LF advice on breeding bluegills in an aquarium

[CornAndCrawlers]

*I posted this same question in the NANFA forum but this forum is waaaay more active*
 

I have a 75 gallon planted tank with small gravel substrate on one side and sand substrate on the other. I believe the substrate and size of tank should be adequate for bluegills to spawn, but I am unsure if I should stock:

1 male + 1 female
2 male + 1 female
1 male + 2 female
2 male + 2 female 


If anyone has experience with bluegills and getting them to spawn that would be greatly appreciated. 
 

*I live in a state where it is legal to catch bluegills and keep them with a fishing license, iowa* 

[lefty o]

thats not a lot of tank for adult sized bluegills. ive not bred them, but have kept them , and fished them. the short course on what do any of the sunfish prefer for breeding. they like a sandy bottom, with good weed cover. they will dig their own beds and move weeds out of the way. id say its not impossible, but will likely be very difficult to get them to spawn in a 75g tank.

[gardenman]

I found a site called Fish Laboratory Aquatics that says in-tank breeding is easy. They also say you can keep a ten-inch bluegill in a fifteen-gallon tank, so yeah. Maybe not the best source for info. There's is a thread on NANFA from 2017 on breeding bluegills in a stock tank that might be a bit more relevant. 

[sumplkrum]

I've fished them for years and kept some as a kid. Here's some basic info that checks out.

https://animals.mom.com/raising-bluegill-in-an-aquarium-12571624.html

I am also doubtful that 75g is enough. The males will make a large circular bed a couple feet across. If you were to raise them it would normally be done in a pond.

The males will also be very aggressive and territorial. Once spawning is complete, I'm not even sure they would tolerate the female being in the tank.

If I had to guess, I would say one male + one female. Hope they pair up, then remove the female.
You can potentially also remove the male after spawning so he doesn't stress out and eat the fry.

[KittenFishMom]

Bluegills and sunfish nest in front of our cottage. They are very aggressive to anything that gets too close to a nest they are protecting. So are the bullheads a little farther out.  The bullhead will chase some small fish out of bullhead territory into sunfish territory and the poor fish then gets chased from nest to nest. The protector spread their gills so the gill spots look like eyes, set wide apart.

I had a 120 gallon tank in my garage. I stocked it with fish I caught. I had an aggressive bluegill chase another all over the tank end to end until I put him back in the lake. 120 gallon was way too small for 2 males.

I never tried breeding them. but watching them court and breed in the lake gives me the feeling you should add the female at the farthest spot from the nest after the male builds it and stay there with your net in hand to see if he accepts her. if not try the next day, or with a different female. In the wild the males seem to be picky. 

I would bet you can find videos of bluegills mating on youtube. One of the 2 often swims sideways as they circle the nest. 

The male here won't leave their nest to eat. They really enjoy having worms tossed to them. Wiggling worms don't fly straight, so it can land between nests and the fish will chase each other if they get too close. I try to make sure all the males are pretty well feed so they can keep themselves healthy.

Edited November 26, 2022 by KittenFishMom