This is a short rendition of how we came to own our two Bullhead catfishes.



hey are: "The Fin Twins" (Fish One and Fish Two, from Dr. Suess) They were caught in a creek, by my husband and I, feeding the lake at Clark Park near Springfield, Ohio USA in September of 1999 (caught Fish Two about 2 weeks later) when they were a little less than an inch long. They now measure over a foot long each ( May 2002). I am not certain what species of bullhead they are.

They started out in a 5 1/2 gallon aquarium with some blunt nosed minnows (and two of them mysteriously disappeared), and moved to a 10 gallon within a few months. We tried putting them in a 29 gallon, but they hated it. They were scared, they smacked into the sides of the glass so much they had bruised mouths and broken blood vessels in their fins. It was awful. So we put them in a 30 gallon feeding tub, and they seem to like that. Fish One likes worms, Fish Two will not eat them. Its very strange. They will eat right out of our hands.

They developed ulcer-type lesions at the base of their dorsal fins earlier this year but they seem to be doing better now. The sore on Fish Two looks healed over, and Fish One looks normal.

Below are the fish from juveniles less than a year old to the present day three years later.

Photo Credits: Jeff & Dorrie Sacksteder.