Anyone keeping Sticklebacks?

[paul112]

I went down the river today, and it's been quite high lately. Ran my net through the weeds (submerged, obviously) on the bank, and caught 5 Three-Spined sticklebacks. I've brought them home, and got them in a 3G tank, they're about |----| long. Unfortunatly, I only had two fish-bags with me, so I've only got about 2L of river water. I've set up one of the fish-bags with cold, dechlorinated water (added a couple of drops of stress coat too) above the little water I have, and pricked a hole in the bottom. Hopefully they will slowly adjust.

Before you wonder how I'm going to keep these fellas cold, I'll be keeping the tank in my shed, my mum will flip when she finds out I have ANOTHER tank in my room

Anyway, what can I feed these guys? I can maybe try and get some live Daphnia from my LFS tomorrow, but they usually only carry bloodworm. I also have some Tetra-Flakes I could crush. Any other ideas or tips?

I'll post pics if I can get decent shots of them!

Paul

 

[DanDanUK]

I went down the river today, and it's been quite high lately. Ran my net through the weeds (submerged, obviously) on the bank, and caught 5 Three-Spined sticklebacks. I've brought them home, and got them in a 3G tank, they're about |----| long. Unfortunatly, I only had two fish-bags with me, so I've only got about 2L of river water. I've set up one of the fish-bags with cold, dechlorinated water (added a couple of drops of stress coat too) above the little water I have, and pricked a hole in the bottom. Hopefully they will slowly adjust.

Before you wonder how I'm going to keep these fellas cold, I'll be keeping the tank in my shed, my mum will flip when she finds out I have ANOTHER tank in my room

Anyway, what can I feed these guys? I can maybe try and get some live Daphnia from my LFS tomorrow, but they usually only carry bloodworm. I also have some Tetra-Flakes I could crush. Any other ideas or tips?

I'll post pics if I can get decent shots of them!

Paul

Daphinia will be fine, these fish don't grow very big either about 3cm i belive, as soon as the reach that size you can feed them on small pinky maggots,

Perch normally do quite well in home aquarium, i've acctually caught and kept perch in home aquarium in the past and they have done very well bit difficult to ge them to feed in the begining and usually only go for worm or maggot to start, but with some patients you can get them feeding on pretty much anything prawns, whitbait, fishy pellets.

also gives you a good insite on how to fish for these

 

[paul112]

Thanks, I've got about a litre of non-river water into the tank now, hopefully I can get more in without bothering them. Going to use some water from my piranha tank too, as it will already be cycled. Same goes for substrate.

Perch eh? Good stuff, that was the first fish I ever caught. They aren't wild in my local river though, I caught one at a private pond. Not sure where to get one =/

Paul

 

[DanDanUK]

Thanks, I've got about a litre of non-river water into the tank now, hopefully I can get more in without bothering them. Going to use some water from my piranha tank too, as it will already be cycled. Same goes for substrate.

Perch eh? Good stuff, that was the first fish I ever caught. They aren't wild in my local river though, I caught one at a private pond. Not sure where to get one =/

Paul

Yes Perch they are our native species which i have caught and kept and if you get one to about 2lb in a home aquarium your doing a great job.

as for your local river i'm interested i'd like to know which one it is ? also i hope your aware of the inviroment agency's close season on all corse fish in all rivers, stream and drains it's a hefty fine if you get caught

just thought i'd give you a heads up 15th july you can fish as much as you please.

 

[sandtiger]

Thanks, I've got about a litre of non-river water into the tank now, hopefully I can get more in without bothering them. Going to use some water from my piranha tank too, as it will already be cycled. Same goes for substrate.

Perch eh? Good stuff, that was the first fish I ever caught. They aren't wild in my local river though, I caught one at a private pond. Not sure where to get one =/

Paul

NO use moving water from another tank. There is very little to no bacteria in the water itself, it's mostly on the substraight and filter media. If you want to "instantly cycle" a tank move over gravel, filter media, decor etc.

 

[monsternoob]

I would love to have a tank with 3 or 4 2lb perch, that would be awesome. I thought sticklebacks needed fast flowing water, obviously not. Could I keep some in my pond?

 

[jonnyt]

i have loads of sticklebacks in my pond i think they were brought in on plants or the eges on bird legs not to sure but i never put them in

ive also had minnows in the pond but the orfe ate them but they dont touch th sticklebacks

 

[paul112]

@Dan, my local is the River Eden, up in Cumbria. I know about the close season, but I am a juvenile, and according to my license, allowed to fish at this point. I have only been once this year, and caught a baby chub, but last year I caught quite a lot, none of them perch. They maybe are in the river, just in small numbers, like Dace at the moment. Species I have caught there so far are:

-European Eel
-Brown Trout
-Salmon parr
-Chub
-Grayling
-Dace

I know its nothing special, but for some interest, here's a pic of the baby chub I caught. Maggots weren't allowed, so I used waxworms instead:

I have about 4" of water in the tank now with the stickles, and they're still doing well

Paul

 

[ewurm]

I had sticklebacks, and they ate bloow worms. They are aggressive and chew each others tails and any similar size native fish too.

 

[davo]

I havent seen sticklebacks in ages lol. I hate eels they were a pain when fishing.