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I had some bluegills in my aquarium when I was a kid. They were really aggressive... tended to kill other fish. They didn't do very well either... but to be fair, I was about 12 years old and didn't really know what I was doing. I've read that American "sunfish" (of which bluegill are one of many species) are quite popular for aquariums in Europe.
A lot of people will warn you about wild fish introducing diseases into your tank. I'm not sure that's a huge concern though. Lots of aquarium fish are caught directly from the wild- and all over the world. As such, your local fish store is a cesspool of fish diseases... frankly I don't see how a bluegill out of the local cow pond would be any different. Sure wouldn't hurt to quarantine for a while beforehand just to be safe- which of course you're *supposed* to do for any new fish you introduce. But how many people outside high-dollar saltwater tanks actually do that?
I may give bluegill another try sometime just for laughs. I'll start with the assumption that they're pretty much like South/Central American cichlids... meaning they need lots of filtration. Plenty of cover in the tank breaking up their line-of-sight so they can each have their own little territory. And live food would be welcome... or even frozen shrimp. A well-fed fish is a peaceful fish. Just make sure you don't exceed what your filtration can handle. I think that'd work for most varieties of bass, bluegill, crappie, red-eye, etc.
I've also had a couple of channel cats over the years. They're pretty easy to take care of- their downsides being: They're prone to fungus. They will swallow ANYTHING that can even remotely fit in their mouth. They will hide during the day if you give them a place to do that. And they will eventually outgrow your tank- no matter how big it is.
Um no... you can't keep south american cichlids in a bowl with no filter. Well maybe you could with something little like Rams...
But generally speaking these are big, hungry fish. Messy eaters too. You pretty much have to have a good filtration system.
And yeah, I see no reason why you couldn't feed shrimp to bluegills. In fact I doubt you'd need to cut it up at all. I have a tank with a mix of South American cichlids, and I occasionally throw a couple of whole frozen shrimp in there. They just gnaw off chunks. Between the cichlids and assorted botias, whole shrimp don't last long in the tank.
There may be legal issues with regards to keeping native fish in a tank.
Biggest issue is size. Native fish tend to get pretty big, and require a big tanks. I've seen youtube vids of people keeping bass and such in 200+ gallon aquariums.
There may be legal issues with regards to keeping native fish in a tank.
That's probably true... technically speaking. But other than the fact that local species will be more familiar to local wildlife departments, the situation with lots of common aquarium fish is little different. Lots of them are wild caught- and per the letter of the law you can't legally keep them without a permit in lots of places. Frankly a majority of the tropical fish hobby is 'gray market'.
But the fact is that this sort of thing is rarely enforced unless we're talking about known invasive species in particular states. Like marmorkrebs in Missouri or snakeheads in Florida. Even then, they mainly prohibit pet stores from ordering and selling targeted species.
It wouldn't worry me a bit to keep bluegill in a tank under pretty well the same conditions as I keep South American cichlids. Although if you're down at the lake and you tell a game warden that you're going to do this... he might tell you that it's not legal. I mean... if he has nothing better to do.
a tackle store in the town where I used to live had a large aquarium with locally caught fish including bass, crappie, bluegill and catfish. I always enjoyed watching it while shopping there.
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