Known as small-fish predator, a bullhead catfish likes to enjoy its own company or swim with large sunfish, cyprinids, and perch. It is also a territorial and bottom-feeding fish that remains active during night time.
Bullheads are saviors for fishermen while they catch fish. It is an excellent bait for larger catfish, flatheads, and other game fish.
What Fish To Put In With Bullheads Catfish?
- Sunfish
- Tetras
- Danios
- Corydoras
- Other Species
Features of Bullhead Catfish
If you want to house Bullhead with other fish, note that:
Compatible
Bullheads are friendly with Larger Cichlids, Crappie, and Bass.
Not Compatible
Bullheads are not compatible with Walleye, Northern Pike, Flathead Catfish, Turtles, Great Blue Herons, and Otters.
Food
These fish eat small bullheads that grow up to four inches long. Other preys include carp and crayfish.
Being bottom feeders, they like to devour snails, aquatic insects, and plants.
Habitat
Bullheads are found in great lakes, ponds, streams, deep pools, and slow-moving rivers. This fish species is a freshwater native that enjoys cold waters but hibernates in winter months.
Physical Attributes
The most distinguishing characteristic of bullheads is the mottled coloration and 21 to 24 anal fin rays. Bullheads are armed with sharp spines at the leading edges of their dorsal and pectoral fins.
Chin Barbels
Their chin barbels are generally grayish, different from black bullheads, which have all-black chin barbels, and yellow bullheads, which have whitish ones.
Coloration
The coloration of black bullheads is solid-black, dark brown, yellowish or olive across their sides, with a lighter belly.
Weight
The current IGFA record is 8 pounds 2 ounces, but most large specimens weigh less than 4 pounds.
Parameters for Bullhead Care
Bullheads are omnivores, meaning they eat insect larvae, fish, crayfish, and snails. They also have an appetite for minnows, shrimp, and chicken liver. If you want to catch them, hook-angle worms and nightcrawlers.
Belong to the family of catfish, bullheads can tolerate low oxygen and poor conditions in the wild and in captivity.
My bullheads have always been active. They are not dormant like bass or pike.
How I Keep My Bullheads?
As an angler, I prefer catching fish rather than going to the fishery.
I once caught abundant brown bullheads from a muddy lake. I kept two bullheads in a 20-gallon aquarium with a gravel bottom, log, filtration, and some fake plants. In some days, they outgrew the tank.
Are Black Bullheads Used As Baits?
When I caught four bullheads, I hooked them to bait other fish species that I had tried hard to catch before. Seeing bullheads in the waters, they fell prey to them.
Can Black Bullhead Catfish Hybridize with Brown Bullhead?
Yes, black and brown species of bullhead catfish hybridize naturally. Their offspring exhibit mixed characteristics.
Fun Facts
Catfish and bullheads, channel cats, bluegill, and channel catfish are fantastic table fare, especially if taken out of clean, fresh bodies of water.
With no scales and a fully-covered body with taste buds, bullheads become slippery to handle.
Bullheads possess whiskers (hairs under chin) to locate food in the water.
Conclusion
Are you ready to fish ‘n’ bait the attractive bullhead for larger or smaller fish species?
Make your move now!
