Bluegil?

[kevkev3321]

Okay so I had this idea of going to this local lake and catching some little Bluegil for a 10g. I have the water at about 76 degrees. Has anyone ever done this before? If so is there anything I should know about keeping Bluegil?

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

How many did you catch? Because eventually you will need to up-size your tank

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

What state did you catch these in?

 

[jetajockey]

I have a bluegill that we caught a few weeks back. He's going into a 75g native display once it gets set up and in running order. You will definitely need a much larger tank, these guys get very large.

If you want a sunfish that works in a 10g tank, get one of the pygmy sunfish species.

Bluespotted sunfish are another good small one, but they still need at least a 29+.

 

[joy13]

I several people locally that go on fish collection trips most have tanks over 100 gallons.

 

[kevkev3321]

I got 6 but there only like 2 inches long at the most, and I caught them in california. I have a 100g I can transfer them to but I was afraid of them having diseases and I didn't want them to spread it to my angelfish

 

[jetajockey]

They really shouldn't be mixed with angels anyway, they get much larger.

I don't know a lot about stocking them with each other in the same species so I'll let you do the research on that one.

 

[kevkev3321]

Yea I guess I just have to see what happens lol

 

[BigJim]

Sunfish are aggressive little buggers. They'll even beat up many cichlids. They also get much too large for a 10g.

 

[Mogurako]

Sunfish are aggressive little buggers. They'll even beat up many cichlids. They also get much too large for a 10g.

Sunfish are extremely aggressive and will chase and eat anything that will fit in their mouth. I kept them years ago and you pretty much only want to keep them in a species only tank. Larger the tank the better IMO/E a 6' tank would be smallest id use because they are a very fast/active fish that need their space. They also produce allot of waste for their size , they are on par with Oscars as far as waste production is concerned so allot of filtration is needed.

Hope this info helps let me know if you have any more questions, sunfish make awesome fish to watch wish I still had mine.

 

[HUKIT]

Bluegills as all sunfish are also a schooling fish, in nature the average schools is around 20 fish to help feel secure. So as stated above a native tank is very cool as long as it's a 6ft tank IMO to house fish a school of at least 7 fish. They are also extremely tough to convert to pellet food, I kept nine in a 150g and took over a month to convert to pellets. And forget about tankmates unless they're large, it's funny we don't think about them being aggressive being low on the food chain in nature but them in a aquarium where they're on top and I'd put them on par with any almost any cichlid their size or larger.

Here we have a abundance of red ear sunfish which is what I kept,
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redear_sunfish

 

[jetajockey]

My favorites are dollar sunfish and bluespots, they seem to give more options stocking-wise.

 

[reflex1]

Being as how they are a wild critter ya better check with your Game & Fish or Natural Resources to be sure you can keep them - any wild critter for that matter!

 

[Batt4Christ]

I tried keeping a single bluegill years ago in a 10g tank... Was a real pain as that fish was NASTY! As much or more waste than my Oscars I had at the same time. It was also kind of picky when it came to what it would and wouldn't eat.

 

[Demonknight]

on the plus side say goodbye to any snail problem you have. and yeah they get big, in the 2 - 3 pound range for the bluegills, sunfish a tad smaller but as said, nasty fish in temperament.

 

[redfisher1139]

I have a juvenile that I caught about a month ago. I thought he was a minnow at first, as he was no bigger than my neons. A month later, he now resides in my pond and is a solid 3 inches. They grow very fast. Lucky for me, mine is not a picky eater, and he really loves the frog pellets. They have a great personality, on par with most cichlids. If you have a way of keeping them, I recomend you do. Not all fish have to come from exotic places. We have great species right here in the US.

 

[jetajockey]

@ redfisher1139 The one I have is the same way, he comes to the front of his tank anytime I'm around and eats anything I put in there. Not shy at all, so I'm thinking it's because the area I caught him always has a lot of people around.

I've had him for a few weeks now, and since he's healthy I'm probably going to move him to the pond with my dollar sunfish.