Tropical Fish Forums

[UncleWillie]

Okay. So 4 months since the pictures above, here are the sunfish as of today.
The largest male is 3.5 inches, second male around 3'', and the females around 2''.

[Arturo]

Amazing :O

[rales12]

UncleWillie... Those are BEAUTIFUL fish! Do you intend to breed them, or are you just going to enjoy their stunning colors?

I think if people saw the fish before thinking they only wanted to keep tropicals... they might change their minds. I've definitely changed mine... it is now just a matter of changing my husband's.
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- Rachel

[jsuereth]

Wow... I think one day I may try a NA native fish tank....

Where do you find information on fish temperament? We used to catch sunnies all the time near my house, but I have no idea what max size they reach or how to know if they are aggressive, or even if they need to shoal.

[UncleWillie]

Thanks yall!

Rales, I may breed them one day, but I don't have the time for it now. They are exactly 1.5 years old, so I have plenty of time to get some spawning in once I get settled somewhere more permanent. I will likely be moving in about a year or so and I have to fight setting up more tanks .

jsuereth, you can always ask me. Hehe, but seriously, you can find decent info on the North American fish in aquaria over on the NANFA forum. There are many sunfish, of a huge range of size and temperament. Most of the sunfish of the Lepomis genus are all relatively large and and aggressive. The exception are orangespotted and bantam sunfish. They rarely exceed 3-4.5'' and are not aggressive. These dollars also stay in the 3-4.5 inch range, but are nasty and very aggressive. Then you've got your mid-sized (5-9'') Lepomids like pumpkinseed, green, longear, spotted/redspotted. Then the larger ones (9-13'') like bluegill, redear, redbreast. You can basically directly compare sunfish to cichlids. They are aggressive, need space, build and defend nests and territory, and the males are great parents.

[Caton]

Amazing! I love them.
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[blodhi74]

Very nice.

[diademhill]

They are lovely fish & I wish I could keep some. They are illegal here.

[UncleWillie]

Thanks again, yall. It is a shame that you cannot keep some Diademhill, but I reckon it is for the best. I know that many of the North American sunfish species (mostly green sunfish, pumpkinseed, bluegills and redears) have been introduced to Europe and Asia and have established populations. It is understandable that such regulations exist as all of these fish are temperate species and survive bitter winters as long as a lake does not freeze completely.

I want to post a few other pictures of sunfish I have caught over the last year, but this may be more appropriate in the AquaLounge as these are not fish in aquaria. Maybe I'll upload some pictures this morning while I prepare for the holiday! Maybe I can have some pics on the board before the new year.

[nikelodeon79]

You've gotten me very interested in keeping native species! Once I get my big tank (I'm shooting for something around 90-120 gallons) I'll have to research my native species and see if any would be suitable for a tank that size.
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