Me and a buddy caught about a dozen small (2-3 inch) bluegills tonight, as well as three baby (about an inch long) bullheads.
He’s got a fairly large aquarium set up that he’s not using, and we’re thinking of filling it with local fish (the ones we caught tonight, and possibly more).
We are looking for advice on how to set this up.
Our main question is: What would these fish eat? How do we feed them?
Any other advice would be welcome as well.
Thanks
contact your local DNR
Bluegills eat almost anything. I’d feed them goldfish food (flakes or pellets), twice a day, each time about as much as they can eat in 15 min.
In my limited experience, wild-caught bluegills are a bit skittish. I’d suggest giving them plenty of hiding places and keeping a lid over the tank so they don’t jump out.
It’s possible that keeping wild-caught bluegills is illegal where you live. (I know they’re bluegills, but you’d be surprised at the cockamamie laws that exist in some places.)
I have done this with both types you mentioned, and they did not cohabitate well (they tended to jump out of the tank to avoid each other).
Plenty of room, lots of hiding places (I used clay flowerpots, upside down with a chunk gone from the side to make a cave).
If they have no color in thier surroundings, the bluegill will be colorless.
As to the law: Maine state law requires that any fish I catch be either killed or released immediately. SWAG: that’s to prevent fish being moved from one place to another where they could be damaging or spread disease. Your mileage may vary.
A friend of mine did/does this with fish he catches in the private creek behind my house. His main objective is feeding his turtle, but he keeps a few bluegill (that’s perch, right?) for ambiance.
He uses regular fish food and he regularly gathers a supply of minnows and smaller fish in general to feed them.
He also has a few well-placed pieces of shale for hiding.
I too wanted to do something a little different and have a tank of local native fish (central Texas). I called a local fish hatchery (I guess they exist for rancher’s stock ponds-I don’t know) and they explained that the State of Texas considers native fish their property and I would have to meet some qualifications, get a mess of permits, and pay some fees if I wanted to get some bass, trout or whatever (I forgot what they had). They said that it was illegal for me to keep wild caught fish as pets, so I gave up (my daughter likes the little pretty colored ones better anyway- oh well). You might want to check your local game laws, you don’t want to have game wardens doing a SWAT like operation on your livingroom. I have heard that they don’t have to follow the same procedures for searches as the local PD does.