Ninja Woodcats

[fishguy1978]

My lfs has ninjas available and Im headed back tomorrow to get some. I'm not sure if they are Centromochlus orca or Centromochlus musaicus. I didn't get any pictures to confirm the presence of a white spot just below the dorsal to correctly verify which. These are a little pricey to at $35ea.

[bekateen]

$35 each? That's a relative bargain!

Good luck!
Eric

[fishguy1978]

$35 each? That's a relative bargain!

Good luck!
Eric

Wow, $35 each is a bargain!!? Well, considering I don't know if/when available again I'm going to have to have some

[fishguy1978]

Spoke with the lfs and these don't have the white spot below the dorsal so, Centromochlus musaicus? The only trouble with that id is these are already close to 3in.

[bekateen]

With tail, it's my understanding that both species reach about 3 inches.

Cheers,
Eric

[fishguy1978]

With tail, it's my understanding that both species reach about 3 inches.

Cheers,
Eric

[fishguy1978]

Centromochlus musaicus x1 coming to my fish room.

[fishguy1978]

[bekateen]

Nice!!!!

[fishguy1978]

I picked up 2 more today.

[fishguy1978]

All 3 before release

1.

2.

3.

[bekateen]

Did you sex them?

Cheers, Eric

[fishguy1978]

Did you sex them?

Cheers, Eric

I'm not that skilled at sexing wood cats yet. I need a better viewing container too.

[fishguy1978]

I stopped into the lfs on the way home and picked up 6 more mini orcas too. I think there are several males.

[bekateen]

Wonderful! You have a great fish store!

Cheers, Eric

[characinkid]

The last picture looks like a definite male to me.

[fishguy1978]

The last picture looks like a definite male to me.

Thanks, that means I have at least two males and way more females in my group of 9.

[fishguy1978]

[ZoomiesPB]

I just came to say, yay, because, ninja woodcats.

[fishguy1978]

Doing water changes and filter cleanings so I caught all nine Centromochlus musaicus to sex. 5 males and 4 females. Moved three of the males to other tanks as I noticed torn fins. One is missing the anal fin together.

[fishguy1978]

I have just lost 5 of the 9. Their fins are all gone. 3 that are still alive have really tattered fins so I have moved one of them to a different tank.

Water test

[fishguy1978]

One of the survivors

[bekateen]

I have just lost 5 of the 9. Their fins are all gone. 3 that are still alive have really tattered fins so I have moved one of them to a different tank.2A503B7C-D49C-4C41-9D35-A80F3FCBD673.jpeg

That's what happened to some of mine. One day all of a sudden they had lost their fins and had only spines remaining.

Good luck.
Eric

[fishguy1978]

I have just lost 5 of the 9. Their fins are all gone. 3 that are still alive have really tattered fins so I have moved one of them to a different tank.2A503B7C-D49C-4C41-9D35-A80F3FCBD673.jpeg

That's what happened to some of mine. One day all of a sudden they had lost their fins and had only spines remaining.

Good luck.
Eric

None of the other fish in the system seem to be effected. I have corys, intermedia, grynia, swordtails, a prashardi, and banjo cats in the other tanks.

[Catfish-ologist]

Hi! This is very interesting. I currently own this species of wood cat, however, I have never observed this with them. I do have 3 Asterophysus batrachus with fin erosion of similar appearance. Comparing water parameters, my pH is much lower and is between 6.5 to 6.8. My nitrates are <10ppm. I keep all of my fish in super soft acidic water. It is remineralized RODI (starting TDS of 0, remineralized TDS of 100) and the GH/KH is 1. What temperature are you using? My Musaica is kept at 80-82 since it is housed with my zebra pleco grow-outs, TDS prior to water change averages 140. The zebras are moving out soon and the temp will be dropped to 76-78. My Gulpers like the temperature cooler (73-76), however, all of my fish share the same water chemistry. My Gulpers TDS are currently 137 in a 75 gallon tank w/ substrate. I currently keep 14 species of wood cat. The Gulpers are the only species where I've noticed this issue with the fin erosion. I haven't been able to figure it out myself. My Gulper's lost their spines as well. It appears to be the same issue. My Gulpers erosion started about 2 years ago but doesn't appear to affect their health. Have you tried lowering your pH?
Maybe someone else could chime in?
Thanks,
-- Sean

[fishguy1978]

Hi! This is very interesting. I currently own this species of wood cat, however, I have never observed this with them. I do have 3 Asterophysus batrachus with fin erosion of similar appearance. Comparing water parameters, my pH is much lower and is between 6.5 to 6.8. My nitrates are <10ppm. I keep all of my fish in super soft acidic water. It is remineralized RODI (starting TDS of 0, remineralized TDS of 100) and the GH/KH is 1. What temperature are you using? My Musaica is kept at 80-82 since it is housed with my zebra pleco grow-outs, TDS prior to water change averages 140. The zebras are moving out soon and the temp will be dropped to 76-78. My Gulpers like the temperature cooler (73-76), however, all of my fish share the same water chemistry. My Gulpers TDS are currently 137 in a 75 gallon tank w/ substrate. I currently keep 14 species of wood cat. The Gulpers are the only species where I've noticed this issue with the fin erosion. I haven't been able to figure it out myself. My Gulper's lost their spines as well. It appears to be the same issue. My Gulpers erosion started about 2 years ago but doesn't appear to affect their health. Have you tried lowering your pH?
Maybe someone else could chime in?
Thanks,
-- Sean

Thanks for the response. I had them at 80F when I first purchased. I have 8 29g aquariums that run off one sump. I dropped the temp to 75F because I have multiple species that prefer the lower temps. The fin erosion has been happening for a while but I thought it was aggression amongst them. I separated out 3 males into other tanks hoping that was the issue.
I don’t have RODI. I do have magnolia leaves and add them periodically. I run an irrigation drip so that the system has a constant water change.

[characinkid]

Thats crazy, that one that you show has no tail at all! So sorry to see this happen.

Are you sure that the fins are not being attacked by the other fish? What happened to the others that you moved a while ago, did the same happen to them in the new tank? Trying to understand if it conspecific or its maybe the gyrina(or another sp) for example?

[fishguy1978]

Thats crazy, that one that you show has no tail at all! So sorry to see this happen.

Are you sure that the fins are not being attacked by the other fish? What happened to the others that you moved a while ago, did the same happen to them in the new tank? Trying to understand if it conspecific or its maybe the gyrina(or another sp) for example?

Each of my woodcats species are kept in their own tanks. The T intermedia share their tank with C similis and some swordtails. The T gyrina with some G pyrosephalus juveniles. The T m with some swordtails. The T m that I moved were with C eques and C aeneus, hoplos and swordtails in 2 separate tanks.
So far only the T musaicus are the only ones effected.

[fishguy1978]

I decided to double check the other woodcats to make sure I wasn’t missing something with them to. The T intermedia look fine but the female T gyrina looks rough. She is housed with 2 males.
Pulled #6 dead

[fishguy1978]

Female

Female

Male