A Possible Project

[chefjamesscott]

Hello all!

Yesterday, my kids came back from an afternoon visit to The Saskatchewan Science Center. They were telling me about the fish tank there. They were telling me how it has 2 sturgeon in it, and my oldest daughter told me that when she asked one of the staff about the tank size the fish were in, she was answered "Well the fish only grow to the size of the tank!"

So today I made a phone call to pass on some thoughts on the error of that statement. I was put in contact with Jennifer Jacobs B. Sc. B. Ed., so I left her a voice mail.

When she returned my phone call I had a short conversation with her and offered to help them out with their tanks. I went for a visit at 4pm and spent about half an hour visiting with her and ended up saying I could help them get their aquatic displays in better shape. I also told her that I would post a thread about this and give her the link.

At present they are in what seems to be a 90-100g 4ft tank 18in wide. Filtration is 2 aquaclear 110 hob. The diet has been frozen bloodworms.

Here is a pic.

I offered to help redo the tank so it is more nature orintated in it's design, as well as offered to help them get a tank more suited to house these fish.

Please feel free to offer your thoughts and advice on how to make this transform from a 90-100g with blue gravel to a suitable display tank. I have a very nice chiller at home for the new tank if they decide to entertain my services.

 

[sostoudt]

look at the hand in the corner lol.

if you do insist on switching out that clown puke. i could never take a place seriously with neon colored gravel. it should atleast look like its natural habitat


edit: i would recommend putting that fish in a pond

 

[smpage]

That tank is nowhere near large enough. They look kinda like sterlets which get four feet in length.

 

[chefjamesscott]

As an aside note, I told her that the comments on this forum would be frank!

They were looking at getting a half circle tank but I told her I can do way better than the prices at the petland. My supplier does tanks for zoo's so size is easy to obtain.

 

[Thalan]

They definitely need a more natural environment especially in a museum setting. At least it's got plenty of filtration though.
There apparently aren't many places like this around me. We're lacking in the natural history department. That's awesome that you've found two around you and hopefully this one can improve as much as the other.

 

[Noto]

Do you have a positive ID on them? They look like lake sturgeon to me but I'm no expert. If they are lakes, you're going to need a very big tank...eventually. These guys may take 10-15 years to hit 3 feet in the wild. Warm temps and abundant food in captivity will no doubt allow them to grow somewhat faster. Old fish may reach 8 feet or more.

Just as a ballpark figure, I'd guess an 8' X 4' footprint tank would work for the next decade or two. After that they will need to upgrade to a pond or room-sized tank.

 

[sostoudt]

it looks kinda like a sterlet to me, but im not sure the heads look a little big, maybe there just malnourished.

its gonna be troublesome if its a larger sturgeon species.

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

First of the fish need more food they look very thin. Second I agree with noto they look not to be sterlets. Maybe Moontanman will chime in with a ID. and some help.

 

[chefjamesscott]

When I first saw them I was going like YIKES as they truly are undernourished.. And then my second thought was . I did spent a bit of time stressing the need for more than blood worms as food.

They are actually lake sturgeon given a positive id by the dept of lakes and fisheries here in Sask.. They were wild caught from a river in north sask and given to the science center for their wild sask exhibit.

After talking with Jennifer on the phone today there is a very real possibility that the provincial wildlife officers will actually be coming to pick up the fish and do a release back into the wild. Now before anyone chimes about releasing aquaria fish back into the wild, out province has for a long time been doing a captive raise release to the wild program so as to repopulated depleted wild stock.

As well these fish have never had any tankmates other than themselves and are so uncontaminated by that which would show up had they been cross contaminated as it were. Jennifer also said that the plan may very well turn to making the tank into a display tank of fish that are from sask but would not outgrow the tank.

 

[chefjamesscott]

Had a very interesting day today!

After lunch this older couple brought their grandkids in to see the tanks and we got talking. Got on the subject of proper fish keeping and such, turned out that this guy had just retired from 35 years as the director of the province of saskatchewans sturgeon program and that he actually placed the 2 fish at the science center. Wow small world!!!

So I left my restaurant early to go rescape the tank for them. They moved it upstairs to the administration office. I took materials that would already have the beneficial bacteria on them.

Here are the pics of the tank redo.

just checkin out a deformed fin

For those of you who know about these fish, I have a ?

Do the noses turn up like that normally?

I spoke with jennifer about the need to add some current with a power head and to add some air flow to increase the movement of water from the bottom of the tank to the top.

The dept of fisheries is coming on friday to possibly take the fish for future release or to recommend a different direction such as the setting up of a more long term tank. I got a quote for her on a 7 foot long, 4 foot wide and 18 inch tall tank which would be drilled and have a chiller put on it.

edit:yes that is the hat I wore to work today as a chefs hat