18 replies to this topic

[cornandcrawlers]

I have a 75 gallon planted tank with small gravel substrate on one side and sand substrate on the other. I believe the substrate and size of tank should be adequate for bluegills to spawn, but I am unsure if I should stock:

1 male + 1 female
2 male + 1 female
1 male + 2 female
2 male + 2 female 


If anyone has experience with bluegills and getting them to spawn that would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

[centrarchid]

I have lots of experience tank spawning bluegill of representing several subspecies as we as several others currently listed within the genus Lepomis.

 

To start, how big are fish selected for use as breeders?

 

Where / how do you plan to rear larval / fry stages?

[centrarchid]

Tell me more about your setup. I have bred them as pairs in 40-gallon breeder aquariums, two males and a female in 75-gallon aquariums and as colonies in tanks ranging 200 to 2,000 gallons. More than tanks and sex ratios are of concern, especially when tighter confines are used.

[centrarchid]

So Mr. Corn,

 

Are you picky about who you get your information from?

[cornandcrawlers]

I have not stocked any breeders yet, just getting tank cycled at the moment. My plan was to just fish out a female and a male of approximately similar size, maybe 5-8inches, and drop em in the tank and then feed heavily with live foods and do frequent water changes.

Im open to any and all input from someone who has bred them before.

[cornandcrawlers]

Tank currently has two large sponge filters and a water pump for increased oxygen, this has prefilters on the input and output to prevent any future fry from getting stuck.

Also I have live plants anchored down in pots, crypts, and substrate is divided half small gravel and half sand. I wasnt sure which the bluegill would prefer for near building so I went with both options.

[cornandcrawlers]

Ive heard 75 gallons may be too small for bluegill to spawn. So Im open to going green sunfish instead.

[centrarchid]

I have tank spawning bluegill experience.

 

My first suggestion is to use two tanks with your 75-gallon used as the actual breeding and rearing tank while the other houses female(s) during the conditioning phase.

 

I would also make so you have a partition in the larger tank that females can hide behind to avoid excessive attention my male. 

 

Give me a bit I will attempt to upload images and possibly a video or two.

Edited by centrarchid, 26 November 2022 - 09:40 AM.

[centrarchid]

Below is what I use to exercise some control over where males nest. It also allows me to relocate entire spawns to another location. I suggest using similar in your 75-gallon tank with it set to one end of tank.

 

[cornandcrawlers]

That is super clever, thank you for sharing this picture.
Since it is a top down photo I have a couple questions, how deep is that vessel? To me it looks like a bucket placed inside your aquarium that is halfway filled up with gravel.

Also, Ive got a couple of 37 gallon tanks, not ideal but I could house a female in one and raise her there until she looks heavy with eggs and then bring her into the 75 with a male. Also Ill take your advice and make sure there is plenty of cover or things that block line of sight so the female can take a break from male attention

[centrarchid]

The fabricated nest used for bluegill is a plastic oil pan filled about 1/3 full of pea gravel. Fish in image above is about 10". Ideally the pan diameter is about 50% greater than the male's length.

 

 

Somewhere on this site I have a "cook book' procedure for spawning sunfish which appears to work for most if not all species. You need to condition both sexes without wearing them out testing to see if they are ready to bread. The testing is stressful and promotes delay in successful breeding.

[cornandcrawlers]

Appreciate the dimensions on the spawning vessel. When Im back from my holiday I will search your previous threads and find that cool book you posted on here. Very excited to give it a go.

[centrarchid]

Conditioning Female Bluegill

 

Starting with wild-caught adults I would separate females from males and house them in groups of 4 to 6 or singly to mitigate pecking order issues. Keep them on a 16 Light: 8 Dark photoperiod where lighting is bright enough to comfortably read. Maintain them in a temperature range in the mid to upper 70's F. Feed to apparent satiation at least twice daily. I like to use frozen bloodworms to get them started although supplement with insects such as crickets, mealworms, or wax worms once they begin coming up to your hand for food. You want the fish to think happy thoughts when they see you.

 

 

Conditioning Male Bluegill (single-male setup)

 

Under similar conditions to females, provide him with a nest at one side of tank. At middle of tank provide structure that can at least partially obstruct the males view. This will provide females cover if they are not quite ready to spawn. After a couple weeks of so when females start getting bellies take about a cup of water from female tank and place in male tank. This will expose male to pheromones from female(s) that will cause changes in male if both sexes approaching or are ripe. Make so male tank does not go totally dark with a night lite or keep lights on 24/7 to prevent male abandoning nest.

[centrarchid]

When it comes to actual mating the fish I have followed to general approaches. One is to leave female(s) with male for extended periods once introduced. The other is have females in with male only while I observe and moving them back to conditioning tank. Latter gave me more control / knowledge concerning conception time and the ability to use smaller tanks. Care must be taken during transfers to avoid stressing the fish.

[cornandcrawlers]

you've clearly put a lot of effort and energy into breeding sunfish. rather than try to re-invent the wheel, im gonna follow your steps to the letter 

[centrarchid]

you've clearly put a lot of effort and energy into breeding sunfish. rather than try to re-invent the wheel, im gonna follow your steps to the letter 

I'm setting out to develop a simple bluegill breeding system using a black plastic stock watering tank. My student will be running around town pricing component options. We will generate a youtube video to go with it for benefit of the aquaponics community. We will demonstrate a simple low-cost method for producing a couple thousand 1" bluegill per batch. I'll try to post the raw materials here for everyone's entertainment. It would work for all sunfishes I have ever messed with.

[cornandcrawlers]

Im using a large planter base as an artificial bluegill nest site. Do you recommend covering the planter with any gravel or sticks for the bluegill to clean away with his tail or do you think a male would choose a nice clean shallow clay plate without any debris to clean off as a nest?

[centrarchid]

He will readily adopt even a bare bottomed nest site. The downside will be less area for the eggs to adhere to. Additionally, eggs that are dislodged and prolarvae are more apt to be displaced from nest when male generates stronger currents than typically of simply fanning the nest. He will not pickup and return displaced kids.

 

You want bare bottom to see development?

[cornandcrawlers]

Those are good points about the current. I was thinking the plate benefits would be easier access for me to remove eggs but perhaps that isnt necessary at all.

I might just remove the plate now and let the gill dig his nest wherever he wants.

By the way, you were 100% right about keeping the male and female separate. I briefly tried to keep them together but the male bullied the female and drove her to stay in a corner most of the time.