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Anyone ever kept pygmy sunfish before?


JS Fish

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On 1/30/2024 at 10:10 AM, JS Fish said:

I happened to stumble upon an interesting species of sunfish called the Everglades pygmy sunfish.20240130_100939.jpg.1909493e1976e078a53402d97cf2ecf8.jpg

I was wondering if anyone has ever kept one of these or maybe another species of pygmy sunfish?

Yes! I've kept Elassoma gilberti and Elassoma okefenokee. Here's my little guy talking about the Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish...

 

Here's a couple photos of one for my male Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish...

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What questions do you have?

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Thanks for the video, I have a couple of questions.

1. Can you feed them frozen food because I cant get access to live food.

2. Where can I find these fish? Is there a pet store or do you have to wild catch them?

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On 1/30/2024 at 5:09 PM, JS Fish said:

Thanks for the video, I have a couple of questions.

1. Can you feed them frozen food because I cant get access to live food.

2. Where can I find these fish? Is there a pet store or do you have to wild catch them?

1. If you chop up frozen blood worms... and add frozen Daphnia... thaw in hot water... maybe they'll take to it. Honestly, they really do lean heavily on BBS, live black worms, scuds, and live Daphnia. Occasionally they'll destroy a small snail -- almost like a Pea Puffer.

2. jonahsaquarium.com -- I know it's a janky website, but just e-mail them. Best NANF people ever. 

 

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I personally never kept them, but they are on my list. I didn't realize they were heavily into live foods, that's quite interesting? Do you think that the later generations will be as picky or were yours already tank raised? 

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On 1/30/2024 at 7:07 PM, Revaria said:

I personally never kept them, but they are on my list. I didn't realize they were heavily into live foods, that's quite interesting? Do you think that the later generations will be as picky or were yours already tank raised? 

I have heard some people have converted them to dry foods. Bug Bites flakes are excellent possibilities.

IMG_7009.jpeg.e7f6e0c7c75a6ad556b8cf0d0a7fbf10.jpeg

Do you all know how beautiful US Natives are? If you’re just discovering Temperate species… oh my! I have photos for you. Just for example, check these Darters out…

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On 1/30/2024 at 7:21 PM, Fish Folk said:

Do you all know how beautiful US Natives are? If you’re just discovering Temperate species… oh my! I have photos for you. Just for example, check these Darters out…

Wow that is a host of beautiful fish, I really like the colors on the first two pictures. are they available in the hobby? Its a shame our native fish are not more popular or available. The only native fish I hear about are the rainbow shiners and the okefenokee sunfish as well as the different colored procambarus alleni species. 

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On 1/30/2024 at 9:27 PM, Revaria said:

Wow that is a host of beautiful fish, I really like the colors on the first two pictures. are they available in the hobby? Its a shame our native fish are not more popular or available. The only native fish I hear about are the rainbow shiners and the okefenokee sunfish as well as the different colored procambarus alleni species. 

I don't keep any crayfish -- although we have some sky-blue mottling on selected species in local waterways here in northern Appalachia.

There are so many interesting, colorful NANF (North American Native Fish) to explore. Here's a few we've kept, and other's we haven't kept yet...

DARTERS

We have kept...

Banded Darters

IMG_6795.jpeg.168ddaf02de979e99012522c7a01df6d.jpeg

Rainbow Darters

B9754843-F742-4C7C-BF46-5CD175B54DB5.jpe

Orange-throat Darters

IMG_7197.jpeg.6ff82827874efbf16108dc3aa8

Tessellated Darters

IMG_6256.jpeg.5e6669f399aed1e8d89dc710bc

 

Here's a few Darters I'd love to keep someday...

Tangerine Darters

Screenshot2024-01-30at11_03_46PM.png.3adefaab73c93144d1437a81a01848a2.png

Greenside Darters

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Bluespar Darter

IMG_7176.jpeg.1104a1885c6446d097ec0be0d13d7c48.jpeg

 

SHINERS

We have kept...

Rainbow Shiners

IMG_6848.jpeg.78aa0d27899976c173d3190e499ba7b6.jpeg

Saffron Shiners (ours never colored up like this though)

Screenshot2024-01-30at11_15_51PM.png.2d0d4e3c39e3444b9251efb21d95d968.png

Catawba Greenhead Shiners

IMG_6254.jpeg.69bca1a5215aba269e98f17343e4501f.jpeg

Fireyblack Shiners

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Here's a few Shiners I'd love to keep someday...

Crescent Shiner

Screenshot2024-01-30at11_17_54PM.png.ff953b4a01e2d43e6448f115adeef919.png

Cardinal Shiner

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Bluenose Shiner

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If you're dying to see more, there's some gorgeous DACE... KILLIFISH... SUNFISH... and PUPFISH...

 

Edited by Fish Folk
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On 1/30/2024 at 11:26 PM, Fish Folk said:

If you're dying to see more, there's some gorgeous DACE... KILLIFISH... SUNFISH... and PUPFISH...

Wow thanks for all the photos and that image of the saffron shiners is absolutely amazing if you can have an entire tank and let them get that intense coloration. And the bluenose shiner looks really interesting as well with the different patterns on its body. And sure I am always willing to learn about more species of fish lol. How many of those do you plan to keep? 

 

Ahh the killifish species, I always wanted to try the blue gularis, but never really found an opportunity where I had a couple of spare tanks I could dedicate to them, but I have bred the Norman lampeye killi for a short period of time.

On 1/31/2024 at 7:18 AM, JS Fish said:

I do keep a florida crayfish named bubba. One of the funniest pets I have!

I really do wish more people would keep crayfish, they are such interesting pets. Though you do have to keep  that lid shut, they escape at every possible opportunity which usually ends terribly unfortunately. I myself have been breeding some of the papua new guinea species for a few years now, but took a break recently.

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On 1/30/2024 at 7:21 PM, Fish Folk said:

I have heard some people have converted them to dry foods. Bug Bites flakes are excellent possibilities.

IMG_7009.jpeg.e7f6e0c7c75a6ad556b8cf0d0a7fbf10.jpeg

Do you all know how beautiful US Natives are? If you’re just discovering Temperate species… oh my! I have photos for you. Just for example, check these Darters out…

IMG_6692.jpeg.9d39d613e9d7e7f9d88350d64f3312f4.jpeg

IMG_7092.jpeg.0edd51980717a817f2cf8eb5a0d875f8.jpeg

IMG_7093.jpeg.825ad91ffa3437608f6f877cc746a673.jpeg

IMG_7178.jpeg.e97554fac2a22f1006852527027cb51a.jpeg

@Fish Folkwhats that last darter pictures here? 
 

To address the initial topic though, I’m very interested in trying to keep pygmy sunfish at some point. I’m not able to keep any fish native to my home state due to our laws but thankfully those aren’t found here. The contrast on the males is crazy. Very cool fish

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On 2/4/2024 at 12:01 AM, MrGibson said:

@Fish Folkwhats that last darter pictures here? 
 

To address the initial topic though, I’m very interested in trying to keep pygmy sunfish at some point. I’m not able to keep any fish native to my home state due to our laws but thankfully those aren’t found here. The contrast on the males is crazy. Very cool fish

That is a Bluespar Darter. I’m told they rarely color up that brightly. Only in ideal conditions during spawning season would you find a male that vivid. Here are a couple more photos of the Bluespar…

IMG_7176.jpeg.1104a1885c6446d097ec0be0d13d7c48.jpeg

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The Bluemask Darter, similar in appearance, but consistently colored up, is a Federally protected species. If it were available, it would be the holy grail…

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Two other protected Darters that I wish were available in the hobby are Candy Darters…

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And also the very rare Vermilion Darter…

IMG_7344.jpeg.0e9dd417fe5831cfb40d230f40c75c25.jpeg

 

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