Elassoma Gilberti Care Guide | Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish Care Guide

[@amingus09]

This is a very great video, perfect!! Love it! It has all the info a beginner needs to know before getting pygmy suns! I'm planning on getting some myself off father fish and I want to keep a little colony of them in my 7 gallon cube. Keep up the good work! Earns a sub!

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I’m glad that it was helpful for you and I hope all the best in keeping them.

[@amingus09]

@@TheAquariumLibrary Thank you!

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You’re welcome👍🏻

[@CaptainRowsdower]

I cannot get over the dominant male's coloration! These are going on my list for sure!

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Yes they are quite remarkable and why they are on my list of fish that I want to breed.

[@OctoBlunt]

im also from ky (louisville) and in a few weeks going to florida to collect fish for a few days and found this video! very nice.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

These are one I’d highly recommend to collect. What other fish are you targeting? If you aren’t out of town April 10th there is the Louisville Tropical Fish Fanciers club auction that is always fun. I’ll be posting information on it here shortly but you can also check out our Facebook page for more info.

[@00dreamer00]

These fish are cool looking! Tempted to get back into the aquarium hobby

[@ryanrogers8211]

I started watching FatherFish videos and just got back into it myself setting up a planted dirted natural aquarium

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

This is one of the most awesome nano fish and I appreciate you doing this video 💚 Just a wonderful species!! Thanks for the information and the spotlight🙏🌿🐟🌿💚

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Glad you enjoyed it Mary! Have you ever kept them before?

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

@@TheAquariumLibrary I have not! But I have an aquarium to set up just for these little guys 🥰🌿🐟🌿💚

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I hope you are able to find some and enjoy them!

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

@@TheAquariumLibrary I am definitely planning on it and this video really helps me 🙏🙏 thank you Andrew for all you do ♥️🌿🐟🌿💚

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You’re welcome Mary! Have a great weekend!

[@_VANDAL_-]

you have a blessed day sir

[@AntiquatedApe]

I recently came across this species of fish and instantly became captivated by the beautiful blues that can develop on the males. I would very much like to try a breeding tank for these

[@alexschmidt1351]

Thank you man :) I was looking for a calm swimming nano fish, because for me nanos like rasbora are almost stressful to watch swimming ^^ thanks to you I found the perfect and most beautiful greetings from Germany

[@jhickox]

Wow, I've lived all over Fl and Ga and I've never seen a blue freshwater fish. And I must find one.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

They are all over the place in northern florida. Just need to know where to collect them from.

[@jhickox]

@@TheAquariumLibrary thanks, I'm trying to find a place at Paynes Prairie to look

[@jakubmalicki6357]

Thanks to You, I discovered new awsome fish. May God bless You :)

[@PomeloYT]

I have a few Everglade ones I've imported from the US (they're impossible to find here). They have been super hardy. The only issue I've encountered is getting them to eat. I've tried all types of frozen foods and the ONLY one they'll eat are bloodworms. They ignore every other type of frozen. They'll happily eat live bbs and grindal worms. I haven't had much success with live scuds. They chase them for a bit and then lose interest. I heard they eat small ramshorn snails but haven't seen proof of that, and now my tank has exploded with ramshorn snails lol. But other than trying to find things they will eat, they're an amazing little fish.

[@bigben8369]

Thanks for this! Very informative guide. I hope some day I can get a hold of some of these beauties!

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You’re welcome!

[@d4n13lr0x]

Fantastic video, thank you for the great information!

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You're very welcome. I hope you enjoy your pygmy sunfish!

[@bluebowser3121]

I turned the video settings onto 0.75 play speed and it helped a lot

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Haha. Sorry for speaking a little quick. Glad you were able to find a speed that allowed you to enjoy the video!

[@BB-bv6uq]

I was so happy to see you put out a video about these fish. So little information about them. Do do they eat shrimp???

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

So, in their native habitat they are surrounded with thousands of shrimp. I'd imagine that they do eat shrimp, but they can only really fit tiny little shrimplets into their mouths. They have a hard enough time eating an adult white worm, so an adult shrimp isn't going to fit into their mouths. As for them harassing and pestering shrimp to the point of death, I haven't seen that in my tank, but that is because I have very little shrimp and lots of cover. I have a friend who is currently housing them in shrimp tanks so I will have to pick his brain about them and will make a video about that here in the future once he has had them for awhile or once I get more shrimp into my tanks. Sorry that I couldn't be more helpful.

[@thebamboobetta7735]

I know my scarlet Badas love daphnia. Can't wait to get some of these guys into utah.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I'd be very interested to see how they far with badas. Do people discourage badas and apistos in the same tank? I'll be working on breeding them. I finally have gotten everything setup, so I hope to be getting some eggs soon.

[@ChrisJohnsonCJs-Kitchen]

Gorgeous fish! How many would you recommend in smaller tank setups - 2.5 gallon & 5 gallon? I'm researching & considering a small tank for my desk at work.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

With these fish it is more about male and female ratios when you start keeping them. In a 2.5 gallon tank you could have 2M and 2F easily. But you need to have lots of plants and cover in there for them.

[@ChrisJohnsonCJs-Kitchen]

@@TheAquariumLibrary Thank you, O appreciate the information. 😊

[@mud8833]

Great video and review. Given that they eat live food - any suggestions on how to feed when you go away for a few days or week? There are plenty of vacation feeders for pellets or flakes - but I have never seen any for live food feeding. Any suggestions?

[@bennydufresne8994]

Fish won’t starve or be effected if you leave for a week or 10-12 days even 14 days nobody is gunna starve to death

[@thomasashe2681]

@The Aquarium Library, where did you get yours?

[@ferrari_guy3570]

Can they live in cold water? I have a pond outside my house and want to put them in it but it freezes over in the winter.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

That’s a great question that I haven’t experimented with. I’ve read that they can handle 40 F water without problem just haven’t pushed the limits on them like that quite yet.

[@katr61225]

Great vid. Nice little fish.

[@ryanrogers8211]

Do you think these little guys would be ok with the scarlett badis or is it too similar?

[@len6482]

Would they do well in an African Cichlid tank?

[@tonyher22]

Liking the video so I have a better chance of keeping this beautiful fish species successfully 😉

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I hope your chances increased! They are pretty forgiving in everything except the live food they need to eat.

[@tonyher22]

@@TheAquariumLibrary do you find that even wild specimens convert over to aquarium life easily or do you find that you lose a good amount of them due to not wanting to make the change to aquarium life? I am planning on ordering this species soon and would like to know since the source I'm getting from is more or less wild caught ones and not tank bred ones.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

They made the change to the aquarium pretty easily. The problem I had was in aquariums if they are packed in there the smaller ones got singled out and I would only lose them. I was able to reduce losses by putting a lot more spawning mops in the tank and basically had it packed with them and saw deaths decrease. My friends that have gotten the others from the trip haven’t had any losses in their larger tanks. I tried putting 30 into two 5 gallon tanks and they had 12-16 in 20 or 30 gallon tanks with lots of plants and cover.

[@tonyher22]

@@TheAquariumLibrary that's awesome feedback that will be useful for me. I just placed my order for a trio so I shouldn't be too bad for a heavily planted 10 gallon aquarium. My last question would be, did you're ever convert over to pet store bought foods? Or do you always feed them live foods?

[@DirtyBob200X]

Would there be a problem housing them with a Betta?

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

That is a combination i haven’t tried yet nor have I seen other trying it. My gut reaction would be to say no.

[@michaelyciano2123]

Do the females ever have shiny/reflective scales? . I have 11 and all look like males because of the reflective shimmer. I do feed a healthy mixture of live food such as black, Walter, white tubi, brine (all sizes) shrimp, seed shrimp ,scuds , and daphnia . Great information video! Thank you.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

The females that I have, have little blue flecks on their cheeks/their operculums. Females do have a bit of a some color and speckling but nothing like the males. My mature females are a drab light brown color

[@jamespalmer3716]

That blue on th fins is amaising

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

It really is

[@2teens_1dragon]

Do you know where I can get a pair of these beautiful fish?

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Collecting them from the wild and scouring the internet for some. My breeding project with them has taken a back burner but some of my local friends are having success.

[@jamesholbrook7785]

Excellent video. An abundance of information. I have been trying to find these fish online. Impossible so far. Okefenokee are fairly easy but not Gulf Coast. Thank you for this video.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed it. Yeah I was surprised when I started looking for some that there were none online. Hence why I convinced my wife for us to go on vacation in that general area and allow me to go collecting one morning. And you’re welcome. Hopefully myself, or my friends can start breeding them and getting them out to other people as they are such an amazing little fish.

[@jamesholbrook7785]

@@TheAquariumLibrary I would love that. I live just south of you in Tennessee. I’ve pretty much divorced myself from Tropical fish to try and breed some Rainbow Shiners, mosquito fish possibly and if I can get some the Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You shouldn't have any problems with the mosquito fish. Just need to go on a collecting vacation, lol.

[@edwinvalencia55]

Hi from Texas any chance I can purchase some I have been looking everywhere for them from breeders but no luck. Please let me know how to get in contact with you if interested. Thank you.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Life has been busy and breeding these guys has taken a back burner. Lots of things are currently hanging in the balance depending on a job offer and if that falls into place I'll be able to know what I can and can't do with regards to breeding these guys. If I every breed enough to start selling outside of KY I'll let people know here.

[@tommywiseau4594]

Nice video

[@samuelcontreras9248]

Great Info. Have a site for a breeding pair?

[@FlyTyer1948]

I think your Elassoma gilberti are absolutely fascinating & beautiful. Their fin dance is marvelous, and I confess I love blue. Their short life span is a drawback, but they look worth it. I’m hoping to set up a 20 or 29 gallon heavily (eventually) planted tank in about 2 months after moving to a new apartment. I would love to have a set of these but am hesitant due to their need for live food. I’m handicapped & can’t make regular runs to a pet store for live food & don’t feel confident or competent enough to raise live food myself at this point. If you raise some accustomed to flake food or have been in contact with someone in the Boston, MA area who breeds them, I would be extremely interested. Thank you for posting about them.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I unfortunately don’t know of any that don’t require live foods at the current time.

[@CANDIKONETT]

It looks mechanical 😮

[@CANDIKONETT]

Like its doing the robot

[@juliedouberly309]

How many would you recommend for a 32 gallon? Maybe with a school of rainbow shiners?

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I’ve heard from other people 1 per square foot of tank bottom if you want lots of colored up males. The more heavily planted/decorated the more you can squeeze into a tank. I’d think 2 males with 3 females would be a good combo for that tank size if not a little more. You might be able to even get two fully colored males depending on the amount of line of sights breaks you have. In my 27 gallon cube I have two males and have one dominant, colored up male and one sub-dominant male that will flare up and contest the dominant male. I also have 1 female in there. One friend of mine has 13 juveniles and sub-adults in a 20 long that is heavily planted and over grown. Just the way they like it. I’ll be showing that tank tomorrow in his fish room tour.

[@juliedouberly309]

@@TheAquariumLibrary Thanks for the super fast response! I think I’ll order 5 and see how they do. I have other tanks (don’t we always?) that some could be moved into if there is squabbling.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You’re welcome! And with 5 or 6 you’ll have a pretty good chance of getting one male and one female on the group. These guys will colony breed if left alone in their own tanks. The biggest problem isn’t the parents eating the fry but the younger fry eating the new hatchlings. And like you said you can easily more them around to other tanks and they shouldn’t bother the other fish that much at all.

[@nataliecarcamo9956]

Hey there! I was wondering if you happen to sell these! I’ve been looking to get a male for a while!

[@claywise43]

I’ve heard these called the okefenokee sunfish before. I’d love to find some of these. If you get a breeding colony going would you sell some?

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

They are very similar to the okefenokee. They have some very small morphological differences that make them different species. I am currently trying to work on breeding these guys. If I do end up with fry I am more than willing to sell some to get them out to more people.

[@jeremyharvey5548]

Hey I'm not sure if you're still interested I got 3 pairs of banded pygmy sunfish trying to sell them so I can catch more

[@MLGodzilla]

Just found out about these guys I saw a screen shot and went on a deep dive because I thought it was a blue scarlet badis

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Equally as cool as badis but are from North America

[@stegosaure8247]

Can i put a austrolebias nigrippinis and a alphanius mento bor with them? Or put them in a very big tank with discus and angelfish ?

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

Temperature wise I don’t think they’d handle the hotter temps in a discus tank. As for the killifish you mentioned I have no experience with them. Males can be territorial and I don’t know how they’d respond to another fish that looks very similar to them

[@stegosaure8247]

@@TheAquariumLibrary thanks i think i will put them in a tank with maybe the austrolebias or the alphanius if they can get along if not i will put them with some snails "neritina pulligera" and the "military helmet" with some shrimp very good video +1 sub

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I’ll be very interested to hear if you have success with them in a killifish tank. So little is know with their compatible that it will take some trial and error before we can reliably know what works and does work, particular with fish that inhabitant the same tank space and are the same colors. I’m glad you enjoyed the video and appreciate it!

[@adamxiong1817]

Can't winterize them outdoors in Minnesota. It be getting -20s in the winter and winter lasts 7 months long.

[@deneng0259]

Yep! It was not pretty for the scarlet badis with many evergladi. After a month of trying to get with the females the evergladi had enough and put badis down.

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

I'v e always served him as the Gulf Coast pygmy sunfish... I just can't remember all the Latin names 🤣🤣🌿🐟🌿💚🙏

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

That is fair. For some fish you need to know the trade names like all the guppies and bettas, but some the guys that don't have color morphs I think it is so much easier to know the latin names until they change taxonomically, then you have to learn them all over. Then again common names also change so you're screwed either way. hahah

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

@@TheAquariumLibrary right?🤣

[@johnnygalaxy9022]

I liked this video for the sake of the Pygmy Sunnies!!!! :O lol

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

They are worth liking the video for because they are amazing.

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

Thanks for Celsius! Maybe you are first American which tells Celsius! 👍😆

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

You're welcome! I personally am a fan of the entire metric system and want to start using it more often as it is so much simpler.

[@tikobeard6540]

Do you sell any?

[@christophertodd6405]

Do you sell these fish?

[@dchkerries1]

I bought a bunch of these little beautiful fish and they keep dying from fungal infections. I've never seen so much! Its Not ich either. I have one right now with cotton mouth and another with fin rot and fungus. And just saw a small spot on my handsome boy. I'm really frustrated and sad loosing these cute little ones. I've set ip a hospital tank and put them in there with salt and tried a fungal medication which killed them a lot faster. Seems they are a very delicate fish. I won't get these little fish anymore. To sad to see them look so good to dying within a month. Mine are in a 20 gallon planted cycled tank. Out of 12 I only have 7 left. And 2 of those have fungal infections. Their diet is live bbs and Daphnia. Temp is 65 to 67 degrees.

[@sangle2224]

I wish I could own them

[@beastly_brisket_man6249]

Dude I want to help make these more mainstream. I was planning on setting up a clown killi breeding tank. I think I’m gonna do this instead.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I want to make them more mainstream as well. They breed pretty easily based on my readings, they are just a very unknown fish to the rest of the hobby and that prevents anyone with scale to breed them. Plus they are a little picky when it comes to eating and survival rates for newborns.

[@YourLocalZaddy123]

Are you and Jonah's friend? I'm desperately looking for 4 pairs. Money on line. I'm from Minnesota. Lmk.

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I’ve only briefly looked at Jonah’s website for fish. Unfortunately I don’t have any right now for sale.

[@YourLocalZaddy123]

@@TheAquariumLibrary thanks. I've already found some the next day I commented.

[@pacae911]

Minute 7:21 🤯you said planearia ? Really this fish eat that ?

[@kenjiro2676]

I think colony breeding is OKAY. I would rather sell off most of the offspring and use the money generated to get some frozen foods and some more unrelated pairs to boost the genetic diversity of your founding population of fish. For example I start with 4 pairs, I would pick the 4 pairs out of all the offspring those 4 made to add on to the breeding group, while also adding another pair or two to the breeding group. Good way to reduce inbreeding while building your own genetically diverse group. If people are going to breed fish, we gotta think about establishing a very genetically diverse group so set up the hobby for success in the long run. After getting a diverse bloodline going, just cull heavily.

[@jamespalmer3716]

Whats with the hand movements 🤣🤣

[@TheAquariumLibrary]

I talk with my hands what can I say 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@sangle2224]

can you sell it to me?

[@sangle2224]

they are so beautiful..I wish