sunfish compatibility

[mightieskeeper]

My son caught 8 what I believe are sunfish out of grandma's pond this weekend.  I put them in my 90 gallon with Little fish (texan hydrid).
He has been nipping at them all night.  He loves company! (alot like his owner)  What I'm wondering if this is going to work.  Will the Little fish go crazy and kill the new neighbors or will the neighbors learn to swim fast!  What has been your experience with native fish?  I will keep updating this thread of the outcome. 

[Ron]

IMO, wild caught fish are typically a little more aggressive than their tank-raised counterparts.

Presently I'd say both the Texan and the new additions would patrol a territory larger than a 90 gallon foot print naturally, so you'll probably had aggression issues. For the time being I'd highly suggest rearranging the tank decor to give the new comers a far shot. Right now your Texan is running the others because you've placed them into a situation where he believe he controls the entire tank. Rearranging the tank and breaking it up with rockwork/plants to provide sight barriers will perhaps allow everyone to reestablish a new pecking order and new territories within the tank.

[buznoz]

  Couple things strike me. Disease and/or parasites from the sunfish would be unatural for the Texan. Sunfish really don't require the warmer water temp from your heater. You could get away without heating the tank if it wasn't for the Texan. Just a thought.

[SKISWETPETS]

Hmmm i think i would like to see a few pics if possible... Just a though, and i know im not alone here...

[mightieskeeper]

Day 3 everyone is alive and doing well.  The cichlid is not picking on them as much today.  Pics soon been busy with other projects.

[timmyho]

I thought of catching some native species for one of my tanks too, and I would love to see pictures as well

[mightieskeeper]

It has been a couple weeks and things are going well with the sunfish.  Little fish has calmed down and the new neighbors have learned to like little fish.  Here some pictures.
 
 
 
 

[SKISWETPETS]

Those pics sure look pretty good... The sunfish really fit right in...

[Nick]

Someday I would like to have a nice 300g with a handfull of smaller michigan native fish in it. I use to work with a guy that had several in a 90g. He had them for years with no problems. I believe he had a sun fish, blue gill and a couple croppies. Really cool looking fish with the right light on the. Plus as stated above...no heater is nice. Whatever temp you're house is is just fine for them.

[Michael Zebrowski]

Some local Michigan sunfish are very colorful and do well with similar-sized cichlids.  Pumpkinseeds, Green sunfish, and Long Ear sunfish are attractive and abundant around Metro Detroit, but the Central Long Ears from Missouri are the most colorful, in my humble opinion.

Bluegills are also tough enough to house with SA or CA cichlids of smaller or simlar size.

Mike Z.

[mightieskeeper]

I keep the sunfish for over 2 months in my tank.  They needed a larger tank than my 90.  The sunfish nipped at each others tails.  I released them into the pond.  They are very cool fish.