paddlefish

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Zoodiver said:
I used to get them in MN when I was up there. You'll need a way to keep the water above about 50F all year to keep them outside - which is a HUGE speed bump to an outdoor pond.
Check with the current laws. When I was up there you also needed to have a permit to buy/have them from MN DNR...not just the permit to sell them. Just because he can sell legally doesn't mean you can buy legally.
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they are not on the restricted speices list for here. the permits come into play for aquaculture and commercial use of them. i am going to assume you got them for zoo or another commercial style setting. also if they were wanting to stock in a public river or lake then they would need a special permit. as for home aquaria you can have gamefish amd other species aslong as you retain the recipt to back that they were not poatched in the wild.

on a side note, i am curious as to the 50f part. they occur in our rivers that freeze so i am wondering why you say they need to be above 50f.


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I can help you with the pond. My company has dug quite a few and I am in Minnesota. I also know a thing or 2 about fish.:thumbsup: The website is www.Genadek.com Cheers and good luck with the project!
 
sbuse said:
on a side note, i am curious as to the 50f part. they occur in our rivers that freeze so i am wondering why you say they need to be above 50f.


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We always had problems going cooler than that. They'd slow down to the point where we couldn't get them eating again when the temps came up. We'd see then slowly get thinner and thinner and then stop swimming from lack of calories to burn. We spent a few years working on the 'why' part of it but never figured it out. They do just fine in the wild (obviously), but when coming into a controlled setting like a display tank, they didn't ever make it. Even in our 'flow through' system that was supplied from a natural water source, they showed the same response to the temp dropping in winter and not coming out of it well when water temps came back up into the 60's and 70's.
 
Zoodiver said:
We always had problems going cooler than that. They'd slow down to the point where we couldn't get them eating again when the temps came up. We'd see then slowly get thinner and thinner and then stop swimming from lack of calories to burn. We spent a few years working on the 'why' part of it but never figured it out. They do just fine in the wild (obviously), but when coming into a controlled setting like a display tank, they didn't ever make it. Even in our 'flow through' system that was supplied from a natural water source, they showed the same response to the temp dropping in winter and not coming out of it well when water temps came back up into the 60's and 70's.
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That's strange. Jeroen (used to be a user on here) has a large outdoor pond in the Netherlands where tge water also freezes in the winters, and his paddlefish are doing perfectly fine. His pond is around 10'000 gal I think. I'll try and persuade him to drop in on this thread, so he can share his experience and tips with us.



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Zoodiver said:
We always had problems going cooler than that. They'd slow down to the point where we couldn't get them eating again when the temps came up. We'd see then slowly get thinner and thinner and then stop swimming from lack of calories to burn. We spent a few years working on the 'why' part of it but never figured it out. They do just fine in the wild (obviously), but when coming into a controlled setting like a display tank, they didn't ever make it. Even in our 'flow through' system that was supplied from a natural water source, they showed the same response to the temp dropping in winter and not coming out of it well when water temps came back up into the 60's and 70's.
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interesting. i wonder if it had to do with the prep like when puting gars back into a cold pond. i wonder also if it might be a special food they may eat before the witer time that gives them an extra boost to hold them off in the winter. or if in the winter they still eat from time to time in the water since there are still things to eat in the water like small bugs and other things like that. would be an iteresting study of them to actually find out what causes it and how to avoid it.


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^^Agreed. I'd love to have more info about this.

As for the pond, that might be the secret. Was it a natural pond? (Vs. the filtered tank we kept them in.)
 
Paddlefish filter feed for plankton using their rostrum which is filled with sensitive electric organs like the ones on sharks, so don't grab in by the snout. They are hard to keep in tanks and there can be absolutely no metal in the tank, or they will flip out. You can keep them in the tank, as they are protected, but not fully endangered. Also many species of carp can be kept in cold waters, as well as many beautiful species of North America fish. Australian fish might be a good call as well. A sterlet (type of sturgeon) would be BA and inexpensive.
 
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