3" red fin pickerel
- Thread starter threeRBPs
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I feed mine crayfish, chubs, shiners, tadpoles, frogs, daces, darters. Pretty much whatever I net in the creek.
An assorted diet, the common feeders you may get from the LFS are about the worst thing you can feed them. I wont lie from during the winter months i resort to feeding rosie reds. Surprisingly in the wild Redfin Pickerel are not primarily piscivorous. I have actually had luck feeding crickets and earthworms. Not nearly as fun to watch however much more beneficial to their over all health and growth. I wonder if the influx of pickerel questionnaires are directly related to RainbowRunner doing the massive sell off from him pond. Any other questions ill be glad to assist you with. Esox are by far my favorite species of fish.
I gave my baby chains (i raised them from about a 1'') ghost shrimps as supplementary nourishment. They eagerly ate anything. i got the smallest minnows from a bait shop also.
Well, I can assure you that I am reading all of these redfin pickerel posts for the exact reason that you mentioned. Hopefully I can do better with the ten I just got than my previous attempt. I have had great success with the closely related Grass Pickerel and Chain Pickerel with small pieces of cut Tilapia (Actually an Oreochromis genus to be precise).
The only thing other than extremely very well quarantined and gut stuffed Rosies (I have 1,000's in stock ponds) that I have gotten any on my new 10 redfin pickerel to eat so far were live grass shrimp from a bait store.
Are bait store grass shrimp the same thing that LFS's sell as "ghost shrimp". They look extremely similar other than the grass shrimp as over twice the size of the ghost shrimps from the LFS. That and the price.
LFS small ghost shrimp are running 6 for $1.
The much larger live grass shrimp come in the containers similar to the carryout fried rice boxes in Chinese restaurants. I get a box full for $5 (Close to 100)?
Ghost shrimp are a very good feeder, and i must admit if it was not for the cost i would have this be a larger part of my pickerels diet. Ghost shrimp and grass shrimp are different species, how they both are part of the genus Palaemonetes. Grass shrimp in indigenous to your area hence the their availability. I would most definitely say go for it. Of course with the standard quarantine. When i feed rosie reds during the winter months not only do i gut load them but i also inject them with a nutrient supplement prior to feeding. A standard needle for insulin seem to work fine. I have been going through the very hard process of getting my pickerel off live foods. So far i have been able to get him to take dead comets that have been gut loaded and injected. I started this by tying thin string (not fishing line) to the comets tail and then tying the other end to my power filter head. it mimics live movement. Once i have him taking food only this way i plan to attempt to switch to pellets. Also remember Esox require a warm up period. Until they come to associate you with food they may not eat right away. Do the same routine every time you feed. My pickerel came to associate the net with food. So now i can just dip the net in and hes ready to go. Planted tanks are a big plus not only for hiding purposes but also it helps greatly to maintain water params, they produce a lot of waste and i would suggest having some java moss in their tank at the very least.