I am so sad and frustrated, In 10 years of keeping fish I have never had a fish bring me to tears, but this one has. At 10 AM this morning the fish was fine, at 10 PM he was dead. I added 3 gallons of water to the tank today at 10 AM and he was fine swimming aroud, I even thought to myself " man those pickerel are fast and can stop on a dime". I got the fish in July of this year and have been attentively caring for it, changing water, adding top cover, quarentining its food, monitoring its watter conditions etc. I have had a problem with getting it to eat, but lately would put feeder fish in the tank and come back to find his belly fat. He was 6" long and in a 125 gl. tank with a gar (10"), 2 green ear sunfish (4" and 2"), a perch (3"), red calw crab (1"), 4 small fish that I think are some kind of sunfish (1"). The fish have been together for 2 months and doing well. The gar and the pickerel ate the same feeder fish and when I added the gar it seemed to entice the pickerel to eat more often. I would put several (10-15) feeder fish in the tank and let them eat at will. They would last atleast a week before more were needed. I dont know what I did wrong but I will not subject another pickerel to a caged death, I give up. It was the first pickerel I have had and I really cared deeply for the fish, I would have rather had the fish fight for its life in the wild than die in my tank. This has really made me question why I keep fish, is it for the fish or is it for me? This fish would have been better off in the wild. I woud sit for hours just watching the fish swim waiting for it to eat. Just so you know that I am not new to fish keeping I have 4 tanks up and running ( two 30gl, one 80gl, one 125g). I just wanted to express my sadness, thanks for reading.
My Pickerel died.........
- Thread starter 03ltrain
- Start date
sorry to hear that. i just set up my first tanks, so i haven't lost one yet, but i remember having goldfish which my parents set up for me and when one would die i'd be in tears for a while. i brought a mole crab home from the beach once and she died the next morning. (As a rule they live 24 hours in captivity tops) and when me and my Mom buried it i was crying, especially since she had eggs and i could see her offspring floating dead.
How warm is your water? Pickerel can die suddenly from slime loss in warm water. (Mostly Redfin Pickerel.)
How warm is your water? Pickerel can die suddenly from slime loss in warm water. (Mostly Redfin Pickerel.)
Dont get too down about it. Fish just do that sometimes. It kind of comes with the territory. He may have had an internal parasite when you got him that just slowly took its toll, resulting in his sluggish eating habits. Most likely nothing you did wrong, just got a sick fish. Most folks lose alot of fish that they really care for before they finally get one to stick. Try, try again. 
Do not give up, we all lose fish at some time or another It is just that you liked this fish more than normal and the effort that you put in seemed wasted.
After 10 years you must have had some losses, this one has hit you hard.
I feel for you but you love the fish so keep at it.
After 10 years you must have had some losses, this one has hit you hard.
I feel for you but you love the fish so keep at it.
