baby bowfin dying

i bought 12 1" bowfin from tropical fish distributors and 10 made it to me alive. i have been losing one a day so now i have 5. theyre taking bloodworms right up to the day they die. im feeding a couple minutes worth 3 to 4 times a day. water is around 70ish and parameters are good. any suggestions are very welcome please...

We have had this exact same issue when we used to try to work with them for sale. There are two possibilities. The first is that bowfin appear to be particularly susceptible to internal parasites. This likely has to do with the stagnant backwater that these guys frequent, but this is just a guess. I am not sure how prevalent this is, but I have seen documentation of this before.

The second possibility, and the most probable in my opinion, is that they are very sensitive to poor water quality when they are young. They are also more difficult to feed at a small size than most people realize and produce a ton of waste when they do. The combination of these makes for the possibility of very poor water conditions in a closed system. Interestingly, with these guys, once they have been exposed to the high ammonia/nitrite levels, there is no going back. They are somehow irreparably effected.

My guess is that the seller was holding a large number of these fish in a closed system and the water parameters had degraded. This is not to criticize the seller as, like I said, I had the same thing happen to me and it happens very quickly. This explains why the fish died on the way to you. They are also obligate air breathers so if he didn't leave an airspace in the shipping bag, this could have contributed. My guess is that you will lose most if not all of the fish in the next week or so. I hope I am wrong because I know they are not cheap, but I suspect I am right.

thank you for your reply. im trying everything i know to save the poor little fellas. they are eating like crazy though. hmmm...

Chasingtime,

They are hardwired to consume large amounts. Internal bacterial infection very possible. You might consider emmersion in an antibiotic or slipping in a antibiotic laced feed into your blood worms. Also diversify their diet. Try some frozen brine shrimp and chunks of worm.

Can you cool them down a bit?

i dont have the means to cool the water unfortunately. one thing i observed is when they die their mouths are closed and body is in tact with healthy slime coat...

any suggestions on where to get viable sized ones and also, could i catch them in a minnow trap this time of year? im on the south shore of lake ontario in rochester ny with multiple ponds and bays feeding the lake...

Edited by chasingtime, 16 March 2010 - 03:26 PM.

i dont have the means to cool the water unfortunately. one thing i observed is when they die their mouths are closed and body is in tact with healthy slime coat...

My losses were similar.


I have no idea about good localities in your area. With fish you already, can you setup for major (>50%)daily water changes. Will need an aging tank near you culture tank.

My losses were similar.


I have no idea about good localities in your area. With fish you already, can you setup for major (>50%)daily water changes. Will need an aging tank near you culture tank.

i have them in a little breeder inside a 120 gal so it would be tough but my water is testing perfect...

also thinking that a minnow trap would have to allow access to air for bowfin correct? how long can they stay under?

Edited by chasingtime, 16 March 2010 - 04:12 PM.

Water quality test probably will not detect high bacterial concentrations but a large tank should minimze risk. Kept my bowfins confined in a net near the outlet of the filter. High water flow appeared to help. Will they eat chunks of raw fish from you hand?

If water is cool and oxygen is high, then indefinantly.

Water quality test probably will not detect high bacterial concentrations but a large tank should minimze risk. Kept my bowfins confined in a net near the outlet of the filter. High water flow appeared to help. Will they eat chunks of raw fish from you hand?

If water is cool and oxygen is high, then indefinantly.

i will move my breeder closer to the outlet. they dont seem interested in raw fish but the bloodworms definitely...

should i let them roam the 120 instead?

Edited by chasingtime, 16 March 2010 - 04:46 PM.

I too have tried to raise these in the past. I have gotten a few broods and they seemed to need a tun of food when they are small. The only person I know who had much success with these actually kept them in a big 300 gallon cattle trough in his garage and got them on to pellets as feed very early on. I'm just guessing but I think the pellet feed probably had a higher protein content than any type of frozen food you could offer and this kept them from being hungry for a longer time period. They are very difficult fish at a small size but if you can get them past the 1-4 inch size they become very hardy and are difficult to kill. I once bought a single one at a pet shop that was about 1 inch long and got it to live, I fed it a mixture of frozen feeds and live feeder fish. I had that fish for many years from when I was in high school through much of college.

I too have tried to raise these in the past. I have gotten a few broods and they seemed to need a tun of food when they are small. The only person I know who had much success with these actually kept them in a big 300 gallon cattle trough in his garage and got them on to pellets as feed very early on. I'm just guessing but I think the pellet feed probably had a higher protein content than any type of frozen food you could offer and this kept them from being hungry for a longer time period. They are very difficult fish at a small size but if you can get them past the 1-4 inch size they become very hardy and are difficult to kill. I once bought a single one at a pet shop that was about 1 inch long and got it to live, I fed it a mixture of frozen feeds and live feeder fish. I had that fish for many years from when I was in high school through much of college.

these guys bellies are full of bloodworms. im thinking about cutting back to feeding twice a day so they dont over eat. any thoughts?

My opinion would be to keep feeding them as often as you are and try to diversify the diet. It seems the quicker you can get them to grow past that vulnerable stage the better. I doubt you are over feeding them, in my experience with them they seem to really need a lot of food, but then again I could have it all wrong.

I had to feed young bowfin twice a day and an incredible volume of food (lots and lots).
I also had to perform %90 water changes daily as the water quality could not be maintained otherwise.
I know many of the fish did well later but I could not maintain bowfin in any numbers at that time.

i knew it would be tough to keep the rest of my bowfin fry alive but out of 10 i have 3 thriving. as of this am they are hitting pellets and i was wondering if i should keep them on just that and discontinue the bloodworms or not. let me know pals...

I think pellets as a staple are good but I also thing with all fish it is good to provide some variety in the diet. I think a varied diet helps promote better growth and longer life.

Ok, so would a 20 gallon long be adequate for 1 young bowfin (2-3 inch) and maybe 2-3 tadpole madtoms for clean-up? This tank would probably be aging for maybe 3-4 months before the bowfin would be added. I have an Aqueon QuietFlow 20, would this be good enough?

Baby bowfin are notorious for carrying high parasite loads...there is an article on the NANFA website by Jan Hoover that might be instructive.