New Aquarium Fish

[Jacob Hill]

Just put three fish in my 30 gallon aquarium (after giving away the one giant goldfish I was keeping in there.) They are a 7.5" pumpkinseed, 7" bluegill, and 6.5" bluegill. (Somebody cancelled on our fish fry so three of the littlest ones got lucky.) I have renovated the tank by putting in a new big filter, I check and adjust the PH very frequently, remove toxins such as ammonia and chlorine, and feed them redworms from my worm farm. I am adding a heavy duty air pump as soon as I can get one of my parents to drive to Petco. My question is, are three medium sized sunfish too much for a well kept 30 gallon tank?

P.S. They have been in there for two and a half days and appear to be doing well but you never know long term.

[Lee]

 There's an old rule of thumb that says you don't want more than one inch of fish per gallon of tank it's always worked well for me. Currently I have two freshwater tanks going a 70 gal with 3 small 3-4" Coppernose, 2 3-4" Redbellys, 4 4-6" Largemouth Bass and several crawfish a couple of the larger bass need to be moved into my other tank soon. my other tank is a 55 gallon who's only current resident is a 14" Largemouth Bass you can probably figure out what happens to everything else I put in that tank...Gulp!

 Good pumps with higher than normal rates, good flow thru filters and regular partial water changes will keep you fish happy and Healthy.

 About those water changes use the Vacumn type hose to suction as much "Debris" out of the gravel and bottom of the tank and that will help control ph levels also.

[Angelo C Mastrando Jr.]

Well Jacob, as long as the Gill's aren't showing pale in their color's everything is just fine. I do find odd tho about the territory thing also, I was thinking about getting more chicilds that only grow to be about 5inches need's about 50gallon tank for such a small fish?? Really? Very aggressive Petsmart said. You should do an update later on and tell us how your Gill's are making out, everything goes will, I think I be getting some little Gill's to put in my tank as well. Right now I have a 10inch Oscar now that's housed in a 75gallon tank he was 2 and 1/2inches when I got them 2yrs ago. Fish can grow fast with the right water conditions.

[Jacob Hill]

I purposely didn't get a heater because lower water temp equals higher oxygen. I kinda think that's bs about the territory thing because I put in worms and they all come out and eat about an equal amount of them. That gallon-inch thing is true so I am looking to give one gill away, however I think they would be fine. If you're planning on getting gills, I'm not sure if you already have this but you need the little tablets (Petco and other stores carry them) that dechlorinate, clarify, balance pH, and get ammonia out. The pH tester kit helps too. Even after I put tablets in my pH gets really high really quickly. This is bad because it stresses the fish big time. I also have a large air pump (mimicking current) and a large filter . The fish seem happy! Thanks

[Angelo C Mastrando Jr.]

I also have a 30-gallon tank that I was planning on putting two little Bluegill's in (3-inches long) other people were telling me that's a bad idea because they get very territorial and become very aggressive. Also the rule of the thumb is every 1in equal's one gallon, so you have a total of almost 21inches so your already using 21gallons. From what I know you don't even need a heater for species such as Bluegill's, but having one is alway's a good idea. But all this is my 2cent worth

[Jacob Hill]

Thanks so much Dennis. That's very good to hear. If you don't mind be asking, how big were the bluegill?

[Dennis]

I am no fish expert but I will tell you this. My nephew had two bluegill and a catfish for three years in a 20 gallon tank with not special equip and they all did fine.