Pumpkinseed Sunfish

[DemonShark]

Anyone happen to know how fast pumpkinseed sunfish grow? I know its variable but all I need is a general idea.

Thanks!

 

[teleost]

If you have the right size tank and feed quality foods in the right volume, you should expect 1 inch per month or two for the first year of life. Slows down a bit as they age.

You could easily see half that if all the "right" things above mentioned aren't "right".

 

[DemonShark]

If you have the right size tank and feed quality foods in the right volume, you should expect 1 inch per month or two for the first year of life. Slows down a bit as they age.

You could easily see half that if all the "right" things above mentioned aren't "right".

Ok, hmmmmm....

Care to elaborate a bit on what exactly "right" means?

I have no idea how big a tank I should get, I figured I would start in a 10g and move up from there as it grows but if it is going to grow that fast I might as well go full size right away. How big do these guys get anywho? One inch per month......No way these little sunfish can get over a foot.....can they?? But what exactly is a proper tank for one of these critters long-term? Whatever size the tank is I can guarentee this will be the only fish in that tank.

As for feeding, I was planning to give it Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold as a staple, with bloodworms and brine shrimp, maybe some peas or something green, and the occasional earthworm or livebearer fry.

I'm not sure about the amount to feed though.
One thing you really have to understand, is that I have never kept anything bigger than an angelfish. I am a planted tank guy, high light, CO2, small tetras and dwarf cichlids, that sort of thing. I'm not quite sure how much to feed this guy or how often.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MN_Rebel]

Some pumpkinseeds can get up to 12 inch easily in my local area.

 

[le patron]

If you have the right size tank and feed quality foods in the right volume, you should expect 1 inch per month or two for the first year of life. Slows down a bit as they age.

You could easily see half that if all the "right" things above mentioned aren't "right".

i agree with this, i experienced the same thing with my bluegill, which is very closely related to pseed. i used to do w/c every other week, but now every week, feed wardley's floating cichlid pellets.

 

[le patron]

If you have the right size tank and feed quality foods in the right volume, you should expect 1 inch per month or two for the first year of life. Slows down a bit as they age.

You could easily see half that if all the "right" things above mentioned aren't "right".

i agree with this, i experienced the same thing with my bluegill, which is very closely related to pseed. i used to do w/c every other week, but now every week, feed wardley's floating cichlid pellets.

maybe a little less than 1 inch a month tho, like .5

 

[sandtiger]

I've had my pumpkinseed for a little over three years and he is 7" long. I would say they average around 7-10" with 12" being possible but above average. I would suggest a 40-55g long term.

 

[le patron]

i agree with this, i experienced the same thing with my bluegill, which is very closely related to pseed. i used to do w/c every other week, but now every week, feed wardley's floating cichlid pellets.

maybe a little less than 1 inch a month tho, like .5

oops sorry this is a duplicate post, can a mod please delete my previous post?

 

[teleost]

Ok, hmmmmm....

Care to elaborate a bit on what exactly "right" means?

I have no idea how big a tank I should get, I figured I would start in a 10g and move up from there as it grows but if it is going to grow that fast I might as well go full size right away. How big do these guys get anywho? One inch per month......No way these little sunfish can get over a foot.....can they?? But what exactly is a proper tank for one of these critters long-term? Whatever size the tank is I can guarentee this will be the only fish in that tank.

As for feeding, I was planning to give it Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold as a staple, with bloodworms and brine shrimp, maybe some peas or something green, and the occasional earthworm or livebearer fry.

I'm not sure about the amount to feed though.
One thing you really have to understand, is that I have never kept anything bigger than an angelfish. I am a planted tank guy, high light, CO2, small tetras and dwarf cichlids, that sort of thing. I'm not quite sure how much to feed this guy or how often.

Thanks in advance!

A lot of this is personal preference. Yeah 12" in 12 months isn't quite right but when young, they can easily put an inch a month on.

I'm a big tank small fish guy or at least I can say that I like 55 gallon tanks minimum for pirate perch (people think I'm nuts and they may very well be right). I only keep large sunfish in a 100 minimum and it's footprint in 24" x 60" (A big footprint for a 100 gallon). Most lepomis species will get full adult size in such a tank and will grow most rapidly is such environments.

Your expected feeds are exceptionally good. You will have fat, healthy fish with that variety. You'll know the right volume when they stop feeding. IMO sunfish are pigs and don't seem terribly susceptible to many of the eating problems other fish might have. If you have a large tank, keep them fat and they will be colorful and good looking.

If you're looking for the minimum tank size, I'd say 10 gallon. Since I spend the time I do in the water I've learned as a tropical fish keeper we stunt almost every fish we ever keep/kept. People here might think I'm nuts for saying 10 gallon minimum for a pumpkinseed but really you'll be stunting (not necessarily a bad thing) a pumpkinseed in anything less than a 48" x 24" tank. I don't really care if you stunt (as I said earlier I'm convinced all of us do it) but if you want a natural looking fish that behave naturally, a tank much larger than seems appropriate is best.

You mentioned planted tanks....Do you intend to plant this tank? If so I would beg you to look at bluespotted sunfish or orangespotted sunfish. One is a Ennecanthus genus and the other is a small and docile lepomis genus. Both would do well in a smaller planted tank and simply stay small.

Oh yeah...I would never keep any sunfish for any amount of time in a 10 gallon (unless larvae) if you want a robust/full size adult fish. 10 gallon tanks can perma stunt sunfish easily. BTW a great trick if you want to perma stunt.

 

[DemonShark]

You mentioned planted tanks....Do you intend to plant this tank? If so I would beg you to look at bluespotted sunfish or orangespotted sunfish. One is a Ennecanthus genus and the other is a small and docile lepomis genus. Both would do well in a smaller planted tank and simply stay small.

I was intending to put in some anacharis/elodea, maybe some hornwort too but it should mostly a rockscape.

I'm not even really sure what kind of sunfish I'm getting, but I was assuming it will be a pumpkinseed. Basically I'm doing to go down to a local pond with a net, throw some bread in and net the sunfish when they come up. I've done it before, but never brought them home, the ones I catch are about 2". I'm not exactly sure what species they are. I live right between lake erie and lake ontario, if that helps any.
Any identification tips for telling them apart?