hey, i guess i learned something too
There is no reason to frown about learning something new.
55 gallon sunfish tank
- Thread starter Jighead
- Start date
There is no reason to frown about learning something new.
some of you guys must live near a nuclear waste dump. Sunfish are considered a nuisance in the Northeast US and rarely if ever get more the 5-6 inches. Most often that grossly overpopulate ponds and cut down on respectable game species. I can't imagine a 55 gallon being too small for a few sunfish??
I think you are refering to bluegill. Not sunfish in general. Bluegill are often considered a nusiance in ponds but not in large lakes or river systems. Many of the sunfish species are actually hard to come by where I am from. Also again witht he size I think you are referring to a overcrowded pond. Bluegill and some of the other sunfish species can easily reach over 5-6". I have caught greens in a pond that were easily 8". Good luck with your native tank and do what you want. Do what works for you.
Chad
Chad
Some sunfish are considered a nuisance, namely the bluegill and pumpkinseeds but many are hard to come by. I live in NY, there are 14 different species in this state includeing the largemouth and smallmouth bass (yes, they are sunfish). Two are threatened species while a few others are very rare and hard to come by. It's not fair to lump them all as "nuisance fish".
The reason why you are only getting 5-6" sunfish is simple, they die before they reach full size, people catch them and eat them before they can. As I said earlier, fish in captivity can often get larger because they live longer. I doubt any individual sunfish in the wild lives longer than a few years. When someone catches a large sunfish...they eat it or mount it and then knowone catches it again. Thus, large sunfish are rare. If you are lucky enough to find a fishing spot that knowone else knows about with a healthy population than you will probably find large individuals of the species.
As for the overcrowding of ponds, yes...bluegill and a few other species like pumpkinseed quickly do overpopulate them. This is not the fault of the fish though, this is the fault of whoever put them in the pond. Most people with ponds stock bluegill as food for largemouth bass....this is a bad idea. Bluegill are more prolific, aggresive and oppertunistic. Bass cannot keep the population down, in fact...bluegill will often take over the pond and actaully eat the bass fry. For stocking bass ponds fathead minnows or golden shiners would be a much better forage fish.
I'm raising up some Tiger Muskie for my buddy's ranch pond for this very reason. He has a great 5 acre pond, but a small fish problem that is stunting the potential growth of not only the Bass, but Blue Channel Cats as well.
wouldnt the muskie eventually grow big enough to eat the bass and cats as well???
Yeah but he is looking to manage the population of those fish. Five tiger muskies in five acres won't deplete an already established population. The tiger muskies also won't be able to breed so it should work.
Jighead...have you decided what you are going to stock it with yet?
That is what he is looking for. I think the muskie will leave the bass alone for the most part. Bass tend to stay hidden and the sunfish are more out in the open and easier to catch. Also channels have the potential to get as big as a tiger muskie. Well maybe that is a little bit of an exageration but they get big enough to where if those tiger muskie aren't 2 feet when you put them in there might be reason to worry.
Chad
Chad
