I caught 5 fish that I think are bluegill but the could also be green sunfish.. not sure as they're still 1"-2" long. Anyways, I've got them in a 300 gallon tank and they don't seem to be eating. I've been trying to feed them "Pond Fish" pellets that I've always given my goldfish. I've always heard/read that bluegill will eat just about anything... It's been a week and I don't see them coming to the surface for the pellets. I've tried breaking them up so they sink and i seethe fish come up to the pellets and usually don't do anything with them.. a few times i saw them suck one in just to spit it out. Someone suggested I put my goldfish back in there to act as "trainer" fish to show the bluegill that the pellets are food. Boo. Still no luck. I've chopped up some red wigglers and thrown them in there a few times so they don't starve... is this a mistake? should i withhold all food so they are forced to try the pellets? Maybe I don't have bluegill but something else.... comaping them to my freshwater fish of texas book they look just like a type of sunfish though...
wild caught bluegill not eating
- Thread starter mrgrackle
- Start date
Get a non-flash profile photo and we can probably ID it for you. Get frozen bloodworms or live blackworms and they will eat. You may also want to put them in a smaller tank until you do get them eating. They will eat just about anything but being wild fish you will have to train them.
I had some lepomis gibbosus (pumpkinseed) also like a bluegill I had caught in the wild. I put them in a 29 gallon I had at the time and they were very aggressive towards each other. You could try it and see what happens though. It may be very difficult to convert to pellets or flakes right away. You will have to train them slowly from live to frozen to pellets/flakes. Good luck ~ need pictures.
Cdog
Cdog
is the tank established? (cycled)
when i am trying to train a sunfish to eat off the surface i feed crickets (FD, FW shrimp will also work), very soon they will begin to associate you and crickets.
i would get them eating well for several weeks, then starve them for a few days, then try floating pellets. they will generally grab them and spit them out, but will soon come around.
they can go for at least 2 weeks with out eating, so you can wait them out.
when i am trying to train a sunfish to eat off the surface i feed crickets (FD, FW shrimp will also work), very soon they will begin to associate you and crickets.
i would get them eating well for several weeks, then starve them for a few days, then try floating pellets. they will generally grab them and spit them out, but will soon come around.
they can go for at least 2 weeks with out eating, so you can wait them out.
young fish are usually easier to train to eat pellets, and i just trained a 8" bluegill to do it in under 2 weeks. What i did is starve him for about 5 days, then tried bloodworms, and he ate them. Gave him that for 3 days, then started soaking pellets untilll soft. he took thos. then two days after that on ly feed him the pellets not soaked or anything. he will by this time ascociate you with food and mine took the dry pellets after on the second day of feeding them to him.
I'll snap some pictures later today.
To answer the questions... Im not sure how well the tank is cycled. I took all the gravel out of my aquaponics system and used that in the new 300 gallon tank so it should be teeming with bacteria. I've been testing the water and I haven't seen any spikes, but it is a 300 gallon tank with only 5 small bluegill in it... well, and now my 2 goldfish who are decent sized.
I put the two goldfish in per a suggestion that I add some 'trainer' fish that know what floating pellets are. Well, the bluegill will surface feed if I throw tiny beetles and earwigs in there, they hit the surface of the water hard, so I'm going to head to the pet store and buy them some fancypants crickets... spoiled. Also, was going to buy some other pellets for them if you guys think they'd be better... cichlid pellets?
Should I take the goldfish back out? seems like all they're doing is showing the bluegill how to eat before anyone else can get to it.
To answer the questions... Im not sure how well the tank is cycled. I took all the gravel out of my aquaponics system and used that in the new 300 gallon tank so it should be teeming with bacteria. I've been testing the water and I haven't seen any spikes, but it is a 300 gallon tank with only 5 small bluegill in it... well, and now my 2 goldfish who are decent sized.
I put the two goldfish in per a suggestion that I add some 'trainer' fish that know what floating pellets are. Well, the bluegill will surface feed if I throw tiny beetles and earwigs in there, they hit the surface of the water hard, so I'm going to head to the pet store and buy them some fancypants crickets... spoiled. Also, was going to buy some other pellets for them if you guys think they'd be better... cichlid pellets?
Should I take the goldfish back out? seems like all they're doing is showing the bluegill how to eat before anyone else can get to it.
Take them out. Without them your bluegill will acclimate faster. HBH super-soft pellets are good for starting little ones on pellets. Once they get good size, they can take hard pellets easier. Keep feeding them top-water food and add some frozen bloodworms to their diet. They'll soon associate you with food, and from there will be easily trained to pellets.