Anyone keep sunfish and cichlids together?

MultipleTankSyndrome

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Magnus_Bane

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Inspired by a very recent thread (https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/sunfish.746077/), as well as an expansion to a previous question of mine (which if anyone has any answers to, would be great!): https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/largemouth-peacock-bass.744871/

The title says it all. Anyone have their sunfish with cichlids? Rift Lake, South American, Central American, etc?
I think it's an interesting concept since they are similar in looks and behavior.
I did for a while untill the hybrid sunfish ended up killing my Flower horn.
 

MultipleTankSyndrome

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Yikes!

With regards to something less.....bloody, I'm especially interested in hearing about largemoth/smallmouth and peacock bass together, plus eartheaters and sunfish together, from those who have done those combos. Because they look kind of similar, lol.
 

Magnus_Bane

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Yikes!

With regards to something less.....bloody, I'm especially interested in hearing about largemoth/smallmouth and peacock bass together, plus eartheaters and sunfish together, from those who have done those combos. Because they look kind of similar, lol.
Seen plenty of vids on YouTube with largemouth being housed with peacock bass atleast. The largemouth tend to be a bit more aggressive usually but only around food from what it seems. Never seen anyone house sunfish with geo's tho.
 

MultipleTankSyndrome

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Concerning the largemouth+peacock bass, that makes sense. Florida's FWC apparently doesn't see any conflict between the 2 in the wild either.
 

duanes

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Since my main interest is in biotopes, (pre-corrupted by man (i.e. Floridas plethora of alien invassives)) naturally found, this would not be be in my interest area.
Just as I find tanks where Asian species are kept with new world species..... goofy.....and somehow off kilter.
Same with North American cichlids that would not inhabit the same trophic niche as Lepomis, naturally eparated by geography.
To me, this is what multiple tanks are for.
And not to mention the sometimes different natural water parameter types, and seasonal fluctuations that help each to thrive.
Here in Panama Cichla were inadvertently introduced to lake Gatun, causing a number of endemic cichlids to be wiped out, or at least drastically reduced in the lake proper.
Same in Lake Victoria where the introduction of the nile perch has caused the extinction of many unique cichlid species, and helped cause a spike in human Scistisoma diseases, some of those cichlids helped control by consuming snails, used by the blood flukes in their life cycle.
Yes I know....a bit off topic.....and I tend to rant....but its a thing for some of us.
 

kzimmerman

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I've kept flyers, pumpinseed and bluegill with a geophagus brasiliensis before, with no real issue. The answer is lots of sight line breaks, and be careful of the sunfish if they start breeding behavior. They seem to behave in a very cichlid like way.
 
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