Yesterday not long after dawn I was walking by a small pond (all that is left of a seasonal stream) that has almost dried up and feeling sorry for the thousands of little fish trapped there when I saw a dead fish lying on the mud a couple of feet from the water. I bent over to look at it's pretty colors and walked on. I saw another one and just noticed it twitch. I put it in a bucket of water and picked up the first one, which was not dead after all. After looking on the net I believe I have two pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus). I took them home and put them in an 40 gal aquarium that has been sitting for ages with water but no fish or filter. It has lots of snails and some volcanic rock plants etc so I'm hoping it is better than starting from scratch. I'm working on finding a filter for them which is urgent but other than that does anyone any one have any advice? I know I'm doing it all backward but I thought it was worth a try. They have picked up considerably and one is looking very well, the other is shy so it's hard to tell. The colors are really stunning! I've kept fish for quite a few years but never sunfish any help saving these guys appreciated!

They are cold water fish, no heater is needed unless during the winter if your house gets below 70 degrees.

They are very nice fish. Id get a ac70 for it and call it a day. Watch the parameters as they are in a much smaller body of water and it can go toxic very quickly.

Food would be live foods, feeder rosies and worms, crickets and grasshoppers are also very accepted by panfish. Think nature and you will be fine.

Awesome job on the rescue.

Feeder guppies work really well for these , and once they get used to you feeding them they should learn to take frozen blood worms.

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Thanks! The tank has not been properly cycled beforehand. What should I do? Will the fish survive the cycle? As I say It had water for quite a while without fish or filter. The water didn't smell bad and had lots of snails and volcanic rock in it so I'm hoping that it will have given it a head start. I've stuck in a sponge filter for now, not enough but while I can work on getting a proper filter. I'm going for water changes and light feeding for now. Any other ideas?

well ive kept sunnies before...being a usual native fish keeper unti lrecently where i expanded, pumpkinseeds are a nice touch to any beginnner, they are hardy, and not very skiddish because of their slightly aggressive nature. I would say they will be fine but make sure you get double the size filter than the tank asks for(maybe even 2 smaller on either size of the tank) that way there is a current and it will keep the waste level down...if you want to go the nature route, go down and grab a few of the minnows that they are usually around and see if they last long...if not then there is the perfect food(small fish)...post some pictures, i love natives...ive kept bass, sunnies, minnows, perch, shiners, but my favorite is the brown bullhead, they are nasty looking cats that eat anything they see

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Bullheads represent the cookie monsters of the rivers around here...hungry, hungry, hungry

I have a pumpkinseed in my aquarium right now, along with three other unidentified sunfish. They came in with a shipment of our feeder fish a few weeks ago, and since having them in the store means a swift execution for us all if the state comes in and see's them, I took them home. The pumpkinseed leaves all my danios and rasboras alone, but he'll take swipes at the other sunfish if they get remotely close to him. It's mostly chasing, no biting or damage done.

They're very pretty fish, but probably best kept by themselves. I'd probably want to try and replicate their natural environment, ie sand, wood, rocks, tall plants. I think you'll find that he'll swiftly become a wet pet more than just a fish!

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Thanks for the advice. They seem to be doing well. The shy one has lost his fear of me but is getting bullied by the larger one. So far it doesn't seem overly stressed. It just gets chased not actually bitten or beaten up. Is this likely to get worse? If so I may need to split them up in the future. Are there any other tank mates they might get on with? I could move them to my 90 gal tank which would give them more space for their own territories but I wouldn't really want to dedicate the whole tank to them. Maybe fish that didn't look like sunfish but were too big to eat would work? Any thoughts?

Thanks, sorry I just saw this post. Can you clarify. Do you think it's ok to keep a pumpkinseed with danios for example, just not with other sunfish or do you mean It's better to have a pumpkinseed only aquarium? Sorry to be daft just I have no experience with this fish and it's a little hard to get specific info about stuff like tank mates as it is not a fish sold in shops much.

keep something docile and non aggressive...mine lived with some cory cats for a while, until i switched them ot their own tank, i also kept 2 bullheads with mine...i turned it into a native tanks, you should do a mirrored setup for them...thats what worked the best for me, by mirrored i mean make each side identical (for the most part)...i put a really full fake plant in each corner of the back to allow for equal territory and also they love drift wood and the fake vines you can buy at the craftstore...just hang the vines in the tank so they have stuff to explore...it will keep them interested in the tank and make them feel more comfortable and less territorial...thats just my thoughts though from experience...bottom tank fish work well with any sunny because they rarely go to the bottom

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Bullheads represent the cookie monsters of the rivers around here...hungry, hungry, hungry

Mine are only in the aquarium with my danios because I didn't have anything else to put them in. As he gets bigger, I have no delusions that he'll leave the rest of the fish alone. I'm sure eventually he'll gobble every single one of them up.

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well i guess you could try it...i mean itll be some time before the pumpkin seeds get big enough to actually eat a full grown danio...also the danios will learn how to avoid the pumpkins as to avoid being eaten...i recently lost all my danios to ich...i gave them the treatment and i came home from work and they were all floating...i was like borderline tears, but danios are very seceptable to ich

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Bullheads represent the cookie monsters of the rivers around here...hungry, hungry, hungry

Just a little update...my rasboras are all gone, and I've only got three danios left. I never see the pumpkinseed going after them though, so I'm not sure if he's just pestering them in the middle of the night, or what. The other sunfish take absolutely no notice of the danios, and are usually too busy avoiding the pumpkinseed. Looks like he's turning out to be a little monster.

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the pumpkinseed will hunt them when the sun sets, thats when they are most active for feeding...so i would suggest setting up a moonlight for your tank and watch to see who the issue is lol

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Bullheads represent the cookie monsters of the rivers around here...hungry, hungry, hungry

Thing is, he's barely bigger than they are, and there's certainly no danger of him being underfed, as they all get fed twice a day (just enough to satiate them, no I'm not overfeeding my tank). I don't think he's hunting so much as he's just pestering.

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i think we got our wires crossed...i thought u meant by gone that they had been eaten haha...but if they are not eating them, then you have nothing to worry about, they will be slightly territorial, but once shown it is usually dropped

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Bullheads represent the cookie monsters of the rivers around here...hungry, hungry, hungry

Oh no, they're physically gone. Whether they've been eaten or not, I don't know, but all I have left in there now are 3 of the largest danios. The others have disappeared, and it's possible he pestered them to the point of death, and then they were cleaned up by the pleco and the rest of the fish.

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oh ok, he very well could've done that, or possibly caused the danios to jump from the tank...maybe from around the filter or something, danios when spooked head straight for the surface, and will jump out

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Bullheads represent the cookie monsters of the rivers around here...hungry, hungry, hungry

Ok, I think I'll not run out and buy mine some little tank mates! The large one still bullies the small one but the small one has decided I'm his best friend. He eats out of my fingers and follows my every move. I'm trying really hard to keep the food on the low side untill I know the tank is established but I don't think he is EVER full!