Sticklebacks

[webbedfeet]

Hi all. ive been fishkeeping for many years but have just decided to keep a 2ft aquarium with a few Sticklebacks, ive always been a fan of these cocky little fish since i was a kid.I hope to breed them so im planning on a natural decor with maybe 2 males and about 4-6 females (im hoping 2ft will give the males enough room to not hassle each other too much.The thing is ...should i include any filter system in the tank or just rely on little and often water changes, the readon being i want to use tiny gravel or sand for the strata and dont want too much disturbance by the filter but i want to keep the water quality correct.As i say above there will be 10-12 fish max so im thinking there wont be a huge ammount of change to the water quality....any advice is welcome,,PS if and when i get any growing fry i plan to move them to a half barrel outside for growing and then to my pond, i know they carry parasites but would my goldfish and carp be ok as they are well grown and im sure by now these same parasites have found there way into my pond its about 20 years old.Would a course of treatments help for the fry/young before introducing to the pond help any.

 

[ColR1948]

Hi, what country are you in, I've never seen Sticklebacks for sale here in the UK, if you are in the UK is there somewhere you can buy them or are you planning on the local brook or stream to catch them yourself?

 

[webbedfeet]

I live in England and i can get them from a canal close by.

 

[ColR1948]

I know very little about them to be honest but I am interested, I read there are 3 & 9 spined plus according to wikipedia there are 16 species.

Do you know if you can put them with other coldwater fish or not, I have a 2 x coldwater tanks as well as a tropical?

 

[DrunkenMunky]

Hi There,
don't know a terribly great deal about sticklebacks but it has peaked my interest. i'm not sure if you can get prosecuted for taking them out of the wild but i think you may get in trouble for reintroducing them as you could introduce diseases etc((radio 1 lol)wonder if anyone got that). anyway would like to add there are several people around that may be able to give you some rather than facing the possibility of getting in trouble by taking from the wild i did see several people giving them away on another forum several years ago.
thanks

 

[ColR1948]

I googled and found a fair bit of information on them, I got mixed reports, some loved them some were sorry they ever started with them.
As for mixing with other fish I read they can be aggressive so I will give them a miss I think, I did see an advert of a place selling them in the UK so if you do a Google search you should see it, that are not wild caught but tank bread.

 

[creeker]

I used to catch the Three-spined variety in a creek near my house as a kid. I kept some in a community tank, but they were very hard on their tankmates. I ended up putting them back within a week. The breeding males are really quite attractive.

 

[webbedfeet]

I managed to get some three spined, i have a 2 ft tank with 8 and they are great to watch.They scrap with each other all the time but never actually get hurt as the tank is well planted and has ample hiding spots,Watching them looking for food on the "ground" is fascinating, they stay head down looking for morsels to eat but anything thats moving in the water gets investigated straight away from all directions.I am hoping that they mature quickly and i can get them to breed as id love to witness that.I have been a fan of these fish since i was a kid but seeing them in an aquarium gives them a different dimension.Living in the UK our weather works well for their breeding cycle as even indoors the subtle temperature changes should trigger them breeding when they are mature enough.

 

[ColR1948]

Sounds great, try and post a pic if you can.

 

[cliffy]

Know nothing about keeping them but there is a garden centre local to me that sells them from time to time.