Bluegill fry questions

I thought it might be best to start my own thread rather than keep hijacking Sam586's thread since he's trying to breed Bluegill and mine have already spawned and as you can tell really don't know much about it. Keeping Bluegill in an aquarium wasn't my intention at first. It happened when I was trying to figure out a better way to keep them alive longer in order to use as Flathead catfish bait. After I kept them for a while I couldn't bring myself to use them as bait so now I've got Bluegills as pets and gave up Flathead fishing. Anyway, I've got some questions.

My Bluegill fry just started swimming up. Of course since I wasn't trying to breed Bluegill I'm not really setup to handle it. They were being slaughtered left and right .. it was almost painful to watch even though it's a fact of life & nature's way. But I just couldn't stand there knowing how much effort Finicky (the male) put into guarding the nest and taking care of the eggs, so I ended up netting several dozen and put them in my 10 gal snail, plant grow out tank. Which brings me to my first question. Will pond snails eat fry? How about Oto's? I've let this tank get a bit of green algae in it for the snails. From reading it seems this might be the best food for the small fry right now??? I got a free sample tube of Decapsulated (non-hatching) Brine Shrimp Eggs .. should I feed them that or wait until they are bigger? Yeah I'm going to see if I can raise a couple even though I said I didn't want to. I'll just keep watching Craigslist for a good deal on a bigger aquarium so I can be ready when it's needed. I do have a 30 gal they can use for a while after they outgrow the 10 gal.

Is it natural for them to swim to the top and stay there? I've got some Anacharis stems that almost float (attached to tank with suction cups) but it was mostly to give cover to the other Bluegills when the male was terrorizing everyone. They're really not trying to get into that cover but rather staying in the open. I've noticed though quite a few down in the gravel and I'm sure there is some hiding in the plants.

After I got done netting some of the fry I went back to watching the swim-up. Fascinating to watch this whole process. As I watched I thought the male was getting ready to eat one of the fry but he just seemed to lovingly chase it away from the nest. But what surprised me the most was I noticed my smallest bluegill (which I never really determined the sex of it) swim into the nest. Swam right up to the male and gently touched his nose. At first the male didn't do anything, so she did it again and then he gently nipped at her but didn't even attempt to chase her from the nest and she made no effort to leave. She kept turning her belly up toward him but he didn't seem to want anything to do with her. I guess I can now assume this is another female and she was wanting to spawn? Would the male even be ready to spawn again? I made a movement and he ended up chasing her from the nest.

Sorry for so many questions and for being a total newb to this. I've already learned a lot from reading this forum so I'm thankful there is such a place and for everyone here that contributes their knowledge.

I will come back this later with aid of students rearing bluegill. Will make them think as well.

Gave up Catfishing? You have my condolences. Switch species for bait & get back out there. They should be able to handle baby brine shrimp.

Thanks centrarchid ... I need and appreciate all the help and info you care to share.

Gave up Catfishing? You have my condolences. Switch species for bait & get back out there. They should be able to handle baby brine shrimp.

LOL Yeah I was going to do that but the other reason is just not enough time right now. Too many other things going on. Maybe when the weather cools in the fall.

I'm pathetic LOL ... make some Bluegills as pets then I don't even want to fish for them now. Maybe I'll change to a different Catfish species that aren't as finicky about live bait as Flathead are.

After some more observation I've got another question. A big school (maybe 30) fry was at the top of the aquarium out in the open and close to one of the females. Some even swam almost to her mouth but she made no effort to eat any. It was just really weird since none of the other fish, other than the male, have any problems eating the fry. In an aquarium situation with only one nesting site would a female know those are her young and not eat them? Or was she just not hungry?? That doesn't seem to stop the others .. they'll eat the fry even during/after feeding them. I haven't noticed her attempting to eat any yet.

Edited by Katfisher, 27 July 2012 - 11:24 PM.