I have a little blue gill, ( he bit a big lure so I thought I would be funny to keep him) anyways I have had him with yellow perch and gar, smallest guy in there and very very timid. I have him for about 3 months no problem. Today I added a Green Terror about his size. Now his fins are up, hes chasing the GT, biting the yellow perch (2x his size) and nipping the gar. WTF?? is going on?
Help, blue gill went rambo...
- Thread starter vaipulu
- Start date
He must have felt threatened by the Gt and got territorial....are you sure hes a Bluegill and not a Green sunfish or Greengill (Bluegill Green sunfish hybrid). I had some Greens who killed Oscars, Goldfish (of about the same size) and a Bala shark I put in their tank as tankmates (at different times), they can be a very aggressive fish.vaipulu;4261526;4261526 said:
You didnt mention what size tank you have, Native sunfish are territorial by nature, and when sexually mature, the males will build a nest and defend it against all in the tank regardless of size, especially those of a similar body shape.
This behaviour is not going away, there are some as was mentioned above that tend to be more aggressive, such as the Green Sunfish, but they all are territorial and in a smaller tank will never accept any fish that invades their assumed territory.
This behaviour is not going away, there are some as was mentioned above that tend to be more aggressive, such as the Green Sunfish, but they all are territorial and in a smaller tank will never accept any fish that invades their assumed territory.
Here is a few pics, Im not too sure what kind of blue gill or sunfish i have. He seems a little small to be sexually mature. I have had very large blue gill in there at one point, and they were little puss cakes. My temp is 77 degrees, tank is 55 gal (growout for my gar) sorry for the bad pics
Yep, appears to be a bluegill, nice lookin gar by the way, dont know what the temp question has to do with anything, unless that person may have suspected, the fish was acting that way because it may have been going into spawning mode by the temp??? Native do tend to be a little more aggressive at that time.
His max size can't be over 4 1/2 inches. He was caught on a lure that was his size at the time. Fiesty, he got real beat up by my buddys, I didn't think he would make it, but I threw him in and he made a full recovery. I don't see any places where it looked like a nest. I will try to lower the temp, but for now im going to keep him in the 120 gal. Hoping a "time out" might make a diffrence. Thanks for the complements. Can anyone tell if its a male or female?
Vaipulu, it may help if you can provide more territories. It won't stop the fish from charging the others but it limit the range. The blue gill will stay in the area it chooses. It will defend the area to about 1-2 inches past the edges of it's territory.
Any fish coming within range will be chased off. Now, if your other fish don't defend themselves, the bluegill will patrol the whole tank. It will also keep your other fish in submission.
Based on my experiences, when you add territories, most fish will change their behavior. They become more wild in their behavior. Predators stalk more and prey of course will hide more. Even a neon tetra will claim a territory and become a BOSS.
Good Luck, keep us updated.
Any fish coming within range will be chased off. Now, if your other fish don't defend themselves, the bluegill will patrol the whole tank. It will also keep your other fish in submission.
Based on my experiences, when you add territories, most fish will change their behavior. They become more wild in their behavior. Predators stalk more and prey of course will hide more. Even a neon tetra will claim a territory and become a BOSS.
Good Luck, keep us updated.
This is just simply a bad combination. No GT can outcompete a blugill for shear chutzpah and aggresiveness, neither can the yellow or the gar. One tip for keeping bluegills with other species is to introduce them to the tank all at one time. Do not attempt to add other fish after the gill has settled in, as the new fish will be seen as intruders into the territory. Thats why everything was fine until you added the GT, which by the way, is tropical, and will not do well at native temps.
Good luck, and rehouse the GT, and mix the decor of the tank all up to "reset" the territories.
Good luck, and rehouse the GT, and mix the decor of the tank all up to "reset" the territories.