CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How big a square fish tank do I need to keep two 15 cm sturgeons?

Sturgeons prefer colder places north of the temperate zone and are mainly found in Canada, northeastern United States, and northern Eurasia. Adults such as green sturgeons, American white sturgeons, and duck-billed sturgeons live along the coast and swim upstream during the spawning season from spring to early summer. Although the salt content of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea is only one-third of that of ordinary seawater, it is rare for sturgeons to spend their entire lives in pure fresh water.

After spawning in the river, sturgeons will eventually return to the sea, and their lifespan can be as long as several decades; and the young fish hatched in the river will live in the river for about a year and then gradually migrate to the sea.

For sturgeons, the water temperature of 15-20℃ is the most suitable. Since the young fish are taken out of the river and raised in the aquarium about 6-8 months after hatching, special attention should be paid to their feeding methods. The following will introduce them to you one by one:

1. Choose healthy sturgeon

Active sturgeons that move around in the aquarium are healthier. Avoid those that sink to the bottom, don't like to move around, or float their mouths to the surface in circles. However, when the duckbill sturgeon is in good health, it will sink to the bottom of the aquarium and constantly feed. At this time, choose a strong fish with a rich expression and a big mouth to eat bait.

If there are different sizes of fish of the same type, you don't need to consider it. You should choose the larger fish. In recent years, there has been a trend of importing smaller fish. It is worth worrying whether they can withstand the fatigue of transportation and changes in water quality. Therefore, it is better to choose larger fish for breeding. In addition, you also need to consider the size of the aquarium and your own budget. It is best to keep multiple fish at the same time so that they can compete for food more actively. Of course, the more fish there are, the more bait they should eat.

2. Set up an aquarium for sturgeons

The minimum length of the aquarium is 60 cm. If possible, a 70-95 cm long and deep aquarium is better, but a large bottom area is still preferred. The bottom sand can be silica sand or fine coral sand. In terms of water quality, although hard water is not necessary, sturgeons may get sick easily if drinking water is used. Therefore, when using sand, avoid using coarse sand that can easily cause changes in water quality.

The filter should be a submersible power filter, and the filter material should be ceramic filter beads with strong filtering properties or other more effective sand. Although the water flow generated by the motor attached to the submersible filter is too strong for other fish, it has a good effect on raising sturgeons. Sturgeons in the aquarium not only like water flow, but also like to flow in a certain direction. With a strong water flow, sturgeons that often swim slowly can take advantage of it.

Is it necessary to mix seawater into the aquarium? If the aquarium is less than 20 cm long, you can use pure fresh water to feed the fish, but if you can add 1/4 or 1/3 of seawater, you can ensure that the fish are not easy to get sick. Of course, you can also use good quality artificial seawater instead.

3. Importance of water temperature management

If you want to keep sturgeons for a long time, the most important thing is to maintain the appropriate water temperature. Generally speaking, sturgeons are suitable for water temperatures of 15-20℃. If it exceeds 30℃, the sturgeons will die. If it is below 10℃, the fish will lose their appetite. Therefore, in winter, you can install a heater to keep the water temperature stable. The more annoying thing is to deal with it in summer.

From mid-July to mid-September, the water temperature in the aquarium is often above 30℃, or even 34℃. If the whole family is traveling, this water temperature is not suitable for keeping sturgeons. At this time, you have to use the aquarium cooler or the air conditioner at home. The aquarium cooler can keep the temperature of 100 kg to 1 ton of water below 10℃. When placed horizontally under the sink, it is not very visible because of its small size. The problem is that this device is not very common, so you can imagine how expensive it is. In addition, the heat emitted is often discharged indoors. Sometimes, in order to reduce the water temperature in the aquarium to below 15℃, the indoor temperature exceeds 35℃. Therefore, if you want to keep the water temperature in the aquarium below 25℃ in summer, you can strengthen the indoor air conditioning and change the water frequently, or use the air conditioning to keep the indoor temperature between 23-25℃. It would be great if fish fans could have a dedicated breeding room. If you don’t have special equipment and want to keep sturgeons well, you have to rely on the above methods.

4. Bait

Sturgeons love animal food the most, and their appetite is quite amazing. Juveniles can be fed with frozen small fish or marine creatures, and raw baits can be earthworms or bloodworms. When the fish is over 25 cm long, it should be fed with larger baits, such as frozen or desalted marine creatures. For the duck-billed sturgeon, it can grow to 50 cm by feeding only earthworms.

The platy sturgeon can grow to 50 cm, and the German sturgeon can reach 30 cm. However, when they grow to this stage, the fish often die suddenly and inexplicably. This has a lot to do with the water quality of the breeding. At this time, a large aquarium over 180 cm should be replaced. If necessary, a large FRP pool for raising Jinli can be used. In addition, fish need a higher concentration of salt. If the salt content in the water is increased by 1/2 to 1/3, the fish will be less likely to get sick.

Since the equipment required to raise sturgeons is too large, it is best not to raise sturgeons that are too large. After all, there are few large equipment. Therefore, it is recommended to raise sturgeons with a growth limit of 50 cm.