Sturgeon at Fish Story
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
The two beluga have been doing well so far. 3.5 feet and 3.5 years old.
I'd have expected them to be even bigger at that age considering they don't have a winter cooldown period.
I wonder if it's the heavy competition for food that's slowing them down.
What size would you expect?
1. Yes, there is for sure a great competition but they have their time to collect herring laying around while most others are busy with the pellets.
2. They could be too warm, which means stress.
3. The donor farmer didn't tell me anything about their prior history. I assume they probably were in a group that was underperforming and subject to culling. We got them in Apr 2020 at a bit under 2 years old at 2 or 2.5 feet. Their pectoral fins were curled up (got better but still are) from swimming circles by a wall in a round above ground pond since birth and they weren't fat.
1. Yes, there is for sure a great competition but they have their time to collect herring laying around while most others are busy with the pellets.
2. They could be too warm, which means stress.
3. The donor farmer didn't tell me anything about their prior history. I assume they probably were in a group that was underperforming and subject to culling. We got them in Apr 2020 at a bit under 2 years old at 2 or 2.5 feet. Their pectoral fins were curled up (got better but still are) from swimming circles by a wall in a round above ground pond since birth and they weren't fat.
I'm not sure which size I'd expect since I've never seen reliable info on their growth in tropical climates (albeit I'm led to believe they're being raised in Malaysia and Singapore now) however they grow at about the same rate around here where albeit they feed year round they do slow down considerably in winter.
Your other comments definitely make sense as to why they'd grow slower, though. I'd love to see some videos of them eating the herring, I've only ever seen sturgeon eat pellets which is quite unspectacular lol.
They feed on herring spectacularly 
They don't spit the herring out if they suck them in wrong way - tail first or sideways. Instead they rearrange the herring in their mouth by doing very violent moves. It can be found in some prior videos, e.g. video in post #11, 1:20-1:40 min.
They don't spit the herring out if they suck them in wrong way - tail first or sideways. Instead they rearrange the herring in their mouth by doing very violent moves. It can be found in some prior videos, e.g. video in post #11, 1:20-1:40 min.
What we need is to stop trying to keep fish that grow to ginormous sizes, there are sturgeons that only grow to a meter or less and do quite well in water in the mid 70's.
At 20-30 yo beluga sturgeon are only about 6ft-8ft in captivity and almost not growing anymore. May I continue keeping it?
If you are set up to keep such a large fish then please continue but we both know that the vast majority of hobbyists are not so equipped.