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Flier and Mud Sunfish

Started by Guest_butch_* , Jan 11 2009 12:46 PM

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10 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_butch_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 12:46 PM

Can flier and mud sunfish live in the same 55gal with redfin pickerel before I get these fish? Sure they must be at same size and not become someone's lunch. There's a plastic driftwood and few plastic green plants.

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#2 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 12:55 PM

I would say yes as long as size is taken into careful consideration. Neither of those sunfish species are very territorial which means they should be decent fish to keep with a pickerel. The flier will likely be the shy one at feeding time so you would want to take care to see that it is getting enough food. Mud Sunfish are rather aggressive feeders despite being not overly territorial and will try to eat other fish if there is even a slight chance of getting them down. Of course the pickerel will obviously eat some rather large prey items as well.

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#3 Guest_butch_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 01:48 PM

Thank you. What I should feed to the newcomers when they are settle down in their new home?

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#4 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 01:58 PM

Both flier and mudsunfish don't take to pellets real well so earthworms or frozen foods would be good. They both will eat small live fish which is what you will likely need for the pickerel anyways.

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#5 Guest_butch_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 02:12 PM

Ah that means I have another excuse to get another tank for feeder fish.

Do pickerel prey on crayfish? Because I was thinking about getting Marmorkrebs and im sure mud sunfish loves to eat these crawdads. And I can get baitfish from my gas station or get XL feeder guppies from my LFS.

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#6 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 05:55 PM

yes pickerel will eat crayfish.

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#7 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 11 January 2009 - 07:11 PM

Yes they do and it is fun to watch... if you pay attention... with a pickerel all the fun can be over in just a blink...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#8 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 11:10 PM

Mud Sunfish are rather aggressive feeders despite being not overly territorial and will try to eat other fish if there is even a slight chance of getting them down.

Does this seem to be typical behavior of them or perhaps did you have a nasty individual? I'd always thought they were insectivorous and shy. As a matter of fact just last week I collected a nice 4.5 inch mud sunfish and was really hoping to put him in my "Todd-tank" with various darters and minnows. My Fishes of Virginia book said that out of 101 they stomach pumped, only 4% had eaten fish. It report they mainly eat amphipods. I have him in a quarantine tank with bluespotted sunnies down to about .75 inches and haven't had any losses. Maybe it depends on the environment?

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#9 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 15 January 2009 - 02:04 PM

yes pickerel will eat crayfish.

In my experience, they will eat crayfish, but they are not as aggressive about it as they are eating small feeder fish such as rosey reds. The crayfish will often use the aquarium gravel to build a protective barricade to hide from the pickerels, which defeats the purpose of putting the crayfish in there. I don't attempt to feed crayfish to them anymore.

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#10 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 17 January 2009 - 11:29 AM

could have been my fish but I have had others tell me that the Mudsunfish are quite nippy toward other fish. When I got the one I had I was told don't put anything you really like with it by two others that had more experience with the species. I would suggest just being cautious with it and see what happens.

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#11 Guest_keepnatives_*

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Posted 17 January 2009 - 08:03 PM

I've found Mud sunfish to be fine with any fish that didn't fit in their mouth. They quickly eliminated those that did. A redfin or grass pickeral large enough not to be considered food for a Mud sunfish if not kept well fed might well take a stab at a mud sunfish. Might not be able to swallow it but might well kill it in trying. In a large tank kept stocked with a school of correctly sized feeders for both the pickeral and the mud sunfish and I think they'd be fine. I've never tried it though and wonder what might happen if both become full sized, mature fish. I've kept muds with all kinds of sunfish and they were fine unless the others were considerably smaller or the others were considerably larger then the muds.