Two weeks ago I received a shipment of baby paddlefish, I got eleven of them, two were DOA and one died after about three days. Two weeks in i am enthralled with the paddlefish, they are aggressive feeders and so far have not damaged their snouts. They do not bump into the walls of the aquarium any more than most fish and are not easily startled. This is how they are set up.
I put them in a 30 gallon tank with about 1/2" of pool filter sand and a marineland 200 filter drawing water in through a mature filter sponge from another tank. The tank is exposed to the morning sun and with in a few days had a growth of diatoms and slime algae on the back glass and covering the sand. I placed a black jump rock a bronze Cory cat two coolie loaches and three ottos in the tank to help with the algae and to eat the uneaten food from the paddlefish. The ottos the jump rock and the Cory cat have the algae and diatoms under control. The jump rock makes peculiar popping noise as he sucks the algae off the glass and he sifts the sand continuously, all the other fish are long term captives and healthy.
For the first week i fed them Daphnia magna but my daphnia cultures have crashed for the summer so i started them on floating pellets. The paddlefish seem to feed from the surface at night, they turn belly up as they grab the floating pellets, they do not swim around with their mouths open but turn and grab daphnia and live blood worms as they pass them. They have grown by about 25% or so during the time I've had them, they were all less than 3" when I got them. Not they are all 3 to 3.5" long.
They are very interesting fish, seem to have no fear of anything and ignore their tank mates.
Paddlefish
Started by
Guest_Moontanman_*
, Jun 23 2010 10:09 PM
113 replies to this topic
#4
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 24 June 2010 - 06:10 PM
Paddlefish are awfully neat critters, what do you plan on doing with them all?
I really don't know for sure, a marine biologist at UNCW wants some of them but I plant to keep most as long as I can. They are fascinating to watch, they swim continuously, makes me hot for building another big tank for sure!
#5
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 24 June 2010 - 06:17 PM
I'm thinking of introducing them to some tank decorations and see how they react, i have a chunk of wood I've been curing for about 12 years in one of my rain barrels that would look cool with them swimming around it.
I can't seem to get this camera to focus....
I can't seem to get this camera to focus....
Edited by Moontanman, 24 June 2010 - 06:19 PM.
#6
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 27 June 2010 - 03:54 PM
The paddlefish are doing great, one of my daphnia pools has made a come back and the paddlefish are starting to do the ram feeding thing with their mouths wide open as they swim. Really great fish, I am enthralled with them I have to get my 75 up soon, my 125 is dead, the wood has given way around the bottom after 25 years. The more in keep these fish the more i feel strongly they must not be allowed to become extinct. I often wonder if the Chinese paddlefish would be as easy and great to keep. Does anyone know if they are being bred in China?
Edited by Moontanman, 27 June 2010 - 04:11 PM.
#8
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 27 June 2010 - 09:52 PM
I put a short video of them on my face book page, it has a clear shot of them swimming around and it shows my jump rock in the foreground. Took me two hours to down load it. The smallest one of the paddlefish is dead, he hasn't gained any thing in size and didn't eat well. The rest are feeding heavy and doing well.
#9
littlen
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Posted 28 June 2010 - 12:22 PM
The more tank decorations you add to the tank, the higher the chances of them damaging their paddle. While a piece of driftwood is more avoidable than the glass, once they start accumulating damage, it seems to never go away. My experience is with 4 approx. three foot specimens. They had adequate space/volume but seemed to swim in one area and constantly bumped thier paddles on the glass causing little abrasions. While the fish themselves were fine, the paddles never looked the same. I would recommend giving them as much space as possible, sooner rather than later.
You could easily get them to show their filter-feeding response by adding some newly hatched brine shrimp. Once they are feeding, you could drop in some bloodworms/blackworms, eventually getting them to eat the worms as soon as you add them to the tank. Once they get some size to them, you can get them to eat proportionately sized pieces of cut meat. Shrimp, and some filets work best. (The less sinew-y the better).
It's nice to see that you are keeping Paddlefish as few others have the ability to. Good luck with them and keep us posted.
You could easily get them to show their filter-feeding response by adding some newly hatched brine shrimp. Once they are feeding, you could drop in some bloodworms/blackworms, eventually getting them to eat the worms as soon as you add them to the tank. Once they get some size to them, you can get them to eat proportionately sized pieces of cut meat. Shrimp, and some filets work best. (The less sinew-y the better).
It's nice to see that you are keeping Paddlefish as few others have the ability to. Good luck with them and keep us posted.
Nick L.
#10
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 28 June 2010 - 12:50 PM
Thanks for you input littlen, so far they are feeding quite aggressively on floating pellets, one of my daphnia tubs has started producing daphnia again so i see the wide open feeding when they dive through the clouds of daphnia. So far only three of them have damaged their snouts and they did that within days of receiving them, they are less likely to do any tank wall rubbing now. so far they have avoided hitting the bog-wood but they will swim around it skimming just over the surface of the wood, I think there maybe some tasty protozoa running around on the wood they are attracted to. They will scoop blood worms out of the water column and my daphnia tubs are producing live blood worms in droves right now. as long as i can get some good quality floating pellets i don't think feeding is gonna be a problem. I have a medical problem I am dealing with right now but when I get past it i am going to set up a 75 for them at least, i am negotiating with the boss for a 225 this winter so we'll see how it goes.
Edited by Moontanman, 28 June 2010 - 12:51 PM.
#13
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 28 June 2010 - 01:24 PM
The video on my facebook page can be seen here http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4703209&id=596470686#!/michael.hissom you don't have to befriend me to see it. It took me 2 hours to upload 17 seconds of video. i have several more short clips but they are all 20 to 30 seconds long and would take me forever to upload them all. I got some good video of them swimming with their mouths wide open too....
#15
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 30 June 2010 - 09:35 PM
You might try cleaning the glass inside and out (no water spots!) You might also want to make sure the camera is set to "macro" for these types of photos.
I'll give that a try, the videos are pretty clear and focused. Nothing new to report, the fish are still doing well, I spend a lot of time watching them...
#16
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 01 July 2010 - 09:40 AM
Inadvertently i have failed to mention my source for these wonderful fish "bigfishfarms" one of our members was kind enough to go through the trouble of shipping me these fish and allowing me to experience them and write about them. i am very grateful for this opportunity, now my obsession with ancient fishes has grown beyond sturgeon to these really great fish.
They are all feeding well and still doing well in the 30 gallon tank. i am planning to set up a 75 for them as soon as possible.
They are all feeding well and still doing well in the 30 gallon tank. i am planning to set up a 75 for them as soon as possible.
#18
Guest_Mysteryman_*
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Posted 03 July 2010 - 09:26 AM
TOO COOL!
Pellets, eh? Very good to know. I guess I didn't expect that. Maybe being farm raised has a definite advantage. I don't reckon I'll ever try them myself, but it's nice to know that it's an option.
As for the chinese paddlefish.. I'd guess it's probably as doomed as so many others from that area.
Pellets, eh? Very good to know. I guess I didn't expect that. Maybe being farm raised has a definite advantage. I don't reckon I'll ever try them myself, but it's nice to know that it's an option.
As for the chinese paddlefish.. I'd guess it's probably as doomed as so many others from that area.
#19
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 03 July 2010 - 10:32 AM
TOO COOL!
Pellets, eh? Very good to know. I guess I didn't expect that. Maybe being farm raised has a definite advantage. I don't reckon I'll ever try them myself, but it's nice to know that it's an option.
As for the chinese paddlefish.. I'd guess it's probably as doomed as so many others from that area.
I agree, from everything I've read and according to the couple of Chinese researchers I've talked to over the net the Chinese paddlefish is either doomed or gone. So far my paddlefish are doing well, I think that long term they are going to need a 125 or bigger tank even if they stay as small as the ones that have been in captivity are reported to stay. I am making plans for a 180 at least, If I can keep them in my 75 until next summer I might build a 8'L X 2'T X 3'W tank for them, I think that's about 360 gallons. They eat the floating pellets aggressively, they flip onto their backs to take pellets off the surface. Watching them eat daphnia is awesome!
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