Keep a Bullhead Catfish
Revision as of 23:25, 12 February 2017 by Kipkis (Kipkis | contribs) (importing article from wikihow)
Bullheads are an attractive hardy species of catfish that have very interesting personalities to keep you entertained. This article is going to explain how to keep a healthy Bullhead in an aquarium.
Contents
Steps
- Determine the size of the bullhead you are going to keep as a pet. When choosing a tank size remember that a bullhead needs {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of water for every inch of its body. For example a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} bullhead would need a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} tank and an {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} bullhead would require an {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} tank. Get a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} tank for the early stages of the bullhead's life (0-4 inches), a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} breeder tank for the adult stages of the Bullheads life (5-10 inches), and a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} tank if the fish grows over {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. Larger tanks are always recommended.
- Gather materials to replicate a natural environment. A fairly thick layer of gravel is appreciated by bullheads because they love to dig nests and dig for food. Sand and leaves make good substrate, and you must add hiding spots for the bullhead, like rock caves, hollow driftwood, or a thick forest of aquatic plants, otherwise the bullhead will feel paranoid during daytime and shy away from interesting means of feeding.
- A good filter makes the job easy. The best filter for bullheads would have to be canister filter as it has a high bioload capacity. Get a filter that is rated for 20% - 30% more gallons than your tank. For example a filter that is made for {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} being used on a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} tank. Bullheads like current and oxygen which filters also provide.
- Use a pre-cycled tank. Once you've added the bullhead/s, put stress coat in. (A slime coat enhancing liquid sold at pet stores that relieves a new fishes stress.)
- And now for the fun part, feeding the bullhead! Bullheads are opportunistic feeders which means they will eat a huge varied diet depending on what they have the opportunity to eat. Bullheads will eat any alive or dead fish that fits in their mouth, any vegetation or muck they can manage to find, any kind of meat they find, but most interestingly they don't eat each other! A varied diet is the key to a healthy happy bullhead. Try frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, sinking fish foods, floating fish flakes, fish fillets, and feeder minnows that are all available at pet shops. You can also feed your Bullhead live bluegills, largemouth bass, tadpoles, frogs, crickets, flies, salamanders, scuds, crayfish and any live animals you find that will fit in their mouths. The two foods you should feed a Bullhead the most if you want it to grow big and strong are minnows and blood-worms. Blood worms work as an excellent source of fat and minnows are an excellent source of protein. You can even train your bullhead to come up to the top of the tank and eat out of your hand.
- How long will your Bullhead live? Well bullheads can live anywhere from 5-12 years depending on the species and they will grow relatively fast. In the first year of life a bullhead will grow to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} and then slowly grow until it maxes out at a length of {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} and weighs 1-5 pounds depending on the species of Bullhead.
- Tend to an injured bullhead. Bullheads are extremely tough fish and rarely get hurt without another animal involved. There are 3 main places a bullhead can get injured. the most common is an injured tail. Bullheads tend to get bullied by fin nipping territorial fish when kept in captivity which is a good reason to only keep bullheads with bullheads and don't keep fish like sunfish and bass live with a bullhead cause in the end you'll have an injured bullhead and a dead bass/sunfish. If a bullhead's tip of its tail gets nipped at it will easily heal back and the bullhead will continue to operate as if he is not injured. If the bullhead's tail is tore to the bone though he will never grow it back but instead will just be a tailless fish that amazingly swims around and functions as if he never lost his tail. The second most common injury is the loss of a barbel (whisker) which will most likely never grow back but since a bullhead has six barbels in the first place it doesn't matter so much. The third most common injury is the loss of eyes from being attacked by another fish which is an unfixable problem and the bullhead will have to rely on his whiskers for the rest of his life which is okay because catfish feed at nighttime anyway which is when eyes don't help much.
- Do a 25% water change at least once every week.
Tips
- Bullheads prefer a darker environment than other fish.
- Your pet bullheads will feed most actively during periods of low light.
- Bullheads love worms more than any other food.
- Bullheads love to eat baby bluegills that fit in their mouths.
- It is best to catch your bullhead in a funnel minnow trap to ensure you catch a young easy to raise bullhead.
- An easy way to tell bullheads from their larger relative, the Channel catfish, is by looking at the tail. Bullhead have an almost square-shaped tail that is almost completely unforked. Channel cats have deeply forked tails.
- Use barb-less hooks to catch your bullhead if you are going to use a fishing rod or hand-line. (That way the fish won't get injured as badly from the hook.)
- If you don't have any natural food, remember that Bullheads will eat turtle food or dry cat food, but do not use only these artificial foods for more than a day or two.
Warnings
- Bullheads have sharp, barbed spikes on their dorsal and pectoral fins that can be painful and possibly cause infection if your skin is punctured so use caution when handling.
- Bullheads may kill other species of fish in the tank. If you have a large enough tank you can keep other species.
Related Articles
- Catch Bullhead Catfish
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