What does a sturgeon eat?

What does a sturgeon eat? The sturgeon: a highly sought-after species

The sturgeon is a fish that has airs of resemblance to the shark. There are several species found in the northern hemisphere. All species are large in size and their skeletons are composed of bone. It is a very special fish because it does not have scales unlike the others. The sturgeon was previously present in almost all the rivers of Europe, but it has gradually disappeared, decimated mainly due to overfishing.

These fish are especially sought after for their delicious flesh and their eggs with which caviar is made. In their natural state, the sturgeon measures up to 6 meters and can weigh almost 400 kg. It has a very long lifespan, up to 100 years.

Moreover, the sturgeon is a fish that does not easily fall ill, it is very robust. Today, there are still a few sturgeons living in their natural state in France, particularly in the Gironde estuary. In the wild, it feeds on other fish that it hunts at the bottom of marine waters.

What does a sturgeon eat in captivity?

The diet of a sturgeon is to be adapted to its living environment. In a pond, it will hunt on its own and it will not need human intervention. He will be surrounded by wild fauna allowing him to feed, he will be content to choose what suits him at the bottom of the mud. It is in its natural state that it will have the best chance of becoming the biggest.

In a pond, the sturgeon will retain its natural instincts and tend to snoop around in the mud, but the choice will be more limited for it. It is in this case that it will have to be fed. There are many foods on the market that are suitable for the organism of sturgeons, mainly in the form of pellets. These are adapted to the needs of the fish, rich in protein and fat. Also, a sturgeon needs special food because its mouth is on its bottom.

Sturgeons under 20 cm should be fed every three hours or they will have difficulty surviving. It is indeed a fish that swims a lot and therefore needs a lot of protein and fat to grow. An automatic feeder will be particularly suitable for rearing sturgeons.

Aquifood Sturgeon foods are composed of a mixture of sinking granules containing numerous proteins and fats. They are also designed to be particularly digestible, which makes them a food of choice for sturgeons living in captivity. The principle of these granules is that they sink quickly to the bottom and have a very strong smell, which resembles that of food as it can be found in its natural state.

Feeding sturgeons that coexist with koi carp

In some ponds, sturgeons coexist with koi carp. In this case, it will be necessary to pay attention to the fact that the koi carp will be attracted by the food of the sturgeon and above all, that it will be faster to catch it! So that the young sturgeons do not starve, in this case it will be necessary to feed all the species of fish at the same time, but in two different places in the basin, so that each species is not tempted to steal the other and that they are distracted from each other.

Moreover, unlike koi carp, sturgeons feed even in cool weather, when the water temperature drops below 8°C. The pellets made to feed the sturgeons have a different composition than the pellets for koi carp. They are fattier in winter.

At this time of the year, when the carp cannot be distracted by their feeding, there are processes such as PVC pipes which allow the pellets to be sent directly to the bottom of the tank to prevent the food from being eaten by the other species present in the basin.

How to arrange the basin of a sturgeon?

A sturgeon will need room to grow. It must be taken into account that each of them will need at least 10 times its length at adult size and 1000 liters of water. Be careful, it is a fish that can grow enormously!

A pond must have a minimum depth of 1.20 meters and not be invaded by plants. Indeed, the sturgeon does not know how to swim backwards and in a pool containing filamentous algae, it can quickly be blocked and drown. On the bottom, it will be necessary to deposit a layer of mud without gravel nor sand since it does not like this structure.

The sturgeon in its natural state lives at the bottom of lakes and rivers, in cold water with current, therefore very rich in oxygen. It is not equipped to pump water with its gills. Just like the shark, it will constantly swim to breathe enough oxygen. It is for this reason that it is essential to have sufficient filtration to ensure good aeration and enough space in the pond.

The sturgeon is not a cleaner fish, on the contrary. He is constantly throwing off waste from the food he consumes. Its mouth located on the underside obliges it to search the bottom of the basin to find food there. It therefore constantly stirs the waste from the mud. This is why the bottom of the pool must be kept clean. Accumulation of waste can cause gas formation and kill fish.

The sturgeon, a robust species but which requires vigilance in captivity
Raising sturgeons in captivity will require some vigilance. The food that will be distributed to them must be of high quality, rich in protein and runny so that they can easily grab hold of it.

Cohabitation with other species should also be considered so that each species can feed without difficulty. Finally, the pond must be large enough and cleaned very regularly, as sturgeons are very sensitive to waste stagnating in the mud at the bottom of the pond.