How do suckers do in community tanks? I would like to put some of the relatively small suckers (not carpsuckers or buffalo) in a community tank. Can they compete for food with sunfish and other active fish, or do they need to be fed separately? Will they do well on prepared foods? Are they delicate or prone to illness? Any advice is appreciated.
Suckers in the aquarium
Started by
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, Mar 13 2008 10:11 PM
30 replies to this topic
#5
Guest_farmertodd_*
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Posted 14 March 2008 - 05:24 PM
Yeah there should be enough posts to wet your whistle. There are some others on the email archive.
The short answer is yeah, if you can leave food around for them to browse on over a 3 or 4 hour period, they do great.
If you get to where you have some questions about this topic, please drop me a PM with this thread url and I'll hop back in. I've been really busy and haven't had time to participate on the Forum. The garage is clean and the new tiled floors are gonna look real nice, and that patio, man that'll be something to sit on come about June
Todd
The short answer is yeah, if you can leave food around for them to browse on over a 3 or 4 hour period, they do great.
If you get to where you have some questions about this topic, please drop me a PM with this thread url and I'll hop back in. I've been really busy and haven't had time to participate on the Forum. The garage is clean and the new tiled floors are gonna look real nice, and that patio, man that'll be something to sit on come about June
Todd
Edited by farmertodd, 14 March 2008 - 05:24 PM.
#6
Guest_Newt_*
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Posted 14 March 2008 - 05:53 PM
Thanks, Todd. I'm not sure how far I want to pursue keeping high maintenance fish in this aquarium, but I caught a nice 18" black-tail redhorse the other day and couldn't help but think, "This would be a great fish for the big tank!"
#7
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 14 March 2008 - 08:04 PM
Hey Newt, don't know how serious you are about that, but these guys seem to do a lot better if you can start with juveniles down inthe 6 inch range... Casper has some that he keeps in the cement pond, and they were only in the 6-8 inch range on the day he caught them.
Young fish almost always acclimate better to captive care than larger fish...
Young fish almost always acclimate better to captive care than larger fish...
Thanks, Todd. I'm not sure how far I want to pursue keeping high maintenance fish in this aquarium, but I caught a nice 18" black-tail redhorse the other day and couldn't help but think, "This would be a great fish for the big tank!"
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#8
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Posted 14 March 2008 - 08:48 PM
Thanks, Michael. Todd brought that up too in his article. I am constrained by the fact that I cannot collect these fish (state laws) so I can only get what other people have for sale. I've seen creek chubsuckers up for sale, but if anyone has, will have, or knows who has young of other Tennessee native sucker species, I would love to hear from you!
The TN catostomid list (minus the too-big Carpiodes, Cycleptus, and Ictiobus) is as follows:
Catostomus commersonii
Erimyzon oblongus
E. sucetta
Hypentelium etowanum
H. nigricans
Minytrema melanops
Moxostoma anisurum
M. atripinne
M. carinatum
M. duquesnei
M. erythrurum
M. macrolepidotum
M. poecilurum
The TN catostomid list (minus the too-big Carpiodes, Cycleptus, and Ictiobus) is as follows:
Catostomus commersonii
Erimyzon oblongus
E. sucetta
Hypentelium etowanum
H. nigricans
Minytrema melanops
Moxostoma anisurum
M. atripinne
M. carinatum
M. duquesnei
M. erythrurum
M. macrolepidotum
M. poecilurum
#10
Guest_sumthinsfishy_*
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Posted 15 March 2008 - 11:57 AM
I have a white sucker Catostomus commersonii and it's pretty peaceful.
The only thing my white sucker does that would harm another fish is suck the slime off the other fish occasionally. Only if it's the minnows. The only problem I have is feeding it enough. I give it some sort of pellets every morning, either Sinking Carnivore, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, or sinking wafers. Then in the afternoon I put in a ton of frozen foods, bloodworms, or mysis. During the summer I get a ton of little types of crustaceans for the darters, and just dump them all in the tank, and the sucker picks them off.
#11
Guest_Newt_*
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Posted 15 March 2008 - 03:35 PM
Thanks, Fishyz and Sumthinfishy.
Here's the blacktail sucker I caught (in a turtle trap):
This photo doesn't do him justice; his fins were bright orange-red and his scales a lovely golden color.
He was in the trap with this flathead catfish:
The trap had been out too long because the river rose an unprecedented seven feet the night after we set traps; we had to wait until it went down to retrieve some of them. These two guys were pretty bedraggled, so we killed them and chopped them up for turtle bait. A smaller flathead and a flier in another trap seemed fine, so they were released.
Here's the blacktail sucker I caught (in a turtle trap):
This photo doesn't do him justice; his fins were bright orange-red and his scales a lovely golden color.
He was in the trap with this flathead catfish:
The trap had been out too long because the river rose an unprecedented seven feet the night after we set traps; we had to wait until it went down to retrieve some of them. These two guys were pretty bedraggled, so we killed them and chopped them up for turtle bait. A smaller flathead and a flier in another trap seemed fine, so they were released.
#14
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Posted 16 March 2008 - 06:31 PM
Here's something I wrote back in 2006. Like I said, I've never actually tried it, but it got picked up in American Currents, so I guess at least someone thought it was a good idea.Yeah there should be enough posts to wet your whistle. There are some others on the email archive.
The short answer is yeah, if you can leave food around for them to browse on over a 3 or 4 hour period, they do great.
I do something similar to get food down to my bullheads when they're with over-eager sunfish or bass: http://forum.nanfa.o...amp;#entry33070
Cheers, Jase
NANFA-L-- Feeding suckers and other benthic feeders
Jase Roberts (nanfa_list-in-jaseroberts.net)
Sun, 21 May 2006 23:36:59 -0400
Saw some notes today about getting adequate food to suckers and other benthic feeders. Here's a suggestion that I haven't tried but am pretty confident would work... Stick a large margarine tub or similar size container full of clean sand in with the gravel-in-the bottom (but not covered with gravel). Use a turkey baster (with an extra section of rigid tubing glued on?) to suck up some California blackworms (Lumbriculus) and inject them into the sand. They'll slowly migrate to the surface (I'm certain of this part), where they should be easy prey for your benthic feeders. I've been maintining a healthy colony of blackworms for a couple months now, and I consider them to be pretty excellent feed. My bullhead catfish especially love them (the closest I have to a truly benthic feeder).
If you were to use blackworms, you probably wouldn't even have to get that fancy. Using a clear plastic tube as Ben and Michael suggested and dropping into a gravel pile would probably cause them to migrate outward. The advantage of the blackworms is they're fully aquatic, so they're going to live in your system until they get eaten (no food rotting under the gravel).
If someone tries it, let me know how it works.
Blackworms are available in large quantities-in-a reasonable cost from http://www.aquaticfoods.com/.
#15
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Posted 16 March 2008 - 08:24 PM
Thanks for the advice, Sumthinfishy. I would like to have 2 or 3 of every species in the tank, and there will almost certainly be several creek chubs and maybe hornyheads too.
That sounds like a good plan, Jase. That makes me wonder if seeding the tank with sufficient numbers of blackworms or other oligochaetes, isopods, amphipods, clams, snails, and other benthic macroinverts would provide a sustainable forage base for the suckers? Probably not, but it's gotta be worth a shot, right?
Tom- PM sent.
That sounds like a good plan, Jase. That makes me wonder if seeding the tank with sufficient numbers of blackworms or other oligochaetes, isopods, amphipods, clams, snails, and other benthic macroinverts would provide a sustainable forage base for the suckers? Probably not, but it's gotta be worth a shot, right?
Tom- PM sent.
#17
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Posted 18 March 2008 - 03:27 PM
I've got a photo of blackworms sticking out of a sand bed that will make suckers drool. I'll post it this evening. -Jasesuck up some California blackworms (Lumbriculus) and inject them into the sand. They'll slowly migrate to the surface (I'm certain of this part), where they should be easy prey for your benthic feeders.
#18
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Posted 18 March 2008 - 03:39 PM
Sumthinfishy - this is the huge (8' X 3' X 3') tank I've mentioned in a couple other threads. I hope the inverts I introduce will reproduce and fill up the substrate before there are enough fish in there to clean them out. We'll just have to see, I guess.
Jase - I'm looking forward to it! Do you know if blackworms require sand beds to thrive? The substrate in my tank will be variously-sized gravel and stone; there may be some sand, but not extensive areas of it.
Jase - I'm looking forward to it! Do you know if blackworms require sand beds to thrive? The substrate in my tank will be variously-sized gravel and stone; there may be some sand, but not extensive areas of it.
#20
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Posted 18 March 2008 - 05:58 PM
The focus will be on centrarchids, especially larger Lepomis. I'll probably also include rock bass, maybe crappie, madtoms, and large minnows, as well as various crayfish. I'm also considering yellow bass and drum, but I don't know how well they would do in the tank.
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