I have 9 small pumpkinseed sunfish in a 55 gallon tank with 1 longear. I know that this is way too many fish for a 55, and will eventually get that number down. I would like to know if anyone has suggestions for sexing the pumpkinseeds while they are juveniles. I am trying to keep as many males as possible and find another home for all the females (I am using the tank in my biology classroom, do not want to breed).
Also, the 9 pumpkinseeds arrived yesturday (I had ordered 4, so I was surprised to find 9 in the shipment!) they are adapting well to the tank. My longear, also juvenile, ONLY will eat dried blood worms and was easy to train to feed once I found out what he would eat. Does anyone have any suggestions for the pumpkinseeds? I would like to train them to a type of pellet, but would welcome any suggestions on what would be the best pellet to start with. Or would the blood worms be a good primary diet
Thanks,
Craig
Biology Teacher
Oregon
Pumpkinseed Sunfish
Started by
Guest_5975craig_*
, May 08 2008 11:33 AM
4 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 08 May 2008 - 01:21 PM
I have 9 small pumpkinseed sunfish in a 55 gallon tank with 1 longear. I know that this is way too many fish for a 55, and will eventually get that number down. I would like to know if anyone has suggestions for sexing the pumpkinseeds while they are juveniles. I am trying to keep as many males as possible and find another home for all the females (I am using the tank in my biology classroom, do not want to breed).
Also, the 9 pumpkinseeds arrived yesturday (I had ordered 4, so I was surprised to find 9 in the shipment!) they are adapting well to the tank. My longear, also juvenile, ONLY will eat dried blood worms and was easy to train to feed once I found out what he would eat. Does anyone have any suggestions for the pumpkinseeds? I would like to train them to a type of pellet, but would welcome any suggestions on what would be the best pellet to start with. Or would the blood worms be a good primary diet
Thanks,
Craig
Biology Teacher
Oregon
I use pumpkinseed for educational and research purposes as well. They are among the more omnivorous species so with a little time they will eat anything you offer. As for sexing juveniles, if they are larger than 1.75" inches then thay are no longer what I call juveniles, rather they are small adults. If you can get the fish to color up males will be the most colorful, most of the time. Also check thread in Sunfishes and Basses called Vent Sexing, will give better method if you do not mind handling animals. Otherwise, let them breed as they are unlikely to overpopulate like many cichlids and livebearers.
#3
Guest_Slasher_*
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Posted 12 May 2008 - 06:44 PM
My pumpkinseed really enjoys Hikari Cichlid Staple mini pellets and most of all TetraCichlid cichlid sticks. They also really seem to like the occassional minnow and such. I've had pretty good growth rates using those foods just about everyday. I'm really happy with it.
#4
Guest_mikez_*
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Posted 13 May 2008 - 09:13 AM
After a couple of months in captivity my punkinseeds eat pretty much anything with the exception of flake.
For a treat they get small snails which reproduce in my daphnia culture [no fear of paracites]. They crush the shells in the mouth or throat and bits of shell come out their gills. Interestingly, when they eat pellets, they appear to crush them in the same way with bits of crushed pellets leaking out their gills.
The P-seeds also seem particularly in tune with surface feeding and will splash water a great distance out of the tank with their excited response to some floating freeze dried blood worms or krill. That's what makes them so fun to throw a small deerhair popper to.
For a treat they get small snails which reproduce in my daphnia culture [no fear of paracites]. They crush the shells in the mouth or throat and bits of shell come out their gills. Interestingly, when they eat pellets, they appear to crush them in the same way with bits of crushed pellets leaking out their gills.
The P-seeds also seem particularly in tune with surface feeding and will splash water a great distance out of the tank with their excited response to some floating freeze dried blood worms or krill. That's what makes them so fun to throw a small deerhair popper to.
#5
Guest_BenjaminS_*
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Posted 18 May 2008 - 06:10 AM
hi,
I have been keeping pumpkins for about a year and at first they would only eat food that resembled live food (small krill, bloodworms) but i was able to get them to eat hikari staple cichlid pellets which they love. The trick is to feed them a few of the pellets at feeding time when they become ravenous and they will grab a few by mistake. over a few weeks you add more and more of the pellets and they will come to accept them, and even preferring them over the krill they loved so much! I also feed them snails, like mikez does. This summer i may get some other forms of live food from a local pond as a treat. I presently have 5 in a 75 gallon tank and they are doing well, I got them at 2" and they are now at around 5", these buggers grow fast! Good Luck!
Don Smith
I have been keeping pumpkins for about a year and at first they would only eat food that resembled live food (small krill, bloodworms) but i was able to get them to eat hikari staple cichlid pellets which they love. The trick is to feed them a few of the pellets at feeding time when they become ravenous and they will grab a few by mistake. over a few weeks you add more and more of the pellets and they will come to accept them, and even preferring them over the krill they loved so much! I also feed them snails, like mikez does. This summer i may get some other forms of live food from a local pond as a treat. I presently have 5 in a 75 gallon tank and they are doing well, I got them at 2" and they are now at around 5", these buggers grow fast! Good Luck!
Don Smith
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