pretty much any sunfish other than the bluegill or redear can live ok in a 55 for life(though a single fish might be ok). I have a warmouth and a longear in a 55. Great aquarium fish. Care is the same as cichlids as in a bunch of hiding spots and powerful filtration, just don't need a heater. Most sunnies quickly adjust to a diet of pellets and other store bought goodies. Spoil them with crickets and worms every once in a while and you'll have some fat little slabs in your tank.
Bluegill Tank Set Up
- Thread starter Sean6870
- Start date
There are actually quite a few really nice natives that you could keep in a tank that size without worry of them getting too big. Orange spots, obesus,blue spotted, dollars, punkinseeds. all bluegill shaped kinda but stay smaller. Then there is the rock bass, and shadow bass (very attractive), and warmouth. If you want native fish go after them they are out there. small gravel or sand substrate, rocks caves, drift wood, plants. Nature in a glas box for you to enjoy. and i havent even mentioned the Darters
I agree that bluegill are not the best choice for a 55. Bluegill, greens, and redbreasts all easily reach 12", which is a bit too big for such a narrow tank.
If you can get some longear sunfish, that would be perfect- they are gorgeous, relatively peaceful sunfish, and the subspecies in your area stays quite small, 5" or so. You could easily keep 4-5 in a 55. Just be sure to provide plenty of structure; when scaping the tank imagine that you are dividing it into rooms, one for each fish. This will limit aggression. It also helps to keep all fish of one gender.
Appropriate tankmates include moderate-to-large minnows, madtoms, studfish, and large darters such as blacksides and logperch. Moderate flow and mixed gravel/cobble substrate are a plus. Room temp is fine; water parameters are not critical so long as it's clean and fairly stable.
Let us know what you decide!
If you can get some longear sunfish, that would be perfect- they are gorgeous, relatively peaceful sunfish, and the subspecies in your area stays quite small, 5" or so. You could easily keep 4-5 in a 55. Just be sure to provide plenty of structure; when scaping the tank imagine that you are dividing it into rooms, one for each fish. This will limit aggression. It also helps to keep all fish of one gender.
Appropriate tankmates include moderate-to-large minnows, madtoms, studfish, and large darters such as blacksides and logperch. Moderate flow and mixed gravel/cobble substrate are a plus. Room temp is fine; water parameters are not critical so long as it's clean and fairly stable.
Let us know what you decide!
Sean6870;2356098; said:
There are lots of possible choices, in the bluegill shaped natives that stay small, such as Blue spotted sunfish, Dollar sunfish, Obesus, and the list goes on Visit a few verdor sites, Such as Zimmermans fish, Sachs Aquaculture, Jonahs fish, ksi aquatics. BT Darters, all these sites sell Native fish and all would be more than happy to help you pick fish that would be happy in your 55 without outgrowing it. Sunfish by nature are agressive, but not so much more so than, a lot of Chiclids. If you really want to keep natives do a little research on them. Youll get hooked I did after keeping everthing else out there for over 30 years.
