HAs any one kept these if so how were there tempreament and growth rate? What kind of food did they accept? Cosidering getting one but wanted to get a little more info of how they behaive in aquaria.
Thanks
Thanks
Red Finned Pickerel
- Thread starter IndyTexy
- Start date
I killed 3 out of 4 within 1 minute.
I had 100 rosey red minnows that I had gut stuffed in QT for nearly a month before I got my red fins. I was slightly dejected when the fish I recieved while healthy were considerably smaller than I expected.
BIG MISTAKE HERE! Learn from it.
I took one look and basically laughed at my months work of gut stuffing these feeders. Oh well I told myself, I will acclimate the red fins in the tank while I move the larger roseys to a QT bin. It was taking a long time to catch all nearly triple digit minnows
I knew there was ZERO chance of the tiny Red fins eating the massive rosey reds. WRONG!
Three of the four died of swallowing prey far to large to digest within seconds of release.
They will absolutely eat themselves to death given the opportunity.
I had 100 rosey red minnows that I had gut stuffed in QT for nearly a month before I got my red fins. I was slightly dejected when the fish I recieved while healthy were considerably smaller than I expected.
BIG MISTAKE HERE! Learn from it.
I took one look and basically laughed at my months work of gut stuffing these feeders. Oh well I told myself, I will acclimate the red fins in the tank while I move the larger roseys to a QT bin. It was taking a long time to catch all nearly triple digit minnows
I knew there was ZERO chance of the tiny Red fins eating the massive rosey reds. WRONG!
Three of the four died of swallowing prey far to large to digest within seconds of release.
They will absolutely eat themselves to death given the opportunity.
Yeah, when ordering online - they're typically little more than fry, I'd get some guppies of varying sizes. Also very interested in this species, do you have a source?
IME, young acclimate readily and relish live. For 3-5 inch fish, I would feed ghost shrimp and livebearers. You really do want to start with a young one and really try to switch it to prepared foods. As ambush predators, they can be very reluctant to get off feeders. Adult WC specimens are nearly impossible to get off live. They absolutely need lots of cover or they will stress and not act natural. Natural behavior should be mostly sitting and waiting in cover. Bright lights will also make them uncomfortable. Once settled and feeding, they can be quite confident and take on large prey. IME, they are not very greedy and a fed pickerel wont typically target giant prey items. They are not aggressive fish and should not be kept with aggressive fish. Aggressive species such as bass, cichlids or similar species can bully, stress and ultimately kill pickerel
I kept one for more than a year. Very neat fish...hangs in one spot hovering most of the time and very skittish. I was never able to ween mine off of live. As previously stated, they will eat enormous prey for their size. I never bought more than a couple of feeders at a time. Often one would be regurgitated to make room for the other feeder. As far as water parameters, very adaptable and you don't have to check water like a madman. As far as tankmates, not suggested. Smaller tankmates WILL be eaten and larger tankmates will more than likely spook them too often causing them to injure themselves by running into the glass. Best kept as a specimen only tank.
