6 replies to this topic

[johnnymax]

I have been entertained by these fish since I was a kid growing up on Corpus Christi Bay.

I would fish all day and catch them. When I would swim around the barnacle encrusted dock piers I could hear them grunting when swimming under water around them.

I always thought they were a pretty fish reflecting sky blue and gold stripes.

This is a very common fish, but gets no attention at all.

There are few pictures of them on the internet compared to other fish.

I would love to make a biotope aquarium of Corpus Christi Bay shoreline fish and plants someday.

I have never heard of anyone keeping them in a tank.

Has anyone kept them?

 

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[mattknepley]

Certainly a pretty fish.  I have no clue on their captive keeping requirements, but wish you luck.  I am a sucker for sentimental fish, such as these are for you.

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Ah yes, Grunts as we called them. I remember catching these pretty fish off a pier in Florida about 1980. I was 9 at the time and we were using shrimp. Caught a passel of them and I thought back then that their blue and yellow lines were beautiful. I also caught a yellow and brown spotted puffer that day as well. I have no idea what their requirements are, but obviously people can keep them. They have them(I think) in the aquarium at the Columbus Ohio zoo and I am pretty sure they have them at the Newport Kentucky Aquarium. Their fish displays are immense with several walk-through aquariums.

 

Chris M.

[gerald]

"This is a very common fish, but gets no attention at all. There are few pictures of them on the internet compared to other fish."

 

Try searching the more widespread common name, "Pinfish" or the sci name Lagodon rhomboides.  You'll find loads of pix and info.  Local names like "Piggy perch" won't give many hits, depending on just how localized the use of that name is.  Also, Pinfish it's in the Porgy family Sparidae, not a Grunt (Haemulidae). Pigfish is a grunt.

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Yeah, there IS a distinctive difference between the pinfish and the pigfish(grunt) now that I've seen them side by side. The pigfish grunt seems much more colorful.

 

Chris M.

[johnnymax]

Well, I am surprised to be reviving this tipic. It just so happens, I ended uo with piggy perch fry by chance.
I finally set up a saltwater biotope.
I went to Galveston, collected rock, sand, algae and fish. I threw them in a 59g corner tank.
All the fish I caught were tiny. Less than a 1/2" I caught diamond killifish, naked gobys, glass shrimp and two I could not identify. I caughtva bunch that were no more than 3/16" I had no idea what they were. They werecactive and I seatched the net trying to identify them. Justcthe other day one started to show a dark spot behind the gill above the side fin.
WOOHOO! They are all piggy perch (pinfish)
So, I am going to convert my Galveston Jetty Biotope into a Corpus Christ Bay biotope.
Unless I am eventually successful in collecting anemones and peppermint shrimp from the jettys. Then it will remain a Galveston Jetty Tank.

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[Chasmodes]

Very cool! I agree that pigfish are cool and pretty little fish. Our local public aquarium has one and it's really interesting. Congrats that you finally have them! Cool looking tank, but, now my neck hurts!