Lamprey Care

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Wiggles92

Dovii
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2009
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Pennsylvania
Does anyone have any experience with the American brook lamprey (Lampetra appendix)?

I have around a dozen of these buggers. All but one of them are ammocoetes (larval stage), and I have one that is/is pretty close to an adult. Also, these are non-parasitic lampreys unlike the sea lamprey and some other lampreys.

Any tips for caring for them?
 
Well from what I can remember from class in college these guys quit feeding after their ammoceote stage and move upstream unlike their parasitic cousins who move out to the rivers and lakes either way lampreys don't fare well in aquariums. They are too specialized in their feedig habits, I would just let them go where ever you caught/found them.
 
Well you really should try or find another suitible creek to release them in if you really can't make it back to the original one.
 
No, that's a bad idea. You're really not even supposed to release any fish back into the wild from the home aquarium.

What I've found says that they feed on detritus and microscopic plant and animal matter, so food shouldn't be too terribly hard to provide if I put them in with other fish or feed them mashed up pellets.
 
That's what they eat in their larval stage(as all lampreys do) and as far as letting things go it's only frowned upon if your introducing them to a new area where that species has never existed before(you took them from the wild without even realizing you couldn't care for them). I would just let them go they would be better off.
 
I honestly didn't think that they would last long anyway since they were acquired while electrofishing for Ichthyology. I had originally planned to use them for food for my other fish, but they refused to eat them while they were alive (haven't tried dead ones yet as I have yet to kill any or have any die).

What do you think will be necessary for captive care of them? I know that adults will not require food and will try to migrate, but nothing can really be done about that in captivity. I figured on having a sandy bottom for them to burrow in, and I would feed them mashed up shrimp and algae pellets along occasionally adding pond water for the microscopic food contained in it. I would maintain a decent flow rate since they came from a slower stream.

I'll be sure to document them so that others can learn from the experience; hopefully they'll survive for a while.
 
releasing anything back in to the wild after having them in your tank is Illegal is most state. you can introduce diseases that could devastate the ecosystem.

^_^ i have seen these guys in the creeks good luck with yours!
 
http://www.nanfa.org/captivecare/lampreys.shtml

That was the best info I could find. You would probably get better info actually posting on Nanfa.org.

To the person that suggested release: It is illegal in all states to release wildcaught fish back into the wild if they have been kept in aquaria. It doesn't matter where they are released or how sterile the aquarium environment was, you cannot release without specific permission.
 
Wiggles92;4421100; said:
Does anyone have any experience with the American brook lamprey (Lampetra appendix)?

I have around a dozen of these buggers. All but one of them are ammocoetes (larval stage), and I have one that is/is pretty close to an adult. Also, these are non-parasitic lampreys unlike the sea lamprey and some other lampreys.

Any tips for caring for them?
Click to expand...

why would you want to? Thats like having a leech farm for fun

But each to his own i guess, lampreys are just the only fish that i've never considered a fish, just a parasite on others.

I gotta repeat the mantra, each to his own. no disrespect but I'd kill them
 
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