PlanetCatfish.com

Here is my native setup.
There is the bullhead, two pumpkinseeds and there was a lage number of fatheads but now there are only four left.
















Bullheads are by far the best catfish I have ever kept, very active and owner responsive. I don't know why people put channel catfish in small tanks when they can get a bullhead or madtom that looks and acts near identical.

there was a lage number of fatheads but now there are only four left

I guess that's why fathead minnows and bullheads don't make good tankmates.

Bullheads are by far the best catfish I have ever kept, very active and owner responsive. I don't know why people put channel catfish in small tanks when they can get a bullhead or madtom that looks and acts near identical

I agree that bullheads are very responsive fish, but I can't say the same for madtoms (at least the four species I have kept).

Yeah, I put the fatheads in there with the knowledge they might be eaten.

I have 7 bullhead in a 55 gal that were caught 10 months ago as 1mm fry. They are now ~8 to 10" and I agree they are very owner oriented. Mine love earthworms and will feed from my hand. The tickle of their barbels is the coolest thing!

I also have a Pumpkinseed a bit older than the bullhead. I had to remove him from their tank to his own though as he became very territorial and abusive to the bullhead. They now share their tank with 1 year old goldfish and 3 Albino Corys about the same age. All seem to get along quite good together.

I also have a few fathead minnows too, in my guppy tank. Just can't throw away unused bait you know.

Cracking, i love these cats. Would love to get some again. Any chance you can post some over to me?

Cool tank and I too have had great experiences with keeping bullhead. They are very adaptive to the aquarium esp. hood lights and are not shy. Also, it is nice to have a cat that isn't deathly afraid of the upper levels of the water column

CEfire wrote: Also, it is nice to have a cat that isn't deathly afraid of the upper levels of the water column

HaHa. I can agree with that, mine...and the others I have kept, always swam around the through all the layers. I cannot say the same for many of the other catfish I have kept. I have some that I have never seen come more than a few inches off the bottom.

mitch wrote:Cracking, i love these cats. Would love to get some again. Any chance you can post some over to me?

I think you need a permit to keep these in the UK.

i love the pictures of your tank. im going to start a 150 north american tank and thats why im looking in this forum. so your pictures were great to see and ponder my own ideas thanks for posting .

What do you all feed your bullheads? How much and how often ? I have a brown bullhead 12"long. I have been feeding him freeze dried jumbo shrimp, but that doesnt seem to satisfy it.It's always right there in the corner of the tank waiting for me to drop something in.

I have a brown bullhead 12"long

Post some pic's up for us.

mitch wrote:

I have a brown bullhead 12"long

Post some pic's up for us.

What do you all feed your bullheads?

Shrimp pellets, frozen krill, frozen shrimp, frozen bloodworms, the rare earthworm, cichlid sticks (in a pinch). All these back when I had one. They'll eat just about anything.

Here is his baby picture. Caught it 3 years ago. I have 2 but the other hasn't grown near as fast. I had to seperate them, they like to fight.

He looks nice and well feed. Reminds me of the one i had when i was youger. He grew to around the 15" mark.

I feed mine everything. Cichlid pellets, flakes, tubifex, algae wafers, blood worms, Goldfish pellets, frozen shrimp and freeze dried krill, shrimp pellets, insects, peas, cucumber, oranges, earthworms, waxworms, pears...seriously, they eat everything. He has eaten a few fish as well and actually ate the smaller pumpkinseed a few weeks back. At the rate he eats and grows I'm going to have to start saving up for a larger tank.

SandTiger Just a few questions.

What size tank are they in now?
How did you obtain your Brown BullHead?


Do you know what to do about a Finicky BullHead I have fed mine lots of stuff but one has gotten picky recently and likes Freeze Dried Shrmip Omega One Shrmip Pellets, and Omega One Large Cichlid Pellets and spits out anything else I try to feed him, Tubifex Worms, even a Grubworm, I dont get it? Got any ideas?

Thanks.

Dan

He is currently in a 55g though there will be a larger tank in his future seeing is how he will grow pretty large. I got mine while fishing in August or September.

I don't know what to do about a finicky, all the bullheads I have had were very eager to eat almost anything. To be on the safe side I would check your water parems, especially if the bullhead's lack of appitite gets worse.

What where You fishing with what bait and what size did you catch him at? How big is he now? Do you have any more photos of Him and your tank I just love seeing them! My BullHead has absolutely no Loss of appetite he just refuses certain foods, He is always hungry for Shrimp, Shrimp Pellets, and Large Cichlid Pellets but dosent like Grubworms and Tubifex worms. My ph is 8.1 and we are on well water so it is nice and natural for him. Ammonio Nitrite and Nitrate are all at zero except Nitrate which sometimes get to be 5ppm.


Thanks.

Dan

Silurus wrote:Shrimp pellets, frozen krill, frozen shrimp, frozen bloodworms, the rare earthworm, c*****d sticks (in a pinch). All these back when I had one. They'll eat just about anything.

Now he's a little big for bloodworms and I can only afford offering the krill to a select few fish here, but he's definately a ravenous catfish pellet eater!

I throw him some hikari sicklid staple pellets now & again for some low-protein fare, but I was surprised to see him fairly disinterested in the cocktail shrimp chunks I threw in today. My guess is because it's been so long since he's eaten shellfish, it's become a bit alien to ole yeller. If I have to pull that out later, it's time for a live crayfish I say. I don't really like using live goldfish, but did those ever get him excited when I tried that..

Anyway nice bullheads folks, I know I'm long overdue for posting a pic of mine!

Fishlover14 wrote:What where You fishing with what bait and what size did you catch him at? How big is he now? Do you have any more photos of Him and your tank I just love seeing them! My BullHead has absolutely no Loss of appetite he just refuses certain foods, He is always hungry for Shrimp, Shrimp Pellets, and Large c*****d Pellets but dosent like Grubworms and Tubifex worms. My ph is 8.1 and we are on well water so it is nice and natural for him. Ammonio Nitrite and Nitrate are all at zero except Nitrate which sometimes get to be 5ppm.


Thanks.

Dan

I would say he was 5" when I caught him, on a hook with an earthworm. A food he still loves.

Fishlover14 wrote:What where You fishing with what bait and what size did you catch him at? How big is he now? Do you have any more photos of Him and your tank I just love seeing them! My BullHead has absolutely no Loss of appetite he just refuses certain foods, He is always hungry for Shrimp, Shrimp Pellets, and Large c*****d Pellets but dosent like Grubworms and Tubifex worms. My ph is 8.1 and we are on well water so it is nice and natural for him. Ammonio Nitrite and Nitrate are all at zero except Nitrate which sometimes get to be 5ppm.


Thanks.

Dan

I caught mine on a small piece of nightcrawler. I was fishing this little pool from a pond run off where there are a mess of small bream . I go there to catch the bream for flathead bait. I caught 2 and they were about the same length, 5". I heard those little bullheads make good bait for flatheads but i couldnt do it, so i put them in a tank.They like worms, nightcrawlers and those little worms that look like maggots you can get from the bait shop, freeze dried shrimp, shrimp pellets,freeze dried bloodworms. One is 12" long, the other is only about 9".

Neat Katfish Crazy! We have 3 ponds but they contain absoluetly No catfish at all of any type but tons of bass, and bream. They are kind of one the smaller side for a pond. How big were they when you caught them? What type of BullHead are they? What size tank are they in?

Thanks.

Dan