Best allround sunfish?

I wanted to ask those of you that have had experience with many different kinds of sunfish what you think is the best or your favorite kind?

I wanted to ask those of you that have had experience with many different kinds of sunfish what you think is the best or your favorite kind?

I have a two way tie for first Blackbanded and Orangespotted and a two way for second place Central Longears and Northern Longear, third southern Bluespotted.

Maybe a top three in no particular order... Blackbanded (neat little fish), Warmouth (amazing ability to eat anything and become extremely attentive to their suroundings out of the tank), and Longears (for their color) of any strain.

I can only pick three Green sunfish are awesome. Warmouth are awesome too, but take a little more work to keep, hence why I like greens. Greens eat anything and adapt really well - and I have seen them do some of the strangest behavoirs. I think I prefer dollars over longears of any strain of either specie, because they stay smaller mostly. Which goes against the first two I picked since they are on the big end of sunfish. I cannot leave out bantam or banded, they are kind of tied as neat little guys who are not so picky like the other three "dwarf" sunfish blackbandeds, orangespotteds and bluespotteds. Guess I could throw dollar in my made up class of dwarf sunfish too. Bluespots are not so bad, but blackbands can be little buggers. Orangespots can be hit or miss, one can be a really good fish, the next one that is flighty and picky when it comes time to eat. Mudsunfish are of high interest because they are so unlike any other sunfish, although I guess stretching it they are somewhat similar to warmouth or the rockbasses.

If I had to pick just three....
1. tie mudsunfish and green
2. tie banded and bantam
3. tie warmouth and dollar

Don't know if my tie loophole is acceptable.

I guess I pick for ease of keeping, how they act, and lastly for color.

My Top Three would be:

Bantam Sunfish
Green Sunfish
Warmouth Sunfish

It is very difficult to pick favorites but I have always been fond of rock bass. Just something about them I love. I think they look very attractive, are a blast to catch and fun to keep. Though I have only kept them for a short time I am finding red spotted sunfish to be a great species as well. My two are thus far the most bold, outgoing and interactive sunfish I have kept to date.

I can't really vote for "best all around" as my experience is too limited by number of species.
I can add my insight on the few I do know.

Pumpkinseed - Beautiful fish in the wild, a breeding male is astonishing. Unfortunately, they seem to wash out most of their color in captivity [I've never had a male "in season" in my tanks]. I have noticed they are less colorful and more silvery in clear water, weed free lakes and the better colored ones come from the dark water, weedy lakes. Some correlation might be made between tank conditions and color as well. They get large, as much as 10 inches in the wild. The number one strike they have against them is aggression. They are killers of their own kind and mighty hard on other species as well. Not a community fish.

Bluegill - Common as dirt, bulletproof and willing to eat anything, they make great beginner sunnies. No where near as colorful as most popular sunnies, but the blue coloration while subdued, is a nice change of pace. Of course full grown wild males in breeding coloration are very pretty. I've never kept any that big so can't say how they are in captivity. Large sizes are possible. I have found many stunted populations in the wild where breeders are only 6 inches long. Can't say if they would grow if kept in a healthy tank. They can be pretty argumentitive among themselves but not as bad as P-seeds.

Bluespotted - A pretty decent aquarium fish. In the right tank they can be very pretty and, while never truely bold, will show themselves enough to be appreciated. The "right tank" essentially means a well planted tank with over head cover like duck weed, lots of driftwood to hide in and low pH, tannic colored water. Try to keep them in a wide open tank without cover and you'll never realize their potential beauty. Always try to collect young ones or get captive bred. My experience with full grown adults from the wild is they never tame down enough to relax and be comfortable. That means, you rarely see them and when you do, they are washed out and pale. They are much more prone to keel over unexpectedly when stressed. Taken young and tamed, they will eat frozen with enthusiasm but pick at flake and mostly spit it out. Hardly agressive at all, except maybe between two adult males at breeding time. Perfect size for almost any reasonable sized aquarium.

Banded - My personal favorite and a much under rated captive. They are about as bulletproof as bluegill and willingly eat anything offered. They like well planted tanks but are not timid and well relax even in wide open coverless tanks. They do scrap amonst themselves a bit but are not killers, at least as long as there's enough room to move around and a few hiding places for the less dominent fish. Sometimes they take a nip or two at bluespotted but don't chase or hound them to the point of stress. Their downside is color. There's not a whole lot of it and they seem particularly stingy about showing it in captivity. I've been keeping them for years and still haven't fully discovered a way to keep them looking like they do when you net them. Soft, low pH tannic stained water, lots of live food and a well planted tank makes a big difference, but still, at least in my experience, they just never light up like they do in the wild. Even so, for a small fish with a good bold personality, they really are almost ideal captives - if you get past that whole color thing.
Hope you find this useful.

My top 5 choices would be:

1.) Warmouth(12" max)- a "smart" species, if you will. They learn quickly, and are easily trained to do some neat stuff, just like oscars have been trained by cichlid keepers.

2.)Greens(12" max)- pretty much the same as warmouth as far as care, ease of training, and "smartness". The main reason they're second is because of aggression.

3.) Bantams(4.5" max)- just like a mini-warmouth, with a good bit more spangles on the side. The males look simply amazing when they're breeding and turn pitch-black with those light blue-green spangles. They're very willing to breed( I got mine about 3 weeks ago from BZ and the male is already trying to court the female, and he isn't even in full breeding dress, and he's only 2"), and require less room than the 12" warmouth or green sunfish.

4.) Longears(5-8"; depending on subspecies)- all subspecies are beautiful, with different hues of blues and reds. They don't get large, and recognize where their food comes from fast, which makes them easy to train to pellets/other stuff (mine will follow me when I pass by my tank, waiting for more food).

5.) Bluespotteds(3" max)- these are last because they will only sometimes take dry foods, and will most of the time only take frozen(anyone who has had better luck with this, please tell me!). Other than that, they are eager to eat frozen/live foods, stay small, and are simply beautiful!

They're all pretty good with a little cornmeal batter.

If you're looking for an alert fish with "personality" that will watch you as you move by the tank and gulp down feeders as soon as they hit the water, you can't beat a warmouth. Longears are the prettiest sunfish, in my opinion.

Oh, I forgot one. Hard to believe when we only have a few native sunnies up here and I forgot one.
Redbreast sunfish - I've only ever kept one. He lived in a high current stream tank with darters and minnows. Never bothered any tankmates but I've never kept more than one so don't know how scrappy they are amongst themselves. Ate flake with no problem and showed good color. His color was more pastel than the electric p-seed with the addition of the pretty red fins. When we were kids fishin for kivvers, we called these guys redtails. I associate them with trout. Most often found in cold clear weed free lakes around rocks or in medium flowing brooks and rivers.
I wonder why I haven't see any on this forum?

Redbreasts are great choices too, they just get large and fairly aggressive/territorial. Adults are mostly fish-eaters, so they aren't real good to keep with minnows up to 4". I've kept several, since they're so common around here. They seem to like flowing water over still water, IME. All of the ones I catch are in higher-flow areas. Provided you have a large enough tank, they're excellent fish, and males, breeding or not, have some wonderful colors.

BTW, Mike, that's an excellent picture and a nice fish! Do you still have it?

BTW, Mike, that's an excellent picture and a nice fish! Do you still have it?

Thanks.
No, that pic is about 8 years old. Unfortunately, about five years ago I lost my entire collection.
Not from any husbandy issues or disease. That's all I want to say about that.

Unfortunately, about five years ago I lost my entire collection.
Not from any husbandy issues or disease.

Another fishroom raid victim. Keep posting your location, guys - I'll get around to you eventually!

It helps if you leave out something tasty to eat - I tend to show mercy to those who would perform small kindnesses. Or you can be proactive and go ahead and mail it to me.

I'm surprise dthat the pumpkinseed only got one response because they would be my favorite. True, they can be agressive and maybe not as colorful as long ears but I have seen pumpkinseeds show really good coloration at even 2" sizes where similar sized longears show barely none.
I find to really bring out thier colors you need to put them in a tank with dark surroundings (especially gravel) but with good light. They aren't called sunfish for nothing .
D

I might have included them, but I really don't keep pumpkinseeds. It has nothing to with them in particular, although they are as common as sand around here. The same reason many people put bluegill at the bottom of the list for favorites, they are just too common.

At the same time they have sentimental value to me as part of my past - always being there through thick and thin. They are one of the few fish that survive shallow woodland ponds that most fish die in during winter. That is something cool they can do beyond all other sunfish.

I have a pumpkinseed and have kept them in the past. They are very common around here, most common centrarchid in the state. I do love them though. Like choupique said, they have sentimental value. I'm often drawn to the common fish because those are the ones I have so much experience with and memories about. I remember catching creek chubs as a kid, watching fatheads spawning in the creeks, fishing for bullheads and picking up perch fingerlings out of our flooded lawn. I can't wait to do it all again this coming spring! One of the major reason I keep natives is to bring a part of my outdoor life inside and while colorful darters and rare killifish are great they just don't bring about those same feelings that my common locals do.

Here is a pic of one of those colorful little sunnies i was talking about

Thats a nice looking fish.

See, there is the reason pumpkins can lure you in. Really nice looking fish.

I guess if I had to list draw backs to them. Besides the already mentioned odd habit of loosing all that pretty color in captivity, they tend not to want to eat anything but the best quality live foods for me.

So I am feeding them the top of the line food, and they decide not to show me their best or even half best colors? I will stick with warmouth and bantams then that are lacking for color by comparison, but if I feed them a good diet they will shine their best.

Besides all that, punkins are a bit scrappy, and at the same time they seem touchy in captivity. So I stick to enjoying them in the wild or at the end of my line.

On a side note, anyone ever notice how young of the year punkins looks an awful lot like yoy warmouth? Same habitat so that is another trick they pull! Lil devils.

Pumpkinseeds and Longears are definately my favorites. I've had pretty good success with pumpkinseeds retaining their colors if raised from a young age and fed a diverse diet.