Will a pair of sunfish breed in a community tank? I have some longears I'm going to put in a 55 and was thinking of adding some pickerels and maybe some bantams. I know the pickerels would eat the fry, so I would remove the fry ASAP, but I was just wondering if the fish would lay eggs with other species of fish in the same tank. If not I can always get separate tanks, but I was just wondering if it could work out.
Sunfish Community And Breeding
Started by
Guest_fishlvr_*
, Jul 28 2007 11:01 PM
10 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_sandtiger_*
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Posted 29 July 2007 - 11:44 AM
Will a pair of sunfish breed in a community tank? I have some longears I'm going to put in a 55 and was thinking of adding some pickerels and maybe some bantams. I know the pickerels would eat the fry, so I would remove the fry ASAP, but I was just wondering if the fish would lay eggs with other species of fish in the same tank. If not I can always get separate tanks, but I was just wondering if it could work out.
Sunfish will breed in a community aquarium but I don't suggest to try it or let them. Males become rather territorial when protecting their nest, even a pickerel would not be safe...especially in a 55g.
#3
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Posted 29 July 2007 - 10:47 PM
Ok. I think I'm going to keep them all seperate then, because I'm going to try to breed all three species. Do Northern longears do good with plants?
#4
Guest_smbass_*
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Posted 29 July 2007 - 11:05 PM
I agree with the above reply, it would not be a good idea to try to breed sunfish in a tank with a grass pickerel. The male sunfish get extremely territorial and aggressive toward other fish of their own species and others. I have kept sunfish in planted tanks but when they are spawning they (males) make clearings in the gravel for their nests, and can be quite destructive to the plants when doing this.
#5
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Posted 29 July 2007 - 11:25 PM
Ok. I was thinking of just putting plants around the edges of the tank, and leaving the middle open. Would they spawn in the open area or would they still clear out places for nesting?
BTW the longears and warmouth I bought from you(smbass) are all doing great. The largest one is definately male. The others I can't really tell. I think one of the others is a male, but they all have a little red on the gills so I'm not sure about any of them. I think I'm going to have to move the warmouth, because the longears are such aggressive feeders that he barely gets any food. I do feed him cut up earthworms though, which the longears can't quite swallow yet.
BTW the longears and warmouth I bought from you(smbass) are all doing great. The largest one is definately male. The others I can't really tell. I think one of the others is a male, but they all have a little red on the gills so I'm not sure about any of them. I think I'm going to have to move the warmouth, because the longears are such aggressive feeders that he barely gets any food. I do feed him cut up earthworms though, which the longears can't quite swallow yet.
#6
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Posted 30 July 2007 - 08:50 AM
Will a pair of sunfish breed in a community tank? I have some longears I'm going to put in a 55 and was thinking of adding some pickerels and maybe some bantams. I know the pickerels would eat the fry, so I would remove the fry ASAP, but I was just wondering if the fish would lay eggs with other species of fish in the same tank. If not I can always get separate tanks, but I was just wondering if it could work out.
I have been able to breed sunfishes, including bantams in multi-species tanks. Often easier than with a single isolated maleA single territorial / nesting male will allocate more time to aggression against tank mates (females and heterospecifics) than multiple males with such aggresion devoted more to relatively harmless male-male territorial disputes. Remove pro-larvae a couple days post-hatch.
#7
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Posted 30 July 2007 - 10:47 AM
I agree that you can spawn sunfish in sunfish community tanks just fine, I have done this as well, even with northern longears, Bantams, and western dollars all together. I still don't think a pickerel would stand much of a chance against the sunfish though.
Also glad to hear your fish are well. Sounds like you are taking care of them well and seeing first hand that the warmouth are rather dossile even though they get much larger than the longears. They can work in the same tank as long as the warmouth stays well ahead of the longears in size.
As far as the plants go, i would say that would work if you can get the plants to grow ok being sparsely planted. I have always found that to get good plant growth that is algae free they need to be rather densly planted throughout the entire tank. My rule is either it is a planted tank or it's not, there is no real middle ground. This is just my own experience though, I certainly wouldn't claim to be an expert on growing plants in a tank.
Also glad to hear your fish are well. Sounds like you are taking care of them well and seeing first hand that the warmouth are rather dossile even though they get much larger than the longears. They can work in the same tank as long as the warmouth stays well ahead of the longears in size.
As far as the plants go, i would say that would work if you can get the plants to grow ok being sparsely planted. I have always found that to get good plant growth that is algae free they need to be rather densly planted throughout the entire tank. My rule is either it is a planted tank or it's not, there is no real middle ground. This is just my own experience though, I certainly wouldn't claim to be an expert on growing plants in a tank.
#8
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Posted 30 July 2007 - 01:41 PM
O.k. I think I might get rid of my cichlids and set up my 30 gallon as a N. longear tank. Are there any sunfish I can keep in a densely planted tank that won't uproot the plants? Maybe bluespotteds or bandeds? I might end up putting cyprinids in the tank.
#9
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Posted 30 July 2007 - 11:59 PM
any of the three Enneacanthus species do great in planted tanks and won't uproot anything while nesting.
#10
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Posted 31 July 2007 - 03:34 PM
Ok. I'll probably end up getting some bluespotteds. How many can I get in a 30 or 55 gallon tank? I'm not sure which tank I'm going to use for the bluespotteds yet, but I'll probably use the 30g, then use the 55 for longears.
#11
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Posted 10 August 2007 - 01:12 PM
I would say 5-6 N. Longears with heavy cover and good maintenance and the bluespots in a 30 you could probably get away with a few more, maybe as many as 10 if it was well planted and taken care of well.
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