I recently caught a cowfish, a spotfin butterflyfish, and a lookdown jack fish in a seine net at work and figured I would try to keep them in an aquarium rather than throw them back and let them die from the cold. However, I am rather new at the aquarium hobby and am having trouble getting my fish to eat food because of them being wild caught. Does anyone have any suggestions or have done this before? Thanks!
wild caught tropical fish!
- Thread starter seahare3
- Start date
Well if you got a cowfish and you're a newbie, you might be in trouble since pretty much all those are poisonous when stressed, and stress can be easily achieved when you don't have infos on the specie. Bad water params, bad compatibility, parasites, diseases etc means you can gamble all your other livestock.They also need a lot of space. Your spotfin isn't easy either, like all the chaetodontidae family. Your lookdown might need a huge tank volume ( 150+G when adult ).
What is your tank setup ? Need some info there...new at the aquarium hobby means..new in SW or FW too ?
What is your tank setup ? Need some info there...new at the aquarium hobby means..new in SW or FW too ?
Thanks for the info...I am not new to freshwater and technically I am not new to saltwater either considering I am a practicing marine biologist and have maintained saltwater aquaria for more than two years for multiple species of shark and skate. I am new to personally keeping a small saltwater tropical aquarium outside of a laboratory setting. Not sure if that helps for info.
I know a bit about each species and am aware of the poisons that the cowfish secretes when stressed and when they die and am trying to minimize stress levels at the moment. I have bought a water conditioner that is supposed to minimize stress for new fish and transported fish by calming them and helping with the protective slime coat and such. That seemed to help a tad...
Unfortunately right now they are in only a 5.5 gallon due to the recentness of the situation with me aquiring the fish and not wanting to make the very expensive adjustment in a larger aquarium if they were not going to survive the night. If I can get them to take food then I will invest in a larger aquaria for the cowfish and the butterflyfish and try to find someone to take the Lookdown who can handle him. So far I have tried frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried brine shrimp, chopped up silversides, tropical flakes, and dried seaweed salad attached to a salad clip for the butterflyfish.
I know a bit about each species and am aware of the poisons that the cowfish secretes when stressed and when they die and am trying to minimize stress levels at the moment. I have bought a water conditioner that is supposed to minimize stress for new fish and transported fish by calming them and helping with the protective slime coat and such. That seemed to help a tad...
Unfortunately right now they are in only a 5.5 gallon due to the recentness of the situation with me aquiring the fish and not wanting to make the very expensive adjustment in a larger aquarium if they were not going to survive the night. If I can get them to take food then I will invest in a larger aquaria for the cowfish and the butterflyfish and try to find someone to take the Lookdown who can handle him. So far I have tried frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried brine shrimp, chopped up silversides, tropical flakes, and dried seaweed salad attached to a salad clip for the butterflyfish.
Well, although you are a marine biologist, it sounds like you could use a refresher on small aquaria. There's an easy link below in my signature that might help with the cycling process and what exactly should be in the tank. The water conditioner you bought isn't really going to calm the fish down/slime coat/etc, it's just a waste of money product they try to sell newbies. All you really need is a good water conditioner that removes chlorine and chloramines from tap water.
If the fish are wild caught (why can't they go back where they came from again? were they fish just released by people from their personal tanks? If they're truly wild, I'm not clear why they can't go back to where they came from, generally wild caught fish do NOT do well in captivity). Anyhow, if they're truly "wild", they will need live foods. Wiggling worms, live brine shrimp, etc.
If the fish are wild caught (why can't they go back where they came from again? were they fish just released by people from their personal tanks? If they're truly wild, I'm not clear why they can't go back to where they came from, generally wild caught fish do NOT do well in captivity). Anyhow, if they're truly "wild", they will need live foods. Wiggling worms, live brine shrimp, etc.
Thanks for the prompt reply! I am always welcome to new information and I will take a look at the link ASAP. To answer your question the fish were caught in a seine net used for a coastal pond survey we were doing to monitor juvenile fish populations. They could have been released but they would have definately died from the cold. We get a variety of tropical fish species that get caught in the gulf stream as larvae and end up in the coastal ponds as juveniles every summer and they die off in the fall due to the water temperature dropping. I chose to try to save them instead to at least give them a chance in an aquarium rather than letting them die from the cold. So far I have had them in my tank for 4 days and they still seem active and healthy and alert. If they in fact are not eating, are there any indicators of that? How long will they last without food? Can they still seem healthy after 4 days and not be eating or are they eating when I am not looking which is why they are still alive and well? I will try some live food this week and see what happens...and more replies will be much appreciated! Thanks!
I have not done ammonia levels yet but I actually just read about that test and am going to pick it up on my way home. I have tested so far for nitrates, nitrites, pH, and alkalinity and everything so far is ok...because I have been trying to get them to eat I have been feeding them more than normal and leaving the food in for longer than normal as well so I am planning on doing a water change later today of 50% to keep on the safer side of things. I am a little confused about the "good bacteria"...I know what it does and such and about the cycling but because of the unplanned nature of the aquiring of the fish I didn't "cycle" my tank...should I purchase that bacteria from a petstore in the sacks I read about? I don't know anyone with a tropical tank so I can't do the media method.
My fish are very small...we measured them in the field and the cowfish is the size of a pebble...less than 1cm in length. The Lookdown and the butterflyfish are both around 3cm in length...juveniles. If they start eating I will transfer them to a much larger tank and try to find someone to take the Lookdown because I will never have a tank big enough to support him. The 5.5 was the only tank I had at the time and it still seems too large for the cowfish because he doesn't seem to be taking to swimming with the filter on too well...any suggestions with that? Should I put him in a separate tank with a smaller filter? Thanks again!
My fish are very small...we measured them in the field and the cowfish is the size of a pebble...less than 1cm in length. The Lookdown and the butterflyfish are both around 3cm in length...juveniles. If they start eating I will transfer them to a much larger tank and try to find someone to take the Lookdown because I will never have a tank big enough to support him. The 5.5 was the only tank I had at the time and it still seems too large for the cowfish because he doesn't seem to be taking to swimming with the filter on too well...any suggestions with that? Should I put him in a separate tank with a smaller filter? Thanks again!
Some fish don't do well with different strength of filters, you'll have to play with it until you get it right. I would also make sure to read up on what these species of fish specifically eat in an aquarium setting. The ammonia test is going to be the most important for a new tank, especially if these fish are young, they'll be very sensitive to ammonia in the tank. Buying the sac from a pet store (make sure they're legit chilled ones) might be a good option.
Thanks for all the replies...unfortunately my glass hydrometer/thermometer broke mid-water change tonight and I had no way of testing the salinity or the temperature. Luckily my sister had set aside a gallon of saltwater that was the same salinity but it was cold and my heater stopped working yesterday. I got a new heater today and put it in but I won't be able to get a temp reading until tomorrow night after work when I get a new thermometer....grim. :-(
I did the ammonia test today and it was between 0.5 and 1ppm...should I do another water change? I am a little nervous to keep doing water changes because they freak out whenever I stick things in the tank...will another water change reduce the ammonia to 0ppm?