Sorry to hear about Dave passing, he was a great guy. Godspeed Dave.

Thanks Eric, I see you are speaking at the CSG convention next year, see you there!

Hi Everyone, It's been a while, but thought I'd update on a surprise spawn, a few months back I found some small Akysis portellus along with a presumed female who was looking very lethargic. I assumed that the small fish was a skinny male not doing well, but it soon disappeared and I thought no more ...

Welcome! I always start with courgette and sweet potato, both raw, I peel the sweet potato but not the courgette. Leave it in overnight, the sweet potato can be left for 2-3 days, but courgette goes mushy if you leave it in too long so I take it out the next day 18 hours or so after putting it in ...

Good luck raising the fry Eric, it was 6 years after buying my group as adults before I got a spawn, there isn't a mop in the tank though! I've had them for ~7.5 years now, so I'd guess they are a year older than that and still going strong! I had lots of eggs, I estimated 60, but they all fungused ...

Thanks Eric, yes the convention was great, really good to see everyone again. Going around the shops and convention hall looking at fish, then talking to people about them got me excited about keeping fish again. Now I just need to find the time to re-arrange a few things in the fish room, once the ...

The fish room has been ticking over for a while now, without any changes. A visit to the CSG (Catfish Study Group) convention this past weekend encouraged me to shift a few things around and pick up some new fish. I brought home, 2 pairs of Centromochlus orca , 2 pairs of Ancistomus snethlageae , 2 ...

From the vents maybe two look different to the others, from above I'd guess one stood out as different. If you have just received the fish let them settle in for 2-3 months feed well, and then if you like catch them out and check again, differences may be more obvious. If it were me, I'd give plenty ...

Hi Rebecca,

Completely agree, these are so tricky to sex. If a mixed group or breeding is the goal, it seems the best bet is just to buy as big a group as you have the space for and wait, then wait some more and see what happens!

I would suggest a large group of young fish would probably be the best starting point for a breeding project as I guess your thinking is along the right lines, however these fish are caught seems to lead to a majority being of one sex. Mine also liked to eat peeled sweet potato, although it took a ...

Yes, it took me a long time to find a female, or maybe I had a female all along and it just took a long time for the conditions to be right for spawning :)) . Courgette is a favourite for mine, I still have the group of 6 young, they will go for courgette right away with lights on, although their ...

Hi Emanuel, It is tricky to tell with L128, I think in your picture where the fish are numbered, number 1 looks a little different. I would suggest you keep this group for a while (6+ months) and see how they get on, try adding some caves and see if there are any behaviour changes. If nothing ...

Another vote for air driven sponge filtration, you can see my setup in the MarcW fish room build thread. Essentially it is a ring above the height of the highest tank driven by a Medo linear piston air pump placed higher still on a shelf, with the small screw in valves from Jehmco providing multiple ...

Thanks Eric, yes I did see that, I've not been to a convention before which isn't exclusively catfish based, as it'll be a bigger event, and less time to wait since it's in July, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to make it.

Pleased to hear everyone had a good time, I had the flights, hotel and ticket to the previous CatCon booked but then covid cancelled it, unfortunately I couldn't make this one, but do plan to be at Cataclysm next year, hopefully I'll see some of you there!

Thanks NewPlecoKeeper! The L095 are doing well, two have grown significantly chunkier than the others so I'm hopeful I have both sexes, occasionally I see two or more swimming around side by side, but nothing to get particularly excited about. The mouse catfish, Hassar orestis are also doing well ...

I hadn't seen that in my group Ian, often one would split from the group and swim about for a minute or so before joining the group again, but I didn't notice more than one doing so. Hopefully it means something :-), good luck with them, and please report back if there is any more interesting ...

Hi Ian, and Eric. I recently moved the Tenellus on at the CSG convention. Still have their bigger relatives, Hassar orestis though. They were still doing well, very active and lived for several years within the parameters Ian mentioned in his post. If they aren't already, I'd recommend keeping them ...

Sorry to hear this Eric. I hope the other woodcat is still hiding in there somewhere. I feel that a lot of losses involving groups of fish may have been caused by similar gradual reduction in filter/pump performance. It has reminded me that a couple of my mattenfilters have become sluggish and I ...

That was one of the best things I did with my fish room, air ring and a linear piston air pump. So much cheaper than multiple power filters, both to purchase and to run, yes it is a single point of failure, but just make sure you have a spare, and/or a service kit and you should be ok. Hope it goes ...

Thanks Jools, that does seem to be a match for the fish I saw. Still a new one for me!

Hi Everyone, While in my local Maidenhead Aquatics earlier today I noticed a catfish I've not seen before labelled as African butter catfish, grows to 40cm. I haven't been there for a few years, it seems there is new management and a better, healthier selection of fish. Are these really Schilbe ...

Thank you, Jaguar cats are nice, a shop I was at a few weeks ago just had an import of 20+ really chunky ones! Yes I'm happy with the backup I have, agree that several functions in one box could mean one fails and renders the device useless, but it is just much more convenient for me to have the ...

I've caught the fish to confirm what I am bringing, I've updated my previous post to show what I'll put in the auction.

See some of you there next weekend!

I think I'll also bring my Ageneiosus magoi for the auction, I've been planning what to put in my tanks already :-). Mark - for the Cat-eLog link, you can go to the species page and scroll down to the end, in the section 'Further Information' there is a field called Forum BB code that looks like ...

Enjoy Mexico Jools, I'm sure it'll be at least as good as a weekend in Wigan :-J ! Once I have figured out how much space I have available to keep the fish in my hotel room ahead of the auction, I may also bring 5 Ageneiosus magoi , but would prefer to know in advance if there is any interest in ...

Hi All, Not long now until the convention, I'm planning on bringing some fish to include in the auction, there will be no reserves as I need to move some fish on to free up some space, just happy for them to go to a good home. Usual CSG auction rules will apply, I may have a few spare poly boxes if ...

Here is a picture of my tub, you can ignore my previous comment about some looking different than others, turns out they are more beige and rougher one side and green and smoother the other. Must be that some ingredients settle during the manufacturing process! They still turn to mush way too ...

I have some with the same labels as your original ST purchased ones, I believe that's where I got the pack from actually. I am not pleased with them, some appear to have a more coarse texture with lots of beige coloured flecks, where as some are smoother and completely green. By the time I have fed ...