The Spoonbill fish or American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is a species of basal ray-finned fish closely related to sturgeons in the order Acipenseriformes. Fossil records of paddlefish date back over 300 million years, nearly 50 million years before dinosaurs first appeared. Spoonbill fish are smooth-skinned freshwater fish commonly called paddlefish but are also referred to as Mississippi paddlefish, spoon-billed cats, or spoonbills also known as “spoonbill” because of its duckbill-like snout. They are one of only two extant species in the paddlefish family, Polyodontidae.
There were two species of paddlefish, the American and the Chinese. No Chinese paddlefish (which grew much larger than the American species) have been seen for several years now and the species is sadly almost certainly extinct. The cause of its demise is probably water pollution and the dams on the Yangtze, the only place it lived. Their body size for adults is 1,100-1,600 mm total length and can live in 30 years.
Minimum Tank Size: 300 gallons
Care Level: Difficult
Temperament: Peaceful
Water Conditions: 22-27°C or 72-80° F , pH 6.0-7.5
Diet :
• Swim with their mouths open to strain water through their gill rakers to feed on plankton
• Insects, plankton, bryozoans, sand, and detritus have been found in their stomachs
• Juveniles have large teeth and eat microcrustaceans, insect larvae, and small fish
Water should be used to raise water without chlorine it and overseeing the PH so. In your Tank should organize clearly, because many times the fish swim to track the timber and then leave not a normal, if fish stop swimming, they will die.
Paddlefish eggs are commercially available for at least a century, even though traditionally they have been shunned by connoisseurs. Favor moved to beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. Their glistening eggs, known as pearls, are bigger and firmer, with a sumptuous”soda” of taste when pressed between the tongue and roof of their mouth. The Spoonbill fish A fine yet less expensive alternative to sturgeon caviar.
