Live Bearing Pike?

[Tiger Tiger]

I believe there is a live bearing Pike. It gets to about 8 inches. Its verocious but if kept on its own with big fish is OK.

Does anyone own or no much about these slim line beauties.?

 

[helterskelter]

Google Images

I've kept and breed these about 10-12 years ago and their a stunning fish.

I personally would not keep them with anything else as i would not want the to be disturbed, their a shy fish, wanting to sit in weed and hunt small fish all day.

The female is a big fish getting to 8" is easy and if their well feed they will get to 12" and their teeth are amazing!!!!

Håvard Støre Andresen
www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk


Their easy to sex as the next picture here will show, just like guppies

Håvard Støre Andresen
www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk


She will if not feed easily eat the male as well, so breeding is not always easy with these fish, how ever when a females gives birth she will drop 50+ fry and I've had over 100 at times.

How ever raising the fry are more difficult the feeding the parents they will only feed on live foods, so u need a good supply of small live foods like baby guppies, blood worm at first, but the do grow fast, I've gotten fish to mature at 3 months old and if their fully grown by 5-6 months, only if well feed.

I only know of 2 pair of Pike in the UK one in Southampton and another in Bristol. When their are fry you will be able to get them easily, but getting adult fish you'll be looking at an expensive fish if it UK breed, some importers bring them in, but they don't feed them to save money and £15-20 a fish is the average cost.

Hopefully their may be other peeps here with them, if there is I'll be interested as well to see them.

 

[Tiger Tiger]

Google Images

I've kept and breed these about 10-12 years ago and their a stunning fish.

I personally would not keep them with anything else as i would not want the to be disturbed, their a shy fish, wanting to sit in weed and hunt small fish all day.

The female is a big fish getting to 8" is easy and if their well feed they will get to 12" and their teeth are amazing!!!!

Håvard Støre Andresen
www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk


Their easy to sex as the next picture here will show, just like guppies

Håvard Støre Andresen
www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk


She will if not feed easily eat the male as well, so breeding is not always easy with these fish, how ever when a females gives birth she will drop 50+ fry and I've had over 100 at times.

How ever raising the fry are more difficult the feeding the parents they will only feed on live foods, so u need a good supply of small live foods like baby guppies, blood worm at first, but the do grow fast, I've gotten fish to mature at 3 months old and if their fully grown by 5-6 months, only if well feed.

I only know of 2 pair of Pike in the UK one in Southampton and another in Bristol. When their are fry you will be able to get them easily, but getting adult fish you'll be looking at an expensive fish if it UK breed, some importers bring them in, but they don't feed them to save money and £15-20 a fish is the average cost.

Hopefully their may be other peeps here with them, if there is I'll be interested as well to see them.

MMMMM!.....Stunning indeed but i fear for both my small Spotted Cats and one. If he (the pike) gets hold of it they are both in Fish Heaven. I think i will leave it for the time being.
But thanks for the info , it makes great reading and they are still stunning fish

 

[GuppyDude]

Scariest livbearer iv ever seen. Looks like they could take adult guppys as well.

 

[helterskelter]

they will happily eat several guppies a day!!!

 

[Fella]

I was reading up on these fish only last night. Is it true the female won't consume the young?

 

[helterskelter]

Thats true their urge to feed is switched off for 48 hours oe so while giving birth.

After that period they will eat their own fry

 

[nmonks]

I was reading up on these fish only last night. Is it true the female won't consume the young?

I wouldn't bank on it. John Dawes says of such reports that they "should be treated with caution" and I'm inclined to agree!

Scariest livbearer iv ever seen. Looks like they could take adult guppys as well.

Adult guppies and similar sized fishes are their staple diet! Large (up to 20 cm) females can eat adult male pike livebearers (a mere 12 cm or so) and can polish off a molly or swordtail with equal ease. Pike livebearers are not quite the scariest livebearers though... check out the great white shark! That's a livebearer!

The Maidenhead Aquatics in St. Albans had these fish in stock the last time I was up there. Around £5 each, if I recall correctly. They were babies though, still had the dark bands along the body.

Cheers, Neale

 

[helterskelter]

I was reading up on these fish only last night. Is it true the female won't consume the young?

I wouldn't bank on it. John Dawes says of such reports that they "should be treated with caution" and I'm inclined to agree!

The female will not eat her young, course the male may.
I've had 2-300 babies from these and know other breeders who say the same

The Maidenhead Aquatics in St. Albans had these fish in stock the last time I was up there. Around £5 each, if I recall correctly. They were babies though, still had the dark bands along the body.

Cheers, Neale

£5 thats a bargin if u can afford to rear them.
small fish have to be reared on live fish to do well, some will take frozen fish or shrimp, but they never do well on them.

Also it's a common problem of the female eating the male's!!1
This is why u rarely se a male infrount of a female they alway sit behind them.

 

[blue_betta]

what age would the young have to be split up?

 

[jayjay]

Does the person in Bristol breed them and sell them on? I've been looking out for a while for these, just never found them.

 

[helterskelter]

blue_betta: Well that difficult as they will eat their brothers and sisters from a moth old, any larger fish will eat something that fit's in their mouth.
But females will course grow quicker and get much larger if they have unlimited amounts of food.

What i did was rear several fish in pairs and then any more fry was feed them as i did not have the space to rear all they fry i got from just the one female.

Jayjay: I spoke to him last week and he's lost his female and only has a male. I don't know if it'sfor sale