Re: NANFA-- Acrosteus spatula

George Arndt (georgeacim_at_hotmail.com)
Sun, 11 Mar 2001 11:56:55 -0500

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hi bob,
I just went over to the 125 gallon tank and asked those 2 red fin pickerel
how they were doing and asked them if they had anything to say to Bob Bock.
they were speechless. However, it may be because they were eyeballing those
goldfish I dropped in. yep. 2nd check and the goldfish are gone. they
said they cannot talk when they are out hunting. they each eat a goldfish a
day at minimum. I have a tank with plenty in it. i try to fatten them up.
I gave them a few koi also. when they take a fish head first it goes down
in nothing flat. when they take them down backwards it takes them a while.
watched one turn it around from backwards also. the goldfish was
strugglling too much and the fish could not get it down backwards.

the pickerel seem to have the most intense eyes. wow. they look like
predators. I always think I do NOT want anyone looking at ME that way.
hehe.

it is my coolest tank. has water hyacinth they seem to like. I hope to
have them outside in a small pond for the summer. but last week we had 2
huge storms and yesterday was the first warm day. hit about 50 F. I would
love to be able to breed them. dont know if they are a pair. I guess I
would need some kind of vegetation on the bottom for them to scatter the
eggs in the spring. but my guess it might work better next year if I can
figure out what to get set up this summer for them.

I think they are the EASIEST fish to take care of. sometimes I can put a
couple of dozen goldfish in the tank and I dont have to worry about feeding
them ever. I just make sure there are goldfish swimming around. I laughed
so much when the ate their first fish. their belly just bulged like a snake
would. now I think they are fat all the time. hehe.

one sort of problem in a sense is that they are NOT really too friendly.
they seem to like to be alone. they do not come up to me and beg for food
like some fish do. maybe they would if I keep them hungry and only gave
them one goldfish at a time. but they look to the goldfish for food and do
not associate me with being fed.

but the fish are long and thin and the tank is long ( 6 ft ) and thin. and
the fish look super in the tank. the big benefit to the red fin pickerel is
that they will not get big. they would probably do fine in a 29 gallon but
I have the 125 and I like to keep all my fish in big tanks.

I have my rosy reds in a 100 gallon. that is a cool tank also. has about 4
to 6 minnows in a 6 ft long 100. the fish seem so natural this way. I put
a couple of dozen into the tank but they seemed to die in the beginning. i
think the feeder minnows were full of some kind of disease. also I am not
sure that some of the males did not fight. anyway they have become stable.
I keep hoping they will have eggs. I am sure they will eventually. maybe
they already did. hehe.

does anyone have any good ideas for how to do an outside pond to get the
pickerel to spawn let me know. especially if you have some kind of
recommended plant. one good thing is that I am sure they do not eat their
own eggs like some fish. they will probably wait for the eggs to hatch and
then eat the fry. hehe.

George Arndt
Harvard, MA

>From: "Bob Bock" <bockhouse_at_earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>Subject: Re: NANFA-- Acrosteus spatula
>Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 09:10:22 -0500
>
>Hey, George, how are the pickerel we sent you doing? I'd appreciate your
>keeping us posted. (I love updates on shipped fish!)
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "George Arndt" <georgeacim_at_hotmail.com>
>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2001 2:58 PM
>Subject: Re: NANFA-- Acrosteus spatula
>
>
> > well I think the alligator gar is one cool fish. i would like to see
>this
> > one on a cap. i like to wear caps. also I have lots of teashirts. i
> > collect and wear them all the time. i really like the animal ones with
>the
> > big picture on the front NOT the back. so I vote to put the big picture
>on
> > the front with common names. i would like to see some real live
>alligator
> > gars. hehe. cool fish. if the picture is redrawn make that alligator
>gar
> > a center piece. hehe.
> >
> > my guess is my cool red fin pickerel would run away from that alligator
>gar.
> > come on world. stop the loss of cool fish. clean up the waters of
> > america and the world.
> >
> > george arndt
> > harvard, mass
> >
> >
> > >From: Christopher Scharpf <ichthos_at_charm.net>
> > >Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> > >To: NANFA Mailing List <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
> > >Subject: Re: NANFA-- Acrosteus spatula
> > >Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 14:51:02 -0400
> > >
> > > > What's the Common name (AFS sanctioned :) for Acrosteus spatula?
> > > >It looks like some kind of alligator gar from the angle presented ...
> > >
> > >Yes, alligator gar it is.
> > >
> > >And the correct spelling is Atractosteus.
> > >
> > >chris
> > >
> >
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>/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
>/ Association"
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>Association
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