Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Blue gill in tank

Has anyone tried putting gill and bass in an aquarium ? How does it work, good or bad, what do you feed the smaller blue gill and bass

I just started a small, 10 gal aquarium with couple of bluegill and a small channel catfish. The problem is, that I never had aquarium before and there is more to it than just putting all the ingredients in a container and turning on the aeration and filters. (that stuff is relatively loud and my vife kicked me and my aquarium out to the garage) The water has to age, establish altae and some other stuff and it is common that the first inhabitants die. People get guppies as the first sacrifitial fish. But you may know all that already.

I am guessing that 75 gal is probably minimum if you want to observe natural behavior. They readily take to the aquarium fish feed, but I feed them mostly the same food that I put in the feeder in my pond. I crush it up a little for the fathead minnows. They eat the food OK, but you should see what they do when I catch little minnows in the ditch outside and throw them in. They twitch a little from the change in water chemistry and temperature, but not for long. They get brutally attacked and gulped down. Friend of mine had a pet Bass and he even jumped out to eat minnows and crickets from his hand. Keep a cover on, they like to jump out of the aquarium. I would really like to see them spawn.
In the end, my main purpose for starting an aquarium is to keep my Tilapia alive in the winter.

In Lima, OH, there's a refinery called Premcor (it used to be BP).

In their visitor's lobby, they had a fish tank with blue gill and LMB. While I was waiting for my meeting to happen, I dug a few worms from the dirt outside the lobby and dropped them in the tank; both the blue gill and the LMB were eating them.

The refinery was trying to make a point that the water they were taking and using from the local river was actually cleaner (due to their environmental controls) when they discharged it back into the river.

Thanks I never thought of the same food you use for the pond I was thinking food you get from the aquarium, I am working on my thinking outside the box thing, looks as if I still need practice. I have had a lot of aquariums but the wife has always wanted the pretty fish but I got smart and talked my little girl who loves the pond into putting them in so needless to say I had to use trickery but got what I wanted. Bass are going in next probably just one though. I am going to try a tad pole for the kid. As for the noise in yours keep the filter clean if not they rumble and you cant here the tv. Never put on in a bedroom.

I think I had a really noisy filter and I returned it to Walmart. Someone advised me to go with the undergravel kind and it is now much quieter. Haven't tried to move the aquarium back yet. I haven't been home for the last 3 wks, so I don't know how it's going. I just know that so far every mosquito fish I put in died, and most of the fathead minnows died too. Is it realistic to expect the fatheads to spawn?

I am buy no means an expert on fatheads but if I were to guess the answer to your question is yes, Getting anything to spawn in a captive environment is tough trust me I have tried it with other fish, (mostly aquarium fish) short of guppys and mollies everything else seems to be tough, If you want to put the time in it I would say go for it One thing though you have to watch I know other fish will eat there own when born SO you will have to invest in a breeding cage and as the fish appear t be going to do there thing you will have to seperate them. Do you know if fatheads are born live or eggs straight out of the fish? I would also say since you put them in a aquarium and they all died that your not off to a very good start. I would do some research maybe you tempeture of your water was wrong or you put to many in too fast try it again and put in 1 fish per 10 gallon let them sit for a couple weeks see what happens. Another thing what temp. do they spawn at or does it matter? If its like a bass can you get the water temp. down to that level? If you keeo them inside you can only get it a cool as the house. I would say it would be easier to buy em ay 6.50 a pound. probably cheaper to. One more thing If you have not been home for three weeks how would you find the time to babysit them? Leave it up to the wife?

That's the nature of my job. I am gone for weeks at a time so I cannot undertake any intensive babysitting project like that. My daughter is trying to prove that she is responsible enough to have her own aquarium, so at least I have someone to feed the two bluegill and channel cat that are making it. It is really ramarcable how their behavior is different. The bluegill are now feeling at home and they hit everything that I put in. They spit out the fish food pellets and than eat them again - my guess is that they are eating the outer, soggy layer. The channel cat hides under a rock all day and waits for the food to hit the bottom. When the first pellet hits within site, it goes out and starts checking the bottom for other pellets. I really need a bigger aquarium go give them more space.

If by mosquito fish you are talking Gambusias, you really do suck at aquariums. I like to keep a small predator and feed them Gambusias from a trough. I've broken ice to get them out and didn't bother to warm them up before dropping them into the aquarium. They always live. Drop them in hot sand, rinse them off and they're ready to go. I have yet to play with a tougher fish.

I just looked up Mosquito fish picture, just to make sure, and that is definitely the type of fish I am killing. Maybe they don't like what I feed them. Either way, I am not going to put anymore in for now.

i have two fish tanks at home and now have 4 large tanks on our property.. i've heard people rasing bgills and bass in large tanks.. should be similar as far as water temp, ph.. etc. .. i've had very good luck with a product called carbo plus.. i use it for my plants if you were considering cover for you fish.. .but 75 gal sounds right.. i'd love to have one.. setup up with about 4 bgills....

good luck

Ed, If you want an education, drop an earthworm in your aquarium. If it makes it by the bluegills, watch how the catfish takes it. He starts at one end and sucks it in like a kid going after spaghetti.

I tried that, but maybe the worm was too big. The bluegill jumped on it and on the first try the worm extended, so the long part was sticking out of it's mouth and the other was coming out of it's gills. The catfish grabbed it and was working on it like you said, like a kid sucking in spaghetti. But it wasn't fast enough, because another bluegill attacked the outside pard of the worm and pulled most of it from the catfish. It still could not swallow the whole piece, so it was swimming aound with about 1/4" of the worm sticking out of it's mouth, trying to keep the other fish from attacking it. It was really funny. I chopped up a worm this morning into smaller pieces and the bluegill love it. But the catfish is not interested when it's not moving. It bumps into the pieces and it doesn't look like it even recognizes them as food. It still eats the fish food pellets. Maybe it will learn. I haven't seen the fish in 3 wks and it seems that the bluegill grew since than.

You might try www.aquariacentral.com for some more info on aquarium projects. I just sold my 125 gallon that at one time had 2 10" channels and 5 5" bluegill in it with no problems. I released them into the pond before they got any larger. Large fish need large aquariums. I raise a couple of the smaller bluegill I catch from my pond every now and then in a 40 gallon breeder tank until they get to the size I like and transfer them to the pond. Good luck.

Strange thing - ever since htat bluegill pulled the worm from what must have been the cat's stomach, the cat will not touch worms. I was cutting them up, so I thought maybe it was because they were not moving. But it doesn't even go for a small wiggling one. I guess the unpleasant memory must be stronger than the instinct to go after the worm. I may swap it out with one of it's siblings in the lake.

That's it. My catfish is getting fired. It must have been a traumatic experience for it because it spits out the worms even when it gets them in it's mouth. I am going to release it and catch another one.

The main reason I got the aquarium was to learn something about the native fish, and it is definitely serving it's purpose. If this catfish will not touch worms after so long, even when marginally hungry, I believe that says something about the ones that got away. They will be VERY difficult to catch with the same bait, if at all.

I am just going to update this thread for the sake of someone trying this in the future.

It seems that there is always one Bluegill and one Catfish, that outgrow all the others. Since I only have 10 gal aquarium and the dominant fish starts to crowd out the others, I always release the big ones and catch some smaller ones. The Bullhead catfish spend most of the time under rocks, or under the plant. When I feed, they start stirring, but only one is brave enough to come to the surface to get some food. When the lights go out, they loose their inhibitions. The Bluegill now come to the front glass when they see me and wait for the fish food to hit the surface. I am using aquarium fish pellets. I learned what I wanted to know about the food I feed at the pond. 1/4" pellets are too big for the 3.5" Bluegill. They wait for the 1/8" pellets to get soggy, take them in their mouths and spit out the hard part. Repeat.
Life is tough at the bottom of the food chain.

Now I am catching Tilapia out of my pond and putting them in two, 55 gal drums in my garrage so I have some stock in the spring. I will also release all my Bluegill and keep maybe just one 6" catfish. From what I read, I am worried that the Tilapia males will kill each other, until only one per tank remains. (not exactly sure how they would do this) Still not sure what to feed them.

If I can find used 75-100 gal aquarium this winter, I will try to get the Bluegill to spawn next year, after the Tilapia go back in the wild.