Id My Pike Cichlid

[Fella]

It's about 4" long at the moment, i think it's a male C. vittata. What's the general consensus? He's skinny at the moment though, and I'm trying to get him feeding on bloodworms.

 

[CAC]

Nice addition, what size tanks he/she going to go in eventually?

 

[Fella]

Nice addition, what size tanks he/she going to go in eventually?

That's going to depend a lot on the ID! I bought it as Crencichla "belly crawler" sp but I don't think that is the fish i have.

 

[paul_219]

Nice fish looks gr8.

 

[juanveldez]

have you been through the pictures on " mostly cichlids" its a site divoted to Pike cichlids, and it is the site that I go to when I need an ID on pikes.

 

[Fella]

have you been through the pictures on " mostly cichlids" its a site divoted to Pike cichlids, and it is the site that I go to when I need an ID on pikes.

yeah, i've been through it a few times. Someone has recommended to me that it is a skinny juvenile C. sveni. I knew pikes were varied, but I had no idea that they were this varied. males, females, juveniles, adults. There are so many different colours. it must be a real taxanomical nightmare.

 

[NottsFishy]

Whatever type it is it is a stunning looking fish any idea how big it will get ?

 

[CFC]

Certainly not a belly crawler or a sveni (check out old pictures of mine for C.saxatilis for pictures of my sveni before it was correctly ID'd) , i've had both and neither looks anything like that. C.sveni are members of the Saxatilis group and have characteristic white "spangles" all over the body which your fish doesnt have, bellycrawler are a very plain looking fish with no colour to the fins, they also have very poor swimming ability and stick to the substrate in an almost goby like fashion making short hops from spot to spot.

Judging by the body shape and long head i'd be more inclined to ID it as a juvinile of one of the Lugubris group of pikes that the Saxatilis or Reticulatus groups, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) these are the big boys of the pike world with all species growing to over a foot with ease.

 

[Fella]

Certainly not a belly crawler or a sveni (check out old pictures of mine for C.saxatilis for pictures of my sveni before it was correctly ID'd) , i've had both and neither looks anything like that. C.sveni are members of the Saxatilis group and have characteristic white "spangles" all over the body which your fish doesnt have, bellycrawler are a very plain looking fish with no colour to the fins, they also have very poor swimming ability and stick to the substrate in an almost goby like fashion making short hops from spot to spot.

Judging by the body shape and long head i'd be more inclined to ID it as a juvinile of one of the Lugubris group of pikes that the Saxatilis or Reticulatus groups, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) these are the big boys of the pike world with all species growing to over a foot with ease.

I'd be happy with that. I've got to get it to eat first, and at the moment, it's quite reluctant...

 

[CFC]

With new wild caught pikes you pretty much need to feed them live fish to start with and then ween them onto river shrimp and then frozen, the good news is they dont need masses of food so you can feed them one good sized meal twice a week. The prey fish should be something around the same size as the pikes head, a young platy or similar would probably be about the right size.

 

[Fella]

With new wild caught pikes you pretty much need to feed them live fish to start with and then ween them onto river shrimp and then frozen, the good news is they dont need masses of food so you can feed them one good sized meal twice a week. The prey fish should be something around the same size as the pikes head, a young platy or similar would probably be about the right size.

What do you think my chances would be with live bloodworm, live daphnia, tubifex, that kind of thing?

I'm not really up for using feeders to be honest, they really would be a last resort.

 

[CFC]

I think youd have more luck using the tail half of a whitebait dropped in front of the fishes head than getting it to eat worm type foods, pikes are pretty much pure piscavors which hunt by motion sensativity and are quite unlikely to eat anything that doesnt look like a fish or move in an interesting fashion.

 

[Fella]

and here he is a few weeks on.

Looking a bit better. He's in my 150g. I'm hoping he'll be ok in there for life.

 

[juanveldez]

yeah he should be fine in there. did you ever solve your feeding problem with him? I have found espically with my pikes that having them in a tank on their own and just adding floating pellets every day to give them the chance to eat that even with my wild caught cobra pike she was eating within a week.

 

[Fella]

I got lucky with frozen bloodworm. I've always been reluctant to use feeders and it seems I got away with it. She eats voraciously at feeding time.