Does Bullhead eat plants???
- Thread starter Gamefishin
- Start date
This is funny, you put up a bullhead post and half the people who respond are from minnesota! we got tons of bullheads here, gotta be the bullhead capital of the world, walk on the beach and you can see swarms of baby frey in the spring and summer.
ive had bullheads in my tanks, put them in for piranah food, sometimes i dont see them for weeks, think they are dead, then boom, they are swimming around one day. good hiders, they are bottom feeders so they are good for cleaning up uneaten food i think.
dang do the stingers hurt if you get poked, my son got stung years ago cathing some frey and still talks about it
anyone from minnesota ever scuba in okoboji ia, the bass and sunnies follow you around like little puppies
anyway glad to see fellow minnesotans here!
ive had bullheads in my tanks, put them in for piranah food, sometimes i dont see them for weeks, think they are dead, then boom, they are swimming around one day. good hiders, they are bottom feeders so they are good for cleaning up uneaten food i think.
dang do the stingers hurt if you get poked, my son got stung years ago cathing some frey and still talks about it
anyone from minnesota ever scuba in okoboji ia, the bass and sunnies follow you around like little puppies
anyway glad to see fellow minnesotans here!
I'm under the assumption that bullheads are into eating plant matter.Anyone ever cut one open? Their guts are usually full of green goo.I think feeding them algae wafers would be a huge benefit to them.Those are still packed with protein.
By the way I am from Illinois origainlly and that place is also loaded with bullheads.
If it makes you Minnesota people feel any better I am a HUGE Viks fan 
!
By the way I am from Illinois origainlly and that place is also loaded with bullheads.
If it makes you Minnesota people feel any better I am a HUGE Viks fan !Well I am from NY and we ALSO have a huge bullhead population...at least the brown bullhead but that is ok by me because I love keeping them and catching them.
IME bullheads will shred plants that are anchored on the bottom, mine ignors floating plants though so you could give that a try. They will eat plant matter from time to time regardless.
ruxpin...the stings do hurt!!!! Even the slime can have an effect if you handle a lot of them in a short period of time...at least according to my prof. who did a study on bullheads. I cannot remember what he suggested to dull the pain....maybe viniger, I can't remember.
IME bullheads will shred plants that are anchored on the bottom, mine ignors floating plants though so you could give that a try. They will eat plant matter from time to time regardless.
ruxpin...the stings do hurt!!!! Even the slime can have an effect if you handle a lot of them in a short period of time...at least according to my prof. who did a study on bullheads. I cannot remember what he suggested to dull the pain....maybe viniger, I can't remember.
I make my friends take the hook out when I catch them fishing for something else. They make some funny noises too.
Well as some of you guy know I posted a thread showing pics of my native tank all filled with plants. Crap it's all messed up now from the bullheads and my tank is back to square one.........looks more generic than petsmart fish tanks.
Soon I will convert my tank to dark sand and redo the plants, I may remove the bullheads because they are tank bustas.
Well as some of you guy know I posted a thread showing pics of my native tank all filled with plants. Crap it's all messed up now from the bullheads and my tank is back to square one.........looks more generic than petsmart fish tanks.
Soon I will convert my tank to dark sand and redo the plants, I may remove the bullheads because they are tank bustas.
I used to let my friend remove bullhead for me as well, in return I removed all the other fish with dorsal and anal spines (bass, sunfish, perch etc.)because he had a hard time folding back the fins and not getting poked. He still has trouble with them but I take my own bullhead off these days. It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I put two finger (like a peace sign) and put them under the pectoral spines, then put my thumb on the lower jaw, then I proceed to remove the hook with my other hand.
Here is a pic I took, you get the idea.
Holly crap that is pretty dangerous, very close to the stinger. Also I will never put my fingers in a bullheads mouth again because the last one snap on me and dam scared the **** out of me....hurt too.
Hey is that a brown bullhead, becasue the bullhead we have here in MN is yellow on the bottom. They're also wider too looking like a small flat head catfish.
Hey is that a brown bullhead, becasue the bullhead we have here in MN is yellow on the bottom. They're also wider too looking like a small flat head catfish.
Gamefishin said:
Nooooooooooo!!!!! I'll be more than happy to take em off your hands.I don't know crap about shipping fish,but I'd be willing to pay for it for sure.
Gamefishin said:
Well when you put your fingers under the spines they cannot really spike you unless your finger slips, they lock in when held like that and the fish cannot move them. The pressure of the thumb on the lip in addition of the fingers under the fins makes it so they have a hard time closeing their mouth. Bullheads do have strong jaws though, like little vice grips or something. Anyway, my method is better then this one kid I saw, he actually would take off his shirt and wrap the bullhead up in it so he could hold it.
That is a brown bullhead by the way but there are other species. The other common ones are the yellow and black. They all look very similer. The yellow has white wiskers on it's bottom jaw, while the other have dark colored wiskers. The black bullhead has smooth pectoral spines while the brown's have serrations. The brown bullhead also has a mottled brown color to it's body as you may be able to see in the picture.
hey sandtiger, thats a funky lookin bullhead compared to a minnesota bullhead, will get some pics of ours
