How many and what kind of sunfish?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

ksauers

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2008
42
0
0
wisconsin
How often do you feed them?
What do you feed them?
Do they get stunted like in a lake with too many?
How many of each,1,2 or 3 or more?


I'd like to get warmouth,green,pumpkinseed,bluegill,perch and a bullhead.

If you get them from Zimmerman they are about an inch long.
 
it's a 55
Forget bullhead, they are not suitable for a 55gal. Warmouth and Green sunfish may be very aggressive toward to other sunfish. You can do a small group of Pumpkinseed or other smaller species such as Longear, Dollars, Orangespotted etc.
 
Besides warmouth and green.what are other aggresive pans to stay away from? i had bullheads when i was a kid and had no problems. why aren't they suitable?


Is 2 or 3 pumpkins, longears, and dollars too many? A total of 6 to 9.
 
As for food, sunfish'll mostly eat whatever fits in their mouths. My green eats cichlid pellets, betta flakes, rosy reds, crickets, spiders, crayfish, bloodworms, guppies, cherry barbs... yeah, anything that fits :-)
 
Besides warmouth and green.what are other aggresive pans to stay away from? i had bullheads when i was a kid and had no problems. why aren't they suitable?


Is 2 or 3 pumpkins, longears, and dollars too many? A total of 6 to 9.
Their large size and huge bioload wastes from them...can easily grew to 15" no problems.

Personally I would keep 6-8 small sunfish species in a 55 if you provide them the hiding places. Pumpkinseed are not one of the smaller species but 2-4 pumpkinseed can do fine in a 55gal assuming all of them are young and not fully mature ones.
 
I've been looking to buy online. Probably Zimmermans. It seems they won't be longer than an inch from him.



What do you feed em when they are that small? Will they eat tropical flakes?


When they are bigger it's not much of a problem feedin them.
 
Personally I would go with a group of 5 Dollar Sunfish in a 55 gallon. You won't be disappointed they are colorful and pretty aggressive. Put some plants and driftwood and you'll have a bad ass tank. Also to answer your question try frozen foods like bloodworms. It probably would be smart to have a live food source as well such as daphnia, scuds, or live blackworms. Then later you can move onto pellets, freeze dried foods, live crickets ( or freeze-dried). My Dollars take flakes but I don't know if it is always the case.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com