Redfin Pickerel tank mate
- Thread starter MuskieKing
- Start date
They are far from what they actually look like, killer wise.
They are very skittish AND will easily eat themselves to death.
A bullhead would go well but the tank would need to be big enough.
Other than that, you'll be satisfied with just the pickerel.
And never leave live food swimming around after it's eaten for 5 mins.
It WILL kill itself by gorging.
They are very skittish AND will easily eat themselves to death.
A bullhead would go well but the tank would need to be big enough.
Other than that, you'll be satisfied with just the pickerel.
And never leave live food swimming around after it's eaten for 5 mins.
It WILL kill itself by gorging.
Good to hear you have a redfin pickerel, I breed them from time to time in my ponds. They are great fish and if presented with appropriate live food do well. I wouldn't count on it eating anything dead. I raise tiny ones of daphnia magna and then to baby gambusia. a three inch pickerel should be able to eat small guppies. Around here (SENC) they feed almost exclusively on gambsia, although I am sure they will eat anything small enough to swallow. 78 degrees is fine for redfins, I catch them all the time in water in the mid 80s. My ponds get into the mid 80s in the summer as well. The only reason they might need cool water is to induce them to spawn. They are one of my fav native fishes, if you need any more info let me know. Be very careful about your tank cover, they are jumpers and will jump out of they get the chance.
Oh yeah, tank mates..... an adult redfin pciker can be expected to reach 10 to 12 inches and extraordinary fish might reach 14" If your fish is feed well on small guppies or gambusia he will probably leave fish like madtoms and small sunfish alone. A dollar sunfish would be great, a blue spotted sunfish should be ok as long as they are too large for him to swallow. Just keep him well feed on small fish and he should ignore the other fishes. If he gets hungry he might strike at a fish to big for him to eat and kill or injure the other fish or even himself. The key is too keep him used to eating small fishes and feed him regularly. Get him used to being fed by you and he will be less aggressive toward any tank mates. Don't expect him to ignore a fish he can swallow. Females get bigger than males often by 4 or more inches.
Thanks for the info yeah I got him eating extremely small guppies which I intend to breed. Out of all the fish I have had which is close to the hundreds he is the coolest. How do you feel about him being housed with a raphael?
