2 replies to this topic

[BackIntoPumpkinseeds]

Hello sunfish experts. I have a question about going where no one has ever gone before and documented it.

From your experience, how well do you think a male pumpkinseed would get along with half a dozen smallscale archerfish in a 473 liter (125 gallon imperial) tank of 1830mm x 470mm x 550mm (72"x18"x22")? I had some suspicions based on my experience with both, how accurate would they be:

-I assume the numbers of the archerfish may make the sunfish feel non-aggressive towards them? My assumption is that because pumpkinseeds may join in non-aggressive mixed-species schools in the wild, the archerfish being a school of another species seems like something the sunfish would not be inclined to be aggressive towards.

-I assume the fact that archerfish have behavior and colors completely different from anything pumpkinseeds see in the wild may help mitigate any aggression? Although they have a very similar shape to sunfish, their top swimming behavior and different colors seem like possible further aggression mitigation, and the pumpkinseeds I have had seemed to leave different-looking fish alone.

Now, if the advice given is that it's unlikely to work, I ain't doing it - I've learned enough from the horror stories I have read about, ie: large cichlid keepers getting their tanks slaughtered by psycho ill-advised fish to NOT repeat that kind of mistake.
But if the consensus is that it's worth a try I will try it and report how it goes! Everyone deserves to know how it might.

[Chasmodes]

I'm interested how it turns out of you try it, breaking new ground for sure. Maybe try a clear tank divider first to see if they react to one another before just putting them together?

[BackIntoPumpkinseeds]

Hi Chasmodes! So happy someone decided to step in and give their 2 cents.

Good idea in principle. I don't think it would go over so well with the archerfish though: most things besides food and new fish that get dropped in the tank seem to really spook them and I think their fear response at the time of adding a divider (plus their probable continuous fear of being confined by the divider) would probably skew things.

I don't know if anyone on NANFA has done this particular method, but I have heard about someone on MonsterFishKeepers who would hang a voluminous fishing net in the tank (with its rim out of the water and covered to stop escaping). In said net, new fish were held for a period before release to observe how they liked the other fish and vice versa - I'm thinking if I hang the net in the tank and let the archerfish get used to it, there will be no fear that skew things.
Then, for let's say 30 minutes to an hour, I could put the pumpkinseed in the net and watch how it and the archerfish react to each other. If it snipes at them from the net, it will be extremely easy to remove, but if it remains peaceful towards the archerfish then I could release it for its first day in the tank and first trial with the other fish.

(By the way, I hope some other members who dividers are not a viable option for can see this, if it will help them.)