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Yellow Perch inhabitant

Started by Guest_MWBradshaw_* , May 20 2010 10:27 PM

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16 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 20 May 2010 - 10:27 PM

I added my first inhabitant to my 36 gallon planted aquarium yesterday! It's a small yellow perch, I let it acclimate for about an hour, then added it to my tank. For the first night it seemed to just hide out on the bottom near plants and my Driftwood. But today when I got home from work it was swimming around in the open water and seemed pretty lively. I dropped in a couple pieces of night crawler but it wasn't interested. I'm thinking that I'll stop at my Local fish store and get some bloodworms to see if it'll eat those. Does anyone have any tips on what to feed them?

Posted Image

Edited by MWBradshaw, 20 May 2010 - 10:39 PM.

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#2 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 22 May 2010 - 07:55 AM

The worms were a fine idea... my small experience with yellow perch is that they are somewhat slow feeders (or maybe that was just compared to the pumpkinseeds they were in a tank with)... the other idea is feeder guppies/minnows (speaking as an angler, we always used minnows to catch perch)... again, they may be a little slow and take a stalking approach, but if you count guppies everyday, I bet there will always be less... even if you don't see them eat.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#3 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 22 May 2010 - 03:15 PM

Thanks! Yeah, I was going to try finding some small minnows and see if it would feed on them. I was looking at different freeze dried foods and decided to try some krill. But they just float on the surface, maybe when I get a sunfish, I can use those.

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#4 Guest_TonsOfFun5_*

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Posted 22 May 2010 - 04:21 PM

What other fish if any do you have in the tank? Having other fish whose example the perch can follow seems to be the best bet.
When I added my yellow perch I had bluegill and rockbass that were used to eating whatever I gave them, mostly pellets, never any live food.
It seemed that by seeing the other fish in the tank getting excited over pellets is what got my yellow perch to eat.
I was worried for the first few days because they didnt ea tand didnt seem interested. But I think once they got hungry enough they were willing to check out what all the fuss was about. Then It was just a matter of them getting used to competing for getting to the pellet first, which also took some time.
Now they get their fair share of pellets just as easily as the bluegill and rockbass. The same thing happened when I added pumpkinseed.

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#5 Guest_joshuapope2001_*

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Posted 22 May 2010 - 06:27 PM

I have had great luck with a high end sinking pellet. In my experience they are one of the easier fish to switch over to pelleted foods.

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#6 Guest_logan_*

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Posted 24 May 2010 - 09:42 AM

Mine loves feeder fish of any kind.

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#7 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 26 May 2010 - 05:29 PM

Well I now currently have 2 small perch and one very small largemouth. I have fed them feeder fish twice and they love them. I put in about two dozen and they only lasted about a day and a half. I want to get them to eat a few different things. I threw in a few freeze dried krill today, one of them got caught up in the tumble of the outflow from my filter and I saw the bass come up and nail it. Then the same thing happened with both perch. So I'm happy to see that they are coming to the surface or near the surface to feed. Next thing to try is nightcrawlers again.

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Yellow Perch feeding

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Perch and Largemouth Bass

Edited by MWBradshaw, 26 May 2010 - 06:16 PM.

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#8 Guest_BTDarters_*

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Posted 27 May 2010 - 12:38 AM

Nice pics! Looks like you have a great tank! Thanks for sharing!

Brian

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#9 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 27 May 2010 - 06:32 AM

Ehh, it's my first planted tank so I'm kind of learning as I go. Some plants haven't done well as I'd hoped in my tank so I need to replace them. But all in all I'm pretty happy with it. A stronger light might help with some of the plants (I'm using 2X18 Watt on a 36 Gallon with a 7 hour photoperiod). But thanks for the comment! Here's a FTS.

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#10 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 28 May 2010 - 09:31 PM

This afternoon I was watching my fish when I realized something was off with the larger of my two perch (the first one I put in). It's mouth had some white growing on it and there was some red surrounding it. The perch was also moving its mouth a lot. I did a little research and I diagnosed it as Columnaris. So I went to my LFS and picked up some API Triple Sulfa. I got my water tested and nothing seemed to be wrong that the tests showed (Nitrates? were low, Nitrite's were 0, pH was where it was a month ago, Ammonia was zero - I believe, the worker said it read normal). When I got home I did a 25% water change and vacuumed most of the substrate. I then added the meds and some aquarium salt - read that its good to use when treating for an infection/parasite because it promotes gill function. I then added a dozen feeder fish, the bass and smaller perch wasted no time consuming two each as the sick perch did not feed . I'm supposed to add another dose of the meds in 24 hours, then wait another 24 hours and do a 25% water change. I'm hoping that it works, has anyone had any Columnaris problems before?

This afternoon I accomplished my goal of broadening my inhabitants diets by feeding them nightcrawlers. I cut one crawler up into 4 pieces and dropped them into my tank individually. The largemouth got the first two and the smaller perch got the next two. That's when I noticed the larger perch was ill.

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#11 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 29 May 2010 - 03:07 PM

It's not unusual for a newly collected fish to have a fungal infection. Fish can get banged around when you are catching them. If you caught it on a hook, then an infected mouth wound is not surprising at all. It also may not be eating because its mouth hurts. I use Maroxy for fungus.

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#12 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 31 May 2010 - 09:17 PM

Yeah, I was kind of thinking that's what it derived from, catching it with a hook. The morning after treatment I found it dead in my tank so that's unfortunate. But the other fish seem healthy and happy. And eating pretty well. I added a small bluegill this weekend.

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#13 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 10:42 AM

I was doing a water change and a little re-scaping yesterday and as I had my hands in the tank, moving and re-planting some things, I got surprised when I got bit by something. I looked down and my yellow perch was hanging out by the plants I was moving around and then it nipped at me again. It didn't hurt but it just totally caught me off guard. I'm not sure if he thought my fingers were food or if he was just being defensive. It was a bit funny though. :laugh:

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#14 littlen

NANFA Member

Washington, D.C.

Posted 15 June 2010 - 09:52 AM

Wild caught minnows and shiners,...and especially store bought feeders usually have a heavy parasite load. I know they make excellent feeders and are readily available/cheap. As your [pet] fish are mostly likely wild caught, there is a chance that they are 'dirty' (aka infected with some sort of internal/external parasites) as well. But the introduction of your feeders can cause an outbreak.

You may want to set up a "feeder" tank where you can always keep some in stock at your house and treat the feeders before you feed them to your other fish. You can easily start a breeding colony of guppies, mollies, or any livebearer. That way you know the babies are clean and once grown out- make a sustainable source of food.

Good luck.

Nick L.

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#15 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 15 June 2010 - 02:12 PM

Wild caught minnows and shiners,...and especially store bought feeders usually have a heavy parasite load. I know they make excellent feeders and are readily available/cheap. As your [pet] fish are mostly likely wild caught, there is a chance that they are 'dirty' (aka infected with some sort of internal/external parasites) as well. But the introduction of your feeders can cause an outbreak.

You may want to set up a "feeder" tank where you can always keep some in stock at your house and treat the feeders before you feed them to your other fish. You can easily start a breeding colony of guppies, mollies, or any livebearer. That way you know the babies are clean and once grown out- make a sustainable source of food.

Good luck.

Yeah, I figured that the feeders at a local fish store were in bad condition and diseases were likely a problem that went untreated. I've only put feeders in my tank 3 times for that reason. I have been mulling over the idea of setting up a feeder tank, I'm just trying to figure out what specific things I would need and where I would set it up in my house as I don't have any more room in my bedroom. But I agree that that would be the best way to feed my natives disease free fish.

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#16 littlen

NANFA Member

Washington, D.C.

Posted 16 June 2010 - 02:28 PM

You could easily set up a five gallon tank with minimal effort and have success breeding guppies/mollies, etc. A simple sponge filter and some java moss for the fry to hide in should be adequate. Then again, space is the limiting factor for most every member on this forum! We'd all have many huge tanks if we could...

But it only takes one sick [feeder] fish to infect your display tank. It is a risky game to feed your perch otherwise healthy looking feeders as it can take days or even weeks for symptoms to develope.

Nick L.