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JeffW
02-13-2009, 07:50 PM
Well since everyone is talking fishy I was thinking about some local fish I know down the road I might go catch up with and borrow this summer for my second year trying out aquaponics :)

Blue gill pee too so what the heck I think I will test them out.

JeffW
02-17-2009, 09:44 AM
Actually I was only thinking of using them for the ammonia and nothing else however we have been eating them for over 40 years. We falay them so their is no bones you simply plop em in your mouth. Perch are harder to scale and more bones than bluegill but I like them better as far as a fish meal however this is just my preference.

Talapia are great in local restaurants we go to, so if I had a choice I would eat talapia over bluegill however a good stripe perch is hard to beat.

badflash
02-17-2009, 05:31 PM
Supposedly, you can make a hybrid of bluegill and green sunfish. Female sunfish, Male bluegill. The offspring are supoosed to be all male and grow bigger than the parents, faster too. Worth looking into. These guys don't grow as fast as tilapia by half, but they don't need heat.

http://www.ksuaquaculture.org/Species/B ... Hybrid.htm (http://www.ksuaquaculture.org/Species/Bluegill,Hybrid.htm)

wpbullock
05-04-2009, 04:32 PM
Question about getting fish to eat.

I put two bluegills and a bass in my tank just to prime the biofiltration action and they are surviving fine. They will eat worms and such but won't eat the fish food (floating type such as for catfish) and even spit it out when they do give it a try. Do I just keep starving them and eventually they will be hungry enough to gulp some down and then realize just how wonderful it is?

Also, just read of a researcher at OSU (ohio state) who is giving hormone treatments to male bluegill and getting them to lay eggs. The eggs have XY chromosome (male) and then are fertilized by another male (XY) and so 1/4 of the offspring are super-males with two X chromosomes. Then when these are bred with females, all offspring are XY (males). Apparently, the males grow much faster and larger than the females.

It would be interesting to get these supermales growing and improve the breed to obtain some fast-growing blue-gills. I personally love bluegill, even if not filleted and even if I have to pick around the bones. Really good meat! I also (and this is true) really like the tails when I fry them whole. A bit of salt and the tails are really tasty as long as the bluegills aren't really large ones - then the tails are bony.

Wes

badflash
05-04-2009, 04:58 PM
That is the idea with the hybid sunfish, but a lot easier and safer. Super Male technology isn't what it is cracked up to be, and the hormones are hard to deal with and dangerous.

With the Green Sunfish/Bluegill hybrid you get better results and no hormones. Bluegills are pretty small, but the hybrids are almost twice as big. Check the link I posted before.

mpugh5@aol.com
05-05-2009, 06:31 AM
That is the idea with the hybid sunfish, but a lot easier and safer. Super Male technology isn't what it is cracked up to be, and the hormones are hard to deal with and dangerous.

With the Green Sunfish/Bluegill hybrid you get better results and no hormones. Bluegills are pretty small, but the hybrids are almost twice as big. Check the link I posted before.

this is the kinda stuff i enjoy, no hormones and stuff like that to boot. it's the reason i want to raise my own. :mrgreen:

wpbullock
05-05-2009, 05:34 PM
Pretty interesting... I wish they had more information about the growth rates relative to something like red ear sunfish, etc. I have those in my pond and they get pretty large.

Wes

badflash
05-05-2009, 07:05 PM
My understanding is that it takes 2 years to get a 2 pound fish.

wpbullock
06-27-2009, 12:29 PM
Well, I got 100 hybrid bluegill in my greenhouse tank and the little buggers are doing just fine eating fish food I got from the grain elevator. I need to post again with pictures to show how I finally ended up setting up my biofilter, etc. Still not technically doing aquaponics but I am watering my greenhouse crops with the water from the fish tank and then making up with clean water.

Wes

wolfracer
06-27-2009, 02:22 PM
Looking forward to the pictures! I went with the catfish because they grow faster, but I first considered Blue gill and my still do some.

catfish
07-19-2010, 08:14 AM
Well, I got 100 hybrid bluegill in my greenhouse tank and the little buggers are doing just fine eating fish food I got from the grain elevator. I need to post again with pictures to show how I finally ended up setting up my biofilter, etc. Still not technically doing aquaponics but I am watering my greenhouse crops with the water from the fish tank and then making up with clean water.

Wes


Do you have an update with pictures for us?

wimjurgen
02-18-2011, 10:53 AM
Ok i have to say a few things about this subject. As we stocked my aunts pond with Hybrid Bluegills. These are a few facts that happened in a small 1/4 acre pond. We were told that they would not reproduce for atleast 2 years. Yes mother nature finds a way when their are no females in a group to revert a few back to breeding fish to countinue the species. Well now after 3/4 of a year we had breeding fish and well we were over run with baby gills. So makesure you have space as they tend to overpopulate once they get going. Hybrid's are easy going given enough food. Pellets are what they are designed to feed on. They do gain considerable size pretty quick with plenty of feed and enough room to grow. Thing to consider with Hybrid Bluegills are do you want alot or quality fish. Remember that a small fish can only grow as big as space allows then growth tapers off. Granted this is from my experience and others depending on conditions will vary.

keith_r
02-18-2011, 11:16 AM
a pond is much harder to manage than even a good size ft.. you need a predator fish to manage the population along with the whole food chain

newer studies are showing that regular bg can grow as well as if not better than hybrids

google "condello strain" bluegill, plate size/shaped body in a little over a year,using selective breeding

from what i've heard about my fish, i probably have green sunfish and maybe a few hybrids,, i need to get someone over with a good camera

AZdesertFarmer
04-04-2011, 12:06 AM
Spoke with AZ Game & Fish rep. and he said getting a stocking permit for bluegill would not be a problem and they tolerate the temperature swings here in the high desert fairly well. Could someone recommend a source for fingerlings.

urbanfarmer
05-04-2011, 08:58 PM
I just ate some freshly caught bluegill tonight. Very delicious little creatures! :lol:

bbikebbs
09-27-2012, 03:08 PM
Just picked up my order of bluegills today! 100 at 1"-2". Here's some pics of the process:

Fish Truck
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w424/bbikebbs/Getting%20Bluegills/IMG_0001_zpsf5689437.jpg

Weighing and packaging
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w424/bbikebbs/Getting%20Bluegills/IMG_0002_zpsf0c89061.jpg

More Weighing/packaging
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w424/bbikebbs/Getting%20Bluegills/IMG_0003_zpsd92c626b.jpg

Close up
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w424/bbikebbs/Getting%20Bluegills/IMG_0005_zps973ac283.jpg

DOA
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w424/bbikebbs/Getting%20Bluegills/IMG_0006_zps69cce990.jpg

There were 11 dead when I got home (5 minute ride) and opened the bag. There were around 130 total. I ordered 100. After 1 hour, I found another 9 dead. We'll see what 24 hours brings.

bcotton
09-28-2012, 10:50 AM
Sorry to hear about the losses, scott. Usually when one dies it's just an early warning that something was wrong and others continue to die. I recommend getting the dead fish out of the water as soon as you see them and i am sure it wont be a total loss. if you got 13o you may end up pretty close to 100 after everything stabalizes.

Keeps updated, thank you for the pics.

Brian

bbikebbs
09-28-2012, 05:31 PM
By the time it got dark yesterday (7:30), I had lost a total of 27. I got to the tank at 6:15 this morning. By 7:30 am, I had pulled out another 57 for a total of 80. I don't know what the issues are. The 30+ goldfish have been fine for the last month. Finding 11 dead after a 5 minute ride home did not set well. Finding that I lost almost 2/3 of the fish in less than 18 hours bothers me. I did let them sit in the bag for 1/2 hour to adjust to the temperature. I did slowly add tank water so as to not shock them. I do check pH, ammonia, etc. weekly and nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

At this point I'll just have to chalk it up to experience. I won't be in such a hurry (is waiting 4 months being in a hurry?) to purchase from these people again.

JCO
09-28-2012, 07:06 PM
I would suggest you clip and edit out the name of the company in the first photo that you purchased from until you determine what the problem was and how the supplier will handle the issue. The rules do not allow unpaid advertising anyway and it would seem this companies practices may be questionable at best. :mrgreen:

bbikebbs
09-28-2012, 07:52 PM
I would suggest you clip and edit out the name of the company in the first photo that you purchased from until you determine what the problem was and how the supplier will handle the issue. The rules do not allow unpaid advertising anyway and it would seem this companies practices may be questionable at best. :mrgreen:

Thanks for the heads up. It's been deleted until I can correct it.

bcotton
10-01-2012, 07:14 AM
It could be a lot of things... but since they started dying in your short transit, it probably wasnt your fault and you should complain to the supplier. A good supplier should try to make this right with you

A lot of fish death causes like chlorine or ammonia poisoning will kill a few right away but the damage is done and others will die off over time...

brian

bbikebbs
10-01-2012, 04:23 PM
Only lost 1 since Friday. Weird!

davidstcldfl
10-01-2012, 05:28 PM
That is odd. I can see losing some to stress....but that many?


I did buy some bluegill awhile back. When I bought them, they packed them in a bag with pure oxygen. The drive was about 2 hours. None were dead on arrival. I did lose maybe a dozen or so during the next week. I wish I would of given them a salt bath when I got them to the farm... :(

Tilapia are a lot tougher...much easier to transport...in my opinion.
I harvested about a dozen large tilapia and gave them to a friend of mine. I had packed them in ice and they were in the ice chest for about an hour and a half before he got them home. The one on the very top...the last one caught, was still alive.
That was about a year ago and he's still swimming in my buddy's goldfish pond. His name is ...Methuselah .... :lol:

bbikebbs
10-02-2012, 08:31 AM
I figured I'd lose some to stress. But when I got up the next morning, I was floored. Well, that vendor is off my approved list! We'll see how the few that made it work out. The gold fish I started with will just have to accept a reprieve for now. :D

bsfman
10-02-2012, 02:01 PM
Tilapia are a lot tougher...much easier to transport...in my opinion.


I gotta agree with you here, David!

I had a buddy castnet about 30 four to six inch tilapia from his farm pond a year ago in June. He dumped them into three 10 gallon rubbermaid totes, drove them two hours in the open back of a pickup truck (with no aeration whatsoever), and we unceremoniously dumped them without acclimation into an old 150 gallon aerator tank here at the house. The tank did have some filtration and a lot of aeration, but it was filled with my nasty well water which comes out of the well with about 4ppm ammonia in it. Despite less than ideal handling, high ammonia (and later sky high nitrites) all 30 of them survived! :o :shock:

After my catastrophic system collapse some 10 months later Aquaponic Armageddon! (http://www.diyaquaponics.com/forum/showthread.php?1467-Aquaponic-Armageddon!), my wife and I spent a good 30 minutes searching through mud puddles dumping rescued tilapia into buckets and transporting them back to my good ole backup aerator tank. I did lose a half dozen or so fish then, but I think they died from getting squashed by the growbed and fish tank collapse rather than just being out of water. (They tasted yummy after being filleted and broiled by the way).

The 24 that survived transport and system collapse are the two-plus pound old curmudgeons currently residing amongst the 100 or so tilapia in my latest system. They are some tough old critters indeed! ;)

bcotton
10-03-2012, 06:50 AM
Not to derail your point, but the rubbermaid totes in the moving truck is very good aeration.

bsfman
10-03-2012, 06:58 AM
Not to derail your point, but the rubbermaid totes in the moving truck is very good aeration.

Good point!

But there were at least 10 fish in each tote, and though only an ounce or two each, the 10 gallon totes only had maybe 5 gallons in them (lids on) and it was a hot day here in south Florida so I'm certain the DO level was low enough to stress the fish. Still, they managed to survive. :)

bbikebbs
10-12-2012, 05:17 PM
I was gone for a week and expected the worst. I can report that no fish were lost! I'm really confused now.

davidstcldfl
10-13-2012, 04:07 PM
wow, that is odd... :?

natural crusader
06-16-2013, 01:55 PM
Hey, just a thought, most times you order fish you will get extra because its common to have some die in transit or in the next few hours after receiving. Of course they may not have had enough oxygen, they may have gotten ammonia poisoning but what also might have happened is PH shock. Not saying that your ph was wrong or that even theirs was wrong, there is a range that can work, but the difference between the two might have been too much for some to handle plus all the other stress. before ordering fish you should always find out what PH their fish are at, so that then can be acclimated to your ph or if you have no fish yet, you can change your ph to match.

larrydu
06-20-2013, 04:31 PM
Bluegill are good for eating. Yes it takes a couple of years for them grow to a good eating size. The like worms, minnows, and bread. Everything I have read reveals they do very well in an aquaponics system (http://aquaponicsideasonline.com).

Roger L.
06-23-2013, 06:53 AM
The only problem with bluegill is the amount of meat per fish is very limited so you need to raise a lot of fish.

great08
06-03-2018, 05:43 AM
When I finally set up a large system in a few years I plan to do a mix of bluegill, koi, and goldfish. I am the only person in my family that eats fish. Should make nitrates easier to manage having a more constant supply. Just goldfish in my 150 gallon tank for now....

First post for me BTW!

great08
06-06-2018, 07:26 AM
I caught some wild palm sized bluegill a few years ago and threw them in a tank. They immediately took to fish feed pellets and put on some weight pretty good for the 6 months they were in there. These fish are great for the home producer who does not want to heat their water during the winter. The will reproduce in the tank pretty well from what I hear. I plan to have a much larger system in a few years and start it out with koi/goldfish. then once the fish get large enough to fend for themselves... I will add a lot of bluegill. I am the only person in my family who eats fish. So I will go catch one from time to time. Having a simple/single large tank with a constant supply of poo and nitrates will make managing the system super simple. Having all omnivorous fish will as well.

Marty