Jump to content


Need to pick between pygmy livebearers and Pygmy sunfish


9 replies to this topic

Poll: Elassoma or pygmy sunfish (9 member(s) have cast votes)

Do you think I should own pygmy sunfish (elassoma) or dwarf livebearers (heterandia formosa)?

  1. Voted Elassoma (3 votes [33.33%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 33.33%

  2. Voted Heterandia formosa (6 votes [66.67%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 66.67%

Vote Guests cannot vote

#1 Guest_Joshaeus_*

Guest_Joshaeus_*
  • Guests

Posted 14 May 2013 - 12:43 PM

Wow, another self-explanatory post...I won't comment further.

#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*

Guest_EricaWieser_*
  • Guests

Posted 14 May 2013 - 05:20 PM

Do not get Elassoma unless you are prepared to take care of their special dietary needs. Heterandria formosa are like guppies; they will readily eat flake food. I never got my pygmy sunfish to eat fish flakes. I did get them to eat:
  • Thawed frozen bloodworms (midge larvae), which I bought for $5 for 30 cubes at Petsmart. They cost about $10 a month to feed if you use this food.
  • Live grindal worms. Culture instructions can be found on post #55 of http://forum.nanfa.o...ks/page__st__40
  • Black worms, which my local pet store sold alive for $2 a bag. I don't think most pet stores sell them alive, so I should mention that elassoma will also eat black worms frozen. They are a true aquatic worm, so they will live in the tank until eaten. The con to this is that you don't get to food-tame your fish. If they can eat without your big human head being present at the glass, they will. They will be the shyist fish you've ever seen if you feed them with in-tank food. But also the lowest maintenance (just dump in worms when they run low, for example once a month). Pros and cons. Also, leeches can contaminate live blackworm bags. They will eat more blackworms than your Elassoma do.
  • Microworms: the baby Elassoma eat them, and they're easy to culture (see post #55 in above link)
  • Baby brine shrimp: I never got mine to eat them, but other people claim they do
  • Frozen tubifex worms: my Elassoma wouldn't touch them.
  • Rotifers, Moina, Daphnia: if you can culture them, they work. I couldn't.

Edited by EricaWieser, 14 May 2013 - 05:22 PM.


#3 Guest_Joshaeus_*

Guest_Joshaeus_*
  • Guests

Posted 14 May 2013 - 09:36 PM

Do not get Elassoma unless you are prepared to take care of their special dietary needs.

Ah, don't worry - I am going to be starting a microworm culture irregardless of which fish I chose and perhaps a culture of a larger species if necessary (I had assumed that adult pygmy sunfish also ate microworms - I will need this to be verified). Anyhow, my local pet store can carry frozen krill - would that work as a supplement to live food?

#4 Guest_EricaWieser_*

Guest_EricaWieser_*
  • Guests

Posted 15 May 2013 - 04:16 PM

Ah, don't worry - I am going to be starting a microworm culture irregardless of which fish I chose and perhaps a culture of a larger species if necessary (I had assumed that adult pygmy sunfish also ate microworms - I will need this to be verified). Anyhow, my local pet store can carry frozen krill - would that work as a supplement to live food?

I have never tried frozen krill.

I don't think adult Elassoma eat microworms. I made a video of size reference of microworms and Elassoma. Here it is. You can see microworms are way smaller than adult pygmy sunfish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11INprtkeXM

Edited by EricaWieser, 15 May 2013 - 04:17 PM.


#5 Guest_Joshaeus_*

Guest_Joshaeus_*
  • Guests

Posted 15 May 2013 - 06:18 PM

Would gammarus (I.E scuds) work for adult pygmy sunfish?

#6 Guest_bflowers_*

Guest_bflowers_*
  • Guests

Posted 17 May 2013 - 03:00 AM

Another food source that is working for my Elassoma is mosquito larvae. They really get into hunting them down.

Bill F.

#7 Guest_EricaWieser_*

Guest_EricaWieser_*
  • Guests

Posted 17 May 2013 - 07:31 AM

Another food source that is working for my Elassoma is mosquito larvae. They really get into hunting them down.

Bill F.

I would too, if they hatched and escaped into my living room.

#8 Guest_bflowers_*

Guest_bflowers_*
  • Guests

Posted 17 May 2013 - 10:02 AM

So far I have been lucky. The fish have eaten all of them before they hatched. At least I haven't been bitten. I bring in about 200 to 300 larvae everyday. I figure I am doing the neighbors a service by killing off these so they can't breed later.

Bill F.

#9 Guest_Ken_*

Guest_Ken_*
  • Guests

Posted 18 May 2013 - 12:07 PM

They will eat scuds... I agree with Bill about mosquito larvae. Mine hunt they down if they aren't ate right away. As Erica mentioned, about any live food you can raise and can fit in there mouth will be eaten. Mine will eat brine shrimp also.

#10 Guest_velvetelvis_*

Guest_velvetelvis_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 May 2013 - 10:30 PM

Since you're prepared to feed either one, I'd get whichever species you fancy the most. Or if you have room, you could keep them both. I think they're often found in the same habitats. One of my favorite setups from years ago was a 46 bowfront with Elassoma, H. formosa, L. ommata, and lots of delicate-looking native plants like Didiplis diandra (for the few weeks I was able to keep the blasted stuff alive), hairgrass, and babies' tears.



Reply to this topic



  


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users