Green Sunfish or Bluegills for a 75 gallon?

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MonsterCichlids75

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 15, 2012
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Boston, MA
hey everyone, ive got a few questions...right now i've got a 75 gallon tank with 2 male bluegills, they are both about 5 inches..there is also a 9 inch bullhead catfish in the tank with them. In my smaller 29 gallon tank, i have 2 green sunfish that are both about 2.5- 3 inches and i can already tell i have a male and female because one has a slightly larger head and mouth than the other and is showing more defined darker stripes than the other.. I'm growing the greens out a few inches more in the 29, with hopes of keeping them in the 75 gallon in the near future. But now this is the question i'm stuck with... which set up will work best in a 75 gallon for life? option A: 2 male bluegill & 1 bullhead OR Option B: 1 male Green and 1 female Green sunfish & 1 bullhead? Or, let me ask could i keep 1 of the bluegills and mix him with the greens in the 75 gal? Also, (sorry about all the questions!) The bullhead was the most recent addition to the tank, i scooped him up 3 days ago and i still havn't gotten him to eat. I made a rick rock cave perfect for his size and he chills in there during the day time, and multiple times i have placed either bloodworms, superworms, krill, ect. at the front of his cave right in front of his face and i just watch it sit there he shows no intention of eating any of it. But when i turn the tank light off at night he comes out and lurks around and i throw in frozen bloodworms and a few hikari carnivore pellets and in the morning the food is gone...but i don't know if the bluegills are eating the food during the night of the catfish lol are there any particular foods that bullheads will go for even during the day?
thanks for the help i know its a lot to answer!
 
Just give the greenies some time to growing before add to the 75 with a bullhead.
 
a standard 75G is too small for a bluegill, much less 2. a 120G wide would be tight, but doable. same goes for a bullhead. the smallest species of bullheads reach about 18"-the same width as your 75G. the greens would be fine in it for life.
the blues may be eating at night. from what I've read they do most of their foraging at dusk that's why I feed mine during their dusk light period, not that they will ever turn down food. the bullhead should come around if you stop feeding before lights out. feed in the morning and eventually it'll get hungry enough to come out.
 
Gill Blue said:
a standard 75G is too small for a bluegill, much less 2. a 120G wide would be tight, but doable. same goes for a bullhead. the smallest species of bullheads reach about 18"-the same width as your 75G. the greens would be fine in it for life.
the blues may be eating at night. from what I've read they do most of their foraging at dusk that's why I feed mine during their dusk light period, not that they will ever turn down food. the bullhead should come around if you stop feeding before lights out. feed in the morning and eventually it'll get hungry enough to come out.
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A 75gal sounds right for a Northern bluegill but the greens can get HUGE up to 12" in capitivity easily than in the wild so a 75gal may not hold two aggressive greenie for life. Most bullheads averaged 10-14" but we have captured few 18" bullheads but that is uncommon.
 
75 is good for a single BG on its own. If you want a nice smaller sunfish that you can actually have a few in there look for orange spot sunfish, they get to be about the size of a dwarf geo but are really neat and stunning fish. MN_Rebel, the BG's get huge in captivity as well, we had two 9k gallon tanks at the cabelas I worked at a few years ago and they came in hand size and grew to a good 12" in a matter of months under ideal conditions. They can get large too.
 
Raymond Sugel Jr said:
75 is good for a single BG on its own. If you want a nice smaller sunfish that you can actually have a few in there look for orange spot sunfish, they get to be about the size of a dwarf geo but are really neat and stunning fish. MN_Rebel, the BG's get huge in captivity as well, we had two 9k gallon tanks at the cabelas I worked at a few years ago and they came in hand size and grew to a good 12" in a matter of months under ideal conditions. They can get large too.
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Your Cabelas may have good stock but most Cabelas do not grow their own fish and they usually got the sunfish at that size from DNR and the private hatcheries depend on what state. Yes the bluegill can get huge in a home aquarium but not that common.
 
12" green is too big, but a 16" bluegill is just right? my biggest gill was 7" at the end of it's first year. even if it only matches it's first years growth in the next 7 years that's a 14" fish.
 
Gill Blue said:
12" green is too big, but a 16" bluegill is just right? my biggest gill was 7" at the end of it's first year. even if it only matches it's first years growth in the next 7 years that's a 14" fish.
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A 16" bluegill is a freak of nature if it was Northern Bluegill. We sampled heavily in various lakes in Minnesota but no bluegill over 13" has found and any bluegill over 10" is rare in these lakes. The reason why a 75gal might not suitable for a pair (IF they are pair) of greenie is due to their aggressive behavior.

To be fair but a 16" bluegill isn't excatly average size for the bluegills.
 
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