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Pygmy Sunfish Tank

Started by Guest_sounguru_* , Jan 13 2010 05:12 PM

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10 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_sounguru_*

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Posted 13 January 2010 - 05:12 PM

Well I have this 10 gallon populated with a few cherry shrimp and snails at this time and I was just wondering if you all thought it would make a good pygmy sunfish tank. If so how many could I keep?

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#2 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 13 January 2010 - 05:31 PM

Pygmys would definitely be very happy there!

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#3 Michael Wolfe

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North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 13 January 2010 - 10:23 PM

Looks much nicer than the 10 I had packed full of java moss... in which I kept 6 full sized adult Okefenokee Pygmys... so I think you can keep at least that many... although I will had to admit that I lost a few males... ended up with only one male and three females... which did breed however... and a few young survived to adulthood in the same tank... although some of the larger females died...

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

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#4 Guest_jase_*

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Posted 13 January 2010 - 11:04 PM

Looks great for pygmies. I had 5 banded pygmies (I think 2 males and 3 females) in a 2.5g, and they didn't seem overcroweded in the least. Given that they spend the vast majority of their time sitting nearly motionless on the bottom or in vegetation, you'd want quite a few to even give yourself a decent chance of seeing one at any given time in a 10g as heavily planted as that.

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#5 Guest_sounguru_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 12:47 AM

Thanks guys now to just find someone to sell or give to a really wonderful fish guy like me.

Still have a little to do to the tank. I want to seed it with fairy or clam shrimp and blackworms. I also want to remove the duckweed as much as possible and get a good growth of Salvina going. I also want to remove the 2 guppies (which will be a real chore) that I have in there that I was using to keep the decopods under control and let them prosper again.

All this is so there will be a variety of foods already living in the tank when I introduce the pygmies in.

Oh and I need to add the sponge back to the intake of the filter.

Edited by sounguru, 14 January 2010 - 01:18 AM.

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#6 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 11:43 AM

Very nice setup! Blackworms are a good idea, but I wouldn't expect fairy and clam shrimp to maintain populations in the tank. They are too dependent on hydrological cycles. Scuds, isopods, daphnids, and copepods would be better choices.

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#7 Guest_sounguru_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 01:08 PM

Thanks after looking into the fairy shrimp more I see you are right. Still I think I will start some colonies as feeders seems easy to do.

Now to find a few scuds.

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#8 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 16 January 2010 - 03:35 PM

Thanks after looking into the fairy shrimp more I see you are right. Still I think I will start some colonies as feeders seems easy to do.

Now to find a few scuds.

accidentally posted on wrong quote. der...

Edited by Elijah, 16 January 2010 - 03:41 PM.

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#9 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 16 January 2010 - 03:37 PM

Thanks guys now to just find someone to sell or give to a really wonderful fish guy like me.

Still have a little to do to the tank. I want to seed it with fairy or clam shrimp and blackworms. I also want to remove the duckweed as much as possible and get a good growth of Salvina going. I also want to remove the 2 guppies (which will be a real chore) that I have in there that I was using to keep the decopods under control and let them prosper again.

All this is so there will be a variety of foods already living in the tank when I introduce the pygmies in.

Oh and I need to add the sponge back to the intake of the filter.

Why bother using a filter at all with all of those plants? I have done a lot of reading on this subject and have since given up using filters on most of my tanks. My tanks maintain 0 nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. I change 20% of my water every 2-3 weeks just to add fresh minerals. Not sure how long I could go with no h2o change, but I bet it would be atleast a month or more on tanks that are not overstocked.
On tanks where I do use filters it is only for water flow- in tanks with species that need flow. Pygmy's prefer still water. Plants provide a plenty of oxygen. Most plants grow better when the surface of the water is still- not offgassing co2.
I just got some pygmy's. If you do not get any before then, check back with me in April or May and I might have some fry to spare.
Nice tank by the way!

Edited by Elijah, 16 January 2010 - 03:39 PM.

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#10 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 16 January 2010 - 05:57 PM

I bet with that many plants surface agitation would add rather than remove CO2

That is a beautiful tank. How long has it been set up?

I can send you some Elassoma zonatum for cost of shipping (about $12), or in trade for something interesting I can't get locally. If you're interested just let me know how many you want.

Edited by gzeiger, 16 January 2010 - 06:04 PM.

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#11 Guest_sounguru_*

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Posted 17 January 2010 - 08:37 PM

Why bother using a filter at all with all of those plants? I have done a lot of reading on this subject and have since given up using filters on most of my tanks. My tanks maintain 0 nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. I change 20% of my water every 2-3 weeks just to add fresh minerals. Not sure how long I could go with no h2o change, but I bet it would be at least a month or more on tanks that are not overstocked.
On tanks where I do use filters it is only for water flow- in tanks with species that need flow. Pygmy's prefer still water. Plants provide a plenty of oxygen. Most plants grow better when the surface of the water is still- not off gassing co2.
I just got some pygmy's. If you do not get any before then, check back with me in April or May and I might have some fry to spare.
Nice tank by the way!

The filter is for 2 reasons on this tank.

#1 To keep the duck weed and salvania from covering the entire top of the tank so basically water movement. If I do not keep a clear spot that is flowing the CO2 build up at night will kill off the tank in a hurry. Found that one out the hard way. I ran a sponge filter and the bubbles from it where not strong enough to keep an area clear and one night I lost almost an entire tank of shrimp. Man Duckweed and Salvania grow quick and in still water they will choke the tank in a matter of a couple of days if not sooner.

#2 Basically a bio bed since I was running sensitive inverts in the tank that any build up of any chems would wipe out. The substrate is a mix of sand, Pond planting medium, peat, and potting soil and the process of the tank breaking in can create ammonia spikes over time and I just want to make sure it is backed up. Although I will admit that is probably well over by now.

If plants grow better in a still tank then I really want some water movement that shot was 2 weeks after I did a major trim back on some of the plants and removed over a cup of duck weed. :shock:

I will say that all my tanks have water movement to some degree some light like this tank to some with heavier movement and I haven't really noticed any difference in growth, but I also use Excel, Flourish on all, and CO2 injection on a couple. I have setup a few Walstad (aka Natural Aquarium) style tanks and had them run for years and it was a nice experiment, but I just don't like balancing all my eggs on a knife edge. If one thing fails in a tank like that it can crash in a hurry without a redundant back up. I have had that happen so I'm a believer in some back up filtration, but not of the school of over filter as seems to be the new trend. I like to turn my tanks 2 times an hour on the low end to 10 times an hour on the top end depending on the critters needs.

Oh and I will keep you in mind if I don't find any by then....

I bet with that many plants surface agitation would add rather than remove CO2 That is a beautiful tank. How long has it been set up?

I can send you some Elassoma zonatum for cost of shipping (about $12), or in trade for something interesting I can't get locally. If you're interested just let me know how many you want.

Actually Co2 build up can be a problem as I explained above...

It has been running about a year now I guess.

Oh man if I hadn't just done a major trim back, needed to seed a new tank with plants, I would be all over that. As far as interesting stuff I live in Washington and we don't have any interesting stuff but salmon and trout. I deal mainly with Assassin Snails since they are my favorite invert and not a native yet, until some stupid dweeb dumps his in a Florida waterway.... :rolleyes: