Shovelnose stugeon...

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BLACK ICE;1978312; said:
Due to the fact I cant seem to get the tank any cooler ive played around with a powerhead in my tank to find the best setting for him that didnt blow him around the tank and gave him enuf aeration to not breathe hard and seem to have the setting he likes by actually taking the powerhead out and lowering the water level 4" so the filter roughs up the water. I got mine at a tiny lfs in racine specialising in exotics called aquatic oddities. It worries me that yours never swam funny you seem to have the most experience with these guys on the boards. I wonder if it is caused by some kind of brain damage from lack of proper oxygen early on in life (I hope not) I know the shop I got him at had him in 81 degree water with almost no water movement at all. Im sorry to hear about your loss they are amazing fish and I would hate to lose mine especialy the way you lost yours :(
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I aerated my tank with bubble wands, they seem to give the best aeration without blowing the fish all around. Just keep the water aerated and it will be ok, I am in somewhat of a minority about this but i don't think any aquarium fish need to be kept above 80. I have kept nearly all fish in my 45 years of aquarium keeping and i never set a heater higher than 74 or so. Just because a fish can survive above 80 doesn't mean it needs that hot water. I know most people seem to think fish like Cardinals need hot water but I keep mine (they are one of my favs) in mid to lower 70's (weather permitting) and I've kept individual fish longer than six years. discus are one of the few fish i have little experience with but i have kept them long term in the mid 70's as well. The warmer a fish is the faster it's metabolism runs. constant or slowly changing temps are more important than hot temps. Keep him as cool as weather permits, don't panic if the temps rise above 80 but don't shoot for that either. Just keep the aeration going. Again i like bubble wands over strong currents. what substrate are you keeping him over? I used building sand, sturgeon are bottom dwellers in nature, usually smooth sand and round smooth sand gravel mixed bottoms. Keep us informed as to how your fish does.
 
here is my 2 cents ...
i had mine in a 20 long, at 75-78 degrees, and a bubble wand which is what the LFS had him at, and they told me he could tollerate the warmer water. and he did the same thing that your sturgeon is doing ... and also swimming with his nose out of the water a lot ...

i then moved him into a 29, with no heater at all, and just a single HOB filter to push water around, no other aeration other than that.
now he is swimming mid to low level 90% of the time, and occasionally coming to the top, but no more flipping, or swimming with his nose out of the water... basically what you think of when you think of a wild sturgeon
i have read other places (and even had other threads about his behavior) and i read that the flips and swimming out of the water isn't always a bad thing... its just kind of annoying, because its not as natural looking.

so i would say try and get the temp down, i dont know what my temp is, but its cool to the touch. i will get a thermometer in there soon so i can tell u where its at.
and i would also get him into a larger tank (he is going to need more room soon anyhow!
check out my pics in the post of my cold water tank.
 
Moontanman I will probably end up using the bubble soon just dont have one right now. Im hoping that the couple of extra inches of water I can gain when I use the bubble wand to stir up the water instead of the filter will drop the temp a lil or at least keep it lower longer. I am keeping him on black beauty sand I belive? It is fine grain black sand I use it in all my tanks because I love the way it looks :)

new2natives Im not really sure how to get the temp down any further I wish I could get it down to 70. How big is your sterlet? Thats what you have right? I belive I read that sterlets have tougher demands as far as temps go. I would like to put him in a larger tank but I dont have one rite now that he wouldnt get eaten in and im worried he wont be able to find his food as easily in a bigger tank :(
 
BLACK ICE;1979399; said:
Moontanman I will probably end up using the bubble soon just dont have one right now. Im hoping that the couple of extra inches of water I can gain when I use the bubble wand to stir up the water instead of the filter will drop the temp a lil or at least keep it lower longer. I am keeping him on black beauty sand I belive? It is fine grain black sand I use it in all my tanks because I love the way it looks :)

new2natives Im not really sure how to get the temp down any further I wish I could get it down to 70. How big is your sterlet? Thats what you have right? I belive I read that sterlets have tougher demands as far as temps go. I would like to put him in a larger tank but I dont have one rite now that he wouldnt get eaten in and im worried he wont be able to find his food as easily in a bigger tank :(
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No need to get the temps down to 70, mid 70's is fine, even hi 70's to low 80's will be ok for short periods if you have lots of aeration. This fish lives naturally all the way down to New Orleans where the water temps climb into the 80's in the summer. I would make sure you have a 12" or so bubblewand in one end of the tank for aeration, this will indeed allow some cooling from evaporation and make sure you have lots of oxygen in the water. I use a surface water skimmer into a sump under the tank, this also promotes good oxygen content in the water. Film on top of the water is the enemy of oxygen dissolving in the water and getting rid of CO2. A bubble wand really helps break up the film that naturally forms on top of aquariums. (surface water skimming to a sump is better but you work with what you have)
 
I was actually planning on two 12" bubblewands for the ten gallon hes in now and when he moves to his permanent tank there is a sump system waiting :)
 
i am not 100% sure what i have, and to make matters worse, they are impossible to photo, so i cant really get a possitive ID on him.

he was listed as a "california sturgeon" ... with a max size of 48" ... he is currently 5" i'd guess
 
Yea I looked at the pic of yours again and he dont look like a shovelnose so hes gona get pretty big. Do you have a pond to put him in? Thats one of the reasons I got mine is because he will more than likely top out at 18" or less.
 
new2natives;1981027; said:
yeah, i will either have a pond for him, or a friends private lake
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If you do indeed have one of the California sturgeon then you do indeed have a cold water fish. I'm not completely sure but I don't think they encounter water warmer than around 65 degrees any where in their natural range. Good luck with them and keep us informed as to how they are doing.
 
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