Arofanatics Fish Talk Forums - Murray Cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) .. Anyone Keeping?

Is anyone keeping the freshwater Murray Cod?
Looks to be a damn cool Monster Fish to Keep!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e8...1245027662.jpg

More information about this fish in Aquarium Keeping.
http://www.nativefish.asn.au/cod.html

In the aquarium

Smaller examples make excellent and very impressive aquarium specimens. Juvenile hatchery bred Murray cod are readily available through the aquarium trade. Murray cod should be kept on their own as they are very territorial and aggressive to other fish, including their own species. Best fed on a mixed diet of live yabbies, shrimp (if available) and fish, although cod are easily trained to accept dead food. For anglers, a diet of skinned fillets of carp are an easy to obtain and cheap food. A standard 3 foot aquarium is satisfactory for a small cod, but make sure the space you use will accept a much larger tank. Popular tank sizes (in feet) for cod are 4x2x2 up to 6x2x2 or even 6x3x2, a six foot tank will last a fish for many years. Cod are very strong fish and the tank should be made from heavy glass and have a heavy cover as the fish can accidentally jump out if it makes a strike at an insect on the surface, or even a bubble!
Murray cod will do well in unheated aquarium indoors, but generally it is best to use a heater to put a floor under the temperature. When used this way the heater should be set to around 18°C at which temperature the fish will remain active and feeding all year round. Some enthusiasts will set the temperature up to around 24°C while the fish are young to encourage fast growth until the fish reaches a size of around 150-200 mm when it may conveniently be fed on live feeder fish. The heater is then gradually turned down to 18°C - if done in summer, this can be achieved without risk of chilling the fish since ambient temperatures are likely to be above 20°C anyway in most places.
Very small Murray cod, such as those newly purchased from an aquarium shop, sometimes appear to be very timid and will hide much of the time. Most fish will grow out of this, however you can assist the progress by providing plenty of cover for the fish, depending on fish size such things as small sections of PVC tube, broken terracotta flower pots and so on will help the fish become more confident. In particular many young Murray cod do not like to have a light coloured substrate and these fish will feel more secure if the substrate is darker, or if running in a bare tank, with a sheet of dark plastic under the tank.
Like for most Australian native fish, salt is a very useful agent for managing the health of captive Murray cod. A salinity of 0.5 to 1 gram per litre is a good general purpose tonic for maintenance and in times of illness or stress the salinity can be bumped up to 6-8 g/l. The salt acts to reduce stress and in particular osmotic stress in sick or injured fish, as well as helping control parasites such as white spot or Lernaea, which may be accidentally introduced with feeder fish. As an aid to reducing the likelihood of this sort of introduced infection, it is best if all live food is quarantined for at least a week, but if this is not possible, the food can be placed in a salt bath (a salt solution of around 10 g/l) for an hour or so prior to feeding it to the Murray cod. When using salt, it must not contain any additives like Iodine, copper salts (often used in swimming pool salt in tropical areas) or free flow agent (used in some cooking salt). Ideally use sea salt but if it is unavailable a good, inexpensive source is to buy swimming pool salt, just make a call to the manufacturer and ask if the particular brand available to you is suitable for aquaculture.
Water quality is important and pH should be maintained at neutral or slightly alkaline ideally at around 7.0-7.5, although a range of 7.0 to 8.0 is acceptable.:nbsp; Care should be taken to prevent the water becoming acidic and the use of granular Calcium Carbonate (do not use powder) or shell grit is recommended to act as a pH buffer. If running at an elevated temperature or if feeding heavily it is important to monitor ammonia levels and any trace of ammonia shown by a test kit should be treated as an emergency and a significant water change (at least 30%) should be undertaken immediately.
Murray cod make very rewarding aquarium fish and often become very attached to their owners. Many owners hand feed their fish and if kept in a location where there is a lot of activity they can become very interactive. A Murray cod of around 50 to 60 cm is certain to provoke comment from your visitors!