Caged Crappie

Imprisoning a crappie is something that is not actually in my agenda , even though I have one currently imprisoned.:banghead
I will likely only keep it in such an environment for a very short period of time.
The actual agenda is to study it closely in real time to see exactly how it operates, and some things surprised me about it and some not so much so far.
It has a favorite spot and is very good at not being seen by potential food items and or predators possibilities as well.
It remains motionless most every day during daylight hours and rarely ventures off from its spot of concealment.
Once the lights go down it becomes highly active though and it's still unknown to me if the "prowl" is actually to upset the bait schools we created in there to single one out for a meal or just wandering in an attempt to escape it's imprisonment.:dono
The one thing that is totally noticeable is that it NEVER attacks prey from any direction other than from below said prey.
Now mind you this , I know full well, it could easily ketch prey if it had the wanted to ketch it from other directions, but as it is with all living creatures it seems to only want to attack from below the quarry.
This in turn solidifies the "personality" thing that goes with all living creatures, some are just different than others no matter the species.
The first "caged crappie" took a worm off the bottom , this one has a zero interest in that type of behavior, to a jig person that loves to hold it above their face , this fish would be totally susceptible to that type of presentation.
One thing for certain , it is the king of lying in wait, still not sure exactly what the "trigger" is to get it to rise to the occasion , but to be very sure of this .....
in many cases there seems to be something within the interaction of the prey and the bait that drives it to stalk and try to ketch food.
I have yet to figure out what makes it want to strike and not want to strike in what appears to be identical situations, but to be very sure of this part.
I am totally trying to figure it out ! :Rofl
and the study continues ......

I have noticed some similarities to my caged crappie. It lays most of the day still in a really good spot behind the wood log and plants. It ventures out mostly when the tank lights go off or nobody is around. My tank is filled with plants and structure and the minnows will hide in the plants. However, I noticed just last night when lights were out it trying to attack the minnows BELOW him. Like you said in another post, very inaccurate in hitting target. I have seen him try to target them up in the tank as well. He surely doesn't put much effort into the attack.

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

I have noticed some similarities to my caged crappie. It lays most of the day still in a really good spot behind the wood log and plants. It ventures out mostly when the tank lights go off or nobody is around. My tank is filled with plants and structure and the minnows will hide in the plants. However, I noticed just last night when lights were out it trying to attack the minnows BELOW him. Like you said in another post, very inaccurate in hitting target. I have seen him try to target them up in the tank as well. He surely doesn't put much effort into the attack.

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this is fact bro , a half hearted attempt here or there , and misses the bait WAY more often than not ,surely not an A game predator in my opinion , it's a small miracle we ever even ketch one I tell ya :Rofl

I once had an Crappie sized Oscar. He was deadly on feeder goldfish. Rarely missed. He would eat till his belly was stuffed , then take one more.
He would swim around the tank with the tail hanging out of his mouth until he could swallow it . Then immediately take another.
He would repeat this behavior until all the goldfish were gone.

MO

Interesting fellas…

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Originally Posted by mozingo1952

I once had an Crappie sized Oscar. He was deadly on feeder goldfish. Rarely missed. He would eat till his belly was stuffed , then take one more.
He would swim around the tank with the tail hanging out of his mouth until he could swallow it . Then immediately take another.
He would repeat this behavior until all the goldfish were gone.

MO

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My pet Oscar would eat ANYTHING, he ate sausage and biscuits one morning my roommate fed it until it laid on the bottom for 2 days …..:Rofl
And he would flat out leave scratch marks on your fingernails as well , totally viscous fish for sure , ate both of his Oscar tank mates and one of them nothing eats em plecostamus fishes well ….
Was just a brute mean as heck fish for sure …:Rofl