Where can I find information on sunfish?

[namrufmot]

I know this forum is mostly for reef talk but I have a small emergency. In my classroom I have three small sunfish - wild caught.

They are eating fine - mealworms and small feeders. The tank has a sand bottom with a decent amount of live plants for them to munch on if they choose.

My concern is the lighting. They seem to HATE any kind of light. If I turn on only one of the lights they hide in the "dark" end. If I turn both lights off they swim all over the tank. I've even tried to put some paper between the light and the tank to dim it but ANY kind of light send them running. Right now I have 5500k lights for the plants.

What should I do? Any help is appreciated.

 

[mak3mydae]

Everything im about to say could very well be wrong,
but i dont think they're herbivores. Another think you may want to feed them, is something from the ocean that would have the nessisary nutrients and fatty acids and stuff like shrimp, krill if you dont mind phosphates.

Out of curiosity, why are you keeping them? Where do you intend to put them after they get too big?

 

[namrufmot]

Everything im about to say could very well be wrong,
but i dont think they're herbivores. Another think you may want to feed them, is something from the ocean that would have the nessisary nutrients and fatty acids and stuff like shrimp, krill if you dont mind phosphates.

Out of curiosity, why are you keeping them? Where do you intend to put them after they get too big?

Hehe thanks for the help but did you read my post? These are freshwater sunfish...they definetly eat plants and live food! I said I'm feeding them mealworms and live feeders...

I'm just wondering if pumpkinseed sunfish really hate light....

 

[namrufmot]

anyone know of any good native/freshwater forums?

 

[Aquaman_68]

heres a link to start with

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/freshwater-sunfish-info.htm

 

[Aquaman_68]

try this...should keep ya busy for a while

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=Lepomis+gibbosus&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=467c3568f2eec009

 

[s_kelley]

I'm no expert but when fishing I regularly see them in shallow water where they get the full sun blasting them. Maybe they just need to get used to you tank.

 

[namrufmot]

I'm no expert but when fishing I regularly see them in shallow water where they get the full sun blasting them. Maybe they just need to get used to you tank.

Thats whats confusing me!

 

[jayman10134]

anytime i have seen people keeping them they never have the lights on. even in a restraunt in florida they didn't have the lights on. coincidence.... maybe.

 

[bumpylemon]

They shouldn't fear the lights. Pumpkinseeds are usually very aggressive and love the sunlight. Feeding them frozen bloodworms. I am a native fish collector and have kept these as well as redbreast sunfish.

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[Km2]

I kept some sunfish and bass awhile back as well, food seems to be right but they might need time to adjust to the light and people. Should try slowly bring on the lights. Also you could make sure that they got plenty of good spots to hide (driftwood works well) as they will feel more confident venturing out when they know there is a safe spot to go to if scared.

Also how big is the tank? If the tank is to small they might not feel comfortable as they can be use to large areas to move around in. Check the water peramaters too. They should be similar to where u got them (gonna assume a ph around 7 ish) make sure no ammonia or nitrite.

I kept pumpkinseed sunfish awhile back and they can be fun and interesting once you figure them out, GL