# Banded Pigmy sunfish question(s)



## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Someone replied to one of my threads about Banded Pigmy sunfish, but I've forgotten who it was.
If you are that person or anyone who has those fish please reply to this for a couple of questions regarding
preferred lighting/plants/foods. Having a difficulty/w a ten gallon which has three of these(only) and could
use some help.
I think I remember the person living in Florida.
I may have jumped in on a thread that spoke about these instead of it being "my" thread.


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## Jenniferinfl (May 3, 2013)

Funny you mention this, I was just watching an auction of these on Aquabid.. 

Hope you find a solution to the issue your having! 

It looked like their care was similar to that of licorice gourami's which is why I was interested in them, RO water, live foods and so on. Hopefully someone with experience weighs in.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I think you are referring to dirtydutch. He lives in Florida and keeps native fish.


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## dirtydutch4x (Jun 16, 2009)

The plants in the tank should be thick enough for them to just disappear i, does not really matter what as long as they can hide and feel safe. You are better off with low light plants and maybe floaters. The only need for the light would be the plants as the fish will hide most of the time. I used low light on mine for the past year or so and the plants do well. Foods are up in the air, they prefer live foods, I have yet to have any take flake. I feed micro, banana, walter worms as well as Cal Black worms, I have never had an issue with them eating frozen blood worms and even frozen brine. Check out NANFA and you will find more than enough info.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

I had and returned to 2 T8 lights recently. Have dropped frozen bloodworms in about every third day but yet to see pile of it on
bottom disturbed at end of next day. It all seems to just rot away. Have only tried once but don't think they like frozen mosquito
larva either. They just don't have enough vegetation in this tank for them I think. Not totally sparse considering their size but
spaced far apart for them to move through it without being in the open. My original one got used to me sitting in front of the
tank and would make his rounds regardless of my presence. Thought that would happen/w these...may still after a while.
Thinking about a major re-arranging of the foliage in there that would hide certain things and clump the foliage together
more so as to make a larger more dense aria in one end. Have some Rotala indica that finally got pink on the ends of each
stem(at the top under the light) but could cut each one in half so as to double the size of the aria that is planted but move it
to the other end of the tank and leave the Dwarf Subulata in the end where it and the Rotala is now. Rocks in right back for
scuds to hide in...will send another photo after the change. I like mixing the plants together so I'll leave the najas(guppy grass)
where it is and plant the Rotala around it. You can blow up this photo but still not clear/w point and shoot camera.

Square section on right back is DIY built in bio-filter. Afraid to move log under rocks because they can get under it and they do.
You can see one of them in this picture. Have to think a long time on this one though. Fissedens are on that log but now covered/w slime
algae and also on far left front are more Fissedens. Also on top is Giant Duckweed, the only plant besides Water Hyacinth which uses
nitrates at the same time it uses ammonia instead of after the ammonia has been depleted like other plants do.


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## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

I'm going dip-netting soon. Pygmy sunfish are going to be my holy grail for the day. Is there some special way to acclimate wild caught specimens to tank conditions?


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

I unknowingly put my first one into my tank without any such consideration. Was 5/16th inch long and picked up in a bucket
of "collected" water which I got to add daphnia to the tank. That particular pond on a dammed up stream has a cypress bottom 
land which it flows through first before the pond. Therefor the Pn in it is 6.4...way lower than the 7.8 of my tap water which
was, at the time all I put in there. Now in that ten G I do weekly 2g water changes and add 32oz of R/O first before the tap water.
That makes my tank(s) about 7.2-7.4 Ph.
You can of course drip acclimate them if you are betting the farm on them living. That is usually done by getting about a three foot
or longer piece of clear aquarium hose, clip it to the rim/w a cloths pin, put a regular valve in somewhere and let the other end
drip into the collecting bucket at or near 3-5 drops per second via the valve. Pour off some of the collected water first till you have
about four fingers left in the bucket. When it is double it is enough/w a 3-5 per second drip. That is my formula which I use
but no doubt others have a different one. Testing the Ph in both the tank AND bucket first will let you know if you think it's
a necessary thing but like I said that first one was more than 1 Ph raise....64.-7.8 with no noticeable issues.
BTW where are you geographically ? I am in Arkansaw and their range includes here but the G&F people said more common
farther south than I am.
Mine never ate frozen bloodworms till he was an adult but only tried him on them once before then. Now he eats either those
or frozen mosquito larvae. Failed twice but still trying to culture daphnia, especially scuds for them to eat. Once cultured, as I add them to the tank I believe they will eventually colonize it. Well at least in the BPS tank which has no chems other than what might be
leaking from the Eco Complete substrate. I'll try them in the high tech tank also but kind of doubt it becomes colonized/w them.


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