Juvenile Pike ID and Husbandry

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srikamaraja

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2007
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Vernon, CT
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am a first-time poster, but a long-time admirer of this and affiliated sites.

I live in Coventry, CT, USA, in the watershed of the Willimantic river. It is clean water and the fish are deemed edible, a rarity for the heavily-populated Northeast.

I have kept natives before but deemed them mostly fit for the wild, as I had not the financial resources to dedicate a large tank to natives.

While crawfishing in the stream behind my house three days ago, I managed to net a roughly 4" (9 cm) Pike or Pickerel of some sort. (The stream leads into a one-acre pond before a non-hydro dam. In springtime, the pond expands to encompass all of the slackwaters of the stream up to three acres, which becomes an arrowhead field when drained.)

I believe at this stage of life, it is nearly impossible to determine which species of Esox it may belong to. It currently resides in a 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter and heavy aeration. It is housed with many small tadpoles for distraction and food. Mysis shrimp and bloodworms have been tried, but it seems this particular piscivore is hard to wean, especially when young. I will purchase and quarantine several fathead minnows later today, if the tadpoles are not enough. It appears to be acting normally, stalking tadpoles between tangles of driftwood and rocks.

A photo of the specimen will be provided as soon as I have access to a camera, but so far:

It exhibits the normal cross-pattern over the eyes of most pikes, could be juvenile coloration, but the adult coloration of the redfin pickerel is similar to this. (Neotenic trait?)

It is mostly golden-and cream-colored, with browner blobs in two rows divided by a creamy line on the sides. Again, points to redfin pickerel, but I have seen the double-row in juvenile E. lucius before.

He is yawning and doing his little serpentine dance, and I look forward to upgrading him to a 55 gallon soon, perhaps with an american eel. Any comments or advice would be most appreciated!
 
Here in NC I catch redfin pickerel with some regularity and I've kept and even bred them a couple of time. The ones here seem to specialize in eating gambusia. the best places to catch them are in streams dominated by gambusia. Make sure you cover your tank, they jump! also make sure the feed minnows are small, they will eat fish relatively bigger than you would think but can choke an die too. I would say minnows should be 1/5 or less the size of your pike. They also like lots of cover and like to lurk under floating objects. I hope you enjoy your pickerel, they are very cool fish and will come to recognize you when come to view your tank.
 
It sounds like a redfin. That's about as far north as they can go. It'll only get to be 15", but they're fast!!! I would put it in a 100-200 gallon tank. Lots of vegetation and driftwood. Have fun with the little ambush predator!
 
I have been dipnetting them out of my creek (juvies ~4") about twice a week (made sure the water was good and it was legal to take the fish)

If I can figure out a reliable way to ship them, I would be happy to. I will research this.

Today, I am going to purchase one or two minnow traps, hopefully that will increase the rate at which I obtain my natives.

Tank update: two pickerel now, both ~3-4", behaving under HEAVY vegetative cover (which they seem to thrive in, except now it is java moss and wisteria).

White sucker caught in fishtrap/dam, eating algae wafers, bloodworms, and detritus.
White sucker will probably be given to the store I work at as a coldwater oddball suitable for large ponds.

Two small crayfish on cleanup duty now.

10% water changes every two days.

I am thinking of constructing a 2' by 3' tank to place one of the pickerel in, others will be given away/sold.

Crayfish will eventually be eaten by the pickerel or me.
 
Crappy pic!
2
 
BLACK ICE;1901334; said:
Im so freakin jealous of all you guys with pickerel I want one so bad :(
Click to expand...


Me too, I've got tons of Northern and Muskie around but they grow WAY too fast. Those redfin and grass look mostly like mini northerns to me and would look awesome in my 175g I'm setting up.
 
UPDATE:

White sucker has been given to a friend with a large Koi pond. Lifetime supply of detritus.
The smaller of the two pickerel was given to a shop with feeder guppies, as I could not supply it with small enough minnows. One of the employees has expressed interest in adopting it.
The large pickerel (4-5") is now regularly taking locally-caught minnows, has a fat lil belly, and constantly does its happy 'snake dance'. Once it reaches 6 or 7 inches, it will be moved up to a 20g, and eventually to a 40.
 
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