Paddlefish
- Thread starter Ozarker
- Start date
hmm interesting.... If you do there a sp. of true sturgeon i want, i cant remember the name... the black with yellow edgings one... that only gets 60cm-1.5m.... 
now they are a serious cold water sp.
I think this sp. it certainly looks right from memory...
now they are a serious cold water sp.I think this sp. it certainly looks right from memory...
What shape vat/basin do you raise or did you raise the young in? how deep and how round? until what size, when do you move them outside? and you say you move them to feed? as adults you still do this? how do you move them?
thanks, very interesting!
oh yeah they easy to come by outside eu.... but invasive sp. and all that..... dumb laws! like i want to import to release..... tut!
the paddelfish basin this is 23 feet (L) x 13 feet (B)x 6 feet (D) not round and yes round is better and i never move them the are still in the same basin from the day i buy them
thats what i thought sorry must be the language barrier i read that as you moved them to feed them and thought it seemed odd... How any do you keep in this size basin?
That could be a Diamond sturgeon (A. gueldenstaedtii). Here is a good site for reference: http://www.sturgeon-web.co.uk/species.php
hmm interesting.... If you do there a sp. of true sturgeon i want, i cant remember the name... the black with yellow edgings one... that only gets 60cm-1.5m....
I think this sp. it certainly looks right from memory...
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Here's some more information on captive rearing of paddlefish from the NANFA site, written by Christoper Scharpf:
"Hatcheries spawn Paddlefish with the use of hormones. Eggs are kept in plastic jars, where they hatch 5-7 days later when kept at 18C (65F). The larvae are placed into earthen rearing ponds as soon as their yolk sacs are absorbed. These ponds are prepared 10-14 days in advance. First, they are drained, cleaned and refilled to eliminate predacious aquatic insect populations and aquatic vegetation. (Larval Paddlefish are poor swimmers and easily get entangled in filamentous algae.) Organic fertilizers such as hay, alfalfa meal, rice and wheat bran, brewer's yeast, and cow manure are used to culture zooplankton. Stocking usually takes place on cloudy days or after sundown to prevent "sunlight shock."
"Paddlefish can also be reared indoors in environmentally controlled tanks or troughs supplied initially with pond-caught daphnia, then gradually replaced by a commercially prepared diet. Since the Paddlefish are kept in tanks that are usually smaller than outdoor ponds, overcrowding can be a problem. Overcrowded juvenile Paddlefish will bite each other's tails, or exhibit a behavior called billing, in which they swim with their paddles out of the water. The function of the biting is unknown, but billing appears to be the Paddlefish's effort to deflect oxygen-rich water from the surface into its mouth. Billing Paddlefish have stopped feeding and will soon die. When Paddlefish are moved to more spacious quarters, billing and tailbiting cease."
"Hatcheries spawn Paddlefish with the use of hormones. Eggs are kept in plastic jars, where they hatch 5-7 days later when kept at 18C (65F). The larvae are placed into earthen rearing ponds as soon as their yolk sacs are absorbed. These ponds are prepared 10-14 days in advance. First, they are drained, cleaned and refilled to eliminate predacious aquatic insect populations and aquatic vegetation. (Larval Paddlefish are poor swimmers and easily get entangled in filamentous algae.) Organic fertilizers such as hay, alfalfa meal, rice and wheat bran, brewer's yeast, and cow manure are used to culture zooplankton. Stocking usually takes place on cloudy days or after sundown to prevent "sunlight shock."
"Paddlefish can also be reared indoors in environmentally controlled tanks or troughs supplied initially with pond-caught daphnia, then gradually replaced by a commercially prepared diet. Since the Paddlefish are kept in tanks that are usually smaller than outdoor ponds, overcrowding can be a problem. Overcrowded juvenile Paddlefish will bite each other's tails, or exhibit a behavior called billing, in which they swim with their paddles out of the water. The function of the biting is unknown, but billing appears to be the Paddlefish's effort to deflect oxygen-rich water from the surface into its mouth. Billing Paddlefish have stopped feeding and will soon die. When Paddlefish are moved to more spacious quarters, billing and tailbiting cease."
I really can't add anything to the topic but I am loving this thread. As a keeper/fan of North American natives this is fascinating to me. I want to hear more about the captive reproduction of these fish. Any information on that? Thanks
And here's some interesting information on feeding from the same site and author:
"Even though they're primarily plankton feeders in the wild, captive Paddlefish readily adapt to commercially prepared foods. At the Tennessee Aquarium, Paddlefish are fond of pellets and will flip upside down to take them from the surface. They're also fond of live brine shrimp, which are dripped into the tank through an air hose leading from a bucket placed above the water's surface. The Paddlefish immediately sense when the brine shrimp begin hitting the water and commence their open-mouthed, filter-feeding behavior. Aquarists at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science allow Paddlefish to filter feed by turning off the tank's filtration system and dropping a "plankton cocktail" into the water a couple of times every day. Aquarists at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo feed used to sink frozen blocks of brine shrimp, flake food, chopped smelt, and shrimp into their 60,000-gallon Wolf Wilderness exhibit, but the Paddlefish could not compete with more aggressive feeders and began to perish. Eventually aquarists hit upon the idea of training their Paddlefish to accept smelt dangled from a pole in much the same way sharks are fed in ocean exhibits. They're pole-fed about three times a week and hand-fed by divers when cleaning the exhibit."
"Even though they're primarily plankton feeders in the wild, captive Paddlefish readily adapt to commercially prepared foods. At the Tennessee Aquarium, Paddlefish are fond of pellets and will flip upside down to take them from the surface. They're also fond of live brine shrimp, which are dripped into the tank through an air hose leading from a bucket placed above the water's surface. The Paddlefish immediately sense when the brine shrimp begin hitting the water and commence their open-mouthed, filter-feeding behavior. Aquarists at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science allow Paddlefish to filter feed by turning off the tank's filtration system and dropping a "plankton cocktail" into the water a couple of times every day. Aquarists at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo feed used to sink frozen blocks of brine shrimp, flake food, chopped smelt, and shrimp into their 60,000-gallon Wolf Wilderness exhibit, but the Paddlefish could not compete with more aggressive feeders and began to perish. Eventually aquarists hit upon the idea of training their Paddlefish to accept smelt dangled from a pole in much the same way sharks are fed in ocean exhibits. They're pole-fed about three times a week and hand-fed by divers when cleaning the exhibit."
