New Pond Owners with a sturgeon (?) and 5 Koi

[MitchM]

Sturgeon have been known to reach 18 feet in length.
You might want to look into re-homing it as soon as you can.

 

[Dave 54]

Hi everyone. So glad I found this group! We are new pond owners and are not too confident in our Pond service guys. The pond they built us is gorgeous, about 900 gallons. They brought us some Koi and a fish that the guy called a sturgeon. He also said that they are bottom feeders and can live off the algea at the bottom of the pond, or eat the koi food. I have since learned from research that that isn't true. We have been buying shrimp from the grocery butcher in Albertsons, and cutting it up into little pieces. It has been a challenge to find any sturgeon food here in Southern California. We live in Temecula, CA. I'm not even 100% sure that he is a sturgeon, because in our search for sturgeon food, one of the places that my husband called up in Oregon was surprised that we had a sturgeon because they said they are illegal here in CA.View attachment 77291 I've included a picture of him, if anyone can identify him. I'd guess he's about 15-16" long. I've also included a couple pictures of our pond. Right now the water tempurature is about 50 degrees, and I wanted to heat it a little, though not sure if that's required. The koi are fairly small right now. I'm also very worried about the oxygen in the water and having enough for the sturgeon. We have a huge rain storm coming and I've heard that depletes the oxygen from the water, and sturgeon need a lot of oxygen. Is that true? We do have a small waterfall, as well another little water feature that looks like a jellyfish as the water falls back into the pond. How can I test the oxygen in the water, and what should it be? Also, is it ok for the koi to eat the same food as the sturgeon? We feed fresh raw shrimp and sinking shrimp pellets.

900 gallons US is smaller than our own pond and I wouldnt keep a sturgeon simply because they like cold water and do not do well in warmer water our pond can see temperatures of up to 25c (this years highest) and I live by the Coast in Plymouth in the UK which doesnt get anywhere near your highest temperature .
The koi will eat anything you put into the pond shrimp both raw and freeze dried are our koi's favorite foods next to pellets.
Koi are bottom feeders like sturgeon but they will take food at any level of the pond top middle or bottom sadly you may find your sturgeon cannot compete with the koi and will gradually starve to death (worst case senario).
We buy koi from a dealer who has a huge lake with an albino sturgeon living in its deoths , you can bring tins of dog food (its favorite meal) and it will come up and eat and believe me when I say this thing is big with a capitol B
Your next problem will be your koi they grow past the confines of their surroundings so your going to need an outlet for them or build a bigger pond .
My better half Val and I love growing our koi on to the 22" mark to sell on to others but with the recession people dont want to buy lucky for us we know another dealer who owns a lake where we show our koi in Cornwall.
This year we had to give him some koi for the lake for the first time ever simply because our collective Governments are tightening their belts so everyone is feeling the pinch.
Thankfully weve had our enjoyment with these koi and have brought them on so even though we took a hit and cant re-direct money from sales of these koi into more fish , food, equipment or koi/fish disease books.
You could say for the last 27 years weve had a hobby that was self perpetuating now sadly for the moment it isnt .

Dave

 

[Fishylove]

Beautiful fish. Hope u find out what type it is soon. And welcome!

 

[Dave 54]

Jonni,

Sturgeon species are mostly freshwater dwellers although a few venture into salty oceans or brackish water. They are recorded in fossil records to around 200 million years ago.

Two North American species are Endangered and illegal to posess (Shortnose and Pallid) all others may be Vulnerable, Near Threatened or of Least Concern status.

The non-threatened species are the Shovelnose, White, Green, Lake and Atlantic.

They are primarily bottom feeders, but their diet is not of algae by intention. They may consume it, but they are foraging for other food in the process. Most have a syphon-tube-like mouth extending beneath their "face" and suck up gravel and sand to scour it for prey. Worms, invertebrates, crustaceans and even fish are their dietary staples. Some species, including the Pallid and the White, will eat live fish and large ones have been found to have eaten whole adult salmon. Yes, some Sturgeon get REALLY BIG! Excerpt below:

"Sturgeon have been referred to as both the Leviathans and Methuselahs of freshwater fish. They are among the largest fish: some beluga (Huso huso) in the Caspian Sea reportedly attain over 5.5 m (18 ft) and 2000 kg[15] (4400 lb) while for kaluga (H. dauricus) in the Amur River, similar lengths and over 1000 kg (2200 lb) weights have been reported"

I caught a small (6 pound) Pallid Sturgeon using a 4 inch bluegill as bait. I measured the fish and took photos to send to the game and parks and then released that fish.

Gordy

Read your post with interest Gordy caught a documentary on the Kaluga sadly this majestic fish has taken a major hit from fishermen in Russia and is according to the documentary that unless they can stop the illegal fishing of them which is hard because even with patrols the fishermen can earn years wages by catching them so many go out to catch them even though it is banned they simply cannot rely on their Salmon catches to earn an honest wage .
The net result since the collapse of the Soviet Union they have all but disapeared , which when you think about it is so very sad.
Its due to Criminal gangs who keep fishing them by long line that they have been unable to thrive as they have taken virually all the Large Adult fish out , the net result being less small Kaluga to grow on to adult hood and breed .
I do believe however there is now a captive breeding program to try and reverse this but it may well be too little too late and this is all down to the market for Caviar



Dave