Sturgeons

[Moontanman]

i havent tried those, but i have tried other hikari sinkers, and they would just spit them out (i haven't tried TOOO hard, i like them to eat a lot, so i dont starve them more than 2-3 days in an attempt to switch them onto pellets)
i also have some pellets from kensfish.com that i have tried (at 55% protein, 15% fat, who wouldnt try ) and they spit everything back out

i'm not running a chiller, the tank is near a window in ohio i haven't decided what i will do this summer... maybe let them spend a few months with just the house AC cooling them (hopefully 68-70ish?) but i will wait and see what this summer brings

Sterlets should do well in mid to low 70s during the summer with plenty of aeration and clean water

 

[Moontanman]

my stretlets cannot survive dose any body know how big the tank should be for a 8''?

An eight inch sturgeon should do well in a tank as small as 20 long if it's a bare tank but transfer to a larger tank will be necessary in a few weeks. To really keep one I would want at least a 125 or so, the bigger the foot print of the tank the better. A short broad tank is better than a tall narrow tank.

 

[andyjs]

An eight inch sturgeon should do well in a tank as small as 20 long if it's a bare tank but transfer to a larger tank will be necessary in a few weeks. To really keep one I would want at least a 125 or so, the bigger the foot print of the tank the better. A short broad tank is better than a tall narrow tank.

I guess it would be possible to keep one in a 20L, but they NEVER stop swimming. I felt a little bad keeping my 6-7" sturgeon in a 75 as fast as he constantly swam.

 

[Moontanman]

I guess it would be possible to keep one in a 20L, but they NEVER stop swimming. I felt a little bad keeping my 6-7" sturgeon in a 75 as fast as he constantly swam.

I've kept them before, a 20 long would be ok for short period of time, you could keep one a bucket for a couple of days. Any long term tank should be big, the bigger the better. a small tank would be just to hold it until you could get a bigger on. Any long term would have to like andy said, big. The real danger is them injuring thier snout by running into teh glass, they just can't live with a constant glass wall to run into.

 

[new2natives]

i agree, the bigger the tank, the better (as with almost any fish)
for a 8" fish, i wouldn't go any smaller than a 4' tank. they swim too much, and if the tank isnt very long, they are going to be constantly turning around.
like i had said before i have them in a 6' tank now, and they LOVE it... constantly swimming, and watching them cruise up the sides, and upside down at the surface, they look like little fighter jets!! they are very entertaining to watch

my stretlets cannot survive

my first thought is making sure the tank is CYCLED, and stable. the LFS i bought my 3"ers from had them in 78 degree water, and no special aeration, so i dont think that would be a quick sturgeon killer (although i agree its not how you should keep their tank!). if your ammonia is a little high, they will be able to tough it out. if its a little warm, they will tough it out.
but when i had my white sturgeon, the thing that killed it was when i accidently recycled my tank so that would be my main concern. (he was big too, 9-10" so not as fragile as a small one). make sure the tank is cycled!
then add a bubbler or two, keep the temp as low as possible, and the tank WIDE OPEN (they will get stuck behind filter tubes, or any other small space that they can wedge themselves into... trust me ) and you should be good to go.


sorry i cant get pictures, my PC is down, and i cant upload my camera to this laptop...

 

[Moontanman]

When I had shovelnose sturgeon they didn't swim all the time, they spent considerable time under ledges and sitting in shadowy places. They swam around a lot but not all the time and often spent time slowly grubbing in the sand bottom. Possibly not all sturgeons are the same in habits but an 8" fish needs a long wide tank. I wasn't really thinking it out when I said a 20 Long, for some reason i was thinking of a 3 or 4 inch fish. sorry about the misleading post, brain fart for sure! A 20 long would be temporary even for a 3 or 4 inch fish a 50 breeder or a 70 would be a good tank for a small sturgeon for a few months or so. One more thing, one of my favorite tanks for more "pelagic" type fish is a 55 that had one side broken and instead of replacing it I put a new side where the top was and then I had a 48"L X 20"W X 11"T tank. It works really well to hold fish that need a lot of swimming area. I've alwasy liked tanks with lots of bottom area, to me they make better tanks for nearly all fishes. My big tank is 72"L X24"W X18"T and soon I hope to build a tank that is 144"L X 36"W X 24"T it will be my sturgeon tank and maybe paddlefish.

 

[new2natives]

IME shovelnose are the only sturgeon that ever stop moving
(and i've dealt with white, sterlets, diamond, and shovelnose ... about the only ones here in the states )

moon- you'll have to keep us posted!!! it'd be great to get more people on MFK into sturgeon!

 

[Moontanman]

IME shovelnose are the only sturgeon that ever stop moving
(and i've dealt with white, sterlets, diamond, and shovelnose ... about the only ones here in the states )

moon- you'll have to keep us posted!!! it'd be great to get more people on MFK into sturgeon!

Well unless the economy and my own situation improves drastically it will remain a pipe dream, i designed it several years ago, with the filtration system and refugium all an integral part of the tank and system but it's is still on paper for now. I did build a 3000 gallon tank about 26 years ago, it worked really well but it's was an early design and had to be taken down due to design problems. Over the years I've built several but this one will be better if I ever get to build it

 

[I31]

starve for a couple of days and try some krill
can you post some pics?

 

[uting]

I feed my 2 6" Stretlets blood worm and in an air-conditioned room and it is in a 100 gallon tank. Is this ok?