So.. Bowfin...

MonsterMinis · Jun 20, 2012

So we have all these great Gar stickies for husbandry for Gar.... But what about Bowfin? because I just went to the Shedd Aquarium today ( big downer i must admit, more and more seaworld esque common crap tanks) and saw bowfin in the NA tanks... and before that the MIlwaukee zoos NA set-up ( which was btw better then Shedds... crazyness..) All I saw where cute puppy faces... so I want one.. and I come here and find no sticky about their basic care and husbandry in captivity?...chop chop! lol.. So..

Can you guys give me some basics on these guys? includeing what tank mates are and aren't suitable and a basic run down of what I need to know in deciding if I wnat to persue this route?.. Ive seen enough threads on how delciate they are as babies.. but how big do they get ect in captivity?

would one be suitable as a sump fish? instead of a Sal? or do they need alot of swimming room ect?

Wiggles92 · Jun 21, 2012

I'll have to dig up the thread that we started when the merger was being debated.

MonsterMinis · Jun 21, 2012

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-bowfin-questions/page3&highlight=bowfin+info

old thread but says they get about 2' in captivity generally and other then IPs and being chill.. would make a decent canidate for a sump pet? I was thinking I would grow it out in the sump then eventually move it in with my gar?.. or bad idea? doesn't say much about their aggression levels ect.

E_americanus · Jun 21, 2012

-hi Amy,
will get around to more info in the relative near future, but the short of it is that generally bowfin should be kept by themselves, and on the rare occasion can get along with other robust tankmates (sometimes gars, sometimes conspecifics, but this is infrequent). they don't always get 2' in captivity, but as for a sump fish...that's debatable depending on the size of your sump. i would say a grow out system similar to gars is appropriate, and one could be housed by itself if it got large (captivity relative) in a 120g wide. they are very boisterous fish, and if you're into primitives well worth it. they are more active than boring bichirs although we all know most primitives are somewhat sedentary compared to the average (and even more boring) cichlid.
hope that helps as a start...oh, and they usually convert to prepared food quite easily!--
--solomon

MonsterMinis · Jun 21, 2012

Thanks For the quick info. the sump would be a 40Breeder ( its going on the 120, knock on wood I should have it this weekend if petco has their $ per gallon sale. and its the last peice i need for the Gars new setup) I was planning on doing a pretty straight forward system so their would be a decently sized are one could utilize. I'm guessing the general footprint of a 20L once all is said and done. I was plannig on getting a SAL but havent been able to find one reasonably priced. and the ones at the aquarium gave me cute puppy eyes... hard not to fall for them. I'll be running a Mag 9.5 on the tank, I'm starting to think this might be to much flow for a juvi? def worth looking into... but I don't think ide want to chance my gars getting whacked. But if a 75 or at most a 120 woudl be big enough for an adult might be worth it. the only prims i don't own atm are a lung.. or bowfin... =) own 2 knives, 2 bichir, and of course my 3 gar. Drab.. but addicting and absolutely fascinating animals imo.

screaminleeman · Jun 21, 2012

Be very cafreful with growing your bowfins out with you gars. I have done it in two seperate 40 G breeders and in both cases the bowfins are the top predator and spook the gars easily.

With that said, and a dozen or more of each, I have never had a Bowfin kill a gar!

Feeding will require that the Bowfins be gut stuffed first and the gars carefuly hand (or skewer) fed after the bowfin are sated. Likewise with "well quarantined" live feeders massive quantities are needed at once in order to allow the gar to eat.

There are many minnow farms online and I have tried several. I Loved the last half million golden shiners from Anderson's, but you will need a larger size than the fry stage, (2 - 3 months required for growth to even small feeders and .

They (Gar) will be bitten if they attempt to enter the initial feeding frenzy. Again nothing critical or terminal, but if you are concerned about scratch marks etc. then it is highly inadvisable as a combo.

The bowfins that I have kept also have a serious picking order and even during non feeding times will mark each other up in battle regularly. I have had a death of one bowfin > 8" from another bowfin of similar size (Ripped out throat)! I have somewhat successfuly used sunfish as dithers, but again be extremely careful, as what we call wimpy fish are certainly not so in comparison to cichlids, and will absolutely need to be smaller. Again they will mark up your gars and bowfins with attack, but both can and will eventually kill the sunnies. Green sunfish is a horrible choice for dithers as they are too tough! Two greenies (food I thought) beat the F out of 3 red belly P',s so bad that I had to remove them and return them to my farm pond. After over a year of two Green sunnies terroizing a growout tank with a much larger Tilapia Butti & Dovi, ditto back into my farm pond. Learn to identify and stick with Bluegill or an even less agressive variety.

Growout in plastic formed ponds have proven far more effective for me. The multi level preformed ponds provide an excellent growout (after I switched from the 1" to 1/2" net cover. You cannot believe how small of a hole that they can fit through.

Greg31 · Jun 21, 2012

My 2 are in a 29g with some bass at the moment. They are close to 4 inches. At first they ate only frozen brine shrimp and black worm. Now they tear up some massivore pellets. Growing like weeds now. No aggression that I have seen but they are both extremely active.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

pharmaecopia · Jun 21, 2012

I have been able to cohab my 5 bowfins with each other as well as some gator gars for a little over half a year now. As well as some larger longnose gars for roughly 2 months. No major issues, except for some nipped fins and the occasional missing scales from when the bowfins bicker. When I tried adding a larger florida into the mix, one of the bowfins took a swipe at it right away, so the florida was removed.

In the past I had some ID sharks (20"ish), one of which the bowfins completely ignored, the other got it's throat ripped out.

Very unpredictable in regards to how they react to tankmates.

sbuse · Jun 23, 2012

screaminleeman said:
Be very cafreful with growing your bowfins out with you gars. I have done it in two seperate 40 G breeders and in both cases the bowfins are the top predator and spook the gars easily.

With that said, and a dozen or more of each, I have never had a Bowfin kill a gar!

Feeding will require that the Bowfins be gut stuffed first and the gars carefuly hand (or skewer) fed after the bowfin are sated. Likewise with "well quarantined" live feeders massive quantities are needed at once in order to allow the gar to eat.

There are many minnow farms online and I have tried several. I Loved the last half million golden shiners from Anderson's, but you will need a larger size than the fry stage, (2 - 3 months required for growth to even small feeders and .

They (Gar) will be bitten if they attempt to enter the initial feeding frenzy. Again nothing critical or terminal, but if you are concerned about scratch marks etc. then it is highly inadvisable as a combo.

The bowfins that I have kept also have a serious picking order and even during non feeding times will mark each other up in battle regularly. I have had a death of one bowfin > 8" from another bowfin of similar size (Ripped out throat)! I have somewhat successfuly used sunfish as dithers, but again be extremely careful, as what we call wimpy fish are certainly not so in comparison to cichlids, and will absolutely need to be smaller. Again they will mark up your gars and bowfins with attack, but both can and will eventually kill the sunnies. Green sunfish is a horrible choice for dithers as they are too tough! Two greenies (food I thought) beat the F out of 3 red belly P',s so bad that I had to remove them and return them to my farm pond. After over a year of two Green sunnies terroizing a growout tank with a much larger Tilapia Butti & Dovi, ditto back into my farm pond. Learn to identify and stick with Bluegill or an even less agressive variety.

Growout in plastic formed ponds have proven far more effective for me. The multi level preformed ponds provide an excellent growout (after I switched from the 1" to 1/2" net cover. You cannot believe how small of a hole that they can fit through.

you should do an update on the ones you got from me., my last female has gotten big and mean to other bowfin. combined with my cuban gar, she and it killed my only other remaining bowfin. so far she has been good to the gars and minds her own buisness at about 10-12" now. she don't put up with ANY crap though thats for damn sure! my dat learned this right a way.

crappiekeeper · Jun 23, 2012

Someone post some picks of bowfin in a tank please! :popcorn:


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So.. Bowfin...

MonsterMinis

Feeder Fish

Wiggles92

Dovii

MonsterMinis

Feeder Fish

E_americanus

Penguin Lover

MonsterMinis

Feeder Fish

screaminleeman

Jack Dempsey

Greg31

Plecostomus

pharmaecopia

Polypterus

sbuse

Feeder Fish

crappiekeeper

Gambusia