Enneacanthus chaetodon – Blackbanded Sunfish
Enneacanthus chaetodon was first described by Baird in 1855. The genus name Enneacanthus can be broken down into two Greek words. “Ennea” means “nine” and “Akantha” means “thorn.” This is a reference to the nine hard fin rays in the dorsal fin of this genus. The species name chaetodon is not explained in the description. Possibly it is a reference to the genus Chaetodon or rather the marine butterflyfish. Their common name is Blackbanded Sunfish.
Description
With a maximum total length of about 10 centimeters, Enneacanthus chaetodon remains relatively small. In the aquarium, they usually remain even slightly smaller. Six vertical black stripes run across the flank. The first black stripe runs through the eye. A black spot can be seen on the gill cover. They are built quite high and compressed laterally. The dorsal fin has nine hard fin rays and is almost always upright.
The difference between the males and females is mainly seen when they are adults. The males are somewhat larger and more heavily built than the females. The fins of the males are also a bit longer. Diskfish females get a little thicker when they are ready to deposit eggs.
Origin
You can find Enneacanthus chaetodon only in the United States. They occur from New Jersey to central Florida and inland to Flint River in Georgia.
They usually inhabit ponds, lakes and small rivers up to medium-sized rivers. In doing so, the Diskfish seek out the parts with sandy or muddy bottoms.
Diet
In the wild, the diet of the Discfish consists mainly of insect larvae. The larvae of dancing midges top the list of commonly eaten foods.
In the aquarium you can feed them with live and frozen food such as white, red and black mosquito larvae, artemia, water fleas. With some habituation, they will probably also eat flake and granular food.
The Aquarium
The Discfish is a sub-tropical species. They are therefore ideally suited for an unheated aquarium. You can keep them at a temperature of 4 to 22 degrees maximum. Keeping these fish continuously at too warm temperatures will shorten their lifespan considerably. They reach a maximum age of about five years.
Because they can withstand colder temperatures reasonably well, they are also kept in ponds. As long as the pond does not freeze over in winter and is deep enough, this should be possible. A combination of an aquarium in a shed for the winter and a pond for the summer is also possible.
If you want to keep this species in an aquarium year-round, it is important to pay attention to the temperature, though. In the summer an aquarium quickly becomes too warm. Therefore, take measures that you can cool the water in time.
Furnish the aquarium with preferably (filter) sand on the bottom. Many plants among which they can shelter is certainly appreciated. The plants are not eaten.
Enneacanthus chaetodon feels most comfortable with several conspecifics around them. Therefore, keep them in groups of five or more. An aquarium 100 centimeters long is sufficient for this minimal group. A larger aquarium with several specimens is even better.
By the way, they do not always feel at home in the aquarium. Sometimes then they stay very shy and in a corner. Probably this species is much better suited as a pond fish than as an aquarium fish.
Breeding Enneacanthus chaetodon – Blackbanded Sunfish
Normally, the Discfish is a peaceful little fish. Only during spawning do they become somewhat territorial to protect their eggs and young.
Enneacanthus chaetodon lay their eggs among the plants. The male chases the female away after depositing the eggs. He guards the eggs and the newly hatched fish until a week after they are free to swim.
Video
Author
John de Lange
Copyright images
NCFishes.com – CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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