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"Bock, Robert" <bockr at hd03_nichd.nih.gov>: NANFA-- stupid sunfish owner's tricks



--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: "Bock, Robert" <bockr at hd03_nichd.nih.gov>
To: "'nanfa at aquaria_net'" <nanfa at aquaria_net>
Subject: NANFA-- stupid sunfish owner's tricks
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:49:30 -0500
Message-ID: <404C0DC46150D011883B00805FEAA1EE01732F37 at exchange_nih.gov>

This relates to a sunfish story of my own.  I'm keeping a large mud
sunfish I got on a collecting trip with Peter Rollo.  I had some friends
over the weekend before last and wanted to show everyone how the mud
sunfish would jump for my finger (he had this habit of confusing fingers
with food).  I held my finger about 5 inches above the water, and pulled
back instinctively when he leapt.

I looked on the floor and saw the mud sunfish flapping there.  He had
apparently grabbed my finger and was thrown in the air as I pulled back
from the tank!  He swam sideways for the rest of the evening, but by the
next day, he was inhaling night crawlers again, apparently none the
worse for his keeper's stupid behavior.  

He hasn't leapt for at my finger at all since then, and now waits until
I close the aquarium cover before he eats.

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	rjs at silcom_com [SMTP:rjs at silcom_com]
	Sent:	Tuesday, November 25, 1997 11:54 AM
	To:	nanfa at aquaria_net
	Subject:	RE: NANFA-- keeping sunfish

	Nother observation about keeping sunfish:

	Over the years I've kept a number of them; various species I
	came across during my travels, mainly across the southern
	gulf states.  Almost invariably I've been able to "train" them
	to take food from my fingers.  Once this behavior begins,
	it's amazing how reactive they are to my simply walking in
	the room ... right up to the surface they come, at the corner
	of the aquarium where the find food (between my finger tips).

	Fun!

	Bob


	At 09:42 AM 11/25/97 -0500, you wrote:
	>I couldn't resist throwing my two cents in here.  First, have
you seen
	>my article on breeding sunfish in AFM a few months ago?  Jay
has scanned
	>it and put it up in the member section of the NANFA home page.
	>
	>
	>
	>	I could only collect
	>	larger fish, averaging three to four inches in length by
small
	>barbed hook
	>	and line.  I started out with about seven which I placed
in a
	>	well-established 55 gallon tank housing 3 or 4
corydoras.
	>	[Bock, Robert]  
	>	>How have the corys fared?
	>
	>	In the first few days I lost 4 of the smaller fish.  I
suspect
	>that the
	>	"trauma" and stress of capture played a role.  There
were no
	>external signs
	>	of fungus on these dead fish.  One had a sizable scrape
along
	>his side,
	>	possibly from a fight with his tankmates or simply
scraping up
	>against some
	>	gravel or a rock.  All four had red "raw" marks about
the mouth
	>where they
	>	had been hooked.  As with humans, I am certain that if
bacteria
	>or fungi
	>	reach sufficiently high levels in the bloodstream that
sepsis
	>ensues and runs
	>	it's subsequent course.
	>	[Bock, Robert]  
	>	I have never lost fish due to simple mouth hooking.  Did
you
	>take care to wet your hands before taking them off the hook,
and make
	>sure they weren't out of the water too long during the
unhooking?  Did
	>you aerate your catch in the bucket on the way back, or at
least do some
	>partial water changes before you left the collecting site, to
make sure
	>that CO2 levels hadn't built up too high?
	>
	>	The three survivors have been incredibly healthful.
They have
	>voracious
	>	appetites and feed on a variety of dry flake and
pelleted foods.
	>
	>	[Bock, Robert]  
	>	I>I've had really good success with the Hikari cichlid
pellets.
	>I soak them first.  The unsoaked pellets are too hard for them.
The
	>advantage of soaking food is that you can't kill your fish by
	>overfeeding.  Unsoaked pellets take on water and expand inside
the
	>digestive tract, thereby killing the fish.  Soaked pellets
can't expand.
	>Some of the larger centrarchids are fussy and won't take
pellets unless
	>you don't offer them anything else after a week or two.  It's
been my
	>experience that Hikari acclimated fish do better than those
offered live
	>foods, presumably because of all the vitamins added to the
pellets.
	>
	>	As I discovered, in the tried and true fashion of
"cichlid-like
	>behavior"
	>	these fish can be aggressive and territorial.  The
largest of
	>the bluegills et
	>	ablished himself as Ruler of the Middle of the Tank.  He
went to
	>great
	>	efforts to drive his tankmates to the edges of their
confines. 
	>	[Bock, Robert]  
	>	>I've given some thought to the issue of lepomis
aggession.  I
	>once read that angelfish breeders will buy four or five small
angels and
	>separate them each with glass dividers in a 20 gallon long.  By
feeding
	>the smaller ones more, they produce five fish of more or less
the same
	>size, and thereby reduce aggression.  
	>
	>	I've tried the same with mine, by putting the larger,
more
	>aggressive fish outside in colder weather, and feeding the
smaller ones
	>like crazy.  I'll let you know how this works out when I bring
the
	>outside fish back inside.  You can overwinter fish in an
outdoor pond.
	>If you don't have a bond, you can put one or two small fish in
an old
	>picnic cooler.  The cooler prevents temperature fluctuations,
which
	>stress the fish.  On really cold nights, you can just bring the
cooler
	>indoors.  Because the temperatures are low, the fish's
metabolism slows
	>down, and they only need to eat a small amount, once or twice a
month.
	>
	>
	>	I am guessing from your writing Jay, that much of the
aggressive
	>behavior in
	>	this species makes it less desirable as a collector's
specimen.
	>I have never
	>	witnessed behavior amongst wild bluegill in large
captive
	>groups.  I wonder
	>	if tank breeding several generations of good stock will
help
	>tone down that
	>	instinctive behavior.  What do you think?
	>	[Bock, Robert]  
	>	It's been my experience that the most colorful males
tend to be
	>the most aggressive.  By breeding sunfish for color, you might
come up
	>with more (not less) aggressive males.
	>
	>	All said, I find them a hardy animal and a great learner
fish
	>for an
	>	inexperienced native collector like myself.
	>	[Bock, Robert]  
	>	And for experienced native fishkeepers.
	>
	>	Dr. B  
	>
	>

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