4 replies to this topic

[AvicLitee]

Im curious how many sunfish people keep in what size tanks. I have two greens in a 55 and two smaller greens in a 20. We like them in the living room because they are interactive and entertaining, but Ive been on the fence for a while about getting something bigger for the basement (the ones in the smaller tank will eventually move for sure). We would just miss watching them all day!

Edited by AvicLitee, 26 October 2020 - 10:03 AM.

[keepnatives]

One of my favorite tanks of all time was my 150 gallon sunfish tank but  I also enjoyed a 125 with Longears and Orangespots and some larger MO minnows and shiners some time ago.  Then again a 55 gallon with Orangespots or Bantams and shiners would be fine.  The idea is to pick the largest tank above 30 gallons, you are comfortable with and there are some Lepomis that will entertain you.  And if you must go the smaller route switch to Black Banded, Banded and/or Bluespots though not Lepomis they'll do as a substitute but I'd still prefer a bigger tank even for those.

[gzeiger]

I kept six in a 75 gallon once, with two sleeper gobies and a juvenile smallmouth bass. That was a fun tank. One of the sunfish learned to catch a crayfish bigger than it could swallow and swim into the glass until it broke apart. The rest learned it from that one, but I've never seen that behavior in another tank. Sometimes I would dump in a bucket of mosquito fish, and the bass would eat until its stomach was full, catch one more and hold it in its throat so it couldn't close its gills, then grab one more and just hold it by the tail until it digested enough to swallow.

[MtFallsTodd]

I have a single long ear in a 125 with lots of large minnows. Super cool tank, long ear is very tame and is out all the time. Being the only sunfish removes any aggression issues.

[TN GREENIE]

ive got a green sunfish in a 40 breeder