Keeping yellow bullhead

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Shelly

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Dec 29, 2002
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I went to my LFS yesterday to see surprisingly about 30 yellow bullheads, i assume they are fry being a inch or less long.

How big of a tank would you need for one of these ?

I caught a channel catfish in a local creek a year ago and had him for two years in a ten gallon and he grew around two inches I beleive, but died the end of the second year when i started feeding feeder guppies which carried a sickness.:(


I have a 29 gallon with nothing in it, how about a yellow bullhead??

Could I keep two since they are bottom dwellers and are not very active?
 
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ChilDawg

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Dec 26, 2002
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I have here a book "Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes" by L.M. Page and B.M. Burr which says that the yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis) gets to 18-1/4" long. By that calculation, you would need a tank with width of at least 36-1/2". In terms of standard tank capacities, that is much bigger than a 75g tank. (I have never worked with large tanks, and my book on Bettas by the Hargroves does not mention any larger tanks than that.) I don't know much about growth rates of native fishes, so a 29g might be all right for a few years for one A. natalis. By the by, I live in Bloomington, which is near Pekin, so I would be interested in knowing the name of the pet shop in the event that my roommate would agree to a large tank with a bullhead!

Cheers,

Matthew

P.S. I have read that earthworms make a good food for native cats. Also, if you want to set aside the 29 for something else (and intend upon getting a large tank for the natalis), you could breed your own guppies from healthy stock if you want feeders. I know that I will receive a lot of flames for suggesting the use of feeders, so let me state now that I do not advocate their use but this is a suggestion intended to help a fellow fishkeeper who has used them in the past, and had bad results with them due to the conditions in which they were kept at the LFS. One more thing: if you wish to get feeders from the LFS, please remember that they must be quarantined like any tankmate you would obtain for your fish which is NOT intended to be eaten.
 
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Shelly

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Dec 29, 2002
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Yeah the bullhead is way too big for me, instead I bought a Oranda and Lionhead.

The Petshop is called "Charlies Aquarium" On Valle Vista right off of Court Street across from Kmart. All my pets are from there besides my dogs.
 
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