View Full Version : keeping native bluehgill or.........
toxicfish
07-18-2005, 3:07 AM
how do u get a native fish to thrive in a tank use lake water or what? (michigan)
I never tryed but thinking abt it......maybe like rock bass or bluegill.
any help will be appreciated. :headbang2
WckedMidas
07-18-2005, 5:23 AM
catch them and aclimate them like you would a bought fish. They wil eat anything . They act and behave just like cichlids some are even meaner. Make sure the watter you have them in is as close to tank temp and slowly swich the watter till they are use to the tank watter then throw in a tank and feed them
If you keep them at tropical instead of temperate temps. they are sensitive to ich and fungus. Use a drip system and aclimate slowly. They are great fish and mean little snots. They train to hand feeding.
Going from a lake/river to a tank is a tremendous change in scenery and water conditions. Heat the water to around 75 degrees. Make sure the fish have lots of plants/rocks/wood to hide behind. Turn the aquarium lights out and let the fish be for about 4 days. On the 5th day offer them some crickets or an earthworm. If they eat go ahead and feed them for the next few days and then try things with the aquarium light on. This makes the transition much easier. Also make sure you have GOOD aeration.
The TRUST
07-19-2005, 1:37 PM
IMO the best way that has worked for me in acclimating natives to tropical temps is to set up a tiny holding tank for a day. and have it at room temp. then acclimate them into the holding tanks temp. after tehy are acclimated, wait a few hours then throw a heater in, slowly raise the temp to the tropical temp as they should be fine.
Fish acclimating from cold to warm seem to stress more than warm to cold.
My blue gill lives in a 5g jar, they get switched out every few weeks, they ussually eat the same day they go in and a few have taken crickets and mealworms while still in the bucket within minutes of being caught, temp. change is what to watch. Other fish are more sensitive.
magic
07-20-2005, 12:31 PM
i dont think blue gill are that sensitive... i just dumped the one i caught straight into my tropical tank, it hid for maybe an hour in back then came up and acted normal. by the next day it was begging for food! just like my old oscar! now it acts alot like my old oscar, i think it is really cool. btw where i caught it the water was probably almost as warm as my aquarium.
after i had an accident (forgot to add dechlor) and my cichlids died, i lowered the temp to about 70-72F.
piranha45
07-20-2005, 1:18 PM
My blue gill lives in a 5g jar, they get switched out every few weeks, they ussually eat the same day they go in and a few have taken crickets and mealworms while still in the bucket within minutes of being caught, temp. change is what to watch. Other fish are more sensitive.
do you have any filtration or aeration in your 5g?
do you have any filtration or aeration in your 5g?
A little box filter and an extra air stone, 50% ware change from pond weekly.
I don't see the purpose of heating the tank for a north american fish? Especially if it causes problems.. H'rm. Plus, cold water holds more o2.
I don't see the purpose of heating the tank for a north american fish? Especially if it causes problems.. H'rm. Plus, cold water holds more o2.
Agreed, but some na natives will adapt well to tropical temps so you can keep them with your other fish, like warmouth, gar, bowfin, pygmy sunnies, and a few more.
toxicfish
07-20-2005, 9:25 PM
You ppl are a BIG HELP!!:headbang2 ....ill try something when i catch a blueGill tomorow
nativelover
07-21-2005, 12:43 AM
i usually catch a bunch o baby blugill and sunnies about 1/4-1/2 " put them in a 5 gal bucket. keep them in my room over night next to my 29 gal. the in the morning i put them in it, the tank stays at 75 deg. F. naturally but has a heater so it does not drop below 72 deg. , just in case. i let the bluegill and sunnies grow to about 2" to the point where i can see exactly what is what , and the colors start to develop. i pick about 3-4 of them i want, then either let the rest go were i got them or go catfishin. when they get about 5" they go in with my oscar in the 75 gal. Ive done this about 5 times, only the first 2 were in a ten gal, then put into the 29. that was b-4 i got my 75....
p.s. to make them feel even more comfortable, float plastic plants at the top. they like to hide in thses more than in rocksa and rooted plants, or burried plastics. i would also recomend plastic plants 'cause the BG like to "garden". theye tear up everything IMO.
nativelover
07-21-2005, 12:44 AM
i usually catch a bunch o baby blugill and sunnies about 1/4-1/2 " put them in a 5 gal bucket. keep them in my room over night next to my 29 gal. the in the morning i put them in it, the tank stays at 75 deg. F. naturally but has a heater so it does not drop below 72 deg. , just in case. i let the bluegill and sunnies grow to about 2" to the point where i can see exactly what is what , and the colors start to develop. i pick about 3-4 of them i want, then either let the rest go were i got them or go catfishin. when they get about 5" they go in with my oscar in the 75 gal. Ive done this about 5 times, only the first 2 were in a ten gal, then put into the 29 :screwy: . that was b-4 i got my 75.... :headbang2
p.s. to make them feel even more comfortable, float plastic plants at the top. they like to hide in thses more than in rocksa and rooted plants, or burried plastics. i would also recomend plastic plants 'cause the BG like to "garden" :hitting: . theye tear up everything IMO.
btw: :welcome: TO NATIVE KEEPING :cheers:
Blackwater
07-21-2005, 9:15 PM
I thought you had to run a chiller on the tank in the summer? Anybody have any pics of set ups with these fish in them?
guppy
07-21-2005, 10:13 PM
Most sunnies don't need chillers, pygmy sunnies fade out around 78f
id10t
07-21-2005, 10:14 PM
Hope you don't need a chiller. The thousands of bluegills in the 5 acre pond at my house won't survive these Florida temps where the water is in the high 80s... and I hope those poor 'gills in the Springs down the road a few miles aren't gonna die in that water that stays at 72 year round...
nativelover
08-01-2005, 1:11 AM
I thought you had to run a chiller on the tank in the summer? Anybody have any pics of set ups with these fish in them?
if u have A/c or keep your house at livable temps the tank and fish will be fine, if your really worried about it, set up a canister filtet nd run it through a frezer to keep the water cooler. when i was little my nieghbor kept small stream trout in his 100 gal. by running the filter through a small freezer set up next to his tank. he also kept the frozen food in the same freezer, so it wasnt really wasted space.
toxicfish
08-12-2005, 3:05 AM
I got a bluegill. But abt two days it started showing ick and know is dead. :cry:
I had it for abt 2 weeks and was doing fine and eating frozen krill.
Try salt treatment as part of your acclimatazation process. warmer water tends to bring it on and many smaller ponds that contain large nuumbers of fish also contain ick, out there they can avoid most of the larvae but in a tank they can't.
IMO the best way that has worked for me in acclimating natives to tropical temps is to set up a tiny holding tank for a day. and have it at room temp. then acclimate them into the holding tanks temp. after tehy are acclimated, wait a few hours then throw a heater in, slowly raise the temp to the tropical temp as they should be fine.
Fish acclimating from cold to warm seem to stress more than warm to cold.
thats how it done. iv'e done it several times. with bass, sunfish, trout, cat fish, pickeral.