I have a big problem with little fish. I made a bad decision and caught wild minnows, then I wanted to see them better so I put them in with my 2 black moors in an unheated 29 gallon tank.
They have been positively identified as 3 young adult brook sticklebacks (Culaea inconstans at 4-5 cm) and very small 3 juvenile Lake Chub. (Couesius plumbeus at 3-4 cm) There were a few more Lake chub but they seem a bit more delicate than sticklebacks... most likely because they are juveniles. I started with around 6 but some of the smaller ones mysteriously disappeared.
I have had them for around 10 days, and they don't eat fish flakes. They either ignore them or spit them out after sampling a granule. They only like nematodes, copepods, algae, mosquito larvae/other small insect larvae, and small Gammarus "shrimps." They are all healthy -now- except one lake chub lost his tail almost spontaneously. All of them looked fine in the morning but in the afternoon I noticed his tail gone with white fragments trailing off. I thought fin rot at first but now I suspect he was a victim of aggression, from either a moor or a stickleback. I isolated him in a 1 gallon bucket and I change a few hundred milliliters every day. I figured a little guy that was getting picked on and has trouble swimming needed special attention... So I supply him with his own little supply of pond critters.
I would have released them by now if it was ethical and ...legal... but it is not a good idea to release live specimens into the wild weither they are native or not...
ANYWAYS>>
I have 3 1 gallon buckets with vegetation and sand in them. There is a supply of hair algae and a colony of small animals in each one. Is it possible for me to breed copepods and gammarus for live prey, or is it much easier to just buy daphnia to feed them (I don't know if they are stocked at the LFS, it is sort of poorly managed) or somehow condition them to eat artificial foods. It is kind of cute to watch them root around in the plants for food... HELP HELP
They have been positively identified as 3 young adult brook sticklebacks (Culaea inconstans at 4-5 cm) and very small 3 juvenile Lake Chub. (Couesius plumbeus at 3-4 cm) There were a few more Lake chub but they seem a bit more delicate than sticklebacks... most likely because they are juveniles. I started with around 6 but some of the smaller ones mysteriously disappeared.
I have had them for around 10 days, and they don't eat fish flakes. They either ignore them or spit them out after sampling a granule. They only like nematodes, copepods, algae, mosquito larvae/other small insect larvae, and small Gammarus "shrimps." They are all healthy -now- except one lake chub lost his tail almost spontaneously. All of them looked fine in the morning but in the afternoon I noticed his tail gone with white fragments trailing off. I thought fin rot at first but now I suspect he was a victim of aggression, from either a moor or a stickleback. I isolated him in a 1 gallon bucket and I change a few hundred milliliters every day. I figured a little guy that was getting picked on and has trouble swimming needed special attention... So I supply him with his own little supply of pond critters.
I would have released them by now if it was ethical and ...legal... but it is not a good idea to release live specimens into the wild weither they are native or not...
ANYWAYS>>
I have 3 1 gallon buckets with vegetation and sand in them. There is a supply of hair algae and a colony of small animals in each one. Is it possible for me to breed copepods and gammarus for live prey, or is it much easier to just buy daphnia to feed them (I don't know if they are stocked at the LFS, it is sort of poorly managed) or somehow condition them to eat artificial foods. It is kind of cute to watch them root around in the plants for food... HELP HELP
