Goonch Growth Rates

[Redtailrob]

Hi all & belated Happy New year.

I am the proud owner of two of these gorgeous fish (B.Yarrelli -excuse the spelling)
They where purchased about 12-15 months ago at around 1.5 - 2 " inches in size.

As is common with alot of predatory cats they wouldn't feed for the 1st 4-5 wks and wouldn't feed on anything other than live bloodworm.
Now however they take pretty much everything & one of them has even started taking Mascivore sinking pellets!
They grew very slowly to begin with and have taken this long to reach 4 & 7 inches respectively.
The larger one however now appears to have grown about 2" in the last few months !!
Can i expect this growth rate to continue ?? I guess so now they are feeding on a wider range of foodstuffs.
They are only fed a couple of times a week as that's how I feed all my cats.

I'm fully aware of their potential adult size, just was interested to hear of peoples opinions on growth rates especially any other keepers out there.

[Richard B]

Its been a good while since i cared for these & i've never started with ones so small (smallest probably 5"). Growth has always been quite slow, but with a vaguely noticeable upturn in growth rate at about the 8/9" mark, (for how long though i am not sure as fish had been sold soon thereafter).

Fish had been fed live river shrimp, earthworms & defrosted krill, mussels & shrimp.

[Redtailrob]

Hi Richard & thanks for the reply.

How comes you sold your Bargrus?
Wouldn't part with mine, absoulutely love em- so unique to anything else I've kept or currently keep.
very Impressed by this fishes sudden growth spurt - time to give them the tank purely to themselves I think.

[MatsP]

I suspect Richard never owned one himself, but kept them as part of his job in a fish-shop. I'll let Richard confirm that.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

I suspect Richard never owned one himself, but kept them as part of his job in a fish-shop. I'll let Richard confirm that.
--
Mats

Mostly true - we had a dozen or so go through the shop - some quickly , some less so, but i did take one home for 6 months to study it a bit more closely

[medaka]

Richard wrote:

i did take one home for 6 months to study it a bit more closely

More than me here my friend, I only looked after one in my job, and only that for a few days, it came to my works as a rescued fish that would'nt eat, we tried everything we knew to get it too feed, but alas it would'nt; we think it was too far gone.

[Richard B]

Richard wrote:

i did take one home for 6 months to study it a bit more closely

More than me here my friend, I only looked after one in my job, and only that for a few days, it came to my works as a rescued fish that would'nt eat, we tried everything we knew to get it too feed, but alas it would'nt; we think it was too far gone.

We only ever had one that wouldn't feed at all (despite trying a few "tricks") - after about a month the abdomen ballooned-up & it had problems deporting - it didn't last long after that.

Whilst i had a little one at home (6") it proved a fascinating fish to observe & i'd love to keep them again but sadly i haven't got the space to keep one as an adult fish

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hopefully I won't deviate from topic too much. My questions are actually about the all-important compatibility: at what stages of life or, maybe rather sizes, can these be combined with each other and/or other cats? Rob, you hinted that your guys shared the quarters with others.

People write a lot of stuff about these fascinating, arguably the most intolerant and aggressive freshwater species, with many people (like on aquaticpredators.com) claiming yarellies far superceding say infamous wykiis. Pair that with them huge, sharp teeth and the compatibility problem is perhaps pushed to an exreme.

[Viktor Jarikov]

some i-net pics

[Viktor Jarikov]

...

[Redtailrob]

Hi Victor / all.

Well i can only speak as i find currentlty and also only the sizes that I've kept them.

The two where originally housed together in a 40G (UK) aquarium along with various other bits and bobs such as Small Green terrors, Juvenile Knifefish.
However this fish where moved out as I wished to keep the Bagrus @ the lower temps as recommended for these fish 68-71 degrees and didnt what to subject the other fish to such low temperatures.

The two showed NO aggresion towards any of the other inhabitants or to each other in their time together other than brief scraps if they tried to occupy the same cave etc.
A unique observation however was that even though both would eat readily only one showed any particular growth rate, the other would just refuse to grow or at least nothing like it's bigger tankmate.

Since separtion the smaller one has blossomed & is now approx 10" and kept alone.
The larger one of the two 12-13" approx is currently in a 315G along with some Pike Cichlids, Jaguar pair, and some Big cats and " Currently" shows no aggresion other than chasing fish away from its cave.
Time will tell.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Nice. Thanx for sharing, Rob. And thanx for indicating that the gallons are UK - you must have remembered our prior discussions !

I already forgot and used US gallons in a few posts without specifying they are US since then

I wonder if the growth rate discrepancy can be tentatively attributed to a phenomenon I read about koi, wherein the alpha koi releases growth inhibiting hormone into the pond water to slow down the growth of its koi pondmates and hold on to its supremacy.

[Redtailrob]

Hi there.

There could well be something in that assumption.
As i mentioned other than brief territorial scraps there was never any fighting that I witnessed. The two of them i would say used to eat about the same amount of food when offered as i wolud make sure that they both received similar quantities, the slightly smaller one of the two grew at a much slower pace than the other.

Since being separated the smaller one has doubled in length & width.

[bovsbaitboxes]

does anyone know where I could get one in the tristate area seen a few but different species Bagarius suchus $275 for 7 to 8 inch and bagarius bagarius $75 at 3 inches thanks John

[Viktor Jarikov]

John, I've never seen one for sale in western and central NY, CT, or NC.