Trouble keeping Pikes......

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DCOWBOYS

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 16, 2010
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Where the Parachromis roam...
These Cichlids are 1 of my favorite,but i cant seem to keep them.About 10 yrs ago i raised a Lent from an inch to about 7" i had to get rid of it because it got super aggressive and i only had a 55 gal at the time.But now i have a 125 gal and have tried several other pikes with no success they all get sick and die.My last one was a month ago,i bought a 6" Lent,paid a pretty penny(they are very hard to come by around here)he was the biggest fish in the tank by far,he never ate anything(including live)no one bothered him at all he had his own cave.All my other fish were and are very healthy(very active and eat like pigs)the pike kept getting sick(clamped fins,ich,heavy breathing,etc...)I medicated it 4 or 5 times the whole time i had him.My ph is 7.0 and my ammonia is 0.0,i do W.C. 2 times a week,all my other fish are growing pretty well.The other fish are 1)4"Dempsey,1)3" Texas,1)2" Dovii,1)2" Fire Mouth,and I)3" Blue Acura plus a gibby pleco 5" and a reg Pleco 6",i also have a 8" Niger cat.As i stated no other fish ever botherd the Pike.What could i be doing wrong?? I studied up on them before i bought my last one,sounds like you treat them like any other cichlid same ph and what not,could this just be bad luck or am i cursed with Pikes???Thanks guys!!!:eek::confused:
 
Sounds like a string of bad luck bro... I had similiar string of luck with silver aros. I lost 4 of them before being able to keep one healthy. I lost one from inexperience(still had yolk sac),lost another one to a jumping incident, lost my third to a room mates cat playing with an old school heater(fried him),and lost my fourth to a bite from a baby trimac(they were together for 3 weeks before the incident). So I feel ya on the luck bro. I just never gave up and researched --A lot!!!! I now have 2 silvers. One I bought at 14" the other one I had to order(pretty penny as well,they weren't in season) at 6". Since getting them this summer they are 20" and 13" + very healthy.

Don't give up. Sounds like there was a problem you couldn't see with the pike. Persistance pays off even though it puts a dent in the wallet.

----Chris
 
Yeah,thanks i think the problem may also be the person i get them from(but he always seems to be able to get them)all the other LFS's claim they have to order a certain amount of them and i need to buy at least 2 of them and the price would be sky high.And if i could buy 2 what if i ended up with 2 males,they would fight all the time wouldnt they??
 
Order online man. They are offered quite often, and are up for sale on Aquabid right now actually.

Don't let one bad experience ruin all the other great experiences for you. ;)
 
No prob. man. Been there myself several times, it can be very frustrating/discouraging for sure when you put so much effort into something you love only to watch it die. :(

Third times a charm for me when it comes to Crenicichla sp. 'atabapo II'. I had them twice, and each time they died on me. Sucked, really bad. Back then they were still considered pretty rare, and were 'hard' to get, so it hurt even more. Now on my third try I've had the same two for well over a year and going strong. Sometimes you just have to pick up the pieces and keep trying. ;) If one thing didn't work, try something different.
 
I gave up on spiny eels for the same reason... could keep other really sensitive scaleless fish and make them thrive, but I've killed 3 fire eels. :(
Looking forward to keeping pikes and hope I won't have the same problem.

I can keep elephant noses alive and thriving, one of the most water quality sensitive fish you can have (they even use them to test water quality in some countries), and then I see a bunch of idiots on youtube with huge healthy fire eels in stupid undersized tanks. Makes me so mad. :irked:

Good luck in the future!
 
aclockworkorange;4674935; said:
I gave up on spiny eels for the same reason... could keep other really sensitive scaleless fish and make them thrive, but I've killed 3 fire eels. :(
Looking forward to keeping pikes and hope I won't have the same problem.

I can keep elephant noses alive and thriving, one of the most water quality sensitive fish you can have (they even use them to test water quality in some countries), and then I see a bunch of idiots on youtube with huge healthy fire eels in stupid undersized tanks. Makes me so mad. :irked:

Good luck in the future!
Click to expand...
See thats funny because my last Fire eel reached a foot almost,the only thing different i did was hand feed it(it seemed too slow or shy to compete for food with the other fish,plus it ate only eartworms)I have raised 3 Fire eels and 1 Tire track eel pretty well.
 
DCOWBOYS;4675020; said:
See thats funny because my last Fire eel reached a foot almost,the only thing different i did was hand feed it(it seemed too slow or shy to compete for food with the other fish,plus it ate only eartworms)I have raised 3 Fire eels and 1 Tire track eel pretty well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hand fed my first one, had him about 6 months. He jumped out of a well sealed tank somehow, found him on the floor, got him back in the tank but he died two days later.

My second was was extremely outgoing and ate like a pig, but he wrapped himself around my titanium heater (absolutely my fault for not putting a heater guard on, but my previous fire eel never did this so it slipped my mind) and died from a bacterial infection from the burns.

My third I just got a couple weeks ago, he was about a foot and a half long, BEAUTIFUL markings. He died from what I can only guess was ph shock, even after a very long drip acclimation. He was bought locally so I know it wasn't any sort of ammonia poisoning in the bag, like if he were shipped. H died about two days after I got him in the tank, and he was by himself.

So, apparently, I'm getting even worse at keeping eels, not better. :irked:

I'm picking up some lents as soon as my 125 is done (the one in my sig), putting them in a 90, trying to get a pair. I think I'm planning on moving them to the 125 in the future and upgrading the 125 fish to a 180 or maybe go to an 8 foot length foot print in the future. Guess it depends how successful I am at keeping them. Hopefully it will much easier for me than my foray in to spiny eels (did I mention the entire reason I bought my 125 in the first place was to keep a fire eel? :screwy:)
 
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