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Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but I have 2 black nose crappie about 3” & 4” in an aquarium and wondering how many minnows these guys need a day? The tank was stocked with minnows and the other night and they ate 21 but last night only 4 when there was at least 10 in there. Any help would be great, thanks
It is a well settled fact in fisheries management that adult crappies prefer forage fish found in the open-water areas of reservoirs, particularly thread-fin and gizzard shad. As well understood, however, black crappies are often willing to feed on anything that fits into their mouths, including their own young but the rate of growth depends much more importantly on habitat, food availability and crappie population size for a given body of water.
In a natural setting: Too many crappies and not enough food results in slow growth or stunting. In an unnatural setting: The tremendous feeding and reproductive capabilities of crappie species also often results in stunting, particularly in small ponds or (I'm sure) in your much smaller artificial tank environment. IMO: The question of how many minnows will be the average number or right number to feed your black nose crappie; while largely given to speculation (on whatever theory) will eventually (surely) be overwritten (or re-written) by the confined space of the aquarium and the crappie's natural governance of digestion and energy expense verses pollution of their own environment due to the production of waste; both of which will cause the numbers of minnows to remain (both) variable and unpredictable throughout their whole life span I'm sure.
Perhaps the answer would be to go on a rotation plan of a dozen minnows one day (throughout the day) and two dozen the next (throughout the day) or something similar to that plan. I would also suggest the trial some other mixes of foods as well, such as shad, goldfish or smaller crawfish when the seasons or budget permits.
Throw in a Flinstones multivitamin at least once a day for maximum growth
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If they're only 3 or 4" dinks I would split the flintstone vitamins in half. Seriously I've had crappie in my fish tank and the main concern is keeping the water cold. I kept them alive for several months but when summer hit and the water warmed they died. Feed them a minnow etc. every day or other day and they should do fine.
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Lol so we got answers from 2 dozen to 1 a day! My water temp is about 76 and it’s inside and controlled so changes in season shouldn’t affect that. Does anyone think they won’t survive in that temp? Thanks again guys
Mine were white crappie if it makes a difference.
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Throw a crappie nibble in there and see what happens.
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So many useless answers....probably just need a couples sprays of Slab Sauce daily. Enough to create a good sheen on the water.
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I thought about trying to feed the nibbles and other commercial bait also between minnows. I wonder if something like that could be part of their diet
Oh and I know how big they can get, they are in a 60 gallon now but in a couple months going into a 125 gallon
I doubt those have much in the way of any nutritional value. I'd stick with a few minnows each, per day, at that size range and not add any minnows until all the previous day's ones were eaten. But, I'd also try to keep the water temp a bit lower than 76deg, if possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott8058
My thoughts exactly. lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Special K
I need to bring hook and line to yo house. There are no crappie in Ky Lake.
I had Crappie in a 250g tank...over filter the tank as much as possible, I was filtering and turning over the tank every 1/2 hour. I went with a layer of river rocks that just covered the bottom then some big rocks around Big Drift wood. It looked cool!
I added 10 drops of bleach per gallon of water to bleach my drift wood in large containers for a week and then rinsed them, and let them sit in fresh water for another week! This gets all the strong color out and any parasites etc. my house stays at 70-74 degrees year round so I didn't need heat or cooling. I started with 10 four inch Crappie and four BIG 8 inch Plecos to clean up algae etc.
I would just get 10 dozen minnows and add them to the tank and 5 dozen glass shrimp (at the time they we .10 cents ea.) The Glass shrimp are good cleaners too, and good snacks for the crappie! You can feed them Rosies, feeder guppies, etc...but gold fish are a lot dirtier!
I ended up with 6 TWELVE inch Crappie in 2 years...and yes, I ate them!
They really started to eat a lot, but it was the HUGE turds that keep you in a constant state of cleaning filters out every couple days!
Overall it was a pretty cool experience for my son and I!
That sounds awesome intimidator, i bet it was fun! I used play sand for my bottom substrate and have a bio wheel 350 so it should be turning over a 60 gallon tank 5+ times an hour in theory right? I noticed right away with just the bull head that the filters on the bio wheel are smoked in about a week but so far with weekly water changes my tank has stayed crystal clear. I rinse out the filters and change them about once a month and so far so good. The only reason i use a heater at all is because we have our biggest angel fish in there with them and idk if she would survive with room temp water.
Yep, in theory 5+...just keep an eye on the water parameter!Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott8058