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General bluespotted sunfish questions


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#1 Guest_gitano_*

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 06:49 PM

I am putting an aquarium of NA warmwater fish together, most of which will be centrarchids, and am contemplating including the bluespotted. The tank will have bluegills and pumpkinseeds. It is also likely to have redbreasts, longears, and redears, and probably a brown or yellow bullhead and a Cambarus sp. I have raised may sunfishes in aquaria, but I have never even seen a bluespotted sunfish, let alone maintained one in an aquarium.

My questions are:

1) What is the maximum size that the bluespotted reaches? All of the pictures I have seen show a VERY small fish.
2) Does the bluespotted fair well with bluegill and pumpkinseed?

Thanks,
Paul

Edited by gitano, 21 December 2013 - 06:50 PM.


#2 mattknepley

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 08:42 PM

How large a tank are you planning on setting up? Many of those fish (and crayfish) you mention pack a fair amount of attitude and appetite. A 4" Bluespot would be a large one.
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

#3 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 09:50 PM

They rarely get much bigger than 3" and would probably get bullied by Lepomis. E. obesus the banded sunfish is similar in size, but is more assertive and aggressive at feeding time. They might coexist with with lepomis, with lots of food.

#4 Guest_gitano_*

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Posted 02 January 2014 - 10:15 PM

My apologies for not stating the tank size - 50 gal - and thanks for the replies.

I don't like to "push" things with fish, so I'll probably leave the small fish out of the 50, and put them in a smaller 40-gal tank I am also setting up. They are such pretty fish, I really want to have some.

Thanks again.

Paul

#5 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 10:00 AM

You may be able to do it by making so half of tank is densely planted with plants that dominate water column. Bluegill and pumpkinseed will concentrate activities in open side while blue-spotted will stay more in densely planted side. If like bantam sunfish which I suspect strongly they are, then blue-spotted will stay down among plants near bottom and when other species visit, the latter will spend bulk of time well above bottom.

Stem density is important. Stocking density of the Lepomis spp. must not be too high otherwise some will move into less preferred areas. Keep food density in blue-spotted areas low so other species stay out.

#6 Guest_gitano_*

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Posted 17 January 2014 - 08:58 PM

Thanks for 'all y'alls' replies.

Paul

#7 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 18 January 2014 - 06:41 PM

You're planning on having 5 large species of Lepomis and 2 of Ameiurus in a 50-gallon?

#8 Guest_gitano_*

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Posted 18 January 2014 - 07:13 PM

Since I stated clearly the species list, I assume your "question" is laced with skepticism. Based on that assumption, my response is:

My question was about the potential maximum size of the bluespotted sunfish. I asked the question in the context of POTENTIAL tank-mates of the species listed. I did not state what the tank composition was or would end up being.

I have very successfully kept fully grown, sexually mature, redbreasted, bluegill, green sunfish, Cambarus sp., and two Ameiurus nebulosus in one 50 gal aquarium. I have photos of that menagerie I will gladly share once I get slides converted to digital images. I kept those fish for 5 years. At one time or another, I would add a small Micropterus salmoides. I've been keeping fish in various aquaria for over 40 years. At 62, I'm not much into "absolutes", but one absolute I AM very comfortable with is "Don't believe what the "experts" tell you when your own experience/eyes tell you differently."

If my assumption about the intent of your question was incorrect, please clarify for me and I will try to respond accordingly.

Paul

#9 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 18 January 2014 - 08:35 PM

No skepticism on my part -- I've visited CAFOs and seen 50-gallon tanks with Lepisosteus and Micropterus on here, so I've come to believe any composition. My bad on the misinterpretation; your tank composition did have an or between the Ameiurus species. So, since there are and or commas (=signifying and) between the rest, I ostensibly calculated that your tank would have 5 species of Lepomis, 1 species of Ameiurus, 1 species of Cambarus, and the possibility of Enneacanthus inclusion.

I don't even keep fish, so please don't take heed to anything I say....

Sorry for the derail.

#10 Guest_gitano_*

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Posted 18 January 2014 - 09:09 PM

Written communications are prone to misinterpretations, and those done "on the fly" especially so. I see your point now.

Probably I'll try to have one each of those I can get my hands on. Beginning to 'settle' on dollar, redbreast, pumpkinseed, and - because I like them - greens. Don't know about bullheads. I like cats too, so I may try a little harder.

Paul

#11 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 19 January 2014 - 12:27 AM

I know you may have experience keeping large fish in a 50 gallon, but I would personally recommend not doing so. You loose a lot of the interrsting wild behaviors that make fishkeeping so much fun.

#12 Guest_gitano_*

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 04:46 PM

That is a considerate suggestion, Yeahson421. Let me relate just one of the extraordinary behaviors I observed with the "tight" community I mentioned above.

In the spring I would go to local streams (in reality, just ditches in San Diego) and collect Gambusia sp. and YOY crayfish. I'd usually get 50 or so Gambusia and 20 or so crayfish, and just dump them in the tank. Using their barbels, the bullheads would 'casually' herd a 'ball' of gambusia into one of the upper corners. As soon as they were in a tight little ball, they would just start 'disappearing'. It was astounding what extraordinary speed the bullheads could suck up that ball of gambusia. But that wasn't the REALLY neat behavior that I saw.

The crayfish were too big for the smaller bluegills to get in their mouths, but... They would strike the little crayfish, stunning them, they would then pick them up and 'spit' them at the large (over 6") crayfish. The large crayfish would tear the little crayfish into pieces - bluegill "bite-sized" - and the bluegill would steal them back from the large crayfish. I believe that behavior was learned in that tank. I do not believe that is a "natural" or "Wild" behavior. To this day I regret not filming that, but in my defense, that was WAY BACK, when the only "video" was FILM "movie" cameras. Still, I wish I had.

The point is: Not all "interesting" behavior is necessarily "wild".

Again, I thank you for your considered suggestion.

Paul

#13 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 11:37 PM

That behavior with crayfish was certainly learned in the tank. I had a tank of sunfish at one time that learned to grab an overly large crayfish by the tail and swim into the glass until it broke apart, and they could eat all but the upper carapace. I haven't seen that repeated by different fish though. Lots of people here will tell you about training fish to pellets by adding one fish that already took them. They definitely can learn feeding habits.




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