I was wondering what would be a good coldwater dither fish for a grass pickerel? I was thinking of northern studfish because they get pretty big and are colorful. Would these be good? Any other suggestions? Also the tank will be a 55 with excellent filtration and quite a few plants.
Chad
Pickerel Dithers...?
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, Oct 29 2006 03:44 PM
22 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_drewish_*
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Posted 29 October 2006 - 04:03 PM
Northern studfish would be considered food. There are no true dithers for pickerel as they will eat most things close to their size. I've been told you might be able to get away with larger specimens of the Enneacanthus sp, bluespotted or banded sunfish.
Large chubs may also work for awhile until the pickerel is large enough to eat them. I don't however know if these faster moving fish will put any stress on the pickerel.
Large chubs may also work for awhile until the pickerel is large enough to eat them. I don't however know if these faster moving fish will put any stress on the pickerel.
#4
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Posted 29 October 2006 - 04:56 PM
I am not too fond of creek chubs. I had one for a while and loved it but he was just way too messy. What about something that has a different body shape. Like more round so it could not be swallowed so easily? I am not too worried about having dithers I just thought it might look cool.
Chad
Chad
#6
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 09:26 AM
Out of curiosity, why are you looking for a dither fish for pickerel? Pickerel don't really like to swim around much. They prefer to sit still and watch, waiting for prey to wander by. I would think that if your pickerel were to swim around a lot, it would get pretty stressed out.
#8
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 10:56 AM
I had a redfin pickerel once. It was essentially a one-fish setup, with the only other fish being dinner. I could keep a few dinner items in there (not too many) and they would last a few days or even more. Usually it was just her, though. This fish was happy enough that she layed eggs. By herself. I guess when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!
#9
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 11:07 AM
I had a redfin pickerel once. It was essentially a one-fish setup, with the only other fish being dinner. I could keep a few dinner items in there (not too many) and they would last a few days or even more. Usually it was just her, though. This fish was happy enough that she layed eggs. By herself. I guess when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!
Tell us more about this pickerel that dropped eggs in the home aquaria! Tank size, conditions the works!
I know many folks have kept pickerel but none have spawned them. This is the best I've heard yet.
#10
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 11:48 AM
Gosh, I dunno... it was nothing special...
Fish was aquired at about 1.5" long. Trained it to frozen bloodworms by shooting them out with the filter flow. Graduated to very small frozen feeders; moved on up to full-size frozen feeders, all thawed and shot out the filter outflow.
Tank setup: 20-long with a HOB filter on the side. Glass top, no additional lighting. Gravel was brown from a stream in SC that Dustin, Chip, and a couple other folks helped me get (now that was heavy... thanks guys!). Tank was located in the hallway of a corrugated metal outbuilding that I had my graduate office in.
Other than that, I just kept her as full as she wanted to be. She layed eggs when she was about 6", if I remember correctly. I had named her "Mikey", but later changed it to Michelle.
Fish was aquired at about 1.5" long. Trained it to frozen bloodworms by shooting them out with the filter flow. Graduated to very small frozen feeders; moved on up to full-size frozen feeders, all thawed and shot out the filter outflow.
Tank setup: 20-long with a HOB filter on the side. Glass top, no additional lighting. Gravel was brown from a stream in SC that Dustin, Chip, and a couple other folks helped me get (now that was heavy... thanks guys!). Tank was located in the hallway of a corrugated metal outbuilding that I had my graduate office in.
Other than that, I just kept her as full as she wanted to be. She layed eggs when she was about 6", if I remember correctly. I had named her "Mikey", but later changed it to Michelle.
#12
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 12:13 PM
Seriously... nothing more to it...
Average temp - room temp, probably overheated a bit in the winter as many public buildings are...
Veg - none.
Water changes - neglected most of the time.
I think there was a small piece of driftwood, maybe a rock. It wasn't much of a varied bottom.
Ambiance - gray corrugated metal walls, gray linolium flooring, old gray school desk as a stand, yellow-stained ceiling tiles from many a leak in the roof. Tank wasn't very bright, maybe that makes a difference. Maybe that and the fact that I kept her rather fat.
Average temp - room temp, probably overheated a bit in the winter as many public buildings are...
Veg - none.
Water changes - neglected most of the time.
I think there was a small piece of driftwood, maybe a rock. It wasn't much of a varied bottom.
Ambiance - gray corrugated metal walls, gray linolium flooring, old gray school desk as a stand, yellow-stained ceiling tiles from many a leak in the roof. Tank wasn't very bright, maybe that makes a difference. Maybe that and the fact that I kept her rather fat.
#13
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 03:40 PM
I don't mind having a one fish setup I was just wondering if there were any dithers for a pikerel. Just add some bright flashy movement or something. But I guess I am just going to keep it as a single fish aquarium. Thanks
Chad
Chad
#15
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 05:08 PM
Gravel was brown from a stream in SC that Dustin, Chip, and a couple other folks helped me get (now that was heavy... thanks guys!).
That would be our famous "Little River substrate". I use it in many of my tanks. It was pretty heavy hauling it out!
#17
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 05:32 PM
Gravel was brown from a stream in SC that Dustin, Chip, and a couple other folks helped me get (now that was heavy... thanks guys!).
That would be our famous "Little River substrate". I use it in many of my tanks. It was pretty heavy hauling it out!
Is this the magic to spawn pickerel?
#18
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Posted 30 October 2006 - 06:52 PM
My guess is.......PROBABLY NOT....it does look good though.Gravel was brown from a stream in SC that Dustin, Chip, and a couple other folks helped me get (now that was heavy... thanks guys!).
That would be our famous "Little River substrate". I use it in many of my tanks. It was pretty heavy hauling it out!
Is this the magic to spawn pickerel?
#20
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Posted 13 November 2006 - 10:19 AM
you can keep multiple pickerel in the same tank, they do not appear to have any aggressive behavior toward anything that is too big for them to eat. I could see it being quite possible to keep stufish with a pickerel as long as the studfish were too large for consumption. They would have to be the same size as the pickerel. Which is potentially possible till the pickerel gets over 7 or 8 inches, studfish get big. I have also kept them with less aggressive sunfish species. Don't put them with any of the more territorial species because it is likely the sunfish would kill the pickerel. I have kept them with orange spots, and I would second the idea of a large bluespot or banded as being quite possible. I also think the Chubsucker spp. idea would work well. If you have not had a chubsucker before you should give them a try. They are by far the easiest group of suckers (there are 3 or 4 species) to keep healthy in captivity and they typically max out around 10-12" about the same max size as a pickerel. I would say any non-teritorial species of similar size could go with a pickerel. It is very important to keep the tank mates out of the size range of food and keep the pickerel well fed.
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