Sturgeon / Sterlet info - different types, names, etc.

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fwprawn

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2011
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New England
The guy who is looking for Sterlets in our marketplace got me thinking that Sterlets / Sturgeons would actually be a nice fit for my albino Wels as tankmates, since both are essentially coldwater fish, both get huge, and both have very calm, non-aggressive tendencies.

So - please tell me about the different types of sturgeons / sterlets - their growth rate, "typical" eventual size, how delicate they are (or aren't.) Do they need a constant source of food, or can they be fed every few days? High level of aeration/filtration?

We need a sticky / sub forum for these - either under coldwater fish, or "other monsters."

What are the sources for the different types - I no longer go to LFS, so I'm not going to be looking there.

Finally, can we please list all of the different common names used for each type, so we all know exactly which ones are which species.

Thanks!
 
I would avoid housing Sterlets with wels catfish when full grown but I don't see any problem to house larger species of sturgeon with the wels catfish. Unfortunately I would think that you will have some trouble to find a 2 foot long sturgeon to match your wels catfish size to avoid the predation.
 
Thanks for your input.

First - I started this thread to learn more, and to make an educated decision on whether I even want to do this, or not. (Hence the husbandry / requirement questions.)

Second - Unlike some of the members on here, I don't risk mixing fish if one may get eaten. I have many empty tanks at my disposal.
 
fwprawn said:
The guy who is looking for Sterlets in our marketplace got me thinking that Sterlets / Sturgeons would actually be a nice fit for my albino Wels as tankmates, since both are essentially coldwater fish, both get huge, and both have very calm, non-aggressive tendencies.

So - please tell me about the different types of sturgeons / sterlets - their growth rate, "typical" eventual size, how delicate they are (or aren't.) Do they need a constant source of food, or can they be fed every few days? High level of aeration/filtration?

We need a sticky / sub forum for these - either under coldwater fish, or "other monsters."

What are the sources for the different types - I no longer go to LFS, so I'm not going to be looking there.

Finally, can we please list all of the different common names used for each type, so we all know exactly which ones are which species.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I say they belong to ancient fish the most.
 
My advice for you is that you should focus on larger sturgeon species only and dismissed smaller sturgeon species.
 
The link Joao listed is the best english source of sturgeon knowledge.
I may type up a sticky next week, it angers me how many people here keep sturgeon in horrific circumstances.

As for Wels Cohab - Can work, but keep in mind that sturgeon are painfully slow feeders. In a relatively confined space, Wels will outcompete them.
 
Thanks for the link - it has some good info, and some bad. For example, it lists Paddlefish as one of them.

It's helpful to see which ones you might suggest I keep - but please remember that I haven't even decided if I want to do this. If you say I should avoid any one or the other, it would be helpful to know why. (In the sterlet case, I assume it's because they stay smaller.) I have no idea which of the others are smaller, or larger - except for the obvious ones - White, or Beluga. The others I have no idea about.
 
Chub - that would be awesome.

I didn't know they were very slow feeders - I don't think that's such a big deal, because I can fill up the Wels quickly with a slab of fish or something, and allow the sturgeon to feed at its own pace.

In addition - if any of you have kept any Sturgeon species, I'd love to hear your experiences - good and bad.
 
I kept a baby sterlet like 6 years ago. It definitely wasn't a slow eater but it was also a baby. Maybe they slow down when they get bigger. All I know is that it definitely died because I didn't do my research at the time. It was an impulse buy and I will never make that mistake again. I'd love to have a tank dedicated to them though soon.


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