Bluegill

DanDMan

Quote:

The bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) is native from the Lake Champlain and
southern Ontario region through the Great Lakes to Minnesota, and south to
northeastern Mexico, the Gulf States, and the Carolinas The species has been widely introduced outside its native range
(Pflieger 1975).

Bluegills are opportunistic feeders which can alter their diet according
to food availability. Fry feed primarily on zooplankton
and small insects. Juveniles and adults feed on zooplankton,
aquatic and terrestrial insects, and some plant materials.

Reproduction
Bluegills are repeat spawners and the spawning season may extend from
spring through summer. Spawning occurs from 17 to
31° C, with peak spawning at 24-27° C. Bluegills are guarding,
nest building lithophils. Nests are usually found in quiet,
shallow (1-3 m) water. Although spawning will occur
over almost any substrate, fine gravel or sand is preferred. Incubation time ranges from 1.5 to 5 days, depending on
ambient water temperature.

Specific Habitat Requirements
Bluegills are most abundant along shoreline areas in lentie and lentic-type environments such as ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and large low velocity streams. In riverine habitats, bluegills are mostly restricted to areas of low velocity. Adult bluegills were captured primarily in backwater areas of the Missouri River. Hardin and Bovee (1978) developed probability of use curves showing that adults prefer current velocities < 10 cm/sec but will tolerate up to 45 cm/sec.

Optimal lacustrine habitat is characterized by fertile lakes, ponds, and
reservoirs with extensive (> 20% of lacustrine surface area) littoral areas
(Emig 1966; Scott and Crossman 1973). However, deeper areas are also required
for overwintering and retreat from the summer heat (Scott and Crossman 1973).

Jenkins (1976) reported a significant positive correlation between TDS levels
of 100-350 ppm and sportfish (including sunfishes) standing crops in a group
of predominately southeastern reservoirs.
Cover in both lacustrine and riverine habitats in the form of submerged
vegetation or logs and brush is utilized by the species, especially juveniles
and small adults (Moyle and Nichols 1973; Scott and Crossman 1973). However,
an excessive abundance of vegetation can inhibit utilization of prey by blue-
gills. Populations of stunted individuals have been associated with an exces-
sive amount of aquatic vegetation which may inhibit the utilization of blue-
gills as prey (Anderson, pers. comm.). Bluegills also nest in unvegetated
areas (Weaver and Ziebell 1976). Lack of cover may also be a problem
(Anderson, pers. comm.).

Water quality criteria for bluegills in both riverine and lacustrine
habitats are outlined as follows: optimal growth and reproductive potential
occurs in waters of low to moderate turbidities (< 50 ppm). Bluegills can tolerate a pH range of 4.0 to 10.3 but pH levels at these extremes have caused at
last partial kills. Optimal levels are 6.5-8.5. Bluegills can tolerate dissolved
oxygen levels < 1.0 nng/1 for short durations but will avoid levels
of 1.5-3.0 mg/1. Optimal levels are > 5.0 mg/1 (Petit
1973).

Bluegills will not tolerate salinities > 5.6 ppt, and
prefer salinity levels < 3.6 ppt.
Adult. Optimal growth of adult bluegills occurs near 27° C . No growth occurs below 10° C or above 30° C (Anderson 1959; Emig
1966). The reported ultimate upper incipient lethal temperature for bluegill
is 35° C. Optimal temperatures for successful embryo development are
22-27° C, and development will occur from 22-34° C . Optimal temperatures for fry are 25-32° C.

Fry will not survive temperatures below 11° C or above 34° C

Juvenile. The highest specific growth rate of juvenile bluegill occur in
waters of 30° C and the growth range is 22-34° C

tamo42

Great info.

It seems like having seasonal temps vary from about 25 - 30 would be ideal.

Any info on growout times?

DanDMan

I think Matthew said his grew up to 1/2 pound (227 grams). In one season, but that they were eatable at that size. That is why I go twice as many fish.

Mathew

I have had very good results with Blue Gill.

they are not the fastest growers... however... there are other factors that out weigh this in my opinion.

First, the 1/2 pound size is nice to eat and the meat texture and flavor is (In my opinion) superior to Tilapia, Bass, and Cat fish, comparable to the Crappie.

Next, they breed, REALLY breed. They breed so well for me that they will actually feed the other fish and still leave plenty for grow out next season. Raising these fry/fingerlings is easy, explained below.

Next, they grow through the winter. granted a little slower, but by spring some are ready to be eaten and the others will have a hugh head start on the summer.

Next, they are very tolerant. I find that they can definately handle even higher temps than are mentioned above. They indeed handle a low D.O., and high PH has had little effect on them. And we used to catch them in frozen ponds further north when I was young.

Next, they are great eaters. They will clean up algea on the tank/pool walls, keep bugs that fall in .. cleaned up, and any and all bugs that you throw in, including the BSF which they love. They also take very well to peletized feed.

Finally, they are good for swimming pools, they will sometimes even eat out of your hand. If you put your feet in, they will give you a pedicure

(people actually pay big $ for that, I get it for free). Just make sure they are well fed, otherwise they bite a little harder, nothing serious though.

As for raising them, once they start to spawn, if you are able to scoop out the fry and place them in a separate tank, then you will only need to make sure that the tank has a small bubbler. I put over 500 of them in a 200 gallon tank (about 18 inches deep) with a little water mint/celery, and duck weed, to take care of nutrients. The tank was partially shaded to allow the sun to keep it fairly warm, not hot, and not to allow much algea (so I could see them). I found that by letting the water sit out stagnant with only a small bubbler (very small) for a while before I put the fry in, the water fleas (known by many names) and other zooplankton showed up. Once they had multiplied the fry had plenty of food to eat and they were very happy.

Keep them realatively well graded. If there is too much of a difference in size and the feed is limited, then they WILL eat each other. I found that 3 blue gill, 2" in size, can eat 300 tilapia fry in 3 days... yes, I said I found this, I proved it... accidentally of course.

On a cooking note, if you cook them up in a crock pot for 12 - 24 hours (depends on the size of the fish, skeletal mass) you can eat the whole fish up bones and all. Then you get all the calcium and other nutrients. Totally safe for giving to young children too, no risk of a bone slipping down the throat. Of course this is true of all fish, not just Blue gill.

Mathew

fishwrangler

Mathew wrote:

I have had very good results with Blue Gill.

they are not the fastest growers... however... there are other factors that out weigh this in my opinion.

First, the 1/2 pound size is nice to eat and the meat texture and flavor is (In my opinion) superior to Tilapia, Bass, and Cat fish, comparable to the Crappie.

Next, they breed, REALLY breed. They breed so well for me that they will actually feed the other fish and still leave plenty for grow out next season. Raising these fry/fingerlings is easy, explained below.

Next, they grow through the winter. granted a little slower, but by spring some are ready to be eaten and the others will have a hugh head start on the summer.

Next, they are very tolerant. I find that they can definately handle even higher temps than are mentioned above. They indeed handle a low D.O., and high PH has had little effect on them. And we used to catch them in frozen ponds further north when I was young.

Next, they are great eaters. They will clean up algea on the tank/pool walls, keep bugs that fall in .. cleaned up, and any and all bugs that you throw in, including the BSF which they love. They also take very well to peletized feed.

Finally, they are good for swimming pools, they will sometimes even eat out of your hand. If you put your feet in, they will give you a pedicure

(people actually pay big $ for that, I get it for free). Just make sure they are well fed, otherwise they bite a little harder, nothing serious though.

As for raising them, once they start to spawn, if you are able to scoop out the fry and place them in a separate tank, then you will only need to make sure that the tank has a small bubbler. I put over 500 of them in a 200 gallon tank (about 18 inches deep) with a little water mint/celery, and duck weed, to take care of nutrients. The tank was partially shaded to allow the sun to keep it fairly warm, not hot, and not to allow much algea (so I could see them). I found that by letting the water sit out stagnant with only a small bubbler (very small) for a while before I put the fry in, the water fleas (known by many names) and other zooplankton showed up. Once they had multiplied the fry had plenty of food to eat and they were very happy.

Keep them realatively well graded. If there is too much of a difference in size and the feed is limited, then they WILL eat each other. I found that 3 blue gill, 2" in size, can eat 300 tilapia fry in 3 days... yes, I said I found this, I proved it... accidentally of course.

On a cooking note, if you cook them up in a crock pot for 12 - 24 hours (depends on the size of the fish, skeletal mass) you can eat the whole fish up bones and all. Then you get all the calcium and other nutrients. Totally safe for giving to young children too, no risk of a bone slipping down the throat. Of course this is true of all fish, not just Blue gill.

Mathew

Great info Matt, thanks.

What size tanks are your Blluegill kept in? What kind of densities are you comfortable with? Do you provide cover (driftwood, artificial or real plants, or any sort of hide)? Do they have a bottom substrate?

And as for the cooking- you can achieve the same thing in an hour or so in a pressure cooker. My grandad used to do this with lots of different types of fish- carp and gar even. He would de-scale, and gut the fish, de-head them and place them in salt and seasoning in a pressure cooker. When they were done, he would break up the fish and add crackers or breadcrumbs and a bit of oil and make patties to pan fry or broil.

tamo42

Hmm, fishburgers sound tasty.

fishygrown

Good to hear this. The fishes behavior really seemed to be suited for AP. Can't wait to try it.

JohnnyH

try a search for Georgia giant f1 hybrid bream

monsters! :shock:

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nwestwood

I have to have had Bluegill in my AP system for the last 6 months. Growth is slower, but they are a very hardy fish. I had zero deaths until I added fingerling hybrid bass to the same tank, the bass came down with cotton mouth and I lost a bunch of them before I got it controlled, but in all that I only lost 2 bluegill. I have a 275 gallon tote as my tank, with 100 bluegill and 70 bass.
http://www.utahcountyweather.com/Utah_Aquaponic_System.htm

kellenw

nwestwood wrote:

I have to have had Bluegill in my AP system for the last 6 months. Growth is slower, but they are a very hardy fish. I had zero deaths until I added fingerling hybrid bass to the same tank, the bass came down with cotton mouth and I lost a bunch of them before I got it controlled, but in all that I only lost 2 bluegill. I have a 275 gallon tote as my tank, with 100 bluegill and 70 bass.
http://www.utahcountyweather.com/Utah_Aquaponic_System.htm

I assume you mean hybrid striped bass. If so, HSB prefer cooler water than bluegill. In higher temps they get stressed and are prone to fungus issues. HSB will feed on BG that are 1/4 their size also.

kellenw

White Bass are closely related to hybrid striped bass (they are one of the fish used in the making of the hybrid). They grow quickly but don't get quite as big as the HSB. They are more tolerant of higher water temps. Good tasting fish also.

TCLynx

I know that in pond culture, bluegill are the prey of bass. However, I've been told that in tank culture, bluegill are actually quite aggressive and able to kill the bass. Or perhaps just stress them to death.

How have people been doing with the bluegill in with other species of fish in tank culture? Are the bluegill able to co-habitate with other species in tanks? If so what are the observations?

spiritrancho

I brought in 100 bluegill 2" fry in May. They are now about 4in or about twice as large after four months. I did lose some after the transport, say 10 or so. Since then I have only lost one after trying to net out some larger goldfish. I think I smashed him against the tank bottom. They get on fine with the goldfish. I have them divided, half in a 150 gal. tank and half in a 270 gal IBC. Could probably support three times as much but my veggies die back in heat of summer and low light in the greenhouse. My water temps have run as high as 82 deg. F. with no fish lost. I keep a bug light over each tank and feed both 2 Tbls. of catfish pellets morning and evening. They do eat the algae off the sides of the tanks.
There has been no evidence of breeding. Perhaps they were to small to breed when the water temp was right. Now it may be to late this year for this bunch. I plan to buy another hundred bluegill for my outdoor pond and add 50 more to each tank in the green house, this month. They seem the perfect fish for my high desert climate.

nwestwood

I should log in more often, you guys have lots going on over here.

By way of update. My Bluegill are all kinds of sizes now, from 6" down to 3", thats the problem with Bluegill, they should really be graded regularly and sorted, but when you have one tank, no can do.

6" is considered harvest size for these guys, now they grow much slower. I may not stock them again, now that the system is established. I like the Hybrid Striped Bass much better.

The HSB seem to leave the Bluegill alone as the HSB's were put in as 1" fingerling's when the Bluegill were 3"+. Temperature wise, the Bluegill tolerate a much wider range then HSB, Bluegill will grow in 55-80 degree water (13-27C), HSB grow best in 72-80 (21-27C).

To complicate matters, now that we are going into winter, I've let my tank temps fall down to 65 (19C) AND added Rainbow Trout to the system 6 weeks ago.

They are co-existing well at the moment, the trout are voracious feeders and that spiked my ammonia and has raised the nitrates (adding another grow bed). All the fish are feeding well and I keep the temps at 65 or above.

The supplier for the trout is a friend of mine and he also manages the massive polyculture tanks at the nearby Cabala's store. He says that if the fish are all pellet trained, AND about the same size, AND you keep them feed, they will not eat each other. I'll see when we begin catching them out for dinner in a few months.

I was taught there are two rules of fish farming:
#1 Big fish eat little fish
#2 If they can fit it into their mouths they will.

so, we will see. For now, this poly culture is a lot of fun

spiritrancho

I ordered 150 four inch blue gill. What I got was 100 one inch fish and about 50 four inch. I put the small ones in the outside pond and the larger ones in a 250 gal tank. The fish farm then delivered another 50 three inch fish with apologies. I put them in the 150 gal tank. Next spring I will drain the pond and net the small fish to go in the green house and put all the larger fish in the pond for breeding. After grading like this I should have some for the table. Early each spring I will harvest the largest fish and grade again. Hopefully they will breed in the pond and keep me going.
This system works for me. I pump 200 gal out of the pond to the dirt garden regularly. the two tanks in the green house give good tomatoe and green foods all winter from the two grow beds. I want to harvest fish when the water is cool so the flesh is firm and tasty.

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Bluegill

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