2 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Peaceful bottom feeder but needs large space and cold, well-oxygenated water; avoid small fish.
17 species in our list are a good match.
Peaceful bottom feeder but needs large space and cold, well-oxygenated water; avoid small fish.
Check your local laws. CITES Appendix II (all sturgeons since 1 April 1998): international trade, including captive-bred fish, needs a CITES export permit, and EU countries may also require import permits. Domestic US trade is not affected by the CITES listing. Never release: introduced fish compete with wild relatives. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.
Not for home aquariums. This fish grows far too big for any home tank. It needs a pond-sized system of thousands of litres, so please don't buy one as a baby.
Sinking sturgeon pellets, bloodworm, earthworms.
Tap a food to see what it is.
No obvious external differences between the sexes.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Farm spawner ·
Not bred in garden ponds. In the wild it spawns over gravel in fast, deep, oxygen-rich river channels and does not spawn every year; pond fish come from fish farms.
Mature adults on a sturgeon farm.
Large raceways and hatcheries.
Hormone and temperature stimulus.
Thousands to tens of thousands of sticky eggs scattered on gravel; they hatch in about 5-10 days at 10-15°C.
Fry take brine shrimp then pellets.
The smallest sturgeon, from Eurasian rivers. Endangered in the wild (IUCN 2022) because of overfishing for meat and caviar, pollution and dams; pond fish are farm-bred. Needs a very large pond.
Linnaeus described the sterlet in 1758. It is one of the smaller sturgeons and lives its whole life in fresh water. It is kept in large garden ponds.
First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Named for 'ruthenus' means 'Russian'.
18 facts checked with sources
Recent rename in flux: Brownstein & Near (2025) move it to Huso ruthenus (followed by Wikipedia and the fishbase.org page title "Huso ruthenus, Sterlet sturgeon"), Kottelat & Freyhof (2025) use Sterletus ruthenus, but the Catalog of Fishes (Sep 2026) still lists Acipenser ruthenus as the current valid name. Expect to see all three names. An albino form is sold.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: species related to Acipenser ruthenus (online version updated 21 Sep. 2026) · Wikipedia: Sterlet (cites IUCN 2022, Catalog of Fishes and Brownstein & Near 2025)Legacy has no family; value is new.
FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summarysize-pick: fishkeeper.co.uk says 75-100 cm is usual for pond sterlet; FishBase max 125 cm TL is a wild maximum (common length 40 cm TL). TL. Far too big for any home aquarium.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) · FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summaryLegacy 4-20. Needs cool, highly oxygenated water.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Legacy 6.5-8.5.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Prefers hard water; no lower limit given.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Pond only; no source gives a volume. Legacy 5000 L not confirmed.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Maximum recorded age 36 (FishBase). Wikipedia’s 22-25 years is uncited. Legacy 20-30 years is plausible but not directly sourced.
FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summary · Wikipedia: Sterlet (cites IUCN 2022, Catalog of Fishes and Brownstein & Near 2025)No source states temperament directly.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Needs sinking food.
FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summary · Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Legacy 3. Large pond, strong flow, high oxygen, special food fed through winter, sensitive to medications.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Catalog of Fishes also lists the Sea of Marmara and White Sea watersheds.
FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summaryLegacy said males slimmer, females plumper; not supported.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)Wikipedia egg count is uncited; FishBase uses Fec=11,000 in its resilience estimate.
Wikipedia: Sterlet (cites IUCN 2022, Catalog of Fishes and Brownstein & Near 2025) · Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) · FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summaryLegacy "about" (small Eurasian sturgeon, needs enormous space) agrees.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) · Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: species related to Acipenser ruthenus (online version updated 21 Sep. 2026) · Wikipedia: Sterlet (cites IUCN 2022, Catalog of Fishes and Brownstein & Near 2025)Legacy "Protected CITES species; permits needed" agrees. Quotes keep the PDF line breaks. National or state rules not checked.
FishBase (Stockholm mirror): Acipenser ruthenus summary · USFWS fact sheet: Sturgeon and CITES (archived 2004)Pond-only species, too big for home tanks.
Maidenhead Aquatics fishkeeper.co.uk: Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)