# Pygmy Sunfish Nano w/ PICS!



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

I have had this tank set up for a while now. Used to have some endlers in it, but now I have moved them all to a much larger tank. 
This is low tech for now, but eventually I am going to get a small CO2 setup going. For now it's just Excel dosing daily.

This is setup for my newly arrived Elassoma Evergladei (Pygmy Sunfish). I just got them in the mail today, a male and female. I am hoping to breed them. I have been successful with my Okeefenokee Sunfish in my larger tank, so hopefully these guys will be the same. It's not quite choked up with live plants, but with time it will be. 
Overall a poor man's nano. 

Specs-
4 gallon rimless
Filter- Corner filter
Substrate- Sand covering soil...but mostly just beach sand found locally in michigan.
Lighting- Clip on shop light with a 6700k CFL bulb. (8hrs/day)
Daily flourish excel dosing.
Bi-weekly fert dosing (very little)
Weekly water changes replacing water with aged tank water from larger planted tank.

Flora-
Myriophyllum
Needle Leaf Java fern
Bolbitis
Anubias Nana mini
Willow Moss
Weeping moss
Java moss
Frogbit
HC
Rotala
Pellia

Fauna-
*2 Elassoma Evergladei*
4 Cherry Shrimp
2 Horned Nerites
1 Red lipped Nerite
Lots of pond snails

Pics...


----------



## toofazt (Jun 18, 2005)

That's really cool. Reminds me of the coast up here. Good work


----------



## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

You have a great nano. Pigmy sunfish are awesome and on my list of fish to keep in the future. How do you like them so far?

The stone is a major statement and with the slope of the substrate it looks great!

-Andrew


----------



## skindy (Jan 30, 2012)

Really nice!


----------



## Cottagewitch (Oct 22, 2009)

Great setup! Very unique. I really like it. 


Jenna


----------



## sssnel (Nov 8, 2011)

I really like this. Do you like the fish?


----------



## So_Fishy (Jan 16, 2012)

Very nice! Inspires me to try a Nano in the future.


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

I love my pygmies. I have been keeping OKeefenokee pygmies for quite some time and they are very shy fish. However once they settle in they begin to show there true colors. The males are awesome always dancing around and flitting about. For some reason they remind of a fish that would be found in a animated movie like finding nemo or POnyo. Very cool fish.
The only tough part is that they will only take live food. It has to be wiggling or squirming to activate their predatory response.


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

Thanks everyone for the great responses. I will post more pics as it grows in.


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

I also culture my own live foods for them, which can be a challenge in itself. But in winter it's hard to come by live foods at the local pet stores. So anyone who is interested in Pygmy sunfish be prepared to culture your own foods- daphnia, grindal worms, microworms, etc.

So far my Everglades Pygmies are shy...they have been holed up under the big rock. Hopefully they will warm up with time.


----------



## spikeit (Nov 24, 2008)

Where did you order the fish?


----------



## blacksheep998 (Jan 16, 2011)

I read the title of this and for about a half second I thought that there was some super-dwarf variaty of ocean sunfish. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Sunfish2.jpg 

That said though, its a nice planting and some cute little fishies.


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

blacksheep998 said:


> I read the title of this and for about a half second I thought that there was some super-dwarf variaty of ocean sunfish. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Sunfish2.jpg
> 
> That said though, its a nice planting and some cute little fishies.


LOL, yeah not those kind of sunfish!


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

spikeit said:


> Where did you order the fish?


http://aquaculturestore.com/

Amazing native fish store! Great prices for rare fish. I think they have both captive bred and wild stock. They also carry lots of live foods as well!


----------



## Pooky125 (Jul 30, 2002)

I've been wanting to do a similar type of setup for the same fish for years. Curious to see how this goes for you.


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

So far the Pygmies are doing good. The male actually chased one of the cherry shrimp right out of the water! He darted after him and the cherry shrimp dove out of the tank. Luckily I was there to put him back in. I figured it must be time to feed the Pygmies.
I used an eye dropper and sucked up 100 or so baby brine shrimp and pit them into the tank. The pygmies went wild chasing them. They loved them.

The only odd part is how aggressive they seem to be towards the cherries. My Okefenokee don't ever seem to bother my cherry shrimp in the big tank. So in that tank there are probably 30 cherry shrimp!

Overall so far the Everglades Pygmies in the little tank are doing well. It's Only been a few days and they have given up hiding under the rock. The males tends to swim around the floating plants, and the female seems to stay low towards the bottom. I will try to get some decent photos up soon. 

I just can't wait to see the male color up!


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

Update!

I got my Everglade Pygmies to take frozen bloodworms! That will make feeding much easier. My OkeeFenokee Pygmies won't accept anything frozen. I'm very glad my Everglades will, that will help ensure their survival. 

Below is a pic of the female scarfing down a big bloodworm, and a side shot of the tank. So far the plants are doing good since the rescape...not a lot of new growth but definitely some.


----------



## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Do they eat baby shrimp? I think that could make keeping them much easier.

-Andrew


----------



## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

A Hill said:


> Do they eat baby shrimp? I think that could make keeping them much easier.
> 
> -Andrew


I would assume they will eat baby shrimp. However my bigger 30gallon tank that has a small population of Okeefenokee Pygmy Sunnies seems to always have baby cherries swimming around. Thats not to say some of them don't get eaten, but obviously a decent amount are surviving. 
Although I never actually see my Okeefenokees chasing the cherry shrimp. They will eat microworms, daphnia, and baby brine shrimp.

Originally I put the cherries in my big tank to create a never ending supply of food for my pygmies. But Since I never witness them eating the babies I still feed them other foods.


----------



## C-Cat (Mar 9, 2015)

Hey scags are you still keeping these? I'm considering getting a couple of e. gilberti for my least killi / espei rasbora community tank. I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews about how easy they are to keep, feed, and breed. I'm planning to keep live foods around for the rest of the crew, already...


----------

