Category:Sunfish

Please copy and paste ' [[Category:Sunfish]] ' into the end of your article to include it in this category.

The 'sunfish' kept in private aquariums fall into two separate families. The more familiar of these two families is the Centrarchidae, a family of mostly medium to large sized North American freshwater fishes that includes such familiar game fishes as Bluegill, Largemouth bass, and Flier; there is also a second family known as the Elassomatidae, the pygmy sunfishes, which are very small micropredators confined to the southeastern United States. Centrarchids are variable in aquarium requirements but typically need to be kept either alone or in groups of six or more depending on the species, while pygmy sunfishes are similar in care to the unrelated scarlet badis and do best in planted tanks with regular live food feedings. Neither of these families need a heater in most homes, and the centrarchids often require a cool 'winter' with shorter days and temperatures in the 50's fahrenheit or colder for several months to coax them into spawning condition; pygmy sunfish tend to spawn constantly as adults whether or not they receive a wintering period.