Salmons in captivity.

[Eupterus]

The other day I was at a store called Cabelas that has a large temperate aquarium in the back of the store. Cabelas is a hunting ,camping and general outdoors store.
I observed a large pink salmon. It got me wondering, since salmon in the wild swim up stream, spawn and die, what happens to captive salmons like the one at Cabelas?.
If they never spawn , do they live longer then wild salmons?.
Will they grow larger?. I noticed the one at Cabelas had a bent mouth. The pointed mouth tips they tend to develop as adults had overlaped. I was wondering if this had something to do with this fish living longer then wild salmons do. So because this captive salmon lived longer, the pointed mouth tips kept growing until they over-laped.

PS: IF you live around a Cabelas store or find one on a road trip, go check it out because they might have a large display aquarium in the back.

 

[basstank]

idk man. but your bringing up a great point. and cabelas is my favorite store! i go and look at the tank for 1-2 hours. haha

 

[Vapor315]

There occur naturally in the wild strains of landlocked salmon not all species of salmon die when they spawn as most people think from watching tv. As far as growing larger all fish truely never stop growing so yes they would get bigger but the size difference wouldn't be much. Now with the mouth overlapping that's just from the fish being old and really depends on the species, pinks all look alike untill breeding where the males get the huge jaws you described. Once the fish change their appearance it will not revert back to their original form hence why he still looks like that.

 

[I<3fish]

There occur naturally in the wild strains of landlocked salmon not all species of salmon die when they spawn as most people think from watching tv. As far as growing larger all fish truely never stop growing so yes they would get bigger but the size difference wouldn't be much. Now with the mouth overlapping that's just from the fish being old and really depends on the species, pinks all look alike untill breeding where the males get the huge jaws you described. Once the fish change their appearance it will not revert back to their original form hence why he still looks like that.

No, they literally all die after spawning (Pacific coast salmon do at least.) The difference of growth may be noticeable, although they more than likely won't grow at all. But they need clean, cold, oxygenated water and LOTS of food. The mouth overlapping is caused when salmon become mature and enter fresh water to spawn.

Salmon do actually not do well in freshwater aquaria as mature adults. They stop feeding when they enter freshwater to spawn (landlocked individuals do this as well when they enter a tributary to a lake.) So that salmons time in Cabelas is running on an hourglass basically. Although this salmon could have been caught in a lake then transfered to the tank, (unlikely as his shape and colors have already changed) I still think it won't grow.

Rainbow trout can sometimes get a bent nose, are you sure it's not a rainbow?

 

[Vapor315]

Here on the east a couple species return to the ocean, and the rainbow trout that have the appearance like salmon are the lake run variety called steelhead. But he stated it was a pink salmon he saw.

 

[I<3fish]

Here on the east a couple species return to the ocean, and the rainbow trout that have the appearance like salmon are the lake run variety called steelhead. But he stated it was a pink salmon he saw.

I know what steelhead are... I am saying it could be a normal rainbow trout with a bent nose, I have seen it before in the big ones (10 lbs+.)

And steelhead are anadromous fish in their natural habitat, not "lake run."

 

[Dark Jester]

I've seen the aquariums at Cabella's here in Reno, and the one in Boise, ID. To be honest I kindof feel sorry for the fish in those stores. They always look ragged with torn fins and stuff. They have a 4 foot channel cat at the one in Boise that can barely turn around. Great, their tanks are like 9 feet tall, but they are only like 2.5-3 feet front to back. Like keeping an full grown Oscar in a 20 High. The trout tank at the one here in Reno literally had 30 or more 12-20 inch trout in it. The tank is probably 1500-2000 gallons. Looked like they were being ravaged by a fungus of some type too.

Really just kindof sad.

 

[Kaosu]

yah..i visited one of these stores just north of Seattle...the fish looked beat up and stressed, felt kinda sorry for them, some of the salmon were Huge!!! and the space they had to turn around was tiny, most of the fish were gasping.... felt sorry for them