Bluegills as a pet

[msouth468]

If I am correct all sunfish and bass are chiclids.

Um...no, Bass are a type of sunfish. And Sunfish are their own family, belonging to perch I think. But they are of no relation to chiclids.

And you wouldn't really want a bluegill in a 10g tank. They are pretty messy and poop allot. But, a pair of greeneard sunfish could do well. They average between 4 and 6 inchs and are not as messy as thier cousins.

 

[adjuster]

This answers your questions about the legality. http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/fhp/fish/faq/collect.htm
If you obtain small, 1 to 2.5 inch, panfish also known as bluegill, bream, warmouth, fliers,rock bass, perch, green subfish, et al you can keep several in a 10 gal tank. At this size it will be like having a per convicts in your tank and doable. Yes they will grow larger but the size of the tank and the feeding schedule does effect their rate of growth. They don't need to be fed daily. They will eat earthworms, mealworms and feeder guppies if you are concerned about live food. They will eat freeze-dried Krill, tublifex worms, mealworms and can be trained to take flake food eventually. Over filter the 10g tank due to waste issues, keep feeding to a minimum and you will be successful. I have kept successfully them at this size in a 10 gal bucket that was outside for several months at one time barely supplementally feeding them. They still eventually will outgrow your tank but at that time you may have been able to upgrade to a 20L/H or even bigger. A 20H can use alot of the same accesories that the 10g utilized and can be obtained for less than $30 in most places I would think.

For the record I have a 75g tank with two small warmouths less than 2 inches, two large warmouths at 6 inches, a pumpkinseed that is 4-5 inches in size, a 3 inch flier and one 4 inch bluegill with a red crawfish. I also have an Emperor 400 biowheel, another external filter and an internal sponge filter running with several airstones with native Camboda floating. They get fed three times a week (mainly krill, earthworms and mealworms all freeze-dried), have characters like Oscars and nice color.

Regardless, you try two small ones and see how it works for you. Good luck!

 

[fish_freak]

I would really wait till you get a bigger tank because once you take a native species for aquaria it should never be re-released into the wild as it can pick up exotic diseases in the aquarium that could be reintroduced into the native habitat. For two 6-8 inch sunfish I would recomend a minimum 55 gallon.

 

[Sonicblast12]

I have kept sunfish quite successfully in a 30 gallon.

They do get quite territorial, so it is a challenge to find the right mix. Obviously, the smaller, the better. The advantage is that they are quite hardy, and just as interesting as many tropical species. (Not to mention, cheaper!) Currently I have two green sunfish about 3 inches long, and a bluegill about 4 inches long. If the largest fish in the tank is peaceful, it will work out beautifully. However, if he is agressive he will terrorize the other fish in the tank until they get very stressed. Add the fish at the same time so territories can be established from the beginning. Adding new fish could be a disaster, and should only be done if it is bigger than the other fish in the tank.

These fish eat almost anything you throw at them, but are very messy. If you do frequent water changes and have sufficient filtration, you shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[LOK]

I actually put a bluegill in my 180 gallon years ago, it was empty and I set it up for some cichlids but got a nice bluegill at the lake and put him in.

He did fine but he would not eat the pellets I fed my oscars or pacu, I didnt get feeders... I just took him back to the lake. I felt like he did not know what to do in the tank.. or didnt know how to eat