my murray cod

[missfish]

359

Hey this is my Murray cod, hes about 45cm now but in his new tank i'm hoping he'll get to about 60? The only problem is keeping food up to him, now its winter the yabbies are hiding, and gold fish are expensive. What do you guys feed your top predators over winter?

[Marc]

Hi missfish, I hope the tank you have him in is big enough. It should as a minimum be 1.5 times his size in width giving him ample room to turn around in.

Also, try training him onto pellets. There's plenty of pellets available for native fish. He won't take to them straight away, and remember Murray Cod can go prolonged periods of time without eating (like in the wild). It will take some perserverence dropping a few pellets at a time in per week alternating with some live fish as well.

Good luck :)

[Woodsy]

Alternatively you could try crickets or meal worms from your local reptile supplier. Meal worms are so easy to culture yourself, and the first batch can last you for years and years. If you don't have a local reptile store, try find someone who breeds birds. Maybe they'll help get you started ;)

[ekstap]

nice fish mate, if can have cast nets in your state try cast net some bait fish

[missfish]

Murray now resides in a 6foot by 2foot 650L tank.
In the summer we catch gambusia (mozzie fish) for him but they get hard to come by in the winter up here. (Armidale). I want to try spinning up some red fin for him, but am worried about the spines they have when he swallows them. Although little yellows they would eat in the wild have them, so maybe he can handle it.
The only native pellets i can find here are tiny. I don't think he would ever eat them. We brought pellets to feed the trout at the local trout hatchery and saved some for him but he just ignores them so i have to scoop them out. would these be okay to try and wean him on?
I used to feed him meal worms but was told that they can cause him to block up. so i stopped. I don't now if he'd even look at them now. What do you guys reckon?
Thanks heaps for you suggestions!

[Marc]

I know I've seen native pellets on eBay previously.

Perhaps speak to Jules .... he's our resident native man :)

I'll link him to this thread.

[Marc]

BTW - don't get caught catching or transporting Mosquito fish ... illegal!

[Jools]

Hello missfish,

thats a beautiful looking goodoo you have there, looks in great nick and awesome colouration too. :D
During the winter months i also have some difficulty in sourcing feed for my Cod, i will often go yabbying towards the end of the warmer months and bring home a good couple of hundred which i keep in an old bath tub with bucket filters through the winter and only feed them twice a week to make sure my supply lasts. This year i missed the opportunity to do this so ive actually been buying whitebait fresh from the Vic market and feeding him that. I usually get the whitebait and lay it flat on an oven tray on freezerbags then build up layers so that i can freeze it and then only take one layer out a week so i dont have to defrost it all. My Cod loves the whitebait and takes it straight out of my hand.
As far as pellets go, as mine were purchased from an indoor fishfarm they were bought up on pellets so they will also take a good 5-10mm pellet if i dont have anything else for them. If your Cod is already 45cm and hasnt eaten pellets before you will have probs weaning them, this is best done when they are fingerlings and best if you have quite a number of them as they will compete and learn off the others around them, all it takes is one to start eating pellets and all the rest will follow.
If you can get some small reddies say abt 6-8 inches your cod wont have any probs digesting these as it is normal for them to eat fish and they all have spikes :) You will notice the Cod will hit and eat a fin-fish headfirst so as the fin spines dont get stuck when they are digesting them.
Hope this helps
all the best
Jools

[missfish]

BTW - don't get caught catching or transporting Mosquito fish ... illegal!

Yeah, I know its not right but I figure that i'm helping rid the creek of them, and its abit of payback for the native fishes. I heard that the mosquito fish fin nip the native fingerlings and outcompete them for food, so seeing the cod snap them up is just karma. And there is no getting away once they are in the tank!

Yeah I thought of storing the yabs over winter but of course got to it to late, the trap keeps coming up empty!.
Are the whitebait whole? Or could you use a lump of fish, like carp fillets? Is marine flesh okay for them to eat?

[Jools]

missfish

carp fillets are a great food source, we have fed frozen carp cubes to many fish in the past.
Never had any problems with the whitebait but it is never the only feed i give them, I usually alternate it with the pellets and yes they are whole but are only skinny and abt 2-3 inches long, so a good snack size :)

Also, be really careful with the mosquito fish, they carry nasty diseases and parasites that are not good for your Cod, make sure they are quarrantined in a 10-15 ppt salt concerntration for at least a week before you feed them, or one day you will have a very sick Cod.

Jools

[missfish]

Thanks heaps for all help, I might have to go cast a few flys at some crap this weekend. That is if they are still in the shallows.

Thanks

Missfish

[Stimpy46]

Hey Missfish

Try your local fishing shop that sells bait. They might have some yabbies or shrimp.

Cheers

Brad