baby bullhead

[jimk]

I netted a 1 inch bullhead catfish and have him in a tank with small bluegills. Can this fish be acclimated to tropical temps or will he need to stay in cold water?

 

[Princley]

cold water fish

 

[id10t]

Then again, the 'gills will do fine in colder waters as well.

 

[ewurm]

Bullheads only do well in cold water. They also grow very fast. Mine was 1/2" when I caught it in Sept. and now it is 5"

 

[sandtiger]

IME they don't do well in warmer water when young, I had a bunch of fry die when the water hit 78 F. Older bullhead do much better and don't seem to have any trouble in temps in the high 70's or 78. It may not have been the temp itself that killed them but rather the DO level, I don't know for sure.

 

[ewurm]

I have heard info that bullhead can live in very low DO levels. I have even heard that hear in MN, if a lake has winter kill which means a lake freezes all the way to the bottom, that they can be the only fish to survive by living in MUD. I think temp may play an issue in their potential survival.

 

[yourmylunch]

65-79 degrees os good higher temps means moe food and more poop

 

[sandtiger]

I have heard info that bullhead can live in very low DO levels. I have even heard that hear in MN, if a lake has winter kill which means a lake freezes all the way to the bottom, that they can be the only fish to survive by living in MUD. I think temp may play an issue in their potential survival.

Yeah, I know....but I am talking about some tiny bullhead, an inch and under. It could have been the DO, I might just never know, unless I do an experiment and I don't think I want to do that.

 

[astronatus]

I netted a 1 inch bullhead catfish and have him in a tank with small bluegills. Can this fish be acclimated to tropical temps or will he need to stay in cold water?

I had a bullhead in a heated tropical tank with an oscar and a firemouth. He did fine for a couple of months, though he wouldnt come out from under the rock cave I made for him with the lights on. He also had a bad habit of biting the other ones after the lights went out, so back in the lake he went.

 

[ewurm]

Dude. you should never release aquarium fish into the wild, even if you took them from the same lake.