BullHead Catfish

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 03 Mar 2006, 21:35

I am new to this forum and to keeping native catfish but first i will give a little background. I started keeping Aquaruim fish 4 1/2 years ago and started out with tropicals last May I was walking on my property (We live on a large farm in Central Alabama with lots of creeks, ditches, sloughs, holes, and rivers. We had a "drought" last year and one of the streams that runs on our property dried down to little mud holes, This is normally a 13- 20inch deep stream,) In on of the holes in pure mud there were around 13 Baby Catfish with there backs and dorsal fins exposed just swimming around. We rescued them along with literally hundreds of minnows, tadpoles, etc. out of bunches of holes of plain mud. Come To Find out we Have Yellow BullHead Catfish and they are the most WONDERFUL aqaurim fish I have ever kept. They are EXTREMELY hardy, very personable and I have some of them trained to come to the top and take food from my fingers, At the time of there rescue they were .75 inch long and now the biggest one is over 6 inches long and over an 1 1/2 wide. They are the best aqaruim fish I have ever kept they are hardy, persoanble, swim around all over the place, are so funny to watch. They are also from my limited knowledge on the bullhead species the yellow bullhead is able to take in air at the top of the water. Is that right/wrong? The reason i particuarrly like this is because of we live in an area were the power goes out frequently and i have lost many tropical fish due to prolonged power outages. I have 4 Yellow Bullheads in a 40Long Tank The biggest being the 6inch one and the smallest being just over 4 1/2 inches long. The tank is filterted with Dual Empoerer 400's. The Substrate is black aquaruim gravel. Their are 5 log/cave thingys that they can get in and hide from the light when they want too. I have some fake plants in the tank too as decoration and for them too hide in. What do all of you catfish keepers think about my setup is it adequete? Pro's and Con's Of it? BullHead keepers if they could would please give advice past expereiences. Right now my tanks stand at 4 with one 40Long with the 4 yellow bullheads. 1 20long (Occupied by a Channel Catfish Fingerling) and 2 10 gallon tanks each occupied by a 3 1/2 inch specimen of yellow bullhead. I am going to uprgrade the 2 yellow bullheads in 10s and put them in 20Long very soon. What are your ways of collecting bullheads? What possible NATIVE tankmates would go well with any of them? Is my substrate not ideal? Do they need live plants? Right now i am feeding them Omega One Shrimp Pellets, Omego One Large Cichlid Pellets and Omeaga One Freeze Dried Shrimp. Would live food be beneficial to them? How often should i feed them and in what quantity? I am anxious to learn more about them and their care. Sorry about writing the book. Thanks for any advice/help anyone is willing to give.

Dan

P.S. Is 20Long a size big enough to potenniatialy house a singular specimen of bullhead?

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 04 Mar 2006, 01:46

oh man that is one too big solid block of text.

but I'll refer on your last question in a Euro-way.

20g would be 76 liters or so?
no that's not enough room for any fish that easily reaches and passes the 10" mark like the Bullhead catfish.
most of those can and do reach 1 foot or so if they have enough room.

it would be OK if you keep a few Madtoms, but for Bullheads? IMO, no.

Big-B · Post by **Big-B** » 04 Mar 2006, 05:48

I agree, you will need a bigger tank for them when they reach full size. As for suitable tankmates I have kept them with Green Sunfish, and Pumpkinseed Sunfish, you could probably even try a Longear. All the sunfish would probably work, or do you guys call em Bream down there?

Chubs or Shiners would be eventually eaten (mine did), unless very large. As far as other food items go, have you tried earthworms or red wigglers? Mine used to go nuts as soon as a worm was dropped in. Hope this helps ya.

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 05 Mar 2006, 03:52

Big-B How big do you think a tank they would need? Would 75-80 gallons be adequete? What do you think would be a big enough tank for the possibillity of a spawning to occur? 100-125Gallons maybe? I will try some earthworms that is a good idea. Thanks.

Dan

mahdira · Post by **mahdira** » 05 Mar 2006, 12:53

This was a really useful question, thanks for asking it. I just got a Spotted Bullhead/ and I was wondering how big of a tank I should eventually get for him.

Glad to hear that you are keeping native catfish! Totally cool! :D

Big-B · Post by **Big-B** » 05 Mar 2006, 15:33

I'd get em as big a tank as you could Fishlover, especially if you plan on housing a number of them together. They tend to get stunted if they are crowded or there is too much competition for food. As far as the spawning question I'm not so sure. I really dont have any experience with that, sorry. If they were in a large tank and very content I dont see why they wouldn't spawn though.
I'm glad I could help with some of your questions. These have always been some of my favorite catfish.

Good Luck with em. More people should keep native species like these, they are just as interesting if not more than any tropical fish. Let me know how it goes with them.

Big-B · Post by **Big-B** » 05 Mar 2006, 16:35

Mahdira, if you dont mind me asking. Where did you get your Spotted Bullhead? That is one species that I have never seen for sale here or found in the wild. I'd love to have a few of those

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 05 Mar 2006, 18:53

Yep I have read that spotted bullheads stay within the 7-9inch range with 10inches being absolute biggest size. Is that correct? BigB I agree with u there. They are aboslutely my favorite fish i have ever kept, much better than ANY tropicals I have ever had. A Biologist at a College told me that BullHeads can take in air at the top. Do u know if this is righ or not? I will try to uprgrade, but am too the point some of my furniture will have to go or something. Do they like a deep tank? Got any photos of your handy? Thanks Big-B you have been very helpful.

P.S. Big-B what do u consider the best method of collectiong them with a rod/reel a big dip net, a fish trap? what?

Thanks.
Dan

Big-B · Post by **Big-B** » 06 Mar 2006, 02:51

I dont have any Bullhead right now, I kept them a few years ago then I had to move so i released them back into a pond. I actually caught them in a crawdad trap. They were young-ins, just a couple inches long when I caught em. I had them for probably two years though. I'll have to see if I have any pictures. They got to be big chubby things in a 120gal. I do know when they are spawned in the wild they stay together in a tight ball with the parents underneath for protection. Sometimes you can see them on the surface of a pond or lake like this. Its a strange sight. Just a big black ball of baby catfish swimmin around. I've tried to catch them when they are like this but havn't had much luck.
As far as tanks go, length and width are more important then depth. Gives em more room to roam around. That true for just about any catfish kept in an aquarium. And yes they will come to the surface for gulps of air and to eat sometimes. You guys have made me want to get a couple more Bullhead. Looks like I'm gonna have to set myself up a native fish tank in the near future.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 06 Mar 2006, 09:54

A general rule for sizing a tank is 4L x 2L x 2L. L is the length of the fish, so if it reaches 10", you need 40 x 20 x 20 inches of tank-space. That's the minimum of course, anything bigger will be fine.

You can usually cheat a little bit on the height, but you do want double the length of the fish for width, so the fish can actualy swim around without having to do a three-point turn to go the other way...

--
Mats

mahdira · Post by **mahdira** » 06 Mar 2006, 18:05

Big-B wrote:Mahdira, if you dont mind me asking. Where did you get your Spotted Bullhead? That is one species that I have never seen for sale here or found in the wild. I'd love to have a few of those :beardy:

I got him at Petland, believe it or not. :D

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 06 Mar 2006, 21:48

Yep, I Know about them schooling when they are young, I have a friend who has actually seen it in an oxbow lake on my property, and tried to catch some. I have heard it is very painful if you dont do it right due to all of the miniatuire dorsal fins sticking up. I am going to try to get my hands on a 75 or 80 gallon can you give me the dimensions of various size tanks from about 65-90? if you know the dimensions. Also how do i post pictures to show you some of my catfish? That really relevies me I have lost too many tropicals to list due to not enough oxygen due to a power outage. I also got 2 fathead minnows the other day am proabbly going to put them in their tonight. Would u be worried about introducing disease into a tank with wild caught stuff? Do u have any expereince with using sand/mud as a substarte in a bullhead tank? would they prefer it? Thanks so Much Big-B you have been a great help to me.

Dan

neolamp · Post by **neolamp** » 07 Mar 2006, 01:43

i envy you it sounds like you have found a perfect pet , i want one 2,3,4,5,6,

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 07 Mar 2006, 02:00

Yep NeoLamp I Consider BullHead Catfish to be the Perfect Aqaruim Fish and an excellent pet all around. NeoLamp You can buy BullHeads off the internet you know.
http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/
Check out that site they seel native fish including Yellow and Brown BullHeads.

Dan

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 08 Mar 2006, 03:07

This is a link to a photo of one of my BullHeads, I will try to get more recent photos but I have problems photographing my fish this photo is a couple months old, but here is the link,

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f398/ ... dPhoto.jpg

Dan

tokeefe · Post by **tokeefe** » 08 Mar 2006, 03:13

Hi fishlover,
I have some black bullhead myself. I also regularly collect native specimens of everything from plants to fish from local waters for various university studies.

My blacks were caught with a fine meshed aquarium net while still 1/4" fry. At 10 months they now range 6-8" long. There are 7 of them, with a Pumpkinseed ~ the same age as a tank-mate in a 55gal setup. They will soon outgrow this if only for swimming room. Mine eat anything they can swallow, as have all such species I've collected over the years. Earthworm feeding is the most entertaining though IMO.

When my tanks were strictly used for temporary housing of collected samples I used mud and sand from the same source as substrate. Once I got into 'pet' fish, I learned better with any of the catfish types. They roll, dig, burrow and otherwise stir up the substrate too much to use dirt or sand alone. My current technique is a soil base covered with fine and then medium gravels. I use soil for the plants, also locally collected.

Bullhead can take some O2 from the atmosphere, as many of the catfish species and other species can. However, I would not depend on this ability to keep even such a hardy fish alive for long without aereation in an aquarium. This is an adaptation for O2 poor waters in the wild, but remember the most O2 poor wild water bodies or waterways are richer in the gas than standing aquarium water if for no other cause than that they are flowing water (even puddles have a current).

I recommend you invest in some battery operated air pumps for when you lose power. I have several I use both for aereating my collection buckets and for my tanks in emergencies. Most bait shops carry them and the cost is minimal (~4-6 dollars at BassPro).

SinaiTSi · Post by **SinaiTSi** » 08 Mar 2006, 22:00

Fishlover14 wrote:Yep NeoLamp I Consider BullHead Catfish to be the Perfect Aqaruim Fish and an excellent pet all around. NeoLamp You can buy BullHeads off the internet you know.
http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/
Check out that site they seel native fish including Yellow and Brown BullHeads.

Dan

I went to that site, but couldn't find any bullheads at all.
Are they under a special section?

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 09 Mar 2006, 00:57

How did you catch Black BullHead in a dip net? Where was it?

I have a Couple of the Elite Battery Operated Air Pumps superiour in every way to the yellow ones you buy at Wal-Mart a note on the side when Hurrican Katrina cam through I tested Air Pumps extensively, I never had to replace the batterys in my Elites once and the power was out for 72 hours, and they put out tons more bubbles and agitate the surface more than the yellow ones that i had to replace batterys in almost continusouly, Also the weird thing is, I can take a yellow air pump put 2 batteries in it and it wont even turn on, and then take the same batteries put them in the Elite and it runs just Great with tons of surface agitation, I am going to have to get me about 4-5 more, but they cost $15.00 each.

I have mine in a tank with black gravel and fake plants now is that okay? Would you consider the tank way overstocked? You can read about it in my first post. The BullHeads in that tank have a tremedous sie difference the smallest one is just over 4 inches and the biggest is over 6 1/2 inches.

SinaiTSi:

Click the link then click the link on the website that says "Go straight To the Good Stuff" Then Click Fish List, Then Scroll down past the columns to below them and find an individual species list. Hope This Helps.

Dan

zenyfish · Post by **zenyfish** » 09 Mar 2006, 01:53

SinaiTSi wrote:
I went to that site, but couldn't find any bullheads at all.
Are they under a special section?

They might be out. Here's another place:
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/fwverts.html

tokeefe · Post by **tokeefe** » 10 Mar 2006, 01:09

I caught them in an oxbow prone creek (actually named Ox Creek btw) that drains the NW Cayuga platue (sp) through the Lysander wetlands, emptying into the Oswego river in northern central NY State.

Bullhead fry, like the fry of so many species, gather in fine leaved vegetation close to the shoreline for both food and protection. I use in my study collecting a XX fine mesh aquarium net, 4"W X 6"L, that I use to dip up both plant segments and the myriad macro and microscopic life forms that call that plant home. Done with a quick, shovel-like motion from the shadow side of the plant, making as little shadow as possible yourself, you will get a sampling of everything gathered around that plant.

In fact, when I netted the 3/4" Bullhead fry, I also netted their food (freshwater inverts of 5 different types) and their predator, a 2 inch long Pike! The Pike was transferred to a local university where he now grows and will eventually be part of a teaching aquarium.

watch your local regs and laws though. Without a collecting permit, I could have been arrested and heftily fined for catching and pocessing that pike!

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 10 Mar 2006, 02:03

As far as laws and regs go, I am collecting a native species on my own property and moving it to a home aqaruaim, and for the bullheads i have now on a private river on our place that only runs on our place, Would that be any problem?

So this spring in about May-June you would reccomned simply taking a fine mesh dip net and dipping in the vegetation in the sides of a slow flowing stream or river on our place? I have an extremely fine mesh dip net right now 12 inches wide and 6 inches deep but plan to get a bigger one is the one i have now adequete? Would fishing the stream or lake qwith say a worm or stinkbait like chicken liver be more effective? Are live plants neccesary to have a good native tank?
I thought I would give another photo of my catfish a more recent one.

Thanks!

Dan

SinaiTSi · Post by **SinaiTSi** » 10 Mar 2006, 21:52

If the dip net doesn't work. A worm on a hook with a few weights down about 8-12 inches should work. That's the setup I used when fishing for carp at my grandpa's and I seemed to get nothing but bullheads. I'm not gonna complain though.

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 11 Mar 2006, 01:04

Yeah I went fishing at some of our ponds today caught a gravid bass and a Bluegill, I was tempted to keep the Bluegill for a tankmate for the BullHeads but decided becasue i dont have an open tank to quarantine it in I will just wait. Do Bluegill make good Tankmates for BullHeads if the Bluegill is big enough not to fit in the BullHeads Mouth? Do you know anything about keeping BullHead and Bowfin together?

P.S. when would u reccommend trying to start catching/nettinga bullhead?

Thanks so much!

Dan

SinaiTSi · Post by **SinaiTSi** » 11 Mar 2006, 17:09

You can have a bluegill and bullhead co-exist fine, it's just that you want to make sure that the bluegill isn't big enough to eat the bullhead (if you have a large bluegill and bullhead fry) and vice versa. Besides that they'll be good tankmates. As far as when to catch them, obviously catfish are more active at night, so you have a better chance then and as far was temp. goes, right now, it might be a little cold. As far as, ponds, lakes take a while to warm up. I'm not sure how hot it's been there in Alabama, but here in Va it needs probably another month or 2 of warm weather for it to get to ideal conditions.

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 12 Mar 2006, 03:19

SO try at night using a large dip net in the edge of a oxbow lake and hope I dont dip up a cottonmouth

.

Do you think it is good to try to catch the large masses of baby catfish that school together? Would it be very hard to catch them with a long handled wide net with say a little stink bait in the net to lure them in? Would that work well? Would they eat in captivity when they are that small?

Thanks!

Dan

SinaiTSi · Post by **SinaiTSi** » 13 Mar 2006, 20:40

Fishlover14 wrote:SO try at night using a large dip net in the edge of a oxbow lake and hope I dont dip up a cottonmouth .

Do you think it is good to try to catch the large masses of baby catfish that school together? Would it be very hard to catch them with a long handled wide net with say a little stink bait in the net to lure them in? Would that work well? Would they eat in captivity when they are that small?

Thanks!

Dan

When I said at night, I was suggesting with a rod and reel. At night is also when you'd catch a larger bullhead too. When it's light outside is when I'd use a net. Fish will generally be in the shallows during the early morning and evening (when there's still a little bit of light outside). That way you can still see what you're going for and the fish are in the shallows. I'm not sure about what they'd eat when very small. I really want to have a bullhead someday, but I haven't owned one yet, since I live in Va and they're not as common here as other areas.

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 13 Mar 2006, 23:56

By larger bullhead do u mean in the 10-12 inch range or bigger? I am going to obatin a BIG dip net with a 3ft handle and 12 x 12 for net width and height dimesnions is that big enough or too big? Have you ever caught a bullhead in a minnow trap?

Why didnt you keep the baby black bullheads you dipped up?
What species is from what you know the hardiest?
Does a moderate current in the tank bother the bullheads or do they prefer slow moving water?

Thanks!

Dan

SinaiTSi · Post by **SinaiTSi** » 14 Mar 2006, 01:52

By larger I mean, 6+ inches, as opposed to small fry. I have never actually caught and obtained a small bullhead fry in a minnow trap or net myself, but your net does sound plenty large enough. As far as netting the fish, I was just trying to give you information on what I think the best time would be from my fishing knowledge. As far as the hardiest type of catfish, I want to say either the flathead or bullhead. Both are very hardy, but I would choose a bullhead to keep in an aquarium as they don't get nearly as large as a flathead. Tank water, I'd try to stick to their natural environment as much as possible, as with any fish. For bullheads would be more slower moving water due to their natural habitat in ponds and lakes. Once again, all of my experience is from fishing, I don't own a bullhead and I've never netted any myself, even though I'd love to, like the way tokeefe mentioned. Hopefully I can get one myself someday too though.

tokeefe · Post by **tokeefe** » 16 Mar 2006, 22:52

Black and yellow bullhead live in almost all water enviroments from sluggish streams to rapids to large lakes. About the only enviroment in their natural range they are not found in are acid bog lakes in the NE mountian regions.

Keeping one in an aquarium, try to match the water enviroment where that individual was caught as closely as possible. If you've caught fry, you can set the conditions to suit you more. Adults will be more sensitive to change.

Bullhead are rather inactive during daylight. This increases as they age. Make sure your tank provides many hiding areas. They need not be fancy, even bunches of long plants either floating with a weighted end or planted will give them hanging-out areas. Sunfish tank-mates will appreciate hiding plants too.

As far as netting fry, use a smaller net than you've described and work in the early morning or late evening. This is when the fry will be close to the surface feeding. The fry will be with-in a foot of the shoreline and always in among tangles of vegitation. The best practice is to net the plant matter and empty it into a white container (those old white enameled dishpans are perfect). The fry, as well as any other creatures, will stand out starkly against the white background. Save the plants as well as the fry, and all those little wigglers and bugs too as they are natural fry food. Just watch out for dragonfly nymphs as they'll eat the fry.

When netting, lay on your stomach close to and parralell to the water line so you don't throw a shadow on the water, pick out a mass of Elodea, Duckweed or other floating vegitation and net it from underneath by putting net and arm in the water ~ 2 feet from it and approaching it slowly without breaking the surface.

Again, check with your local Conservation dept. before capturing any wildlife. In NY even on private land by the landowner, gamefish are regulated as to size and number taken and ways of taking. Dip nets are illegal for all but smelt without a collectors permit. In your state regulations may be different.

Also always respect the area you are collecting in. Leave a smaller footprint than you find, and ensure that us collectors, both pro and amature, can continue collecting for many years to come.

Fishlover14 · Post by **Fishlover14** » 17 Mar 2006, 02:21

First of all to both tokeefe and SinaiTSi- I am so sorry for not replying sooner it has been a hectic last 48 hours. On March 13, That night I fed my 4 BullHeads the way I normally do, They coming up to the top and getting their regular foods of Shrmip, Large Cichlid Pellets, and Plankton. I observed them all. and apart from the isolated scratch on the smaller ones they all looked fine. No excessive aggression was being displayed by anyone. On March 14, I woke up and found one of my catfish looking like he had been run through a meat grinder, Dorsal fin almost gone totally open wounds and mutiple abraisions on his body. I could have run him through a meat grinder and he would have looked better. He is the smallest one out of all 4 only 4 1/2 inches. I immedeately removed him placing him in a 20Long Tank alone and added aqaruim saslt to restore his slime coating. I had to leave to go do something so was gone from right after I put him in the tank to that night about 6:00. I came back that evening and looked he was still alive but not looking good at all. The others were acting very strange the smaller 2 were fighting. Well I had no extra tank space and no 5 gallon buckets so i didnt know what to do. I finally decided on giving them lots of food, When bullheads eat a big meal from what i have observed with mine they always go hide and let it digest just sit around for a while, so i gave them a large portion of food. I stayed up almost all the night observing them and then at 5:00 a.m. they showedd signs of looking for more food and started fighting again so I fed them again. I was running the light the entire time my 4 bullheads are 100% used to the light and couldnt care less if it was off or on they act just the same ethier way. I kept feeding them to keep them happy and then got some 5 gallons buckets and began the fun task of removing 2 quite angry bullheads from a tank, Now they are in 5 gallon buckets with airstones till I can figure out what to do with them. and the biggest bullhead is still in the 40gallon tank. Well bullheads regurjitate their lasts meal when upset and being put in a 5 gallon container they didnt exactly like so i am going to have to find a way to change their water without removing them from the bucket...hmmm. I have started treating the Hurt Catfish with MelaFix Is that a good idea? But I dont know what to do I need another couple of tanks but my room has 4 in it as it is......The reason I had kept so many bullheads in the possibillity of them spawning at some point and I thought that would be really neat. Do yelllow BullHeads spawn in captivity? I was taking the information from the Cat-e-log on here and applying it too a tank. Is that correct? For Long range goals I would acctually like to keep some other spcies of bullhead say, Spotted or Brown, a bullhead that is mottled and olive green in color, I need to get another 40Long though...
tokeefe and SinaiTSi what would you reccommend doing about this situation? Thanks.

Now to SinaiTSi first:

Sorry, I was getting you mixed up with tokeefe. I apologize. Also since they like slowmoving water is running Dual Emporer 400s in the 40Long detriemnetal to them? Would they prefer smaller filters? We are on well water so that water shoudl be pretty natural. I Hope You get a BullHead and good luck this spring and summer! Thanks so much SinaiTSi you have been extremely helpful to me and I really enjoy discussing BullHeads with you.

Now to tokeefe:

As far as water conditions I collected mine as .75 of an inch fry or somewhere close to that length. So adaptibitly to water conditions shoudl be ok right? Mine right now especiialy the largest one come out under full light all the time when they are hungry, If you feed them a good bit they will go hide in their fake log and digest it but if you dont give them a lot they will continue to swim around asking for food regardless if given any? Mine are going to be 1 Year old in a few months!! I will try to get some more fake plants for them to hide in so they will be happier. Thanks for all the good netting advice I woukld far rather net a bullhead and raise him from fry size than catch a full or half grown one on a hook. Do BullHeads reguarly swallow hooks or are they pretty good about getting them in the lip? I will try and check the regs if I remember it It would definetly be good too. Also tokeefe I want to thank you too you have been very very helpful and i look forward to continue to talk with you about BullHeads. BTW got any Pics of Yours? Do yours fight a lot? Is it reasonably safe to collect wild fish without introducing any parasites or ich? Also is it abnormal for bullheads to flick themselves against the gravel? Does that show signs of a parasitic infestation? Thanks SO much both of you.

Dan

P.S. So sorry for not replying sooner.