Hi, my name is Barb, and I work as an aquarist at the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth, MN. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever heard of captive Paddlefish suffering from nutritional deficiencies. We recently had one die and discovered during necropsy a that the liver looked darker than normal and was reduced in size. I'm assuming this is from some sort of deficiency, because now we have another one that is not doing very well. I'm not sure if anyone here has dealt with anything like this before, but if so, I would greatly appreciate any advice that you can give me. Thanks.

The one person (and group) who would know is Jan Hoover at the Corps of Engineers laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi. They've worked extensively with sturgeons, and they've kept small paddlefish too if I remember correctly. I don't think Jan is on this list at least on a regular basis. If you PM me, I'll give you his email.

The one person (and group) who would know is Jan Hoover at the Corps of Engineers laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi. They've worked extensively with sturgeons, and they've kept small paddlefish too if I remember correctly. I don't think Jan is on this list at least on a regular basis. If you PM me, I'll give you his email.

Thanks for responding - I would definately like his email address if you don't mind. If you don't want to post it, you can send it directly to my email address (b.nelson@glaquarium.org).

Thanks!

Or someone at the Tennessee Aquarium, or national fish hatchery in Tupelo, MS (they raise paddlefish).

Or someone at the Tennessee Aquarium, or national fish hatchery in Tupelo, MS (they raise paddlefish).

Thanks for the info!

I've heard of the really small ones eating tons of Hikari floating carnivore pellets and flakes.

When I visted the Flint Riverquarium in Albany, GA they had a paddlefish on display.

Not a big one but apparently there are paddlefish in the Flint River there.

Nick Zarlinga at the Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo had an article in AC a few years back about the captive propagation of this fish. You may check with him or see if you can get your hands on this article. I will see if I can dig it up for you as well.

Thanks for all the info, everyone! We just had our other paddlefish go on us, and we're planning on setting up a really large exhibit tank for the big guys in the next year, so I definately want to figure this out before then. Thanks again!

Hi, my name is Barb, and I work as an aquarist at the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth, MN. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever heard of captive Paddlefish suffering from nutritional deficiencies. We recently had one die and discovered during necropsy a that the liver looked darker than normal and was reduced in size. I'm assuming this is from some sort of deficiency, because now we have another one that is not doing very well. I'm not sure if anyone here has dealt with anything like this before, but if so, I would greatly appreciate any advice that you can give me. Thanks.

My first question would be what are you feeding your paddle fish? If what you are feeding is ok then I would ask how much they actually eat. I have found that sturgeon have to be either kept alone or feed food targeted at them to avoid other fish eating their food and starving them to death. I am assuming that paddle fish are similar to sturgeon in that they can be easily out competed by other faster smaller fish. At one time I kept a sturgeon with an elephantnose fish. they both had similar eating habits, both of them seemed to prefer live black worms to most anything else. They would eat other things but not with enough enthusiasm to keep themselves alive. Often such slow feeders might linger for a long time and many people would think think their fish are doing well just to have them die several months later from lack of food even though they appear to be eating. I would try to feed a variety of small live foods such as daphnia, cyclops or other small crustaceans. Cyclopseze frozen fish food might be substituted for daphnia or black worms but it is quite expensive especially for a really large fish.

Michael

Try Thom Demas, curator of fishes, at the Tennessee Aquarium. They seem to have had some measure of success with paddlefish.

Thanks for the info; I have been feeding pellets supplemented with krill, and the paddlefish seem to be eating just fine (all of their pellets are gone). We haven't been keeping any other fish in the tank with them, partly because they are such passive eaters. We've had these guys for a couple of years; it just seems to be all of sudden, but I will try feeding some blackworms, too - for some reason even the pickiest fish seem to like them.

My first question would be what are you feeding your paddle fish? If what you are feeding is ok then I would ask how much they actually eat. I have found that sturgeon have to be either kept alone or feed food targeted at them to avoid other fish eating their food and starving them to death. I am assuming that paddle fish are similar to sturgeon in that they can be easily out competed by other faster smaller fish. At one time I kept a sturgeon with an elephantnose fish. they both had similar eating habits, both of them seemed to prefer live black worms to most anything else. They would eat other things but not with enough enthusiasm to keep themselves alive. Often such slow feeders might linger for a long time and many people would think think their fish are doing well just to have them die several months later from lack of food even though they appear to be eating. I would try to feed a variety of small live foods such as daphnia, cyclops or other small crustaceans. Cyclopseze frozen fish food might be substituted for daphnia or black worms but it is quite expensive especially for a really large fish.

Michael

What about putting in baby crayfish? it stimulates them to find the food and its a good time of the year to find em.

Daphinas, Earthworm and all of the things that would be naturually found in the wild.