# Elassoma gilbertii (Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish)



## Tankoholic (May 24, 2013)

So I've been manically searching the Internet for months on the perfect fish for my new tank and came across an amazing little fish named Elassoma gilbertii, a.k.a the Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish. Does anyone here currently have, or had, any of these American sunfish? Are they hard to keep because they're (generally) wild caught? Anyone know of an online supplier?

I have caught the Elassoma bug and I've just got to have me some of those! I see other variations offered on AquaBid, but not gilbertii.


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## Destroyer551 (Dec 1, 2009)

Tankoholic said:


> So I've been manically searching the Internet for months on the perfect fish for my new tank and came across an amazing little fish named Elassoma gilbertii, a.k.a the Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish. Does anyone here currently have, or had, any of these American sunfish? Are they hard to keep because they're (generally) wild caught? Anyone know of an online supplier?
> 
> I have caught the Elassoma bug and I've just got to have me some of those! I see other variations offered on AquaBid, but not gilbertii.


I had a colony of these in a 10 gallon for about a year, sometime ago. Awesome little guys, I want to get back into them. As for care, they're dirt easy. Just make sure you have a heavily planted tank, with clean, stable, calm water, and LIVE food. I never got mine to eat prepared food consistently. I'd have to starve them just so they would eat one or two frozen bloodworms. I fed them grindal worms, microworms, daphnia, mosquito larvae, and copepods. Most of this stuff can be found in any container left outside in Florida weather, so I only had to culture the grindal and microworms, which were the main staple.

As for were to get them, I got several pairs off of someone named EricaWeiser. A NANFA forum member who has considerable knowledge for these little fish. She'd sell them on Aquabid from time to time, but I haven't seen any sales up from her for awhile. You might want to join NANFA and check up with her.

Also, another alternative is E. okefenoke. You can get them from sach's aquaculturestore, he usually has them instock consistanly. They closely related to E. gilberti and can only be told apart by a well trained eye.

There's not much else to them, they're pretty easy. Mine adjusted to a ph of 8 without much problem, and bred constantly. I had around 15 adults and 50+ juvies by the time I took the tank down, and that was with constant selling on craigslist or the LFS.


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## Tankoholic (May 24, 2013)

Thanks for the thorough reply, Destroyer551! I saw that aquaculture offered E. okefenokee. They are equally striking, but it's just something about the blue coloration on the gilbertii that has my mind set! If I can't acquire the gilbertii, I'll definitely keep okefenokee in mind.

Thanks for suggesting the NANFA as well. I will look into the joining the NANFA to aid in my search for a seller. It'll be a couple months before my tank and live cultures will be ready anyways. I had originally settled on d. Dario for my species tank, but these guys have peaked my interest in native fish instead.


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## I<3<*))))>< (Jun 10, 2013)

http://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/ doesn't have the Gilbertii, but they do have Elassoma evergladei, which also have killer blue coloring.

They sell pairs for $15, which isn't bad IMO.
I ordered my scarlet badis and some of my shrimp from this place, I like 'em.


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## Imsyu (May 22, 2013)

those look really pretty, can they be housed with rams? i may get some lol


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## Franksinatra (Feb 18, 2013)

contact auban on aquabid/aquaboards, he has some which he has been breeding, i considered purchasing them myself some time ago


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## PunknDestroy (May 9, 2013)

PMed you!


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

I'm surprised no one has come up with an F2 or F3 generation that will take flake/frozen/pellet/Repashy. 

I love these little guys, but the live food thing really makes me hesitate. 

A Florida biotope tank with these, flagfish, and least killis would be awesome.


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## Tankoholic (May 24, 2013)

Thanks for the suggestions. I just read on the NANFA forum (a thread between EricaWeiser and Auban, actually) that E. gilbertii may be considered an "annual" fish and have a very short lifespan. If that's the case, I may put them on the back burner until I can dedicate time to breeding them. Appearantly, her stock just died off this January after experiencing some complications.


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## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

well regardless of you keeping them or not, i enjoyed reading about them on google after seeing this thread

cool colorful little guys


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## Tankoholic (May 24, 2013)

hambone870 said:


> well regardless of you keeping them or not, i enjoyed reading about them on google after seeing this thread
> 
> cool colorful little guys


Quite! They are fun looking little fish! There's just some so enticing about a native fish.

I'm going to start breeding d. Dario again, and then once I get my 20 gallon up and running, I'll dedicate it to a colony of e. gilbertii. We'll see if they really are annuals or not.

A pygmy sunfish fish journal will be coming in the next couple of months!


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## PunknDestroy (May 9, 2013)

That's strange. Everything I've read about them says they live about 3 years and given the right conditions will,breed continuously.



Tankoholic said:


> Thanks for the suggestions. I just read on the NANFA forum (a thread between EricaWeiser and Auban, actually) that E. gilbertii may be considered an "annual" fish and have a very short lifespan. If that's the case, I may put them on the back burner until I can dedicate time to breeding them. Appearantly, her stock just died off this January after experiencing some complications.


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## Tankoholic (May 24, 2013)

PunknDestroy said:


> That's strange. Everything I've read about them says they live about 3 years and given the right conditions will,breed continuously.


Precisely what I thought! I'm still reading back posts from this thread to see what happened. That and because I'm nosy :icon_roll

http://forum.nanfa.org/index.php/topic/10536-elassoma-gilberti/page__st__960

She mentions that some people, and perhaps herself, may believe that they are annual fish. I'd like to find more articles confirming/disputing this before making a concrete evaluation. Either way, I will find out myself in the next coming months.


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## Destroyer551 (Dec 1, 2009)

Annual or not, they breed fast enough to replenish any die offs. Mine were adults for awhile (4-5 months) before I finally started to get fry, but once I did, there was a steady stream of them being produced. They don't require anything special to spawn either, just LOTS of plants and regular live feedings. That said, the tank was setup for a little more than a year and I'm not sure whether I had my original adults still or not, since it was a jungle.


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## iLOVEnanos (Jun 6, 2013)

Sorry to bump up an older thread but what neat fish! Did you end up getting any? I think these may be my next fish when I am ready to start another tank!


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