Bluegill and sunfish tank

I wouldn't try to keep a pair of large ones in a 55, but you could certainly raise a pair for a while. There are other Sunfish species that aren't as big as Bluegills that would be better choices. I kept a group of 7 Orange Spotted Sunfish, 2 males 5 females in a 75 with some Swordtails. When the Sunfish spawned the dominant male sword wound up dead, but other than that there were no problems. Dollar Sunfish are another good choice. Pumpkinseeds stay small and are beautiful, but can be a good bit more aggressive. Greens are as nasty a fish as you're likely to ever see! Then there are the Dwarf Sunfish like Blue Spots and Black Bands. They're all smaller and less agressive and could be kept as a group in a 55. Lastly there are Pygmy Sunfish, but they max out around 1" and need to be pretty much the only fish species in a tank. A 55 would be wasted on them imo.
 
^ Agreed.

A simple reference is to consider Bluegill as "Oscars" or other foot+ cichlids when figuring out tank-size and such. Maybe not as aggressive, but similar in size.
 
Pygmy sunfish are spectacular when the males are in breeding colors, and you can have a whole self-sustaining colony of over 100 of them in a 55g tank if you put a bunch of plants in it and some live blackworms. They are *very* shy though.
 
You could get bluegill, but at some point they may get a bit large. There are other species such as pumpkinseeds, longears, and green sunfish. I personally like green sunfish because their wild attitude and their willingness to attempt to eat ANYTHING (their mouths are far larger than other sunfish).
 
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