How long should it take them to reach 4-5 inches if they are 2 1/2 to 3" now?
A few months depending on how much you feed them.
Help Identifing sunfish
Started by
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, Jan 08 2007 06:48 PM
55 replies to this topic
#41
Guest_drewish_*
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Posted 11 January 2007 - 10:29 AM
A few months depending on how much you feed them.
#42
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Posted 11 January 2007 - 11:54 AM
If they are well fed it should only take 2-3 months to get them up to 5" or so. I had a 1 inch one last fall(05) and one year later it was nearly 8". They grow fast if given space and lots of food. That particular fish a friend has now and I'm working on some new ones, trying to get several females while he holds onto a couple big males so I can breed them outdoors in the spring. Oh ya, I should add that was a male that got that big, in my experience warmouth have quite a size difference in sex. I had 5 that I kept in a tank for 4 or 5 years and the 3 males got nearly 11" and the 2 females stoped at about 7 or 8". They spawned in the tank which was a 55 gallon tank. This was when I was in highschool, if I did it again I would want a larger tank for 5 fully grown warmouth, probably a 75 or bigger, who knows the males may break the 12" mark given time and space. They did most of their growing in the first year and a half or so, after that they just slowly bulked up. They were impressive looking beasts and would eat anything.
#43
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Posted 11 January 2007 - 06:25 PM
Right now I have 4 of them in a 20 gallon tank. I am cycling a new-to-me 46 Gallon bow front that I will move them into in a couple weeks. Will that be Large enough to keep them? Is there anything besides other sunfish I could keep in there with them? There were also some crawfish at the spot I collected these. I was thinking of putting them in with the warmouths - would they survive if I put a couple Large crawfish in while the warmouths are small? Also, the 46 gallon has a fluval 3 stage canister filter. Any advice on what I should use in the Canister filter. I allready have activated carbon and ceramic cylinders - wondering what to use in the third stage and what order to put them in.
Thanks for all the help. I have been interested in setting up a native tank for quite I while. I am glad to know there are others doing the same.
Don
Thanks for all the help. I have been interested in setting up a native tank for quite I while. I am glad to know there are others doing the same.
Don
#44
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Posted 11 January 2007 - 08:57 PM
yes you should be ok to add some crayfish. If they are small enough to fit in the warmouths mouth though they will likely eat them. You also don't want them to be huge ones that could cause some damage to the fish either. I have crayfish in with many of my sunfish now and there is not a problem. Other fish that may go along with several warmouth... possibly a bullhead or a larger madtom species, maybe a pickerel of similar size, or maybe a chubsucker if it was as big or larger than the warmouth. And of course other sunfish species. Warmouth are aggressive eaters but not as bad as most sunfish toward other tankmates as long as they are not small enough to be considered food. They like to hide a lot too, so lots of rocks, logs, ect. is good with them. The tank should be big enough for them (atleast for now but down the road a little larger might be good) just keep in mind they have the potential to get rather large so probably don't add many tankmates and if you do add something be sure it will reach a similar size.
#45
Guest_itsme_*
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Posted 12 January 2007 - 01:27 AM
Here's a pic of the 2 inch pumpkinseed in my tank. Your fish has mottling like a pumpkinseed, but I don't think it is one. Juvenile sunfish can be difficult to ID when it comes to relying only on a picture. Unless you desperately want to know what species the fish is right now, I would let it grow for a few months and then post another pic. It should be easier to ID from a picture when it is a bit larger. Either that, or find someone in the area that knows their sunfish.
Actually, that photo (the one in eLeMeNt's post) looks a lot like a redear, L microlophus, to me. Got any location data or other ID confirming info for that?
I also agree that the new photos of the Texas fish scream warmouth. The body pattern is a little wierd, but it seems like a lot of the sunfish I've seen from Texas are weird looking... oops, didn't mean to mess with Texas!
Some day I'd like to get some of those Texas longears with the lower half solid red. Nice!
#46
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Posted 12 January 2007 - 03:36 AM
... temp should be room temp not over 78f for extended periods of time, and cold temps do not matter
try to switch it to floating pellets, usually with sunnies it is easy...
What kind of floating pellets? Floating Cichlid Pellets?
#47
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Posted 12 January 2007 - 08:02 AM
Floating Cichlid Pellets are perfect, just be sure to throw in worms, crickets, shrimp, bloodworms, one of these once or 2 times a week to varie the diet
some people even get several different types of pellet and mix them up to add more variety to the staple diet (pellets)
some people even get several different types of pellet and mix them up to add more variety to the staple diet (pellets)
#48
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Posted 12 January 2007 - 12:26 PM
I was thinking that looked like a redear too mark but didn't want to bring in another discussion to this... but now that you did...
#49
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Posted 12 January 2007 - 06:34 PM
It's a pumpkinseed. We don't have red ears in Maryland except for a few lakes on the western shore where DNR stocks them (this fish was caught on the eastern shore). Along with this guy, I pulled out many other bigger pumpkinseeds from the same spot. Here's a pic of one of the bigger ones.
#50
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Posted 13 January 2007 - 02:50 AM
[quote name='eLeMeNt' date='Jan 12 2007, 11:34 PM' post='7159']
It's a pumpkinseed. We don't have red ears in Maryland except for a few lakes on the western shore where DNR stocks them (this fish was caught on the eastern shore). Along with this guy, I pulled out many other bigger pumpkinseeds from the same spot. Here's a pic of one of the bigger ones.
Well, alrighty then!
It's a pumpkinseed. We don't have red ears in Maryland except for a few lakes on the western shore where DNR stocks them (this fish was caught on the eastern shore). Along with this guy, I pulled out many other bigger pumpkinseeds from the same spot. Here's a pic of one of the bigger ones.
Well, alrighty then!
#51
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Posted 13 January 2007 - 07:34 AM
I still think TFD's fish is a warmouth, I will tell you why, look at the mouth on that last fish pict, the jaw stops well in front of the eye.
tfd's fish the jaw is hinged past the center of the eye, the mouth is atleast 2 times as large on the tfd fish, which coupled with the lines extending from the eye = warmouth
see the difference, it is so hard to tell on small sunnies
tfd's fish the jaw is hinged past the center of the eye, the mouth is atleast 2 times as large on the tfd fish, which coupled with the lines extending from the eye = warmouth
see the difference, it is so hard to tell on small sunnies
#53
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Posted 13 January 2007 - 01:51 PM
Don't know if you were responding to my comments, but I agree that TFD's fish are warmouth. I just said I thought eLeMeNt's fish was a redear. But his second photo is definitely a pumpkinseed. I suppose it's still possible that eLeMeNt's smaller fish was a redear, but it's hard to know from a photo only. If it came from a site that doesn't normally yield redears, it's probably a pumpkinseed. But, again, I think that TFD's fish, that started this thread, are warmouth.
#54
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Posted 13 January 2007 - 07:24 PM
Don't know if you were responding to my comments, but I agree that TFD's fish are warmouth. I just said I thought eLeMeNt's fish was a redear. But his second photo is definitely a pumpkinseed. I suppose it's still possible that eLeMeNt's smaller fish was a redear, but it's hard to know from a photo only. If it came from a site that doesn't normally yield redears, it's probably a pumpkinseed. But, again, I think that TFD's fish, that started this thread, are warmouth.
sorry i misunderstood you
#55
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Posted 21 January 2007 - 07:50 AM
Hard to say with these photos. Can you go into your menue and turn down that flash a little or take the photo on a thirty degree angle to the fish. I think this is a toss up between warmouth and redear. Very elongate though. Of course both the warmouth young and red ear young would have that small tick or red on the gill flap. A better photo would help. Comming from a pond I would think warmouth woud be more likley than redear. But ya give us a better photo.
#56
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Posted 21 January 2007 - 01:37 PM
Sorry I had only looked at the first page when I gave that free photo lesson 
So with looking at the other photos you posted it sure looks like a warmouth to me.
So with looking at the other photos you posted it sure looks like a warmouth to me.
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