thinking of adding a bowfin to the mix, will be in a 6x4x2, with 3 cubans, 2 longnose & 2 floridas. afraid of aggression, especially from reading older posts by richard on ap...you guys think it's a good idea? or will aggression be dissipated if i got a male/male pair? pH will be 7.5 & temp will be ~87degC
bowfin for me?
- Thread starter xander
- Start date
My experience with bowfins has been that they don't pay much mind to gars, and your gars are bigger than mine so I think it will be even safer for you.
Though I unfortunately have had bad luck keeping bowfin for extended periods of time. John is looking to catch me a big one that is at the bulletproof stage so I can stop wasting money on the ones under 10".
I say go for it, would look amazing with your ancients and nobody has given the bowfin the camera time it deserves. Your photog skills would do this fish some justice!
Though I unfortunately have had bad luck keeping bowfin for extended periods of time. John is looking to catch me a big one that is at the bulletproof stage so I can stop wasting money on the ones under 10".
I say go for it, would look amazing with your ancients and nobody has given the bowfin the camera time it deserves. Your photog skills would do this fish some justice!
xander...that is nuts. unless it's been in captivity for a long time with other fishes it is a recipe for disaster. a bowfin small enough to be unaggressive is too small to be with your gars, a bowfin that is of the right size to be with your gars would be too big and aggressive (you'd need a decent size bowfin to avoid predation in the wrong direction). i would leave it alone...then again, no one has had a broken back Cuban...but longnoses are good candidates.
a male male pair or male/female pair would only wreak even more havoc on the overall community and definitely the pair. not a good idea.
richard has kept bowfin with gars in large public aquarium displays, and some people super-crowd then with other fishes, but i'd consider your other fishes too valuable to risk with the bowfin. even my bowfin of 5-6 years gets his own tank--
--solomon
a male male pair or male/female pair would only wreak even more havoc on the overall community and definitely the pair. not a good idea.
richard has kept bowfin with gars in large public aquarium displays, and some people super-crowd then with other fishes, but i'd consider your other fishes too valuable to risk with the bowfin. even my bowfin of 5-6 years gets his own tank--
--solomon
Madding;4314552; said:
thanks for the input, although the post below yrs is redirecting the excitement
E_americanus;4315803; said:
sol, the bowfin will not be a large one going right into the tank. the only ones available here are 3". i will have them in a growout tank till it's big enough before letting it into the big gar tank. my gars are also suprisingly docile. they've thus far left my 12" florida and 6" endlicheri completely alone. but if it means a substantial risk to the gars, it'll be yet another fish i'm willing to skip.
also, i'm confused as to whether they are temperate or coldwater fish. i seem to have seen numerous sources citing contrasting things.
here is a link with info dont know if it will help
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...a=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbs=isch:1
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...a=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbs=isch:1
xander;4315919; said:thanks for the input, although the post below yrs is redirecting the excitement
also, i'm confused as to whether they are temperate or coldwater fish. i seem to have seen numerous sources citing contrasting things.
They seem to be caught regularly down in the warm waters of Florida, so I like to think of them as temperate fish, although it may be a strain down south that's adjusted to the heat? I'm not sure.
will comment more later, but to clarify their classification according to thermal preference, bowfin are warmwater fish. the confusion here is what people in the hobby classify based on thermal preference, and what fish ecologists classify based on thermal preferences.
in the hobby, bowfin are temperate fishes, whereas most of the fishes people keep in the hobby are tropical. sometimes people call them coldwater fish (in the hobby) but this is not correct, only relative to their tropical fishes.
in fish ecology, bowfin are warmwater fish, trout and salmon are examples of coldwater fishes, and there is an ambiguous category of "coolwater" fishes where several groups seem to bounce in and out of.
also note that bowfin have a wide range of temperature tolerance...they are found from Canada down to Florida, so they can handle extremes like many primitive fishes. the important thing is to be consistent with temps in captivity, or allow for long acclimation periods. bowfin can live with your tropical fish, but don't expect your tropical fishes to live at all the temps of your bowfin...a warmwater (fish ecology) OR temperate (hobby) fish.--
--solomon
PS-- if you are getting them at 3" you should get at least a dozen...you'll kill off about 10 and hopefully the remainders will make it to that 7-8" "safe zone". bowfin are extremely delicate when young and very prone to idiopathic death.
in the hobby, bowfin are temperate fishes, whereas most of the fishes people keep in the hobby are tropical. sometimes people call them coldwater fish (in the hobby) but this is not correct, only relative to their tropical fishes.
in fish ecology, bowfin are warmwater fish, trout and salmon are examples of coldwater fishes, and there is an ambiguous category of "coolwater" fishes where several groups seem to bounce in and out of.
also note that bowfin have a wide range of temperature tolerance...they are found from Canada down to Florida, so they can handle extremes like many primitive fishes. the important thing is to be consistent with temps in captivity, or allow for long acclimation periods. bowfin can live with your tropical fish, but don't expect your tropical fishes to live at all the temps of your bowfin...a warmwater (fish ecology) OR temperate (hobby) fish.--
--solomon
PS-- if you are getting them at 3" you should get at least a dozen...you'll kill off about 10 and hopefully the remainders will make it to that 7-8" "safe zone". bowfin are extremely delicate when young and very prone to idiopathic death.
