Brachyplatystoma juruense

Tigrinus fan · Post by **Tigrinus fan** » 01 Dec 2003, 21:02

I was wondering alittle about this speices of catfish and how available they are to us and if they are usually very expensive? Also if you can get them where can you get them at? If I can get this fish it will be going in a 180 gal 72" x 24" x 25", I know a little small for a full grown but I will then probably either buy a 265 or something on the lines of that when the time comes...........

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 02 Dec 2003, 01:57

heh, a 180's gonna be way too small for an adult. ;) a 3 foot long catfish wouldn't be very happy there. but as long as you're upgrading eventually it's not a worry.

I've found them to be semi-rare, my LFS got some in once, and I was pretty surprised, even though he does a great job with getting oddballs. As for price, that depends on the size I'm sure, mine was about $50, so relatively cheap in my book. but mine was also about 3 and a half inches when I got him. As for getting one yourself, George Fear at Shark Aquarium is where I got mine, and he was a healthy guy, a bit small though. http://www.sharkaquarium.com/store.cfm?menu=shop is a link to his store, his lists tend to be a bit behind I think, so he may or may not have everything he has listed. ;) he actually had to add the fish to the website so I could buy mine. If he's out and hasn't got any idea when they'll be in next you can also check the sellers listings on predatoryfish.net and find people probably.

Tigrinus fan · Post by **Tigrinus fan** » 02 Dec 2003, 02:31

Thanks for the info S. Allen they do have some of them and they do have tigrinus but I think I will just go with juruense right now as I dont have all the money right now for a 250 dollar fish. So hopefully I can make the order tomorrow and get the fish over here and into my tank......

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 02 Dec 2003, 02:39

yup. Now just to let you know for when you do get the money saved up, the $250 fish is like 4 or 5 inches... will take a good while to grow out to a foot is my guess, you can go to http://www.frybabies.com and they may have some in soon. I got a foot long tigrinus for $350 there, best price I've seen on that size, and it's a good size, large enough to not be bothered by it's larger tankmates, colors already settled in nicely although not totally done, and enough size to not be a total wuss when it comes to humans.

http://scott.aaquaria.com/tigrinusz.jpg a pic of mine about a week ago. very nice fish.

Tigrinus fan · Post by **Tigrinus fan** » 02 Dec 2003, 12:13

That fish is awesome. What are his tankmates at the moment? Also isnt there some kinda zebra morph catfish that looks like tigrinus but isnt, I think I may have read this on the AT board........Im starting to think 250 dollars doesnt even do justice to how sweet this fish is.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 02 Dec 2003, 23:15

well B. juruense can look pretty similar, mine doesn't, at the moment, because of his size, but if you put a 5 inch tigrinus next to it it would be difficult to tell them apart. at adult size they will probably be somewhat similar, but easily distingquishable. You ought to check the cat-e-log for some of the adult colorations of the Juruense, it's fairly variable.

For the Tigrinus, he's in with my 3 Potamotrygon leopoldi stingrays(ranging from 8 inches wide to just about a foot) and a scarlet pleco(10 or 11 inches long). heh, you can see bits of both species, the rays are the black and white spotted thing right next to him and then the scarlet's in the middle right background.

characinkid · Post by **characinkid** » 03 Dec 2003, 15:53

I must say that B. Juruense are great fish.. The way they 'perch' is wonderful and they have wonderful extentions on their fins...

I have 3 at the moment in a 180, 1 about 15inches and 2 at about 10-11 inches and they are great. I do not have any other tank mates yet, but they are growing really well and eat like pigs!! They seems to eat almost anything... the big one even eat a cooked pea the other day!!

Does anyone know how to sex them... are there any physical indicators... I know that this is a long shot!!!??

I would start with a Juruense and once you get the hang of them try a Tig. if you can afford it.
The prices of Tigs have come down sooo much over the last few years... I remember whne you could not touch a Tig for less than about $1000.....

Good Luck..

Skyetone · Post by **Skyetone** » 04 Dec 2003, 02:09

I've always dug the tigrinus out of the atlas... Never seen one up close.
I'd love to have one to go with my 18 inch psedoplatystoma fasciatum (s-american tiger shovelnose) They seem like cousins...
Would they be with different genus names? Or am I even asking the right Q?
Are either of the aformentioned fish availabe in the U.S.? I haven't seen anything like this over here on the west side.... About the coolest thing so far is a ....Sorubimichthys planiceps I have two....

Post by **Barbie** » 04 Dec 2003, 03:55

Skyetone... if you look under each persons name on the left side of the posting screen, it shows their location. Scott is in Colorado, not outer Mongolia.... He also posted a link to a site in the US where the fish can be found... no?

Barbie

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 04 Dec 2003, 03:59

Actually, I stated that I owned both M. tigrinus and B. juruense. You can see right under my avatar that I'm in the US. I even linked to stores in the US where these fish can be purchased.

You'll likely never see them in a store, they're a bit rare, and few stores are willing to spend $300 on a fish that might croak before it's purchased.

As for tigrinus as tankmates for your fish, a bad idea. Tigrinus and juruense are predatory, but certainly not aggressive. I have to take care to feed my tigrinus by tongs or he won't get enough food in many cases. Your fish is going to be more aggressive about food, as well as getting more than twice as large. Tigrinus max out at about 2 feet, and I would not think that one would do well with a 4 foot planiceps. You can of course try, but why spend $350 on something with a good possibility of losing it?

Skyetone · Post by **Skyetone** » 04 Dec 2003, 06:29

yea the tiger is definetly king of the tank now my redtails are gone. i didn't even think of the locaton of S.allen. He is about 4-5 driving hours away.

followed the link but didn't look at location... ya know quick brousing...

Kenneth Wong · Post by **Kenneth Wong** » 04 Dec 2003, 16:22

S. Allen,

Which pred. catfishes do you currently own and how are they kept. Tank size and if they are in groups. I'm interest to see how others keep theirs.

Skyetone,

In the past I've kept S. planiceps but after several years it got tobe around 24 inches and I decided to donate to the local public aquarium to give room for others. definitely keep that in mind, they will need large tanks.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 04 Dec 2003, 17:57

haha, keeping tigrinus in groups... I wish I had that kind of cash ;) but seriouslyI keep one of each, tigrinus and juruense, I have the tigrinus in a 90 gallon temporary home with 3 leopoldi stingrays. he's at about a foot. The juruense is like 5 inches, so he'd be dinner in that tank for someone I'm thinking... he's in another 90 gallon with discus and plecos till he puts on some reasonable size. No other predatory catfish

metallhd · Post by **metallhd** » 04 Dec 2003, 18:31

S. Allen wrote: You'll likely never see them in a store, they're a bit rare, and few stores are willing to spend $300 on a fish that might croak before it's purchased.

did I tell you the one about the $5400 arowana at Big Al's? Not even 5 inches, and get this, NO GUARANTEE at all . . . .

nice work if you can get it, I s'pose

Skyetone · Post by **Skyetone** » 05 Dec 2003, 01:31

I just went through a 12" "silver" arowana... my TSN stressed him to death overnight...

He kept following the arowana, he was to big to eat, but he really wanted to figure out what he was. THe arowana would splash his tail a couple times an hour. I figured he would mellow out, and the TSN didn't eat him in the first few hours, so I figured fine. Well in the morning the raowana was dead, and untouched.the spiney eel we got at the same time (love trade in fish) is still fine. I figure it had to be stress. Didn't know fish could have a heart attack

Post by **Barbie** » 05 Dec 2003, 02:11

How sad. Hopefully it taught you that quaranting new fish really should be considered a necessity.

Barbie

Skyetone · Post by **Skyetone** » 06 Dec 2003, 00:23

how do you quarenteen something that also need to be introduced to a tank that size? I don't have a 2 foot long breeding net or anything....
If you put the new fish into a different tank you still will need to introduce them to there perminent environment. I don't think I get your comment, But I do agree with it being sad... was an x-mas gift

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 06 Dec 2003, 02:02

you quarentine it in a seperate tank... then move it over when the stress of moving from the store to your house is over and it's eating and healthy.

metallhd · Post by **metallhd** » 06 Dec 2003, 07:26

Skyetone wrote:Didn't know fish could have a heart attack

hey funny you should mention that, darndest thing that ever happened in all my years if fishkeeping I had a 10 gal with a little dark blue c*****d maybe 7 cm inherited from a friend, he was right as rain for about 3 weeks , all alone, then (I happened to be there just then) out of the blue he started exhibiting violent convulsive motions, twisting to and fro - I don't recall if he banged his head, don't think so, perhaps 2 minutes gone by and belly up. My only hypothesis to today is just that, a heart attack . . .