Sunfish in Aquarium

[radke22]

I found a lake that consistantly produces 1lb bluegills, my question is, how big would a aquarium have to be to support 2 or 3 1lb bluegills? I have 2 20 gallon tanks but i'm thinking it would be a little crowded. Has anyone had any experiences keeping panfish in a tank?

[Mark Christianson]

Better check the regs for keeping fish to put in ponds/tanks.

I dont have any suggestions on how to do it right as far as keeping them alive, but in order to be legal, there are some things you need to be aware of.

[Bobb-o]

the legality is technically you have to have a child under the age of 16 transport the fish for you and the fish each have to be under 10". A general rule for fih in an aquarium is 1 inch per gallon, sunfish are pretty messy fish also, so make sure you have a good filter. I had an 8 1/2" gill for a couple months but he got ICK and died.

[Powerstroke]

At my work we have a 55 gallon tank at least that we have tried everything from sunnies to walleyes and the only thing that didn't develop some sort of disease or die from other bullying fish is a largemouth bass.

Our bass is doing great after a year and a half. He gets minnows about weekly and we maintain the water and algae and he's done great.

[Walterwontfalter]

I know a friend who has to sunfish in an aquarium and has had them for at least 3 years. He has a 50 gallon aquarium I think and he also has two scumsuckers (don't know what they are really called) that help clean the tank really well and he makes sure to treat the water for several diseases common to fish. They grew really fast up to a certain size and they seem to have stayed the same for a while. Oh, hsi kids caught them off his dock in a minnow trap baited with dog food. They were about silver dollar size when he first put them in the aquarium.

[Tom Linderholm]

I have had 2 perch live in my 55 gallon for over a year. Just make sure when you feed them the minnows you strain out the bait store water. Thats where the diseases are coming from. Clean your tank once a month and switch out the water in 1/10ths every month as well. Good luck.

[JollyT]

Sunfish are really territorial, so they need a good sized tank. People I know who have kept native fish say that bluegills will out compete any fish of the same size for food and territory. There used to be a special DNR form you could get that allowed you to transport native fish for the aquarium. The pet stores used them when they sold you native fish. Another neat type of fish for aquariums are darters. Pretty, but small, so they don't need a big tank. They like cool water.

As far as water changes go, I would try to do at least 25% every other week. My fish breeding friends do at least 25-50% every week. Some do more.

Bluegills are a popular aquarium fish in Europe. German aquarists have spawned them in their tanks.

[kpj5br]

Many local hobby fish stores carry native fish (nearly all species), I highly recommend getting your native aquarium fish from one of them, but if you do want to bring home a catch, make sure you quarantine it in a small tank with an airstone going for at least 2-3 days before adding it to your permanent tank, and as stated, most importantly, NEVER add any water that comes with food (minnows) or other fish into the tank, that is 100% correct, that is where ich and the other common fish diseases come from, these diseases are ALL parasites, they do not manifest on their own because a native fish is in a tank.

If you buy bait-store minnows to feed, do the same quarantine deal with them, then rinse them a couple times in tap water before feeding them to your fish.

All of your questions can be answered and more by visiting a local fish store and asking, they are glad to help, and you can get a ton of excitement and education out of keeping native fish in a tank. Good luck to you.

[kpj5br]

Forgot to add, I agree with 1 gallon of water per inch of fish total. So you could have 5, 4" bluegills in a 20 gallon tank for instance.

Just keep in mind, when doing your inch-to-gallon calculation, you calculate based on the maximum size you expect the fish to reach.

I have taken my tanks up to 2 inches per gallon, but it's a LOT more maintenance, if you leave it at 1 inch per gallon, and throw in a plecostemus (the sucker fish referred to above) or two, you can get by with virtually no heavy cleaning and expensive filters in the tank.

[Phred52]

kpj5br, Not to mention a VERY Happy and Well fed Plecostemus!!!

[Griggs]

I've kept several Sunfish in aquariums. I've kept Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Pumpkinseeds, Orange Spotted and hybrids along with Bass and a Grass Pickerel. They are actually really fun fish to keep in an aquarium. You may be surprised to see how aggresive they are. You will want either 1 or 3, if theres two a competition for food begins and one may not get the food it needs.

I don't know how many inches a 1 lbs Bluegill would be, but I'd say don't keep anything in a 55gal larger than 10" thats my rule anyways. 55 gallon aquariums are 12" front to back and its just not enough room.

My questions would be, why such big fish? Smaller fish look the exact same, eat less and are just as cool, plus you can watch them grow. If you were to get 3-5 1'3" Sunnies you could house them in one of your 20g tanks for a while, then once they reach about 4-5" get a larger tank. Or maybe just get a 55 gal, I once kept 7 3-5" Sunnies in a 55. 55g tanks actually pretty cheap, tanks larger than that get a bit pricer.

The law is in fact you can't transport live fish unless your a kid under 16. My advice would be to call the DNR and ask if they'd really care if you took a few live sunnies home.

Or, many fish stores in Minnesota have native fish, you can buy Blue Gills, Green Sunfish, Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Perch and Walleye, even Northerns and Muskies, but those bigger fish require a new conversations about large large tanks.

Let me know if you have anymore questions

Also visit my HSOforum, theres quite a few of us that have kept numerous native fish and can answer any question for ya Aquatic Aquaria

*Oh and make sure you learn everything you need to know about caring for the fish, Sunfish are very hardy fish, but they will die and get sick in poor water quality, make sure you get LOTS of filtrations. For your 20g I'd go with an Aqua Clear 300, which is more than what a pet store would recommend, but trust me. 55g, I'd go with two Emperror 400s or two Aqua Clear 500s. No heater is needed for native fish, and play sand at home depot is cheap and very natural looking, can get into your filters and mess things up if you stir it too much though. Make sure you wash that sand good too.

Ok I'm done, let me know if you have any more questions.

[McGurk]

Quote:

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If you were to get 3-5 1'3" Sunnies you could house them in one of your 20g tanks for a while,

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1'3" sunnies?!?!?!? Where is this fishing hole???