Posted 07 June 2015 - 07:26 PM
I currently have a male pumpkinseed sunfish in breeding color, he is in a 30 gallon tank heavily planted with Cabomba and hornwort (as well as an algae covered rock)
What fish, if any, could keep with this sunfish, and what would i need to do to minimize/eliminate aggression to the newcomer.
I have a few considerations for tank mates, like larger species of darters (logperch?), madtoms and/or shiners (flagfin, rainbow etc.)
"All good things must come to an end, but bad things think thats rather dull, so they stick around long after their natural end has come"
-From an art book I read
Posted 07 June 2015 - 09:04 PM
I currently have a male pumpkinseed sunfish in breeding color, he is in a 30 gallon tank heavily planted with Cabomba and hornwort (as well as an algae covered rock)
What fish, if any, could keep with this sunfish, and what would i need to do to minimize/eliminate aggression to the newcomer.
I have a few considerations for tank mates, like larger species of darters (logperch?), madtoms and/or shiners (flagfin, rainbow etc.)
A few questions to help provide a more specific answer: you mentioned plants, what other aquascaping (e.g., rocks, caves, pots, PVC, etc.), if any, is in the tank? What is the current size of the pumpkinseed? Do you have the flexibility to move the sunfish (and/or possibly any tank mates) to a larger tank in the future?
Posted 07 June 2015 - 09:13 PM
Posted 08 June 2015 - 06:32 AM
The tank has a piece of driftwood, will add caves if needed, the pumpkinseed is about 5-6 inches
also, honestly im not sure about what I would do with 50+ baby pumpkinseeds if I kept females with him.
just an in general question, will pumpkinseeds behave aggressively torward logperch or shiners?
"All good things must come to an end, but bad things think thats rather dull, so they stick around long after their natural end has come"
-From an art book I read
Posted 08 June 2015 - 09:41 AM
People have different experiences with large Lepomis sunfishes. My personal experiences with pumpkinseeds tells me they are very agressive toward pretty much anything in the aquarium. Including plants. Large sunfish seem to work out best in groups where they can distribute their agression across several tankmates. I did keep one with a similar sized bluegill and they took turns being the dominate fish. Meaning one was fine and the other was pestered to near death. Then they would switch roles.
Sometimes a bullhead or channel cat works out ok, but not good for plants, either.
Not trying to be a downer, but pseeds are tough and large fish. One alone might do ok in a 30 gallon.
Posted 08 June 2015 - 02:18 PM
How about two or three females? I'm sure he'd appreciate being in a shoal and you'd probably wind up with fry if he's in breeding condition.
If i had 2-3 female pumpkinseeds, would i be able to stock any other fish (no intention of breeding the sunnies), I'm thinking of bottom dwellers like larger darter species (logperch), madtoms or schooling minnows like chubs or shiners, would this work out in a 30 gallon?
I would like to add that there is a lone golden shiner (was used to cycle the tank) that the sunfish is ignoring (though the shiner flinches when the sunfish swims past him), i suspect it is because the shiner was in the tank first, so if i wish to add any fish, i should probably add/rearrange the tanks plants/decor, right?
Edited by loopsnj64, 08 June 2015 - 02:33 PM.
"All good things must come to an end, but bad things think thats rather dull, so they stick around long after their natural end has come"
-From an art book I read
Posted 08 June 2015 - 02:34 PM
This type of question comes up often, frankly, too much. The real answer is we do not know. Fish act differently. If a species of sunfish has had a tank to itself for a while, and developed a territory, no matter what species, if you add another Lepomis, you will likely have some issues. Put several species in at the same time, they may work it out. Even for the most experienced Lepomis keepers, it is often a crap shoot. There is no formula for this, so the best anyone can do is give it a shot, see how it works, then report the results. Even then, someone else trying to duplicate what was a success for one person may end up with very different results. I say don't over think it, just give it a shot. If it does not work at first, make some changes and try again. Good luck.
The member formerly known as Skipjack
Posted 09 June 2015 - 05:59 PM
Probably the result you guys would expect, i had to remove the plants as the sunfish tore them out for the purpose of "clearing his nest", so anyway if a LONE small (juvenile) golden shiner can hold his own against the sunfish (no combat whatsoever 
), than i am interested in adding more colorful shiner species (flagfin shiner) or similar sized bottom dwellers (madtom, mudminnow, logperch, etc.)
I especially want to keep eastern mudminnows (I've seen 5 inch ones) and madtoms with the pumpkinseed, the local lake in my area has those two species living really close to pumpkinseed nests (i want to replicate the lake in this tank), if that doesn't/won't work i will try keeping the pumpkinseed with shiners & logperch.
Edited by loopsnj64, 09 June 2015 - 06:05 PM.
"All good things must come to an end, but bad things think thats rather dull, so they stick around long after their natural end has come"
-From an art book I read
Posted 09 June 2015 - 06:05 PM
Posted 09 June 2015 - 08:22 PM
I hope my post did not come off negative. I really wish there was a definitive answer, but there isn't. I think you will have better luck housing fish of another genus with your Lepomis than you will mixing Lepomis. Really, your experience with your chosen fish, will likely add a great amount of data for others, so please post your results.
The member formerly known as Skipjack
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