More questions on natives......

After doing somelooking, and because of some good connections, I think I can get hooked up (literally) with some nice, and somewhat uncommon, native fish. I do have some concerns about two species that I can get fairly easily though.

The redfin pike is everywhere down here in south GA and are good-looking stock. My question is, is it near impossible to get them to take prepared food? I assume if you trap some real small ones it is easier to get them on prepared food than larger ones you catch on hook and line. Will redfin pike take mealworms, crickets, or earthworms?

My next question concerns the ever present yellow perch. Will these fish do well in a small group and do wild-caught fish take to prepared foods easily?

not sure about redfin pike, but redfin pickerel will take prepared foods, but not easily.
yellow perch do well in groups in large tanks and they will probably take prepared foods, but not easily.

not sure about redfin pike, but redfin pickerel will take prepared foods, but not easily.
yellow perch do well in groups in large tanks and they will probably take prepared foods, but not easily.

Redfin pike = redfin pikerel. I grew up calling them redfin pike. It is encouraging that they would take prepared foods.

Redfin pike = redfin pikerel. I grew up calling them redfin pike. It is encouraging that they would take prepared foods.

I think most people here understood you. A pickerel is just a small pike.

I give mine nothing but live food. The only couple of reports I have read, concerning successful attempts to get them to take "prepared" food, involved chopped shrimp pieces. At each feeding, the person had to move the shrimp around to trick the pickerel into believing that it was alive and moving. The pickerel will not strike anything that does not appear to be alive and moving. If you wish to feed your pickerel this way, be prepared to do this every time. I personally find it to be a lot easier to buy guppies and rosey reds at the LFS, or seine some small minnows and chubs at a nearby stream. Besides, it is fun watching the pickerels go after the live food.

It will save you time and money on food if you train your pickerel. I did mine slowly over a year. It wasn't until it was 6"+ that I was able to get it off live foods. It now takes FD shrimp, dethawed frozen shrimp and hikari carnivore pellets.

It will save you time and money on food if you train your pickerel. I did mine slowly over a year. It wasn't until it was 6"+ that I was able to get it off live foods. It now takes FD shrimp, dethawed frozen shrimp and hikari carnivore pellets.

Do you have to play with the food every time to trick the pickerel into believing it to be alive?

Do you have to play with the food every time to trick the pickerel into believing it to be alive?

Nope, just throw it in.

Do you have to play with the food every time to trick the pickerel into believing it to be alive?

Nope, just throw it in.

In that case, I would be interested in learning more about your training technique, if you would please. Or did you write about that somewhere already?

Once trained that way, can they occasionally be fed live food? Or will that un-train them?

In that case, I would be interested in learning more about your training technique, if you would please. Or did you write about that somewhere already?

Probably in bits and pieces but I will put something together.

Once trained that way, can they occasionally be fed live food? Or will that un-train them?

I feed them live food once in awhile. In fact I have a crap load of gambusia in my outdoor tub that I need to cull so the pickerel and warmouth will be getting a treat. It will not untrain them. I've fed them live food and then threw in pellets immediately after without issues.