Here is the new video, I took it over the weekend, I've seen the paddlefish grab a sunfish two more times now but each time the sunfish got away but the sunfish turned up dead the next morning.
Paddlefish
Started by
Guest_Moontanman_*
, Jun 23 2010 10:09 PM
113 replies to this topic
#47
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 02 August 2010 - 03:30 PM
That is really interesting. They are rumored to be difficult fish, so you must really be doing something right.
And in that small of a tank, they don't seem to be having issues with damaging their rostrums?
So far they don't seem to be hurting their rostrums much, a couple have a tiny white flat spot at the very tip but other than that no problems. So far I've seen them grab a sunfish three times but only one was swallowed, I'm not sure why but the other sunfish that were grabbed turned up dead the next day. I am quite certain a school of minnows or shad or similar small fish would be a prey item for an adult paddlefish....
#48
Guest_bigfishfarms_*
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Posted 03 August 2010 - 01:04 PM
Moontan,
What you're seeing is the paddlefish discovering their mouth. They're probably showing more signs of filter feeding too. They get another fish in their mouth, always face-first, chomp down, break its back, and spit it out. Before we started culling the runts, we had a 15% kill rate at this point in their grow out. The first time this happened, we were devastated.
This behavior will stop in two weeks. Don't be surprized if you find a couple of smaller paddlefish dead this way. Pick up the dead fish by the head. You will notice the broken spine area directly behind its gills.
And, no, I have never seen a yearling jump. Older fish jump at dawn and dusk. If they swim with their paddle out of the water, you have water parameter problems.
What you're seeing is the paddlefish discovering their mouth. They're probably showing more signs of filter feeding too. They get another fish in their mouth, always face-first, chomp down, break its back, and spit it out. Before we started culling the runts, we had a 15% kill rate at this point in their grow out. The first time this happened, we were devastated.
This behavior will stop in two weeks. Don't be surprized if you find a couple of smaller paddlefish dead this way. Pick up the dead fish by the head. You will notice the broken spine area directly behind its gills.
And, no, I have never seen a yearling jump. Older fish jump at dawn and dusk. If they swim with their paddle out of the water, you have water parameter problems.
#49
Guest_Moontanman_*
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Posted 03 August 2010 - 01:15 PM
Thanks for the info, so far I've seen no swimming with the paddle out of the water, i use sponges over the end of my intakes so i get better bio filtration and it keeps any daphnia out of the filters. The old, reused many times, sponges have lots of nitrifying bacteria. They have been feeding with the mouth wide open for weeks now and none have tried to swallow each other in at least a month. They do seem interested in the smaller sunfish in the tanks but not extreme, well except when they swallowed one of them, lol The paddlefish are doing great, absolutely great fishes.
#57
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Posted 22 August 2010 - 03:35 PM
I partially set up my 75 gallon aquarium yesterday, I used 40 pounds of black sand, Tahitian Moon Sand, about 1 inch over the bottom of the tank. I filled the tank with well water run through a regular home water softener. The water, as usual had a very strong odor of HS and left a thin layer of oily scum on the surface, I added a quart of regular H2O2 and the odor dissipated, the scum stayed.
I added one cup of marine aquarium salt and 1/2 cup of calcium chloride to compensate for the extreme softness of the water. I am aerating the water for 24 hours before adding filtration or fish. I'll put up a you tube video of the fish in their new home in a few days...
I added some sacrificial fish today before adding the paddlefish.... Gambusia... they died in a few hours, I guess either the H2O2 is still too strong in the water of the HS is still there. Maybe in another 24 hours it will be ready... I want to get this tank going!
I added one cup of marine aquarium salt and 1/2 cup of calcium chloride to compensate for the extreme softness of the water. I am aerating the water for 24 hours before adding filtration or fish. I'll put up a you tube video of the fish in their new home in a few days...
I added some sacrificial fish today before adding the paddlefish.... Gambusia... they died in a few hours, I guess either the H2O2 is still too strong in the water of the HS is still there. Maybe in another 24 hours it will be ready... I want to get this tank going!
#58
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Posted 23 August 2010 - 06:15 PM
Ok! I went through my supplies of bog-wood and rock and i have settled on five pieces. At one end of the tank is a loose cluster of three rocks, a large chunk of coal roughly shaped like a off center pyramid, a long flat piece of conglomera...te rock, it is dark green with white chunks and specks with elongated white chunks inter spaced in the dark green background and stark white piece of weathered polyester polymer. The polymer chunk looks like natural rock in shape but it is white as snow and shows starkly against the black sand and the coal.
At the other end of the tank is a piece of bog-wood with two slender peaks and two hollows. it looks like a tree was torn up out of the sand this was what is left. A long arch shaped bog wood limb about 18" long goes across the back connecting the two ends of the aquarium. I can tie some plants to the wood at some point. I'll post pics as soon as I decide on the exact arrangement but right now the cluster of three rocks with the one piece of bog wood at the other end looks good...
The wood and rock work is low and leaves plenty of swimming room, I'm thinking of a Marineland 400 filter for the tank, does anyone use this type of filter? I use the 200 and it works pretty good is the 400 was reliable? I'm going to put the filter on the end of the tank instead of the back so the current goes the length of the tank, the paddlefish seem to need a strong current...
At the other end of the tank is a piece of bog-wood with two slender peaks and two hollows. it looks like a tree was torn up out of the sand this was what is left. A long arch shaped bog wood limb about 18" long goes across the back connecting the two ends of the aquarium. I can tie some plants to the wood at some point. I'll post pics as soon as I decide on the exact arrangement but right now the cluster of three rocks with the one piece of bog wood at the other end looks good...
The wood and rock work is low and leaves plenty of swimming room, I'm thinking of a Marineland 400 filter for the tank, does anyone use this type of filter? I use the 200 and it works pretty good is the 400 was reliable? I'm going to put the filter on the end of the tank instead of the back so the current goes the length of the tank, the paddlefish seem to need a strong current...
#59
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Posted 28 August 2010 - 09:05 PM
Bad news: I lost two paddlefish yesterday, the pump in the outdoor tank locked up and quit working, the deep green water which the fish had seemed ot really like, even a ding on the paddles of all four had healed up but the thick warm green water went rank fast and two of the fish died. Now i have 3 of them in the 75 and the three small ones in the 30. The bigger fish are 7" long the smaller ones are 5" long. The fish that are left are doing well, now if I can stop making rookie mistakes maybe I can keep these puppies....
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