Any experience with Sunfish?

[Notophthalmus]

7-8" greens are common, at least where I live, and record-size fish are 12" or a little more. I suggest a 30 or 40 breeder as minimum tank size for one fish. Sunfish appreciate cover; if you offer some driftwood, rocks, or plants he will be happier and probably show better color (speaking of which, sunfish change color dramatically in response to mood and environment; he will be most colorful with a dark background and substrate).

As has been mentioned greens are very aggressive. They can be kept with other fish in a large tank, provided stocking is undertaken wisely and plenty of cover is provided. If you want to try to breed them, you will need multiple females per male.

Shrimp are a good food, as are crayfish, nightcrawlers, and frozen seafood. In my experience sunfish are very easy to train to flakes or pellets. I like TetraCichlid Jumbo pellets; you can easily crumble them if they are too big for him to swallow whole. I would stay away from storebought feeder fish; the risk of giving your sunny an infection or parasite is too great.

 

[jamesstill84]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of store bought feeder fish. I have used them before with my wifes convicts, but that was before I was "in the know"...lol. He's in the 20 long with 2 Rusty Crayfish that we got at the same time. They're a bit bigger than him, but they only seem to be preoccupied with eating my Anachris.

I love how inquisitive he is. I put my finger to the glass and he will slowly glide up to the glass to inspect me.

Fish are so much fun!

 

[BBK]

I would say he will max out at 6-9 inches depending on the strain. The strain going through the SE USA is known to produce fish in the 10-12" range. The strain going through the midwest will only produce 6-8"fish with very few in the 10+ range.

 

[SubRosa]

These things are very aggressive. They will eat anything that fits in its mouth.

If all they did was eat what fits in their mouths they wouldn't be a problem to keep! The problem is that they'll mangle fish as large or larger than themselves. And the best part is that their metabolism has evolved to work like that at temps in the 60's. When you warm them up to typical tropical temps they're insane, which is why they usually win when kept with even the most aggressive tropicals.

 

[jamesstill84]

Wow, that's interesting to know.

 

[DooSPX]

I would agree with everything said.
right now i have a redbreast, bluegill and a longear. the redbreast is a MEAN SOB.

 

[SubRosa]

I just acquired a group of 7 1"-1.25" Orange Spots, Lepomis humilis. They're probably the most peaceful of the genus Lepomis, and so far they're very well behaved towards the Rainbow Shiners and Highland Swordtails they share a tank with. We'll see what happens next yr if I can manage to bring them into spawning condition!