View Full Version : Bowfin
leviathon13
09-01-2005, 10:35 AM
I'm looking to get a young bowfin for a 55gal tank since I can no longe get snakeheads I figure this would be the next best thing. I realize this tank would be too small for an adult , i just want to get one well established and then move it to larger quarters as it grows. anyone know where I can get one? I had a couple of small ones *(2" or so) years ago and lost them both after a couple of months.any husbandry tips? :headbang2
First check your state laws, they are illegal a lot of places including Oregon, Dammit. Second check the sponsors in the buy and sell, and last check with Jonah's Aquarium as they say that they can order them in season.
Nate_N_Nicole
09-01-2005, 4:21 PM
We have them here in Michigan... (In our Lakes that is) I have never seen or cought them... We also have snakeheads...
AmazonPredator
09-01-2005, 11:45 PM
They're fairly easy to take care of. I've got a young one in a 10 gallon by itself and its doing well. Feed them on bloodworms or krill. I started out with a group of 6, however I killed off 5 before I learned how to take care of them. They can go into a "stress shock" when they're young so make sure they have cover to hide in and don't do more than a 20% water change at a time. They can also be cannibalistic with their own kind. I have yet to put one with anything else other than other bowfin, so any tankmates are a bit of a gamble. They don't require a heater either...There's a guy on the board named Chip that I got mine from...I think his name is KSIAquatics.
A friend of mine has an 8" specimen and 11" specimen for sale, the 8" one is $20 (I bought one, lol :p ) but I'm not sure how much the 11" one is. If you'd like I can shoot him an email for ya. :)
fishnthings
09-02-2005, 12:52 AM
A friend of mine has an 8" specimen and 11" specimen for sale, the 8" one is $20 (I bought one, lol :p ) but I'm not sure how much the 11" one is. If you'd like I can shoot him an email for ya. :)
if this guy dont pick it up i will!!!! :grinno: :thumbsup:
LOL! My friend's in Illinois too, so maybe you can avoid shipping costs. :D But, the 8" specimen is sold... I bought it. :D He still has the 11"er though.
seighten
09-03-2005, 1:32 PM
a bowfin, huh?? as they are rather drab, you are wanting one because of the "unusual" factor i take it? i caught one here in michigan once, was about 17 inches long... also saw one in a lake near me that was alot bigger!
Polypterus
09-03-2005, 3:48 PM
We have them here in Michigan... (In our Lakes that is) I have never seen or cought them... We also have snakeheads...
I'm not aware of Snakeheads yet in Michigan.
As for obtaining one go with the above acclimated fish From BGG's friend or KSIaquatics. Young bowfin can actually be tricky to keep and an acclimated fish is best.
AmazonPredator
09-04-2005, 1:16 AM
Drab? You obviously haven't seen many bowfin. Mine has lots of beautiful orange/yellow color in the tai....very nice looking.
Drab? You obviously haven't seen many bowfin. Mine has lots of beautiful orange/yellow color in the tai....very nice looking.
I have to agree that they're pretty attractive looking fish, and very personable too. Even though some of them are drab, there's MUCH more to fish than colors. ;)
seighten
09-04-2005, 8:02 PM
yes, i have only seen the two i mentioned.... and yes, both were very drab and the one i saw in the lake just lurked near the bottom.... maybe there are some "cultured" bowfins that have accented coloration then??? or, maybe some sort of a locality type coloration??
i understand about there being more to fish and their keeping than just coloration (although am a little hard pressed thinking this is a majority opinion when quite alot of the posts here mention coloration repeatedly...!!!). a fish that interests me/causes me to want to acquire is usually a combination of color/pattern and behavior, both of which seemed lacking in the 'fins i saw...
I would say that it is a majority opinion... I guess that you havn't seen the topic on intelligent fish species. And, good coloration is often a sign of good health and in most cases that's why color is mentioned. A lot of people only buy fish for coloration, but on this "level" of fishkeeping I'd say that most of us do buy fish their personalities rather than color. And the reason that the bowfin just "lurked" was probably that it was trying to keep from being seen. To know the true personality of a fish in aquarium conditions, you need to keep it aquarium conditions. It could just be a local coloration, as all of the specimens in the same size range (36" or so) that I saw while diving in Florida were a solid dark brown, but I have seen some with brilliant orange, green, and red on them.
EDIT: Or as a more simple explanation, when it comes to color they certainly aren't cardinal tetras, but when it comes to intelligence they certainly aren't cardinal tetras either.
Big Business
09-06-2005, 5:18 PM
I was thinking about getting one in a month or so... but i've heard you have to get them in season. does anyone know if this is true? why couldn't they just pull them out of a swamp in FL?
magic
09-06-2005, 10:09 PM
****, illegal in CA!!!!!! WHY IS EVERYTHING ILLEGAL WHERE I LIVE??????????????? GGGGGGGRRRRRRRR
guppy
09-07-2005, 12:01 AM
I was thinking about getting one in a month or so... but i've heard you have to get them in season. does anyone know if this is true? why couldn't they just pull them out of a swamp in FL?
They are usually sold small and the ones they sell are from that years hatchings.
Yep, guppy's right on. :)
is the bowfin a N.American native? Are they in the perch family with the walleye and sauger? Been a fisherman for awhile don't think i've ever seen one. Pics Please
They're in family Amiidae, and their latin name is Amia calva. They're related to gars, bichirs, sturgeon, and paddlefish. I can't get any pics right now as it always stalls my computer when I try to upload or save any pics (I'm on dialup right now), lol... But you can do a google image search for "Amia calva" and it will turn up a bunch of pics of them. :) Or, you may seen one and they have a different common name in your area, so here's a list of some of their common names: Grindle, lake lawyer, dogfish, mudfish, shoepike. there are a bunch more common names, but I think that those are the commonly used aside from bowfin. :)
guppy
09-08-2005, 12:18 PM
Actually they are only distantly related to any other fish, they are north american natives and the only member of their family anywhere. depending on the local population they reach between 24"-43" long. They are nesting fish breeding in hollows, under stumps, etc where the male guards the nest until hatching, during this time they have been known to bite swimmers who got to close. They are good eating if from clean water and put up a good fight on light gear. here are a couple pics I found on a russian site and a taxonomy site.
i want one. Of all the years of fishing never caught one. what geographical area of the U.S do they live in.
There are scattered populations from New Jersey to Idaho, east to west, and from Quebec, Canada to Florida, north to south. they are fairly common in backwaters in the southern portion of that range such as Florida and Louisiana
fishnthings
09-09-2005, 12:41 AM
LOL! My friend's in Illinois too, so maybe you can avoid shipping costs. :D But, the 8" specimen is sold... I bought it. :D He still has the 11"er though.
where at in illinois is he... does he still have it............ :headbang2
thay are wild looking i think. Does anyone have pics they would like to share? I might consider getting one.
Actually, the Amiiformes (of which the bowfin is the only living representative of, there are a number of extinct species) are fairly closely related to the Semionotiformes, which include the gars, and slightly more distantly related to sturgeons, paddlefish, and bichirs, but they are still more closely related to the listed fish than any other fishes. They also share characteristics with some of the listed fish (i.e. gars), such as a partially cartilaginous skeleton. Also, as far as I know they aren't found west of Minnesota... where was the report of them being found in Idaho at? I'd be interested in seeing it. :)
seighten
09-09-2005, 3:29 AM
i "apologize" for my un-enlightened comments regarding bowfins... the photos adn descriptions you guys mention are cool! i was merely going on the experiences i have had here in michigan... believe me, the ones here are not all that exciting... most every fisherman i have talked to here does not hold them in any particular high regard... so, i guess to surmise... ifn you are going to get a bowfin... try to get one from a local not in michigan!!
DanDanUK
09-09-2005, 6:34 AM
Bowfins look great although i don't know much about them i think i'll look into them and do a little research.
But here's Some picture's.
Actually, the Amiiformes (of which the bowfin is the only living representative of, there are a number of extinct species) are fairly closely related to the Semionotiformes, which include the gars, and slightly more distantly related to sturgeons, paddlefish, and bichirs, but they are still more closely related to the listed fish than any other fishes. They also share characteristics with some of the listed fish (i.e. gars), such as a partially cartilaginous skeleton. Also, as far as I know they aren't found west of Minnesota... where was the report of them being found in Idaho at? I'd be interested in seeing it. :)
I will look back through the sites I scanned, there were a bunch, I think that was from a distribution map on a Canadian site, I'll try to find it. As to being closer releated to the gars than to most other fish, yes, I just meant that as you stated, they are in a family all their own.
piranha45
09-09-2005, 2:42 PM
this is a neat pic
bluedempsey
09-09-2005, 3:59 PM
that is some good info p45
:clap
DanDanUK
09-09-2005, 4:03 PM
Yes it is P45 nice one.
BGG, I can't find that site but thinking about it may have misread Idaho fo Iowa, The only mention of bowfins in Idaho I found this time was a site called paleos that was talking about bones found in old (pre european) campsites, it was in the references under paleovertabrates.
In the indexes of www.calacademy.org in the icthyology dept. there are synposises of reference works on file and they list books that mention bowfins in Nebraska, N. Dakota, S.Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, and recently ( post 1800) extinct populations in Colorado and Wyoming.
The paper " Nonindigenous Fishes Introduced Into Inland Waterways Of The United States of America" by P.L.Fuller (1989) mentions two specimens caught in Idaho but they were probably released there.
Two other sites that mention populations west of Minnesota are www.kansasfishes.com and www.sdgfp.info/wildlife/education/commonfishes.htm in South Dakota.
I need to read more carefully.
managuense-fury
09-09-2005, 5:02 PM
from pics that i have seen they look like they have small mouths
is that true?
Look at the pica in post #20 of this thread.
teleost
09-09-2005, 7:53 PM
I can't yet see pics in thread #20 but I can say that Bow's have large, toothy mouths.
(post #1, four more posts and I can see pics)
Hiya and welcome teleost, The post will still be there, one pic shows one with an open mouth and another shows a bare skull with some teeth I would not want stuck in my hand.
Ps. is that a frog eye in your avatar?
BGG, I can't find that site but thinking about it may have misread Idaho fo Iowa, The only mention of bowfins in Idaho I found this time was a site called paleos that was talking about bones found in old (pre european) campsites, it was in the references under paleovertabrates.
In the indexes of www.calacademy.org in the icthyology dept. there are synposises of reference works on file and they list books that mention bowfins in Nebraska, N. Dakota, S.Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, and recently ( post 1800) extinct populations in Colorado and Wyoming.
The paper " Nonindigenous Fishes Introduced Into Inland Waterways Of The United States of America" by P.L.Fuller (1989) mentions two specimens caught in Idaho but they were probably released there.
Two other sites that mention populations west of Minnesota are www.kansasfishes.com and www.sdgfp.info/wildlife/education/commonfishes.htm in South Dakota.
I need to read more carefully.
Ah yes, now I remember reading that their range includes extreme eastern South Dakota, as well as Nebraska. However, as I understand they are very rare in these areas.
Has anyone ever seen any in their lfs?
AmazonPredator
09-11-2005, 1:10 AM
There must be color variations because all those pics have different colored fish. I heard that males are more colorful. In one of the first pics posted in this thread there's one with a nice "reticulated" pattern which I thought was cool. I would be shocked to see a bowfin fore sale at my lfs, but that's not to say they've not been seen elsewhere. There's alot of common lfs fish they don't sell here...two being silver arowanas & peacock bass...
Yes, the ones that I saw while diving in FL where a solid dark brown, but the one swimming in my tank has a reticulated pattern (which I agree is very attractive). I'll try to post pics of both...
fishnthings
09-11-2005, 4:17 AM
Yes, the ones that I saw while diving in FL where a solid dark brown, but the one swimming in my tank has a reticulated pattern (which I agree is very attractive). I'll try to post pics of both...
pics would be great. i cant get enough of these fish........( i need one :cry: )
ksiaquatics
09-12-2005, 10:02 AM
Sorry to be so late in responding to this thread. We HAD 31 young bowfin for sale earlier in the year but all have been sold. I still have one that I keep. Have grown him from less than 2" to nearly 8" now. He's in a 300 gal stock tank kept outside with two redfin pickerel (8" and 4") and three yellow perch (5", 5" & 7"). When we get more next spring, I'll be certain to post here.
Chip in SC
KSI Aquatics
yourmylunch
09-13-2005, 7:28 PM
i have one he is about 18" long and pretty fat i have had him for about 2 years and feed him mostly crayfish he has lived peacfully with all fish he cannot eat mostly ciclids . but did kill a smaller bowfin i placed with him recently
teleost
09-14-2005, 2:20 PM
Thanks for the welcome and that's actually a handcrafted eye for smalmouth mounts or replicas. It sure does looks like a frogs eye though.
Bowfins look great although i don't know much about them i think i'll look into them and do a little research.
But here's Some picture's.
NICE!!!!
why dont we see these fishes in sg?
guppy
09-20-2005, 12:43 PM
why dont we see these fishes in sg?
You have snakeheads? They are not very flashy and the niche fish trade is still developing, most exporters go for fish that can easily be sold in bulk.
Bigairmxman
02-06-2006, 5:55 PM
Dogs rock! i am on a mission to catch the state record in michigan which i beleive can be obtained from my fishing grounds, biggest one is 11 lbs but i saw one that was atleast 15 - 20
MarlboroMan
02-07-2006, 1:24 AM
Ive seen a couple stores in Los angeles that sold them, but that was a while ago, theyre failry cheap too. I remember seeing them for under 10 dollars, wasnt interested in that fish though, they just sat in the 60 gallon doing nothing.
Filthy Sanchez
02-07-2006, 4:15 PM
Does anyone know if bowfins are remotely as aggressive as snakeheads.
starrfish71
02-07-2006, 4:28 PM
Here in Florida,Some friends of mine have a creek that runs through the back of their property- If we remember this year, we're going to catch a batch of babies this spring. (we have talked about it for a couple of years, but there is only a short span of time to catch the fry)
I was going down the Ichnetucknee river and the doing the usual, floating down with a snorkel on and my butt in the air- I followed a bass for a while, and suddenly all the fish were GONE-- I realized belatedly, I was directly above a bowfin, est. about four feet beneath me, and and easily five feet in length. I got really excited, started splashing and trying to get my sister's attention, when the bowfin kind of slowly, cocked his eye up at me. I left.
****, illegal in CA!!!!!! WHY IS EVERYTHING ILLEGAL WHERE I LIVE??????????????? GGGGGGGRRRRRRRR
Because your government doesn't trust you to make good decisions. (Like the time the referendum was passed to legalize marijuana.)
Mad Icthyologist
02-08-2006, 12:37 AM
Amia Calva is a very aggressive and predatory fish. The scientist who first described them saw a group of young fish in a tight school and when he drew closer to examine them he was quite surprised when one of the parent fish actually jumped out of the pond in an effort to fight him off in defense of the fry.
The world record is over 20 lbs.
I myself have never caught one on hook and line.
Mad Icthyologist
02-08-2006, 12:42 AM
Here in Florida,Some friends of mine have a creek that runs through the back of their property- If we remember this year, we're going to catch a batch of babies this spring. (we have talked about it for a couple of years, but there is only a short span of time to catch the fry)
I was going down the Ichnetucknee river and the doing the usual, floating down with a snorkel on and my butt in the air- I followed a bass for a while, and suddenly all the fish were GONE-- I realized belatedly, I was directly above a bowfin, est. about four feet beneath me, and and easily five feet in length. I got really excited, started splashing and trying to get my sister's attention, when the bowfin kind of slowly, cocked his eye up at me. I left.
No chance a bowfin could get to five feet. Very large specimens top out a little under three feet.
If the fish you saw was truly five feet long it was more than likely a grass carp. However since you live in Florida it also could have been a Channa species released by a dumb fishkeeper. Amia calva does look similar to some Channa's or Snakeheads as we commonly call them
ksiaquatics
02-08-2006, 8:18 AM
Dustin and I have been attacked by a male bowfin while he was building a nest. Happened in late January of '04. Luckily we were wearing waders as he was very aggressive. I have bite marks in the waders and he was only about 22" long. It was at a spot that we had been run out of by a 10' gator the previous May so at first it was what you might call a 'wader filling experience' (not talking about with water either - LOL). For his efforts, this bowfin is now on display at Riverbanks Zoo here in Columbia, SC.
Chip in SC
ksiaquatics
02-08-2006, 8:26 AM
The world record was caught here in SC 21lb-8oz. Bowfin regularly get over 30" but one over 36" is fairly rare. Probably look a lot bigger when you're swimming with them. Some pics and locations can be found here - www.bowfinanglers.com
Chip in SC