Hello all new to the forum. Ok, is there a secret to raising baby bowfin or something? I'm getting frustrated.here's my dilemma.....
I've had baby bowfin in the past and lost them in a matter of weeks both times i kept them. recently i ordered 3 more all 2.5-3". they were doing great for 3 weeks and then 1 by 1 they all died. i started out feeding them small pieces of tilapia.and small rosey reds. treated the tank with prazipro. for the 1st week. did a water change, put carbon back in the filter and the next day 1 was dead.so i removed the carbon and retreated with prazipro.2 weekslater , carbon, waterchange , both remaining stopped eating , 1 died the following day and a day later the other died? what was i doing wrong?....pH was 7.4-7.6 temp 78F, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, +- 20ppm nitrate.oh, and if it matters , when i pulled each one from the tank they were REALLY slimey. i mean EXCESS mucous.am i missing something?Help. I know some of you guys keep them with no trouble.any advice? I plan or ordering at least 3 more soon, probably around 3" exactly what do i need to do to ensure success? thanks in advance.

Young Bowfin are very sensitive to water quality and are also very sensitive to chemical medications. Never medicate this fish with anything but small amounts of salt. Temp should be lower and in the 70 F or less range. A really good water change 60% should be done a day after every feeding.

how often should i be feeding them and WHAT would be the best choice for food?and at what size does their sensitivity seem to level out?i read in the fish in focus, that their parasite loads can be really high, should i be at all concerned about that?and what kind of growth rates should i expect to see?thanks oh, and i failed to mention , on the 2 previous occasions, that i had baby bowfin, i did not medicate them with anything. fed them mostly small red worms,i just assumed the parasite loads along with the stress of captivity killed them. that's why the prazipro this time around.

I have never personally had an issue with parasites and young Bowfin. This could be the case in some of the mortality of young fish, but it is my opinion that more often it is substandard water condition (especially ammonia) or too much or too little feeding. The best foods for a small bowfin are blood worms, mysis, and small chopped red worms until they get some size on them. Be wary of overfeeding in one sitting. It is best to feed them sparingly over the coarse of a day. Several small meals is much better than one big one.

I have kept young bowfin from three different spawnings. The first I had terrible luck with, and had most die with mouths agape, and small tapeworms expelled. The second two batches, I have had good success with.
Water conditions were near perfect for all three. I have a theory about parasitized bowfin.
There may be no merit to this whatsoever. Stressed animals are more susceptible to heavy parasite loads, their bodied have less resistance to them. Stressed juveniles likely have an explosive growth of parasites, which take up important space in their small digestive tracts. Also robbing them of nutrition.Small frequent feedings should allow them to take in proper nutrition, whereas in a single feeding per day they may not be able to effectively fit the amount of food that they need for growth into their digestive tracts. I also try to get them on really rich food as quickly as possible, Shrimp, and more importantly pellets. I use commercial catfish pellets in the 3 mm size. easily digestable, and balanced, I also feed 3-4 times per day. Once they put on some mass, and build their natural resistance to these parasite, they become a non issue.
I also think the feeding response is much stonger in larger groups of bowfin juveniles, they attack food as a pack, and are really aggressive about it. Small groups do not seem to feed as heartily, and consume less.
After they reach the 3 inch mark, they are very hard to kill.
You may want to start with larger specimens already out of the delicate stage.

i would love to start with larger ones but haven't been seeing any available for sale. what is a good size group to start with.I may have killed them with the 1 large feeding a day. vs. several small ones.I agree with the stress/ parasite loads. I've been keeping fish for 10+ years and the baby bowfin are the only ones who have given me this much trouble.I'm glad i finally found you guys who have raised these little guys and have experience with them. thanks for the coaching and keep it coming!!I'll keep everyone posted as soon as i get the new batch.

i would love to start with larger ones but haven't been seeing any available for sale. what is a good size group to start with.I may have killed them with the 1 large feeding a day. vs. several small ones.I agree with the stress/ parasite loads. I've been keeping fish for 10+ years and the baby bowfin are the only ones who have given me this much trouble.I'm glad i finally found you guys who have raised these little guys and have experience with them. thanks for the coaching and keep it coming!!I'll keep everyone posted as soon as i get the new batch.

I have nothing to contribute but I wanna know, where can you order them?

I have nothing to contribute but I wanna know, where can you order them?

http://forum.nanfa.o...ic=81&hl=bowfin

That is a nice link which shows us lots of gorgeous fishes, but how would one go about ordering/purchasing one? Thanks.

Contact KSI in the vendor section. Last person I knew that was selling them.

In case you missed this...

http://www.nanfa.org/fif/bowfin.shtml

Is shows dead baby bowfin with tapeworms coming out of their mouths. Like Skipjack said.

Is 2-3" bowfin not suitable for shipping and rather hard to keep and easily stressed in general?

Another possibility to consider is that young bowfin have the capacity / need to grow very fast. Feed quality likely to be more important for such fast growing fish. My successful efforts with bowfin were in part a result making certain the food was of the highest quality and offered several times daily. I started with 0.75" fry (still black) and kept them packed together. The feed was cut from a fresh bag of fry (salmon) starter, not the six-month old dry pellets purchsed at pet stores. Maintaining water quality was also a major concern. Major water changes daily required if many fish in confinement.

Young Bowfin are very sensitive to water quality and are also very sensitive to chemical medications. Never medicate this fish with anything but small amounts of salt. Temp should be lower and in the 70 F or less range. A really good water change 60% should be done a day after every feeding.

I disagree. I Treat with prazi for intestinal worms on first day. Then have Potasium permaganate ready in case of a columnaris outbreak, which I suspect due to the description of excess muscosa. Salt would simply excesserbate the situation, plus studies & my own experiments have shown that salt only slows down the reproduction of most non-saline bacteria, but doesn't kill it. I have not tested whether protozoal medications such as "quick cure" are safe to use on bowfin. They are NOT safe to use on sunfish, with Clout© being the most dangerous to native sunfish, while completely harmless to african cichlids in equal doses. 2nd day Loss of apetite in a bowfin is immeadiate cause for alarm and gram negative bacterial pathogens should be your first suspects. Using prazi for intestinal worms on day one, before the situation spirals out of control should be mandatory procedure for wild caught baby bowfins. The reason is the same for humans with an arrow or bullet would, once you remove the bullet the person can bleed to death. Same is true for fish, once you kill an internal worm that may have a blood vessel pinched, the same can & does happen, the fish bleeds out. I've seen entire wild colonies of fish with parasites. Treated them, then the fish die along with the parasite. Using PP is very tricky but worth learning, better to underdose than overdose with this one. Keep the water pinkish purple for 4 hours then add a capful or two of hydrogen peroxide to deactivate the PP. Works wonders for me, granted I've killed some fish whilst first learning how to use it properly. I know this is an old thread, but hopefully it helps someone in the future.

Is 2-3" bowfin not suitable for shipping and rather hard to keep and easily stressed in general?

No, Easy to keep, they attack & eat anything.
No, The fact that they breathe air actually makes them EASIER to ship, just avoid shipping during hot summer months.
No, when they get hungry they will take food out of your hand, if they are stressed, isolate the stressor, maybe the tank is in a high traffic area, shadows, etc.

Another possibility to consider is that young bowfin have the capacity / need to grow very fast. Feed quality likely to be more important for such fast growing fish. My successful efforts with bowfin were in part a result making certain the food was of the highest quality and offered several times daily. I started with 0.75" fry (still black) and kept them packed together. The feed was cut from a fresh bag of fry (salmon) starter, not the six-month old dry pellets purchsed at pet stores. Maintaining water quality was also a major concern. Major water changes daily required if many fish in confinement.

Agreed, the feed should be at least 46% protein 10% fat. Even then expect some bowfin to reject the feed and opt to starve to death instead. Fish not fed often enough will cannabilize or maim. Some bowfins will grow Larger, they should be removed to prevent the same.

In case you missed this...

http://www.nanfa.org/fif/bowfin.shtml

Is shows dead baby bowfin with tapeworms coming out of their mouths. Like Skipjack said.

Had Jan Hoover's team treated with Prazi on the first day of capture the outcome would have been more successful, but that's good we can learn from the successes and failures of others.

I disagree. I Treat with prazi for intestinal worms on first day. Then have Potasium permaganate ready in case of a columnaris outbreak, which I suspect due to the description of excess muscosa. Salt would simply excesserbate the situation, plus studies & my own experiments have shown that salt only slows down the reproduction of most non-saline bacteria, but doesn't kill it. I have not tested whether protozoal medications such as "quick cure" are safe to use on bowfin. They are NOT safe to use on sunfish, with Clout© being the most dangerous to native sunfish, while completely harmless to african cichlids in equal doses. 2nd day Loss of apetite in a bowfin is immeadiate cause for alarm and gram negative bacterial pathogens should be your first suspects. Using prazi for intestinal worms on day one, before the situation spirals out of control should be mandatory procedure for wild caught baby bowfins. The reason is the same for humans with an arrow or bullet would, once you remove the bullet the person can bleed to death. Same is true for fish, once you kill an internal worm that may have a blood vessel pinched, the same can & does happen, the fish bleeds out. I've seen entire wild colonies of fish with parasites. Treated them, then the fish die along with the parasite. Using PP is very tricky but worth learning, better to underdose than overdose with this one. Keep the water pinkish purple for 4 hours then add a capful or two of hydrogen peroxide to deactivate the PP. Works wonders for me, granted I've killed some fish whilst first learning how to use it properly. I know this is an old thread, but hopefully it helps someone in the future.

Having raised hundreds of small bowfin I stand with what I say in that it is not always in the best interest to treat these fish. The fish should be first stabilized and acclimated and get a good amount of growth on them before you start treating them for other issues. If you have to even do so..