Chain Pickerel
- Thread starter OhioMFK
- Start date
That's how esox are designed. The family have grooves from their eyes to the tip of their nose. These grooves are to direct vision to the front. They are not meant to see much except the prey directly in front of them that they are about to ambush.
They are not an aggressive species and should not be housed with aggressive species. as a sit and wait predator, they don't avoid aggression in a tank well, and fin nipping can become fatal. Lose the fins, and the fish cant sit upright. Obviously they will eat smaller fish, and they can easily eat fish 1/3 their size(up to 2/3 their size) but if they are kept fed they will not bother trying to eat a large meal. My 14" pickerel would eat 1-2 fish every 2-3 days depending on meal size. Pellets are a long shot, they look for movement to plan an attack, but they can be trained to take frozen foods with a little effort and movement with the aid of tweezers. Once they learn what you are feeding them, they will readily accept the new food items, but this will take a few feedings to achieve.
I agree with everything you said Shenanigans. A 14 inch Redfin thats a monster. I hope mine get that large how its a longshot most likely will get 8-10 in. Do you have any experience wiyh chains? I am actually to the point of give up on cahins just as I cannot find them. May move into just building a megga tank for a northern or a tiger musky. I need to do more research if hats not rute I go. I wanred to hold off on goin to an Escox species that large as I dont think im 100 percent ready for them. But I can get a northern or tiger any day of the week and its been over a year of searching for a chain.
Sorry not to make myself clear, I have raised chain pickerel multiple times and my 14" pickerel refers to one of my chains. That would be a monster redfin! I have kept them with natives half their size including bass, eels, perch and various baitfish. IME, bass are insatiable while pickerel are content eating a decent meal once in a while. The chain pickerel easily could have eaten any fish it wanted, but preferred small minnows and left my bass alone. I lost one of my pickerel when I "rescued" a friends African cichlid. Vicious 2 inch fish that relentlessly picked away at the pickerel until it died. It should have just eaten that little yellow fish. The native fish, however, seemed to understand the danger and they would all scatter if the pickerel turned his head
I agree thus far I have decided to keep all my pickerel tanks as species specific. By chanve where did you get your chain, wild caught or purchased? I only ask as it seems impossible to procure one. I know of one hatchery in PA that stocks them however it is run by the DNR and does not sell any of its fish. Any insight would be grea rly appreciated. Thank you.
At the time, I held various scientific permits allowing seines and electrofishing. My specimens were all wild caught ranging from 2"-18". I actually lost the 2" one to a poor judgment in keeping it with a white perch(5"), which swallowed it head first. They are certainly hardy at any size as long as you avoid extremes. The baby was well fed on guppies and aquatic insects.
I plan on feeding the cahin I get on the deit I currently have my Redfins on. Consists of fathead minnows, tadpoles, chubd and crickets. I researched the actual nutirtional value of each. Fat heads seem to work well for or growth, however due to them being high in fat the ideal diet would be chubs and tadpoles. Thats awesome you had that permit. They arent in my area or I would collect them from the wild as.well. Great looking fish Sid, where did you pick up your chains? Wild caught?
I have had a few chains over the years. They are very fun to watch feed. One of the coolest predatory fish I ever kept. They did well with tank mates of equal size but attacked anything smaller.
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I agree Joel, very fun to watch feed. I just like the Esox species in general. Being from Ohio a musky or northern is the pinnacle of sports fishing. For obvious reasons a northern or a musky would be extremely hard to properly keep in a home aquarium. Chains are as close as you can get to keeping one. Watching them feed is a bonus of the species. I actually like just watching them hover and glide through a well planted. Beautiful fish IMO.... however my wife would disagree if it were up to her everything we owned would be a discus tank. Had to compromise for my plans on getting a chain eventually. My tank I had planned for sunfish is now going to be a dicus tank lol.
