raising bluegill

[Chamelian]

I'm concidering raising native fish in a 55 gallon tank. Can i purchase these type of fish online?

 

[BASSNMAN]

It would probably be easier to buy a rod and reel. Seriously, in some rural areas, hardware stores can order native fish for you but the quantities would be larger than you need. When the weather gets better, try the fishermen at a local lake to see if you can scrounge up a few. Be aware they grow fast and are messy eaters . They will also keep you busy buying worms and such.

 

[frog girl]

Much easier to catch than buy. The ice fishermen in Madison where I used to live where primarily catching bluegill when I asked. I wouldn't keep more than 1 adult male in a tank as they are territorial. But they do build nests & do parental care of eggs & fry which is neat to watch.

enjoy & Welcome to Aquarium Advice.

 

[frog girl]

BTW there are minature sunfish that stay pretty small that you can buy if you want to go that route. Also pumpkinseed sunfish (also easy to catch) stay smaller than bluegill.

 

[Lepomis]

Nix the bluegill at least three other Lepomis species would be better. As far as color can't go wrong with the dollar or longear. Longear would be in your area along with my favorite the green sunfish. The green sunfish is a great fish. Eats about anything and water quality isn't much of an issue with this fish. The coloring is also pretty although not as striking as the other two mentioned. All of the lepomis species are aggressive and will kill about every smaller fish or same size fish in the tank. Longears are about the worst from my experience, even managing to kill slightly larger fish in the tank. Very territorial like the other members.

 

[mandi]

Do some research and see if there are any fish farms/sellers in your area. Here having "farm ponds" is a big thing and we have a local man who runs a business selling fish (ie bass, bluegill, grass carp, catfish - he can order anythine else) to people to stock the ponds with. Our pond is currently stocked but we do use him for feeder minnows twice a year. I never realized until we moved here and inherited our pond that it is actually a very prevelant business.
Heck, if we were closer I'd stock you right out of our pond - -the bluegill have built a very steady population (good eats for the bass ) and we have new little ones all the time.

 

[Chamelian]

I found a site that sells native fish online "Jonahs" Are any of you familiar with their reputation? They seem to have an interesting collection of native fish from other areas too. They sell sunfish that are native to South Carolina that seem to be more colorful. Are they more colorful the further south you go? Or was it just good photography enhancement?