Pygmy Sunfish ?

[redpaulhus]

Does anybody here have any experience with pygmy sunfish ?
Specifically Bluespotted or Blackbanded ?

A somewhat local LFS just got in some Bluespotted sunfish, Enneacanthus gloriosus , and some Blackbanded sunfish, Enneacanthus chaetodon.

I'm considering setting up a tank for the Bluespotted - maybe a 10g or 20H, planted (using eco-complete, a small internal power filter, and driftwood, with moderate lighting, or maybe low light plants and dark sand instead of the eco-complete, and low light levels).

If I go med-light, I'm thinking of using some plants that can handle room temp aquaria - elodea and some of the swords, val, or sag that range into North America...

If I go the low light route I'd probably just use an air-driven sponge filter (easier/cheaper and less likely to suck up baby brine shrimp) - since co2 outgassing would be less of an issue with java fern, moss, and anubias (all of my "lowlight" plant tanks have sponge filters, most of my "med light" planted tanks do not)

I've heard that these fish can be somewhat light-shy... which is part of why I can't decide on a setup (I also have been itching to try eco-complete instead of my usual laterite-under-poolsand approach)

Anyone have any thoughts on a setup for these fish ?

If I didn't have my dwarf pikes in there, my existing 29g planted tank would have been perfect (well, except for the fact that its about 10 degrees too warm) - but I don't have anyplace to put them and the females finally look like they are filling out with eggs...

[TheOldSalt]

I have Bluespots right now, and I've kept Blackbandeds before, and will again. The poor-man's angelfish, they used to call them.

Anyway, your setup sounds fine. They are pit diggers when spawning, but they can dig up eco-complete just as easily as sand, so I'd go with the eco. They are otherwise not much for digging.
The do like it dark, as you've heard. A normal tank will do fine if the substrate is dark and glare-free, again, like eco-complete. A light bottom will wash out their colors in no time flat, and make the fish very nervous.

I can collect bluespots nearby, and they are found near the s****************line among the dense vegetation. Bacopa is what grows here the most, and dragging a seine through the bacopa forest will invariably yield bluespots aplenty. It's what I'd have to call their preferred habitat, I suppose, so give them a densely planted tank with a dark bottom and they'll reward you with glorious colors. ( Gloriosus indeed! )
The waters they call home tend to be dark and tannic-to-muddy, but shallow and under full bright sunlight You can use normal to bright lighting just fine as long as you give them cover and a dark bottom.
I have some right now in an unplanted, featureless tank with ordinary pea gravel on the bottom. They look terrible, and probably feel worse. ( it's only temporary, but I feel bad for the little guys )

The will eventually learn to reluctantly eat prepared foods, but they won't thrive on them, and they'll need live foods galore at first just to make it. They are shy, not at all like most other centrarchids, and make peaceful tankmates when kept with anything too big to try to eat.