What do baby bowfin eat

They were very active,eating great, etc.. Then about a month into it, they started dropping off like flies. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feb 18, 59 0 0 nevada. Aug 10, 1, 2 68 Ohio sites. Bowfin are notorious for internal parasites so yes your fish will look and behave normal until its to late. Dec 31, 1, 0 66 Central Iowa www. Good luck Man! Wish I would've got one! You must log in or register to reply here. Top Bottom. Bowfins are generally considered to be poor to eat, but Native Americans were reportedly fond of them, and residents of the Deep South use them for dishes such as fish balls, jambalaya and gumbo.

Creamed bowfin on toast is said to be soothing for children with stomachaches. In Louisiana, bowfins are cultured in commercial hatcheries for their roe, which is marketed as "Cajun caviar" or the decidedly more upscale trade name "Choupique Royale. The bowfin has given rise to two unusual superstitions.

According to one legend, bowfin meat possesses the power of turning raw after it has been cooked and allowed to sit overnight. And as if that weren't miraculous enough, a bowfin wrapped in Spanish moss and buried during the correct phase of the moon will seven days later transform itself into a black moccasin snake!

Perhaps the most important value of bowfins to humans is strictly academic. As a living relict from the past, the bowfin is an important fish in the study of vertebrate evolution, and is a mainstay in comparative anatomy and vertebrate zoology labs.

Apparently, being a thug — as well as an over-protective parent — is one way to survive millions and millions of years. He writes advertising for money. He writes about fishes for fun. Contact Us Site Map. Fish and Aquatic Conservation. Volunteer Career Information. Hooked bowfin fight as hard as--maybe even better than--any game fish. And adult bowfin can reach trophy size--almost a yard in length and weighing more than 30 pounds. Such behemoths are, of course, too large for the home aquarium.

But the young can be collected almost any time of year, either in the weed beds, in warmer weather, or at creek mouths or openings in the ice in winter. I prefer to start with one-and-a-half to two inch fish. Bowfins I've kept seem to prefer soft water with a pH of 6. It's best to set them up in a half-filled 20 gallon long aquarium, with a thick carpet of low plants and an upper covering of floating plants.

The dense plant growth provides the skittish young bowfins a sense of security, assuring that they will have less fear of you as they acclimate to their new surroundings. For filtration, I prefer a filter that creates a strong surface current, but with a medium overall tank current.

For the initial feedings, chopped earth worms and shrimp will soon be eagerly accepted. In about a week, they will have acclimated to tank life. As you approach the aquarium, they will swim to the surface in anticipation of their next feeding.

About this time, you can introduce them to prepared foods. At first, I offer them some freeze dried tubifex worms, breaking the cube into one-eighth inch pieces. In another three days, I usually start giving them sinking shrimp pellets. The young bowfins will cruise the bottom, inhale the pellets and then hide among the weeds while chewing the pellets up.

Throughout the next month, you can introduce more different types of prepared foods as the fish become more and more accustomed to tank life.

If they fail to eat enough of the new food, you can fall back on the chopped worms and shrimp. After the fish accept more types of food and gain more confidence, you can add more water to the tank.

About this time, the young bowfins will come to the surface when you splash your finger in the water. At this time, you can introduce them to ground beef, beef heart, and beef liver.

Such a highly varied diet will improve the color and growth patterns of the young fish. Carnivores in the wild, an acclimated Bowfin will basically eat any meaty food provided by its caregiver. From Mysis and brine shrimp for the young fish, to crayfish for adults, Bowfins will eat most anything alive or dead. Earthworms and insects are consumed at just about any size. They can be eventually weaned onto dry foods, but for best health these should be supplemented with frozen and live foods when possible.

Though they will consume smaller fish, live fish should be avoided. The Bowfin does not appear to be picky in terms of water quality. At least one source notes that they prefer water around Neutral pH 6.

As can be expected from a fish that is found from Canada to Texas, they are flexible in terms of water temperature. About room temperature F should be perfectly fine.