Does my lowley green sunfish need another green sunfish?
- Thread starter 88GT
- Start date
I don't know about greenies but the pumpkin seeds that I have need at least 4 in a group. With 2 or 3 the smallest gets beat up by the bigger ones. With 4 It gets a little more spread out. It could just be my fish but I have had a less stressed out fish with 4 of them.
When the Gudalupes get big they'll beat just about everything up until there's one left. I have one at work in an 8 ft long tank, and the only thing he'll let live in there are two channel cats and a huge pleco. All other Centrarchids and Minnows are just fodder for his hatred of everything living. He's just really territorial, as your greeny is and your bass will be. If you don't want a single specimen tank, you could get a few more greenies or add other sunfish. I'd stay avay from bass (other than a yellow or white you could catch in east Tx), and get some bluegill, longear, orangespots and warmouth. I have a tank like this, too, it's stocked pretty heavily with no real aggression problems.
I'm an undergrad just finishing up some of my chem and elective credits, but am helping out on some of the studies we're doing. There's a lot of work on Guadalupe bass (Micropterus treculi) going on. They are in peril due to hybridization with smallmouth bass (non-native to Texas) that TPWD stocked in the 70's thinking they would not hybridize, and if so, would make "mules." They hybridized and made viable offspring instead, putting an endemic treasure (and the state fish none-the-less) in serious danger. The smallmouths and hybrids were outcompeting the Guadalupes so badly, that in the early 90s TPWD at Heart of the Hills (google Gary Garrett for this project) started a breeding program to get pure Guadalupes back in our rivers (and save them from eventual extinction by hybridization). Lately, we have been running genetics to see how well this is going, noting the places we catch them, and overall just seeing how well they're doing. My friend has surgically implanted tracking devices in a few, which we will be tracking to find out more of their migration patterns and what parts of the river they utilize during breeding and at other times.
I have no idea who thought it was a great idea to stock such a similar fish that utilizes the same habitat as the GBass, swifter water than largemouths are in, but that was one of many mistakes made in the past that we're trying to undo... And I'll tell you, when it comes to nature, it's a lot easier to screw up than to fix what we've done.
Here's something interesting to look for in your fish-if they're still young, look at the blotches on the side. Some should have a kind of hole in the middle of them that is the base color of the fish, making a rough diamond shaped donut. If you want the purest ones around, I believe they are in the Llano River and its tribs.
Guadalupes are definitely a fish you should be proud to have, not many people keep them, or have really even seen one (and known what they're looking at).
I have no idea who thought it was a great idea to stock such a similar fish that utilizes the same habitat as the GBass, swifter water than largemouths are in, but that was one of many mistakes made in the past that we're trying to undo... And I'll tell you, when it comes to nature, it's a lot easier to screw up than to fix what we've done.
Here's something interesting to look for in your fish-if they're still young, look at the blotches on the side. Some should have a kind of hole in the middle of them that is the base color of the fish, making a rough diamond shaped donut. If you want the purest ones around, I believe they are in the Llano River and its tribs.
Guadalupes are definitely a fish you should be proud to have, not many people keep them, or have really even seen one (and known what they're looking at).