Sturgeon !

[Zincubus]

Jees - my local fish shop is selling STURGEON at £10 each - I read somewhere that they can reach 10 foot and love over 200 years !!

 

[nmonks]

First of all, it should be made clear than in the UK if you want to sell any sturgeon, you need a DEFRA license to do so. If this shop is selling them without a license, then they're breaking the law.

Secondly, there's no point whatsoever selling these fish. They're utterly useless as aquarium or pond fish. Even the smallest species, the sterlet Acipenser ruthenus, gets to around a metre in length. This is the one of the two species mostly seen in shops. It lives for only about 20 years, rather than 200 years, but given its size and benthic habits, it can't be easily kept in an aquarium. It needs cold, well-filtered, oxygen-rich water as well. For example, you need to keep the water temperature below 15 C, and water quality must be consistently excellent.

The other sturgeon sometimes seen in shops is the "bester", a hybrid created by crossing Acipenser ruthenus with Huso huso. It's faster growing than the sterlet, which is why it's used on fish farms. It also seems to tolerate warmer water, and this may be one reason it can be grown more quickly on farms. As with most food fish, it's really too big to keep in aquaria, getting to well over a metre in length, though it otherwise no more difficult to maintain than the sterlet.

The giant sturgeons don't get traded. Many are endangered species, often also being found in places where ornamental collection doesn't take place.

Cheers, Neale

Jees - my local fish shop is selling STURGEON at £10 each - I read somewhere that they can reach 10 foot and love over 200 years !!

 

[Ficious]

very informative reply. they sure are neat fish though. i caught one before and here in the states, if you keep it, you go to jail for a felony(1.5 years+)