Bluegill tank all set up. DUW

Managed to find a 55g tank, stand, gravel, filters, air pumps, rocks, 20 fake plants, test kits, lights, everything you could ever need for 80$. Went and picked it up and made sure it held water a bit last night, filled it the rest of the way this morning.

The guy who had it before me didn't do a good job of cleaning the gravel so it is a bit cloudy while I let it settle.

Currently there are 7 bluegill in there. Ranging from 5"-9", I will be lowering it, I just want to see which ones do better and whatnot, probably will take it down between 4-6 but we'll see. They seem to have plenty of room to swim even though they all like the right corner far away from me... LOL

Just so you're aware, those aren't bluegill. Those are all green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus.

Just so you're aware, those aren't bluegill. Those are all green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus.

Interesting. They where coming out of the pond very dark colored and are still coloring up. They look so much like the fish I used to have so I guess I had a green sunfish, which is fine by me. Greens are a bit more colorful anyway haha.

It's a very weird shallow pond, very large LMB that snap my line, to huge koi to these guys, lots of interesting fish.

Edited by Lee, 16 July 2009 - 12:20 PM.

Green sunfish are hardy in the aquarium, but IME can be a bit aggressive. Keep an eye on your larger individuals for conspecific aggression.

I too have kept Green Sunfish, and have found them to be VERY AGGRESSIVE!!! Their mouths are equivilent to those of Bass and they have voracious appetites.

***** ONE THING TO NOTE***** Make sure that there is no room for escape! Greens will try and jump out of even the smallest hole, and before you know it they'll be laying on the ground outside of the tank. I would make sure that you have a HUGE filter too, because those guys can poop almost as much as they can eat. All in all though, they are absolutly one of my FAVORITE fish of all time. They are incredibly beautiful with those jeweled turquoise cheeks!

Green sunfish are hardy in the aquarium, but IME can be a bit aggressive. Keep an eye on your larger individuals for conspecific aggression.

Hopefully they are hardy, I gave them some live feeders for now to make sure they eat, they seem infatuated with there own reflections lol. The larger ones seem really mellow, the biggest one is especially calm.

I too have kept Green Sunfish, and have found them to be VERY AGGRESSIVE!!! Their mouths are equivilent to those of Bass and they have voracious appetites.

***** ONE THING TO NOTE***** Make sure that there is no room for escape! Greens will try and jump out of even the smallest hole, and before you know it they'll be laying on the ground outside of the tank. I would make sure that you have a HUGE filter too, because those guys can poop almost as much as they can eat. All in all though, they are absolutly one of my FAVORITE fish of all time. They are incredibly beautiful with those jeweled turquoise cheeks!

I've noticed they like to jump, and the top has glass I move to make sure they have no area to jump out of . I'll be running 2 penguin 330s, so I should be good on filtration.

The question comes up:

Will 6 sunfish do decently in this tank with 2 330 penguin filters set up? If I go down to 5 could I add some sort of bottom dweller? Trying to decide where exactly to go with the tank, either onto a bottom dweller or some sort of schooling species that isn't very big. I'm unsure.

I think you'll find that the Green's will eat a lot of other fish you could add. As they say around here, if another fish will fit in it's mouth, it will probably end up there.

I'm curious to see how this turns out. I have been thinking about doing a 55gal for a sunfish tank as well. Keep us updated on water stability, and well being of your fish.

Yes, it would be tough to add anything that isn't over 5''+ without the chance that it ends up being food. You could try adding a creek chub or maybe a yellow bullhead. Though they both can be in the 10-12'' range.

Yes, it would be tough to add anything that isn't over 5''+ without the chance that it ends up being food. You could try adding a creek chub or maybe a yellow bullhead. Though they both can be in the 10-12'' range.

I'm considering a form of shiner as dithers or something, considering they are so cheap at my local baitshop... but I'm unsure as of yet.

I'm considering a form of shiner as dithers or something, considering they are so cheap at my local baitshop... but I'm unsure as of yet.

I hope your shiners are pretty huge. My 2in. green sunfish ate a sailfin molly that was almost half the size of him.
As everyone else said, I think maybe a yellow bullhead, or a huge golden shiner or creek chub would do ok. Possibly another species of aggresive sunfish would do. Im not very good with sunfish so maybe someone else can help.

I hope your shiners are pretty huge. My 2in. green sunfish ate a sailfin molly that was almost half the size of him.
As everyone else said, I think maybe a yellow bullhead, or a huge golden shiner or creek chub would do ok. Possibly another species of aggresive sunfish would do. Im not very good with sunfish so maybe someone else can help.

The ones at the local bait shop are pretty big, I hate bullheads, caught a few in the pond and the suckers are so huge/mean looking, not a big fan of em, looking for more schooling fish than anything, something that when the sunfish get larger I can simply dispose of via my nile monitor.