Perch and Sunfish
- Thread starter Wulfonce
- Start date
I have a bluegill and perch together. The bluegill is half the size of the perch. But the bluegill chases the perch around the tank.
Yellow perch potentially get much bigger than sunfish- they max out at over 20" long- but most adults are much smaller, less than 12". There are many species of sunfish, some larger than others. Bluegill and redear are the largest sunfish; individuals over 12" long and weighing 2 lbs. are fairly common. Other sunfish in your area include green sunfish, pumpkinseed, warmouth, and northern longear sunfish; the first three are usually under 10" long, and the last is usually under 5".
Perch are a schooling species, sunfish are not. Most sunfish are more aggressive than perch. I suggest stocking your tank with either a school of perch OR a group of sunfish, but not both. I think to keep the two together successfully you would need a lot more room. A possible exception is keeping northern longear sunfish with perch. I don't think the two species would bother one another; maybe someone who has tried this combo will chip in.
Perch are a schooling species, sunfish are not. Most sunfish are more aggressive than perch. I suggest stocking your tank with either a school of perch OR a group of sunfish, but not both. I think to keep the two together successfully you would need a lot more room. A possible exception is keeping northern longear sunfish with perch. I don't think the two species would bother one another; maybe someone who has tried this combo will chip in.
perch actually wont stay pretty in the tank... and in a 90 gallon you couldnt...well shouldnt do a school of perch. id get sunfish.
We've settled on sunfish.
Another question:
My dad said he once kept wild caught fish (cant remember what kind) in his earlier days. He didn't get them small so they never really got tame. He says every time he walked in the room they would always freak out. So hes telling me we need to catch them small so they can get use to people at an early age (makes sense).
Now that brings another problem. The smallest fish I've seen around the shores of long point bay are around 4" long. We were hoping to get smaller ones at maybe 2". Where are they hiding? Like I said I've never seen them before. Perhaps there way in the shallows where are canoe cant get?
Any tips on how to catch them?
Another question:
My dad said he once kept wild caught fish (cant remember what kind) in his earlier days. He didn't get them small so they never really got tame. He says every time he walked in the room they would always freak out. So hes telling me we need to catch them small so they can get use to people at an early age (makes sense).
Now that brings another problem. The smallest fish I've seen around the shores of long point bay are around 4" long. We were hoping to get smaller ones at maybe 2". Where are they hiding? Like I said I've never seen them before. Perhaps there way in the shallows where are canoe cant get?
Any tips on how to catch them?
Young sunnies are usually in shallow water. A dipnet or minnow trap will get you plenty. The trouble is that species ID is hard when the fish are under 2" or so. But half-grown sunfish still adapt well to captivity; I don't think you'll have any problems with 4" fish.