There's always exceptions to the rule. When I had my shop, I had someone
bring in the contents of their 40 gallon - a 10" Jaguar Cichlid, an 8"
Jaguar Cichlid, 6" Sunshine Peacock, 4" Firemouth, 4" Convict and a 5"
Syndontis catfish. One would have thought the big Jag would have eaten, if
not killed, the smaller cichlids heh. However, if you have a 3 year old,
chances are you'd want to avoid Mr. Blinkey Sunfish getting medieval on
Pocko Sunfish and Reddie Sunfish. :)
If a male in the group that you place in there decides it's time to bring in
a woman, he's going to want a territory that is suitable and impressive for
her. Gallons no longer matter, it's footprint. And, you can figure that if
he put his nest on the furthest side point of the tank, he's going to guard
2/3's of the footprint of a 3' tank. If he puts it in the middle, there's
nowhere to run for any other "competing" male (his perception) and that
spells trouble. If you stock it with one male and then some females, you'll
have a better chance that he won't try and beat anyone up, but again,
there's no real guarantee. For example, I had a dominant male (7") in a 125
and he decided it was time, he took up about 1/4 of the footprint of the
tank, the 18" depth helped a lot I think. It was trouble at first, but then
there was enough space for everyone else. So really it's your call.
I've never had orangespots go into spawning condition, but I'd imagine that
their perception of the space they require is smaller as they are smaller
animals. Perhaps someone else with experience could answer this for you :)
I've also not kept darters with Longear. I'd imagine logperch would work
with them. With the orangespots (so far) I've been able to keep Rainbow
darters, Greenside darters, Blackside darters and Logperch without a hitch
in a 30 gallon (same footprint, unless you have a breeder tank). They're
very uninterested in each other. A newly introduced Orangespot or similarly
sized Pumpkinseed or Longear might have a rough a rough go of it, if there
were only one fish being introduced. I don't plan to introduce any more
Longear until I have the 125 set up.
Hope this helps...
Todd
----- Original Message -----
From: <Providentaustin_at_aol.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 7:39 AM
Subject: NANFA-- The longear sunfish
> This should be my last question about stocking my 40 gallon with natives.
I
> am trying to decide between the redside/darter set up or, I keep going
back
> to the sunfishes, particularly the longear.
>
> Based on the articles I have read I can't get an answer. Is it possible
to
> keep three or four longear in a 40 gallon indefinetly (if I start with 2
or 3
> inchers) or... once one male decides to breed all other fish get hammered
and
> thats the end....
>
> Mark indicated that madtoms (brindled) might be OK with longears...is
there
> other species to keep with them (longears) indefinetly?
>
> Or is it safer to go with orange spotted sunfish although I am limited to
> where I can find this species without traveling great distances....
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