You commonwealth nation guys crack me up...oh, that's right, being an aussie I am one too!Well, I will display my typical magnanimous largesse at this point and just say..."Sure!"
New venture. - European perch (perca fluviatilis)
- Thread starter esoxlucius
- Start date
I did my first proper full water change on this perch tank this morning. I did a partial one last week but didn't touch the filters. There was a major surprise, but after thinking about it for a bit maybe it shouldn't be a surprise at all!
These perch are only fed live food. Worms, crickets and mealworms. Absolutely no shop bought flake or pellet enter this tank (I do feed my old fish food to my crickets and mealworms but is that the same as feeding direct into the tank???)
What I couldn't get over was how clean my very fine second stage mechanical sponges were. When I squeezed them out in a bucket the water wasn't that dirty at all, unlike my old tropical set up where the sponges would be full of slutch. The water would be black with fine particulate from my tropical set up.
However, my coarser first stage mechanical sponges were heavily clogged up with coarser particulate, a lot of uneaten bits of worm and cricket wings etc. The coarser sponges on my old tropical set up were a lot cleaner.
In short, there has been a complete change around between where all the crud collects between the tropical and cold water tanks.
And then it hit me, it became very clear as to what has gone on here, and it doesn't say a lot about the quality of shop bought fish food, and let's face it, we already know that the vast majority of it is extremely poor quality anyway.
It would seem that in this coldwater perch tank a lot more of the live food I'm feeding is being absorbed by the perch resulting in less waste to build up in my mechanical filters.
Whereas in my tropical tank the vast majority of the mass produced shop bought flakes and pellets were not being absorbed by the fish, simply because a lot of it is filler!!!! It was simply being shat out by my tropical fish and collecting in the fine filters.
Could it well be that all the slutchy crud in my fine sponges from my old tropical set up was nothing more than the filler from the food? It makes complete sense to me.
Thoughts???
These perch are only fed live food. Worms, crickets and mealworms. Absolutely no shop bought flake or pellet enter this tank (I do feed my old fish food to my crickets and mealworms but is that the same as feeding direct into the tank???)
What I couldn't get over was how clean my very fine second stage mechanical sponges were. When I squeezed them out in a bucket the water wasn't that dirty at all, unlike my old tropical set up where the sponges would be full of slutch. The water would be black with fine particulate from my tropical set up.
However, my coarser first stage mechanical sponges were heavily clogged up with coarser particulate, a lot of uneaten bits of worm and cricket wings etc. The coarser sponges on my old tropical set up were a lot cleaner.
In short, there has been a complete change around between where all the crud collects between the tropical and cold water tanks.
And then it hit me, it became very clear as to what has gone on here, and it doesn't say a lot about the quality of shop bought fish food, and let's face it, we already know that the vast majority of it is extremely poor quality anyway.
It would seem that in this coldwater perch tank a lot more of the live food I'm feeding is being absorbed by the perch resulting in less waste to build up in my mechanical filters.
Whereas in my tropical tank the vast majority of the mass produced shop bought flakes and pellets were not being absorbed by the fish, simply because a lot of it is filler!!!! It was simply being shat out by my tropical fish and collecting in the fine filters.
Could it well be that all the slutchy crud in my fine sponges from my old tropical set up was nothing more than the filler from the food? It makes complete sense to me.
Thoughts???
I think you may be on to something. I think with the mixed variety of tropical fish and different digestive systems created more waste. I believe what you stated feeding the original inhabitants with manufactured foods caused slutchy messy waste.
A quick feeding video. These guys are growing fast! I still have the original ten, even though I've been fighting ich for the past month. It does seem to be subsiding now, though it is extremely stubborn in coldwater.
One of the perch was slightly bigger than the rest when I put them in. That big one, you can see it in the video, is about 10" now, the rest around the 6-7" mark.
They feed predominantly on mealworms and prawns, and once in a while crickets and locusts. For some strange reason they will no longer accept worms from my compost heap, they just spit them out now, strange.
One of the perch was slightly bigger than the rest when I put them in. That big one, you can see it in the video, is about 10" now, the rest around the 6-7" mark.
They feed predominantly on mealworms and prawns, and once in a while crickets and locusts. For some strange reason they will no longer accept worms from my compost heap, they just spit them out now, strange.
The perch are growing nicely is the darker one the tank boss?
Very cool fish; they are so similar to our Yellow Perch (P. flavescens) that it would be easy to confuse the two if they were kept together. Our perch seem to be a bit more colourful; they are at their brightest in the spring during the spawning run, but throughout the rest of the year they are still very attractive fish. Yours seem to be overall much duller in colouration; I'm wondering if the addition of some live plants would spark an increase in green and yellow tones? Maybe just a clay pot or two with Vallisneria or Sagittaria?
Of course, we have commented before on the superior beauty of Canadian bird species compared to their British brethren, so this might simply be an extension of the same idea into the fish world.
Interesting idea about the quality of foods and how it relates to filter cleaning. I know my dog's veterinarian has commented how less expensive dog food brands seem to provide equivalent nutrition but result in much bigger stools compared to the smaller ones produced by dogs who are fed smaller amounts of "premium" food. The makers of premium dog food always trumpet this as though it were some huge benefit, but I'm not about to switch his feeding program just for the sake of smaller turds and whatever dubious benefits accompany them. Your observation seems to fit in with that notion. My dog's diet consists of about 40% cooked venison. 40% premium dry food and, lately, about 20% rice. His poops are much healthier in appearance on this diet as opposed to a pure commercial food regimen.
I haven't kept Yellow Perch for many years, and my current province does not allow it so I won't be repeating that experiment. When I had them, one of their favourite foods was large-ish Krill, either frozen or freeze-dried/rehydrated. I wonder if you were to add this to your offerings, if it might result in brighter colours? My Perch always ate earthworms if and when they were offered, but they were never as enthusiastic about worms as they were about Krill, shrimp, fish meat, etc. They were also pretty fond of leeches, which were available in large quantities at certain times of the year at bait shops.
Your tank is making me envious...
Of course, we have commented before on the superior beauty of Canadian bird species compared to their British brethren, so this might simply be an extension of the same idea into the fish world.
Interesting idea about the quality of foods and how it relates to filter cleaning. I know my dog's veterinarian has commented how less expensive dog food brands seem to provide equivalent nutrition but result in much bigger stools compared to the smaller ones produced by dogs who are fed smaller amounts of "premium" food. The makers of premium dog food always trumpet this as though it were some huge benefit, but I'm not about to switch his feeding program just for the sake of smaller turds and whatever dubious benefits accompany them. Your observation seems to fit in with that notion. My dog's diet consists of about 40% cooked venison. 40% premium dry food and, lately, about 20% rice. His poops are much healthier in appearance on this diet as opposed to a pure commercial food regimen.
I haven't kept Yellow Perch for many years, and my current province does not allow it so I won't be repeating that experiment. When I had them, one of their favourite foods was large-ish Krill, either frozen or freeze-dried/rehydrated. I wonder if you were to add this to your offerings, if it might result in brighter colours? My Perch always ate earthworms if and when they were offered, but they were never as enthusiastic about worms as they were about Krill, shrimp, fish meat, etc. They were also pretty fond of leeches, which were available in large quantities at certain times of the year at bait shops.
Your tank is making me envious...
The observation I made was straight after my first filter clean once the perch were in. The water from the mechanical sponges when rinsed under the tap ran pretty clear. It's been the same ever since.
Pre perch, when I had my tropical fish, the water was like mud, so dirty in fact that I saved it in a bucket for my plants!!
I'm now three months into my perch venture and I don't even clean my mechanical side every week anymore. Every fortnight is better, and even then they still aren't that dirty.
I've no doubt in my mind, in fact it's a slam dunk, that this is purely down to food. Not one bit of commercial fish food goes near this tank, meaning all those fillers which are in said food, aren't going into the tank either!
As far as the colouration goes, sometimes they do look quite striking and the black stripes and red fins are very prominent. I've noticed, probably mood dependant, that they can change their appearance like a lot of fish. On occasion their stripes disappear and they just become a drab olive green.
For the past month I've been treating the tank with white spot treatment. It's doing the trick slowly but the dark methylene blue doesn't help with the clarity of the water either. And it's always been said that usually perch markings are water dependant. I used to fish a water years ago where the water was always discoloured and the perch were more like a dark brown, very drab all over.
