2019 Catfish Study Group Convention

[bekateen]

Now that CatCon is in the rear-view mirror, what's next?

https://www.catfishstudygroup.org/convention/index.php

P.S., As a child of American television from the early 1960's, I can't read this poster without expecting to hear “… as The Beaver” after my name. Fortunately, I'm okay with that.

[bekateen]

Here's a teaser for the CSG convention in March. Today my students and I performed our first dissections of four more species of corys (new to our study), looking for the postaxillary venom glands. Here are two of those species. See anything in the bottom photo that is NOT the same in the photo on top? Yeah. To find out which species these are from, come to the CSG convention in March!

[bekateen]

And there's more speakers!

[MarcW]

Hi Eric, I don't want to spoil your talk so you don't have to explain now if it's part of your talk!

In the top picture to the right there appears to be an area very similar in shape and colour (color ), to the circled area on the lower picture only much smaller.

Is that the same organ only diminished in one species vs another?

Thanks for the teaser, looks like it should be a great talk.

[Fundulopanchax76]

What i see is that the brown area or organ or gland in the second picture is 5-6 times bigger than this on the first picture ! So second species produce much more poison than first ?

[bekateen]

You are both correct. But does gland size equate to toxicity?

[TwoTankAmin]

Re gland size and toxicity, think blue ring octopus. It is the most toxic of potential critters out there in the ocean and it's body is about the size of a golf ball.

[MarcW]

I would guess the larger gland is in a fish which may use the toxin more frequently, maybe it has more predators in its natural habitat and it uses relatively large amounts of a lower potency toxin frequently. The smaller gland may be in a fish which rarely uses a more potent toxin. Perhaps it needs to dedicate more resources to another part of its anatomy, maybe it lives in a fast flowing stream and needs more powerful muscles to swim quickly, and therefore evade predators or even just hold position, rather than a toxin which would just get washed away and dispersed in that environment.

[smbgpd]

Got any histology of the glands? Additionally, were the specimens of the same size/weight? Making assumptions as to toxicity/frequency of toxin use based on size alone instead of relative size is, in my mind, an excercise in speculation.

[bekateen]

To your last point, yes this is intended to be an exercise in speculation. My post is a "teaser" to get people interested in the subject and thinking about the possibilities, hopefully to look forward to attending the CSG meeting to hear the presentation.

To answer your other questions, (1) histology is in progress (along with biochemistry and proteomics), (2) fish are about the same size/mass.

Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

I’m really disappointed to be missing the convention this year as I’ll be on the other side of the world. Looking forward to reading up about this though!

[bekateen]

Only days away! I'm having trouble sleeping!

[Mol_PMB]

You'll love it! Sorry I won't be there myself this year.
Maybe next year I'll bring some of my little ones for sale?

Corydoras burgessi fry, 13mm SL, in close formation

Pseudolithoxus dumus fry, 16mm SL, grazing on twigs

Cheers,
Paul

[bekateen]

Timing is everything. I leave in less than 48 hours and between last night and this morning, I found two male

Ancistrus sp`rio_ucayali`

on fresh egg clutches. These will hatch while I'm gone and the fry will likely deplete their yolk sacs before I return. I won't be there to catch them and move them to fry baskets for feeding first foods. I also recovered two new clutches of

L397

wigglers last night, one set full of yolk, the other almost finished. Before these four spawns, I already had about 100 rio Ucayali fry in a basket (about two weeks old) and about 25 L397 the same age in another basket and I released both groups into their parent's tanks last night... Now I have these new fry and eggs to think about. I hope they all can find enough scraps to survive till I return.

I always love finding new spawns, but please not now when I'm about to leave town.

[Mol_PMB]

I feel your pain! I'm about to go away for 4 weeks, with these youngsters just starting to develop nicely.
At least they're vegetarians, as are most of yours. I've arranged for a friend to come in every 4-5 days and add another bundle of green twigs and some Repashy cubes.

[bekateen]

What an amazing convention. Thanks again, CSG, for allowing me to speak to your meeting. The privilege was all mine.

Present company (myself) aside, the other speakers were terrific and I met so many neat people. Plus three incredible LFS in the area: Pier Aquatics, Aqualife Leyland, and Maidenhead Wigan. I made memories that will last a lifetime.

If you're in the USA and have never been to one of these, it's worth going at least once to experience the whole package.

Now I'm home, safe and sound with all my fish and caves. (I bought a crud- ton of caves). All the caves and fish survived the ride home. Here are the fish I got:

• Corydoras robineae
• Corydoras pauciradiatus
• CW104
  wild (to go with my F2s)
• Entomocorus gameroi
• Spinipterus sp(1)
• Ancistrus sp`wabenmuster`

I can now cross another species of my wish list.

Also, all the new spawns I got at home just before leaving for the convention are doing well. No fish loses at home while gone for a week.

Now the withdrawals set in as I get home and return to real life.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I was told the

Corydoras robineae

would do well in a tank with areas of fast and slow water current, so here they are in my toilet flush tank:

Cheers, Eric

Corydoras robineae from Pier Aquatics/CSG event

[MarcW]

Looks like they are doing well in there Eric, good to hear they made it back safely.

I remember you saying there was a quiet spot where you could feed, but looking at the video it appears feeding would be a bit tricky unless it was weighed down by something!

[bekateen]

I remember you saying there was a quiet spot where you could feed, but looking at the video it appears feeding would be a bit tricky unless it was weighed down by something!

Off to the left, where the fish are starting to settle, pellet food sits still. I didn't show the far- left corner of the tank, but 4 of the 7

Corydoras pauciradiatus

are resting there while I made the video. Also, you can see the white ramekin which I use for some foods like live worms.

Cheers, Eric

[MarcW]

I thought I saw a ramekin!

Now I have some cobbles, I'm thinking of trying something similar, but with a couple powerheads to start with, not quite the washing machine you have going on with the pond pump!

[bekateen]

Now I have some cobbles, I'm thinking of trying something similar, but with a couple powerheads to start with, not quite the washing machine you have going on with the pond pump!

Marc, I know you got that cubic meter container of cobbles from Pier . But if you need more cobbles, look for a landscape/garden supply store. My local supply store sells these pillowcase-sized bags for just over 12GBP; for that price they allow me to hand select cobbles (of any size available in their work yard) to fill the bag. If you have any landscape stores near you, it's worth asking if they make a similar deal - much cheaper than buying rocks at fish stores, except perhaps that deal from Pier.

Cheers, Eric

[MarcW]

I'll certainly have a look around, I wish I bought two bags now, one looked enough at the time, but now I have all the smaller cobbles in a container in the garden to try and grow algae, the remaining ones don't look enough to properly scape one tank. I'll have to get another bag or two next time I'm up there so they match!

[TwoTankAmin]

I use river rounds from the stone and gravel yard. They come in both a variety of sizes as well as some colors.
http://www.stonepebble.com/a/Natural_Ri ... ne_pebble/

I pay $1/rock for the larger ones. They also let me pick through the flagstone area for scraps that have separated in small pieces and thin slate-like pieces.

Here are river rounds in an old tank. The make great hiding places for fry which can squeeze under the rounded edges and be safe.
Rounds


Flagstone scraps


Most yards will also sell lava rock dirt cheap.

[bekateen]

Most yards will also sell lava rock dirt cheap.

Rocks sold "dirt cheap?" I don't know whether to or to .

Cheers, Eric

[catmandave]

Eric , Enjoyed your presentation and agree that every catfish geek should take in this convention.
Wonderful lodgings, excellent food and drinks plus interesting conversations with like minded
hobbyists.