Shad care guide-my personal notes and experience
Tank size: I have babies right now, but I assume large and circular (like multiple hundred gallons, depending on species), currently they are in a ten gallon but they are very small (all less than or around an inch)
Groups are important, they get stressed out when alone
Lights also seem to stress them out, either have dim lights on all the time, no lights or gradually changing lights
Have nothing in the tank that they can get stuck on like fake plants or they will get caught and die
FEEDING:
I’ve found that anything super super fine works. I ground up freeze dried mealworms into a powder (very very fine, as fine or finer than playsand if you can, I use my hands or a pepper grinder to do it.), added it to a water bottle and mixed throughly and used a dropper, even though I suspect if they get larger then just feeding them chopped bloodworms or any smaller foods (not planktonic) would work. I use a 1:1 ratio of ground up bloodworms to water but that is not super important, what is important is the size of the feed, you must absolutely make sure that the food is ground up into very very very small particles or it will get stuck in their gill rakers and die.
I also feed them every day, using a 30 ml pipette of the mixture into the tank. I use 2-3 pipette-fulls of the mixture and they seem to do fine. They have very fine gill rakers and they are very active so feed more than you think you need, as long as you have a strong filtration you should be fine. Also have aeration.
GENERAL CARE AND TRANSPORT
They are also very very fragile in transport, but as long as you keep their stress low they do well. I transported mine across New Orleans to my university (a 30 minute drive) in a dark water bottle with ac on them and they mostly survived( one or two got stuck in the net when I caught them and they died)
I haven’t done a water change yet but I assume with how fragile they are that it will be crucial to have it done in a way that is as least stressful to the fish as possible
The tank is also brackish (around 1.008-1.010sg)and they came from a brackish water environment (lake ponchartrain). It is important to have the same environment in the tank as the wild( ie, if they come from brackish areas but them in a brackish tank, salt to a salt tank and so on, you maybe might be able to slowly transition them but with how fragile they are I wouldn’t)
also have aeration( my filter does this for me)
TANKMATES:
Other than each other I have them with one single clam (species unknown). I think they would be fine with other peaceful fish or fast moving smaller fish like them, nothing that would see them as prey.
SPECIES:
I am unsure of what species they are but I assume they are threadfin shad. I caught threadfin in the same area before and they have the spots behind the operculum but I am not 100% sure.
picture of freeze dried bloodworms mix and pipette in background that I use to feed them (1:1 ratio, but that is not super important)
How fine the powder must be (as fine or finer than sand), I’d use a pepper grinder
picture of them in the tank
a dead one (was injured in net and got stuck in plants)
video of them
My personal opinion:
They are fun, active fish but I wouldn't get too emotionally attached, as some will die. It is very very cool seeing them eat using their gill rakers to eat. They are skittish but are super super active so if you want something that will be constantly swimming and darting around the tank than these are for you. I dont know if I would recommend.
Tank size: I have babies right now, but I assume large and circular (like multiple hundred gallons, depending on species), currently they are in a ten gallon but they are very small (all less than or around an inch)
Groups are important, they get stressed out when alone
Lights also seem to stress them out, either have dim lights on all the time, no lights or gradually changing lights
Have nothing in the tank that they can get stuck on like fake plants or they will get caught and die
FEEDING:
I’ve found that anything super super fine works. I ground up freeze dried mealworms into a powder (very very fine, as fine or finer than playsand if you can, I use my hands or a pepper grinder to do it.), added it to a water bottle and mixed throughly and used a dropper, even though I suspect if they get larger then just feeding them chopped bloodworms or any smaller foods (not planktonic) would work. I use a 1:1 ratio of ground up bloodworms to water but that is not super important, what is important is the size of the feed, you must absolutely make sure that the food is ground up into very very very small particles or it will get stuck in their gill rakers and die.
I also feed them every day, using a 30 ml pipette of the mixture into the tank. I use 2-3 pipette-fulls of the mixture and they seem to do fine. They have very fine gill rakers and they are very active so feed more than you think you need, as long as you have a strong filtration you should be fine. Also have aeration.
GENERAL CARE AND TRANSPORT
They are also very very fragile in transport, but as long as you keep their stress low they do well. I transported mine across New Orleans to my university (a 30 minute drive) in a dark water bottle with ac on them and they mostly survived( one or two got stuck in the net when I caught them and they died)
I haven’t done a water change yet but I assume with how fragile they are that it will be crucial to have it done in a way that is as least stressful to the fish as possible
The tank is also brackish (around 1.008-1.010sg)and they came from a brackish water environment (lake ponchartrain). It is important to have the same environment in the tank as the wild( ie, if they come from brackish areas but them in a brackish tank, salt to a salt tank and so on, you maybe might be able to slowly transition them but with how fragile they are I wouldn’t)
also have aeration( my filter does this for me)
TANKMATES:
Other than each other I have them with one single clam (species unknown). I think they would be fine with other peaceful fish or fast moving smaller fish like them, nothing that would see them as prey.
SPECIES:
I am unsure of what species they are but I assume they are threadfin shad. I caught threadfin in the same area before and they have the spots behind the operculum but I am not 100% sure.
picture of freeze dried bloodworms mix and pipette in background that I use to feed them (1:1 ratio, but that is not super important)
How fine the powder must be (as fine or finer than sand), I’d use a pepper grinder
picture of them in the tank
a dead one (was injured in net and got stuck in plants)
video of them
My personal opinion:
They are fun, active fish but I wouldn't get too emotionally attached, as some will die. It is very very cool seeing them eat using their gill rakers to eat. They are skittish but are super super active so if you want something that will be constantly swimming and darting around the tank than these are for you. I dont know if I would recommend.
