Bluegills or Rock Bass in an aquarium??

[SimonWoodstock]

This may need to go in coldwater..i have no idea.

Anyone have any info. on keeping either of these fish in an aquarium: size of tank, can they be trained to eat pellets or store bought foods, what temp the water should be.

or links to any resources....thanks!!

this stuff is hard to find

[chipstahoy]

my friend's dad kept bluegill in a 30 g tank (there were pry 3-5 of them in there) with no heater and fed them nightcrawlers, worms, and fish pellets too i think. if you were gonna get them and didn't know what they ate, i'm pretty sure they have a pretty big range of stuff they'll eat. but you could always try things and see what they eat, ya know? hope this helps

-chip

[JSchmidt]

You might first want to check with your Dept. of Natural Resources (or whatever they call it in your state) and make sure it's legal to keep those species in captivity.

I've not kept them myself, but I recall reading that they need really large volumes of water as they get relatively big and are messy fish.

Jim

[OrionGirl]

Blue gills are also very territorial. During breeding, they will aggressively defend their turf, chasing and attacking much larger fish.

Definitely verify that it is legal to keep them, and what methods are legal to acquire them.

www.nanfa.org is a good resource for keeping native fish.

[tricksterpup]

Another great site is Nativefish.org. They have a great articals page that should help you in your endeavor. :)

http://www.nativefish.org/Articles/index.html


jim

[Ptolemy]

I know the reasons why native fish may be "illegal to keep in a tank", but how can you own a pond with bluegills in it, and that is not be illegal. A pond is like a giant tank. ... I doubt anyone will care to report you. ... It was a whole rainbow of colors.


The ellipsis above represent text I removed.

Members of AC agree to abide by local laws and to avoid encouraging others to break the laws. Please keep in mind that you agreed to this when you joined up.

Laws regarding the possession and transport of live fishes and fish eggs are made to protect a) the resource and b) the environment. Diseases are spread by illegal fish stocking; fisheries are ruined by the introduction of new species. There is a huge difference between a pond that had fish and stocking those fish into a pond--and that act is regulated in many states. As reponsible aquariasts, it is in our best interests to abide by these regulations. One need only look at the ban on snakeheads to see what can result when people are irresponsible and fail to obey laws and regulations.

OG

[Captain Hook]

Insert AC disclaimer about Ptolemy's opinions here

I would love to set up a tank like this and you guys have really got me thinking but I don't know if my 35 gallon will be big enough. If you were to get bluegills or sunfish, I know they will eat pretty much everything living but not sure about prepared foods like pellets.

All sorts of insects, worms, and small fish will definitely work as food. The other thread started on freshwater native fish said sunfish will eat crayfish as well.

[SimonWoodstock]

Originally posted by JSchmidt
You might first want to check with your Dept. of Natural Resources (or whatever they call it in your state) and make sure it's legal to keep those species in captivity.

they can kiss me irish....:D i will check and see if it is or not....but i dont see why it would be illegal to keep one of those, and not a fish you buy in the pet store. i was going to check w/ the local pond stockers, if they will not sell me a couple next time they have some on hand...i know this guy in LA (not las angeles) that would do it. i just dont know about tranporting a fish in a car for 7 1/2 hours. if all else fails, i can go to the creeks whenever they spawn and catch a couple babies w/ a net.

thanks for the links and comments....would the size of a tank differ in any way from a cichlid or something similar in size, or would it need a larger one? the largemouth i had when i was a kid seemed pretty active...but they get pretty big also..

[SimonWoodstock]

oh yeah, i was thinking along the lines of a 55-75 gal. possibly larger if i can find a good deal. sound big enough for one of those, they are both pretty small fish compared to something like a largermouth.

[dwf73]

My friend kept 4 rock bass in a 90g. They grew to about 9 inches or so each, so it was pretty crowded. How many did you want to keep out of curiosity? The only thing I think should be said about the rock bass is that they "sprint" when they are scared- that might indicate a need for some extra room, but i think a 60-70 should be more than fine for 1 or two. hope that helps at all

[SimonWoodstock]

thanks for the info, i was hoping i could get a few people that have had either of these before or know someone that did to respond.

i was thinking about a 2 in a 55g or a 75g. looks like 75 would be alot better than a 55. thanks

the 2 fish per. tank goes for either....
also, anyone know anything about a Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis). we just call them a Sun Perch around here.
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/longearsun.html

1 more thing. i know how aggresive those little sunfish are. they will come up and nibble on your legs while swimming in the lake.
do you think a pair of those guys would kill each other in a 55 or 75?

[125gJoe]

As mentioned in a previous post, these are messy fish. Guess it would be alright to "grow out" some Bluegill fry and then release them... I did that once way back.. I remember how messy it was.. LOL . I also tried some very small Speckled Perch and Bass. Never again for me, as they belong in the local lakes - they do get big quick!

[Captain Hook]

Found something you might find interesting here:

http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/native-fish.html

[SimonWoodstock]

Wow! great site, just what i was lookin for. thanks alot!!

*i notice several of these people, when the fish was introduced very small (2" or less), got bass and sunfish to eat flake foods and such. this is reassuring.

[Ptolemy]

And to you, honey. OG

[watcher]

In PA, keeping native fish isn't a problem, as long as you have a fishing license. Any fish you catch and keep do count towards your daily limit. I wouldn't recommend bass to most people, unless they have a large tank and they're willing to pay for a lot of food (those guys have a huge appetite).

I have a rock bass, pumpkin seed, and a few bluegills in a 30 right now. They're growing, and the rock bass is pretty territorial, so I'm working on moving everyone into a much larger tank right now. I've kept south american tropicals, african cichlids, and natives, and of them all these are my favorites. The rock bass is by far my favorite of the tank-he's very active, pays attention to everything that goes on in the room, and he "begs" for food when its feeding time. The only down side is his mouth is big enough that he can (and will) eat anyone small enough to fit, so that puts a bit of a crimp on the sort of fish you can keep with him. I had a creek chub that was almost as big as the rock bass in there for a little while who seemed to enjoy nipping at everyone (including me), and one day the rock bass decided enough was enough and ate him.

I'd really recommend at least a 55 for the rock bass, preferably something more like a 90. Rock bass in particular get pretty big, and they're active. Planting the tank will help with the mess, but you really need to keep up on the water changes.

As long as these fish are legal in your state, go for it-you'll love them.

[SimonWoodstock]

Originally posted by Ptolemy
crew th lw
????

watcher: thanks for the comments. what do you feed your rock bass, and how often? have you gotten it to eat anything other than live foods? how did you get it, was it a catch or from a stocker? sorry to load you down w/ questions but finding info. on keeping these fish in an aquarium is a real pain.

any other comments are welcome.

[watcher]

Originally posted by SimonWoodstock

????

watcher: thanks for the comments. what do you feed your rock bass, and how often? have you gotten it to eat anything other than live foods? how did you get it, was it a catch or from a stocker? sorry to load you down w/ questions but finding info. on keeping these fish in an aquarium is a real pain.

any other comments are welcome.

SimonWoodstock:
I'm more than happy to answer any questions you have. There is far too little information available online about keeping these guys. It doesn't help that many folks think it is illegal to keep natives.

I usually feed the rock bass a nightcrawler every other day. I feed all of my fish a mix of frozen food (a selection of brine shrimp, krill, plankton, and glass worms, usually just two of them a day), and flake. The rock bass doesn't like the flake too much, although the pumpkinseed and bluegills took to it very quickly. He finally took to the frozen food after a few weeks of trying, so as long as you're persistent about it you'll be fine.

I've also fed him crickets and grasshoppers, which he took to very quickly. I dropped a crayfish in one time, and it didn't last more than 5 seconds. Occasionally I'll catch some minnows and drop them in for food. The first time I did that I tried to acclimate them in the tank, but the rock bass was so enthusiastic he killed two through the plastic bag before I gave up and released them in the tank. I don't even bother to acclimate the minnows anymore, they aren't going to live very long in there anyway.

I've caught all of the fish in the tank on regular fishing gear. I usually crush the barb when I'm fishing for fish to keep in the aquarium, and I try not to hook them anywhere but the jaw or top of the mouth. They all came from streams near my apartment, so I don't have any troubles with water chemistry.

I tried to keep a yellow perch a couple months ago, but I couldn't get him to eat anything. That's a common problem with perch, sadly. I won't try again unless I can get one when he's a fry.

If you want to buy some fish, I've heard good things about Jonah's Aquarium (http://jonahsaquarium.com/). I haven't bought from them myself, so I can't personally speak for their service. They do have some unusual fish that you may not be able to catch in your area, though.

[SimonWoodstock]

thanks for your help, and that website too...it is good, and if i cant get a pond stocking business to sell me some small fish...i can always try him out.

i am really starting to consider setting up a SW tank, then a tank for rock bass or another native fish once the SW tank is up and running smoothly instead of just 1 or the other...(if i had a tank for every fish i wanted to keep...maintaining them would be my full time job)

check back every now and then, i may have another question or 2 for you. as for now, i will keep searching for more info. on them. let me know if you happen to come across anything else.