Taxonomy & naming
Baird described the species in 1855 from Cedar Swamp Creek in Cape May County, New Jersey, as Pomotis chaetodon. It belongs to Enneacanthus, a small genus of three dwarf sunfishes of the family Centrarchidae. The epithet refers to its resemblance to a butterflyfish of the genus Chaetodon.
Morphology
A deep, laterally compressed sunfish with a rounded profile and a short snout. The body carries about six broad dark vertical bars on a silvery to golden ground. FishBase gives a maximum length of 4 in TL; most individuals are smaller.
Habitat
FishBase describes a freshwater, demersal fish of vegetated lakes, ponds, quiet sand- and mud-bottomed pools, and backwaters of creeks and small to medium rivers. The range runs along the Atlantic and Gulf slope drainages from New Jersey to central Florida and west to the Flint River in Georgia. FishBase gives a temperature range of 4 to 22 C, a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 and a hardness of 10 to 20 dH.
Feeding
The species takes small invertebrates from plants and the bottom. In aquaria it accepts live and frozen daphnia, bloodworm, brine shrimp and small insects, and with patience it will take small pellets.
Mating
Courtship and spawning behaviour are not described in FishBase for this species.
Breeding
Eggs, larvae and clutch size are not recorded by FishBase. Dwarf sunfishes in general spawn in a shallow nest cleared among plant roots, and the male guards the eggs.
In the aquarium
A hardy, cool-water fish suited to an unheated planted tank, with a summer maximum near the 22 C upper end of the FishBase range. Keep it in a group, with quiet tank mates, because it is slow and shy at feeding time and is easily outcompeted. A winter cool spell near the lower part of the range suits it.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Enneacanthus chaetodon as Near Threatened, last assessed in November 2011. Drainage and development of its low-lying habitats have reduced the species over parts of its range.