Darters?

[Martin Thoene]

I have the Barrons book " North American Native Fishes For The Home Aquarium" ISBN 0-7641-0367-9 by David M. Schleser. I think this is out of print now, but well worth seeking out if you can.

It covers aquarium setup which is largely generic, catching methods etc, plus covers quite a lot of species and includes range maps for each species which is cool.

It doesn't talk about mixing with fish from other countries though.

Martin.

[shari2]

Thanks Jim. Looks like the fish I've been calling pumpkinseeds are likely long ears. We catch them at the local pond, and have not seen them in the stream at all.

They are fiesty little buggers, too. We actually kept a few smaller ones in a 55 from spring through fall one year.
The larger one harassed the smaller ones horribly. One died, the other took up residence behind the filter for a while. They are a beautiful fish, though they can get largish for a 55.
Could only get them to eat live foods, however. Loved the earthworms, moths, flys, etc.

[Jim Powers]

Yes,they are fiesty little devils...and fun to catch for there size.
Its intersting that you catch them in a local pond. I'm not sure if I have ever caught them in standing water. But, there's one thing I have learned about fish in this family, they are liable to show up anywhere. I have caught, on numerous occasions, still water loving bluegills in trout streams.
I usually catch longears in a small local trout stream. The same stream that is full of spawning darters in May.
Pumpkinseeds are much more common in the natural lakes region of Northeastern Indiana than here and that is where I usually encounter them. I have also caught them in streams in that area.

[Ken]

Longears are relatively common here, especially in the streams and rivers that feed the Tennessee River. I used to catch pumpkinseeds in Big Bear Lake in SoCal and they are beautiful.

Orangespots stay relatively small so they are better suited to life in an aquarium.

Green Sunfish are pretty cool and are probably the easiest of all the sunfish to keep healthy in a tank. There's even a yellow, selectively bred version available. I have a "tank" full of green sunfish. It's about 100 feet wide and about 300 feet long.

[Graeme Robson]

Interesting critters!