in the same tank as them and who don't need you present to eat results in them fleeing.

In the time since keeping pygmy sunfish I have now gotten a mandarinfish (synchiropus splendidus) who I feed microworms. It is very similar. This is a wild animal who is used to hunting his own food. The only way he's going to tolerate your face staring in at him is if ever time he sees your face, food arrives too.

When I stared at my orangethroated darters, etheostoma spectabile, they stared right back. Darters are very brave little wild fishies.

Edited by EricaWieser, 02 May 2013 - 08:14 PM.

#6 Guest_Joshaeus_*

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 09:22 PM

So darters work well? Hmmm....I think I might go with rainbows then...
But before I continue on that train do darters require live food? It won't be an issue if they do (I have several empty bottles and jars which could be used for daphnia cultures), I would just like to know if they do.

#7 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 03 May 2013 - 12:10 PM

But before I continue on that train do darters require live food? It won't be an issue if they do (I have several empty bottles and jars which could be used for daphnia cultures), I would just like to know if they do.

Darters do not require live food. Mine ate:

frozen cubes of blood worms (a type of midge larvae), thawed. They cost $5 for 30 cubes at Petsmart.
an unbreaded cocktail shrimp that had been run while frozen through a cheese grater (wear work gloves to protect your hands)
my swordtail fry
snails. The ones I had were physa fontinalis and ramshorn snails and the darters loved eating them.

Of course they won't say no to live food. Mine looooved live blackworms, which the local fish store sold for $2 a bag. You can also breed grindal worms; I'm sure the darters would love them and they're very easy to breed. Check out post #55 of this for culture instructions: http://forum.nanfa.o...ks/page__st__40

#8 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 May 2013 - 05:31 PM

Depends on species - the rainbow and orangethroat groups will learn to eat frozen foods pretty quickly, and sometimes even pellets or flakes. Tesselated and swamp darters (only darters in New England i think) adapt pretty well too, but you might need live foods to start them off. Some other darters species just never make the switch to non-live foods, or they eat a just little and slowly get weak and die.

#9 Guest_FirstChAoS_*

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Posted 06 May 2013 - 10:11 AM

Tesselated and swamp darters (only darters in New England i think) adapt pretty well too, but you might need live foods to start them off.

I start my Tesselated on frozen and they do just fine with it.

Technically Swamp and Tesselated are the only LEGALLY CATCHABLE darters in New England (though I think they are off limits in Maine where they are protected), western Vermont has a couple other species but with rules against taking non-game fish and some are even protected if I remember right.

Not that western Vermont is New England from an ecological standpoint.

Edited by FirstChAoS, 06 May 2013 - 10:13 AM.