Setting Up A Tank For A Native

[Rob Jacobs]

Hi there, this is my first post.

I am looking at setting up my first tank and would like any info that would help me in making the right choose.

I am a mad MURRAY COD fisherman (catch and release only) and would love to set up a tank to house one of this marvelous fish. So if there is anyone out there that could help it would be much appreciated. I only have the room for a tank of 3ft long, the depth & height are not a problem.

Thanks

Rob.

[Jools]

G'Day Rob

A man after my own heart, welcome to TFT :)

I also love natives and ive got a couple of Cod in tanks at the moment.
One fish which i got at 12cm from my LFS in December 2005 is now 45cm and lives in a 6ftx20"x20", it wont be long before he outgrows this tank!!
Another i have is about 20cm and lives in a 4ftx18"x18".

So basically a few words of warning with Cod, they grow big and they grow fast!

With Murray Cod because they grow so quickly you will need a big tank to keep them for any length of time. A 3 footer if 2 foot wide would be fine for a fish up to around 50cm but at that size it would be cramped. Fortunately Cod are not overly active so dont need alot of swimming room, they do like lots of cover though.

If you want to keep it for a few years then dont heat the water and dont overfeed it, if you heat the water and feed it everyday it will outgrow the tank in no time. A couple of times a week with a few pellets, a yabby or feeder goldfish etc is more than enough.

At a smallish size Cod are fairly shy and will hide in their tank. In my experience once they get up to around 20cm and get comfortable with you feeding them they will become quite attentive and active at feeding times. As they get bigger and hungrier some of them will follow you around in their tank non-stop wanting to be fed all the time..
They make great mates when they are bigger fish...but you will need a bigger tank!!
good luck
Jools

[Sloory]

G'day Rob and welcome!

I too love to catch and release cod! they are my favourite fish to catch!

I'm living in shepparton at the moment and get to catch them quite a bit, but in a little over a week i'm moving to melb and will miss be able to go fishing for them when ever i want :( .

I'm very tempted to keep a cod at home so keep us posted on how you go.

[Rob Jacobs]

Thanks Jools for the info I'll keep you up to date on how i go.

Sloory, I have been speaking to a few people that keep COD and do a bit of fishing, and they recken that you can learn heaps by just watching them when they feed. It teach you heaps about how they strike a spinner bait and lure. I'm hoping i can pick up a few hints just by sitting back with a can and watching.

Cheers

Rob :biggrin:

[Sloory]

G'day Rob,
Hey thats a good idea! i've become convince that i should get one (you know, to take a piece of home with me :p ).
also the fact that i've suddenly got a spare 4ft to grow one out in helped too :) .

I was tiling a house balcony on thursday right on mulwala, so naturally i had the rod with a bell attached in.
Unfortunatly i just caught my first carp in years :angry: 60cm ugly thing! i was going to well without them too. maybe i've been lucky or they're declining in numbers.

[wombat1100]

I'm living in shepparton at the moment and get to catch them quite a bit, but in a little over a week i'm moving to melb and will miss be able to go fishing for them when ever i want :( .[/b]


Hey Sloory , what part of Melbourne are you moving too? Maybe we can catch up for a days fishing and a chinwag about fishkeeping when you are settled? :biggrin:
Dazz

[wombat1100]

I have heard that Cod are tolerant of bad water conditions, what Ph hardness etc are you guys that keep Cod keeping you water at?
Daz

[Rob Jacobs]

I have heard that Cod are tolerant of bad water conditions, what Ph hardness etc are you guys that keep Cod keeping you water at?
Daz[/b]


Thats a good question Daz, I was going to ask that my self,as i have only just got my tank and want to make sure the Ph is right before i put my Cod in there. how ever i have a mate that has a Cod out in his back yard pond and its been there for about 4 months and is still going strong. So i guess the water in there must be OK.
Dose any one have any idea what the the Ph should be?

[wombat1100]

Rob , I'm sure that all water perameters must be kept to a certain level,not just the ph ,but the hardness aswell,also ammonia and nitrite levels should be kept under control,My question is , is it true that cod dont need these perameters adhered to?They are still fish!
Dazz

[Sloory]

Hey Sloory , what part of Melbourne are you moving too? Maybe we can catch up for a days fishing and a chinwag about fishkeeping when you are settled? :biggrin:
Dazz[/b]

G'day mate, just got the internet hooked up on my new place. i'm still in the middle of moving stuff but that fishin trip sounds good. i'll have to catch up with ya once i'm settled in eh. :biggrin:

[Jools]

Hi Guys
regarding your questions about ph for Cod and other water parameters.
Cod prefer a ph around neutral ( 7) but can and will tolerate ph levels from 6 to 9. Obviously the further you get to the extremes the more likely they will be stressed and end up getting crook. As for other things like all fish cod dont like ammonia or nitrite so its wise not to let these things get out of control. Although Cod can be pretty tough as people say they can also be big sooks and if things arent right they often sulk. Also Cod like things to be stable so try to avoid swinging ph levels or temperature as they will soon get a bug, they are pretty susceptible to parasites if water quality is poor.
Good luck
Jules

[wombat1100]

Hi Guys
regarding your questions about ph for Cod and other water parameters.
Cod prefer a ph around neutral ( 7) but can and will tolerate ph levels from 6 to 9. Obviously the further you get to the extremes the more likely they will be stressed and end up getting crook. As for other things like all fish cod dont like ammonia or nitrite so its wise not to let these things get out of control. Although Cod can be pretty tough as people say they can also be big sooks and if things arent right they often sulk. Also Cod like things to be stable so try to avoid swinging ph levels or temperature as they will soon get a bug, they are pretty susceptible to parasites if water quality is poor.
Good luck
Jules[/b]


Thanks for that Jooles, what sort of hardness should be run for cod? I'm assuming with all the clay based rivers that they naturally live in that a high hardness is in order? 200+ppm?
dazz

[Sloory]

would be interesting to check the parameters on the murray river.

[wombat1100]

Hey Sloory , I have always wanted to do a test on the Murray River but figured that it would depend on what section of the river you tested due to the different types of soil etc .
so I would assume the parameters would change from spot to spot? :unsure:
Dazz

[Sloory]

Hmm maybe, i would say that they would all be suitable for cod.

[Dodge]

Hey guys! Just thought I'd say a quick G'Day. I'm from Melbourne, a keen freshwater fisherman and have just set up a 3ft tank with a 10cm Murray Cod which I called Dodge (he was a bit dodgy when I got him). Your posts have been helpful to me already and look forward to chatting to you guys more!

[Sloory]

G'day Dodge welcome to the forum! :biggrin:

Great to see we're getting alot of freshwater fisho's logging on too!

Hmm i might start a thread in off topic for fishin talk eh.

[Dodge]

Sounds like a good idea Sloory! I'll be there for sure! As a keen freshwater fisherman myself, and coming from Albury, I must say i'm very dissappointed with fishing down here! As it is it takes you at around an hour to get anywhere half decent and even then the fishing is hopeless! Whats up with that? I can understand the last few moinths with the levels being so low and the temperature being too high but its been the seen the last few years! Anyone got some good spots they wanna take me to? LOL Talk to ya's soon guys!

[Sloory]

G'day Dodge, The Fws thread has been started, come join the convo eh! :biggrin:

Freshwater Fishing Thread (http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=2887&st=0&gopid=37777&#entry37777)

[Jools]

G'Day Dodge
Welcome to theFISHtank, and congrats on your Cod purchase i hope he gives you many years of mateship :)

Im into natives, got a couple of Cod at the moment ive had for a few years so if you have any questions just fire away.

Cheers
Jules

[Jools]

Thanks for that Jooles, what sort of hardness should be run for cod? I'm assuming with all the clay based rivers that they naturally live in that a high hardness is in order? 200+ppm?
dazz[/b]

Hiya Dazz
sorry for not getting a reply back to your question earlier, i guess there is no real optimal hardness level for Cod as they live in quite a variety of different water qualities. The benefit of hardness is its PH buffering and stabilising effects on PH. There has been talk of hole in the head syndrome in Murray Cod held in very hard bore water, i actually use some bore water on my property which is very hard at around 300ppm with a ph of around 8 - 8.2, ive kept Cod in this for many years with no ill effects. I've also seen Cod in a fish farm with bugger all hardness in the water and a PH of 6.4 that seemed to be going OK. So i guess it doesnt really matter for Cod, they are tough, but from experience, they dont like constantly changing water parameters so a bit of hardness to stabilise your PH is a good thing.
Cheers, hope this helps..
Jules

[Sloory]

Has anyone here ever had a go at breeding cod?

How do you sex them?

[Marc]

Jools will have plenty to say on that one Sloory. You should see his setup! :)

[Jools]

Has anyone here ever had a go at breeding cod?

How do you sex them?[/b]

Murray Cod have no distinguishing physical features that enable you to sex them visually. During the breeding season Sept-Dec depending on location you will find females have distented vents when mature and swollen abdomens indicating eggs in the ovaries, obviously males dont show this, but, if gently massaged around the vent should run some milt evidencing a male. I um un-aware of any other methods other than these and as such you cannot sex a Murray Cod until it is sexually mature at around 4-5 years of age!!!!!!
I have studied breeding Murray Cod and Trout Cod and im involved in breeding other native species such as Silver Perch, Golden Perch, and most recently Macquarie Perch with NativeFish Australia.
I hope to breed Cod myself in the not too distant future, depending on the availability of broodstock.
Cheers
Jules

[Sloory]

Murray Cod have no distinguishing physical features that enable you to sex them visually. During the breeding season Sept-Dec depending on location you will find females have distented vents when mature and swollen abdomens indicating eggs in the ovaries, obviously males dont show this, but, if gently massaged around the vent should run some milt evidencing a male. I um un-aware of any other methods other than these and as such you cannot sex a Murray Cod until it is sexually mature at around 4-5 years of age!!!!!!
I have studied breeding Murray Cod and Trout Cod and im involved in breeding other native species such as Silver Perch, Golden Perch, and most recently Macquarie Perch with NativeFish Australia.
I hope to breed Cod myself in the not too distant future, depending on the availability of broodstock.
Cheers
Jules[/b]

Wow i would have loved to have been involved in that when i lived up that way!
Is that your day job?

How did you get involved in that kind of work?

[Marc]

Darren, get yourself involved with http://www.nativefish.asn.au/ and you'll find out a lot more about it all and have the opportunity to be involved.

I'll have to come along myself to one of the meetings with you Jools in the next few weeks.

[Sloory]

Thanks marc i'll be sure to check it out!

[Jools]

Darren
I've been fishing for natives ( thanks to the old man ) since i could walk :)

This passion for fishing led to a scientific interest in fish ecology and how they reproduce and live etc etc
I have studied aquaculture part time at NMIT Epping to learn about water quality and farming of fish for commercial purposes, this included topics such as fish health and handling, water quality, various fish keeping equipment and their purpose as well as a specific hatchery course for Native Aussie Fish. Armed with this wealth of knowledge, especially the hatchery course as it was all hands on run by an actual private hatchery manager, i joined Native Fish Australia to put into practice what i had learnt and make a contribution back to the angling community through an interesting scientific avenue!!
NFA have a little hatchery at La Trobe uni, in the past we have bred the endangered Trout Cod and at the moment we are trialling a variety of artificial breeding techniques for large scale propagation of Macquarie Perch so that we can restore native stocks of this fish to its former glory :)

I can only thank the blokes at NFA for all the extra knowledge i have picked up about natives and other fish such as Cichlids too, there are some very experienced fish keepers amongst the membership at NFA.

We are always looking for more members and have a regular monthly meeting on the first wednesday of each month at La Trobe. If you would like to come along for a look just let me know and ill give you all the details, this goes for anyone who's interested, the more the better :)

PS we also have a hatchery working Bee on next Saturday 23rd June from 10am at the hatchery, pop on down for a chat if your keen....

Cheers
Jules

[Sloory]

Thanks jools i'd be interested in that! :)

[aquariumleasing]

According to Dr Axelrod's Atlas, Murray cod (Maccullochella Peeli in case you want to do more research) water parameters are: Ph=7; Hardness=8dH (176ppm?); Temp=23; Lenghth=2m; Smallest aquarium = 1000 litres (yes 1000)

...John

[Marc]

The 1000L bit doesn't suprise me. Anything smaller and they'll surely be stunted in a short time I imagine.

[turkilurki]

Hey gang, this has gotta be the most helpful site on the net for cod tanks. A keen fisherman myself I have a tank 6ft X 2ft X 2ft and was wondering is it too small for a couple of cod? I can only assume that they would eventually get to the size\age where the will rumble, now i would love to hear from someone who could tell me if\when they fight, if it would be all over straight away or would i have some time to remove one and release it into a local dam? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks Josh.

[Jools]

Hi Josh

A 6x2x2 is a good sized tank for a Murray Cod up to about 50cm in size. As for two Cod well they may be fine for a while as littlies but eventually it will end in tears :(

Its interesting that Cod in big numbers (high densities) will tolerate each other as they dont know who to blu with next but when you have two they will be at each other constantly until one is eventually eaten, chased out of the tank, or bitten beyond repair.

If you put enough decent snags and hidy holes in your tanks they should be able to avoid each other for a while, but, eventually one will grow a bit bigger than the other and then its all over.

I'd recomend getting a tandanus catfish to go with your Cod, the catties have spikes that the Cod dont like so they generally leave each other alone.

Be careful that you dont heat your tank, its not really nessescary for Cod, mine will eat in 8 degree water, and they tend to grow too fast when the water is heated. I have an almost 3 year old cod that is a guts and almost 50cm already, his tank was heated for the first year until i realised if i didnt pull him up he would outgrow his tank :biggrin:
Good luck, and any questions just sing out
Jools

[turkilurki]

Hey thanks for the help pal, and thats interesting about the heating because a lot of people have told me that a cod will need it when they are small.