Meet Chewy

[Shane]

Meet Chewy. My only pet catfish. She was a "rescue" a year and a half ago and named by Jools. For size comparison... that wafer is 2.5 cm (just over 1").
She will eat from my hand and swims to the front of the tank when she hears me in the fishroom.
-Shane

[bekateen]

That fish is big!

[Jools]

Chewy is chonky. Great fun fish!

Jools

[Shane]

Time to upgrade as Chewy has outgrown her current tank and a recent accident gave me a good scare.

Over the weekend I was fiddling with the sponge filters in my 10 gallon tanks. I must have given the airline to Chewy's tank a slight tug. At some point between Sunday night and Monday afternoon the blower blew her airline off its connection leaving her with no aeration or filtration. She was very still in a corner of the tank and showed no interest in eating (which NEVER happens). I added a powerhead to bring O2 levels up and serve as a fail safe in the future. With a fish of this mass there is little room for errors. Never have a single point of failure. By the next morning she was behaving normally and eating.

The good news is that the accident also made me realize it was time for an upgrade. By lucky coincidence My local Petco was having a tank sale and I was able to snag a new 75 gallon (48.5" x 18.5" x 21") for $123. Not bad! I was out the door with the tank and top glass for $200. Stephen Tanner actually took a few minutes from his vacation in Hawaii to work out the filtration system with me. Should have it up and running in the next few weeks.

Chewy is in the top left tank. It's clear she has outgrown it!
-Shane

[bekateen]

Good save, Shane. That would have been a painful tragedy. Glad it ended so well.

Only $123 for a new 75 gallon tank? Dang! I recently bought a used 75 gallon tank for $100 and was pleased with the price, until I found out late the plastic frame was cracked both on a top corner and on a bottom corner. AFAIK, no way to repair that safely other than buying new frames. This tank went out in a greenhouse, so if it bursts, at least I don't destroy the house.

Cheers, Eric

[Shane]

Eric,
I am honestly not sure that the frame on a 75 gallon provides any type of structural support. There are warnings on my new tank to never lift it by the frame (which tells me it is not attached well).

You might find that you can solve your issue by removing the plastic frame and using silicone to create a glass brace or two across the top. This will keep the water pressure from causing the top of the tank to spread over time and split the corner seems. I seem to remember most tanks in Europe having this design with no plastic frame at all.
-Shane

[bekateen]

Thanks Shane. (even so, for $23 more, I would have jumped at a new tank over a used one, even if the frame wasn't cracked).

Cheers, Eric

[Shane]

Made a little progress on Chewy's new set up today. She will upgrade from 40 gallons (151 liters) to 75 gallons (283 liters) but more importantly her filtration will be three times as effective as it is now.
-Shane

[AmazonTank]

Hi Shane love that pleco!
That filtration is very cool is it the Swiss matala system I've read about?

[Shane]

The system is from Swiss Tropicals. These are the medium sized corner filters. Each is rated for 55 gallons, so with two I have 110 gallons of mechanical and biological filtration for a 75 gallon tank. After discussing with Stephan Tanner I went with a larger pore size to keep Chewy's "sawdust" from clogging them too frequently. Based on her old set up, I should only have to remove and clean the sponges once ever 5-6 months.
-Shane

[AmazonTank]

Thanks so much Shane I'm gonna set one up I love those filters there amazing!
I been a big fan of yours forever

[Shane]

Hoping to move Chewy this weekend. Started conditioning her last week by petting her as she eats. First time she swam off and second she moved away slowly. A week later and she doesn't care at all if I pet her while she eats. Trying to make the move as easy as possible because if she spines me with her odontodes it will be stitches for me.
-Shane

[AmazonTank]

That sounds so awesome!
I hand feed my gulpers cats, black ghost knives, pipa frogs but can't get them that comfortable!

[Shane]

Chewy is in her new home!

How to move a really big spiky fish... Jools suggested catching her in a big fish bag. Show fish people use this method to move fish without damaging them. Chewy stayed very calm as I tried to herd her into the bag. Unfortunately, the bag kept collapsing before I could get her in. My wife suggested herding her into a large water pitcher I keep in the fish room, but I was worried she could flop out of it while I was moving her between tanks.

Ultimately, I lined the pitcher with a huge fish bag and coaxed her to swim in. I then closed the bag behind her and removed the bag (with Chewy inside). It was then just a matter of moving her in the bag a few feet to her new tank. No fuss, no mess, no stress. Within less than 24 hours after the move Chewy was gorging herself on zucchini!

Her old tank (top left) will be the new home of my pair of Bagroides.

-Shane

[AmazonTank]

Awesome so happy that worked out so smoothly

[Shane]

Chewy salad. Zucchini and pea pod medley.
-Shane

[Hyhy]

Impressive fella.

[Shane]

During Jool's last visit he opined (based on his collecting experiences in the Rio Xingu), that Chewy was most likely from the Rio Xingu. Leandro Souza has also looked at photos of Chewy and agrees she matches in shape and coloration specimens he has collected in the Xingu.
Thanks to Jools and Leandro I am confident of Chewy's identification.

Panaque cf_armbrusteri`xingu`

-Shane

[Shane]

This is a piece of South African black iron wood I collected near Kruger. It is one of the hardest woods on the planet, but Chewy can make short work of it. Now you know why one common name for Panaque is Coma Canoa (canoe eater). You can easily see how a Panaque could sink a dugout canoe.
-Shane

[bekateen]

Impressive!

Cheers, Eric

[emanuel]

Absolutely Impressive
Thanks for sharing this information

[sturiosoma]

This is a piece of South African black iron wood I collected near Kruger. It is one of the hardest woods on the planet, but Chewy can make short work of it. Now you know why one common name for Panaque is Coma Canoa (canoe eater). You can easily see how a Panaque could sink a dugout canoe.
-Shane

Is this the chosen wood for a dugout canoe?

Jeanne

[Shane]

Jeanne,
Throughout Africa the most common wood used for dugout canoes is teak. Iron wood would not work as it is so dense that it sinks in water (hence why I collect it for aquariums). Other than Chewy eating it... the wood lasts forever in the aquarium. I have pieces that have been in tanks since 2006.

From Wikipedia
"The Guinness Book of World Records lists this tree as the world's heaviest wood, with a specific gravity of 1.49, similar to that of anthracite or dry earth.[6] It is known for its tendency to sink in water, unlike other wood materials."

-Shane

[sturiosoma]

Jeanne,
Throughout Africa the most common wood used for dugout canoes is teak. Iron wood would not work as it is so dense that it sinks in water (hence why I collect it for aquariums). Other than Chewy eating it... the wood lasts forever in the aquarium. I have pieces that have been in tanks since 2006.

From Wikipedia
"The Guinness Book of World Records lists this tree as the world's heaviest wood, with a specific gravity of 1.49, similar to that of anthracite or dry earth.[6] It is known for its tendency to sink in water, unlike other wood materials."

-Shane

Is teak wood native to Chewys waters in the wild?

Jeanne

[Shane]

Chewy is going through her annual shed. Picked these odontodes up from the substrate during water changes today.

Keep in mind these are as hard as teeth and could easily be used as a sewing needle.

-Shane

[NewPlecoKeeper]

'This is super cool! This makes me even more exited about my two Panaque cf_armbrusteri`xingu` growing out in my 55 gallon with three Baryancistrus Xanthelus. They are still small and shy, largest one beeing 11-12 cm, or in other words only twice the lenght of Chewys odontodes.

-M

[Shane]

Something I have never seen in 30 years of fish keeping...

Sunday afternoon 40% water change on Chewy's tank
Monday evening feeding... everybody looks good
Tuesday evening. Worked late skipped feeding.
Wednesday evening 60% of tetras in Chewy tank dead. Tank stinks of dead fish. Remainder of tetras covered in ich. Performed immediate 60% water change and shut down lights. Filters and heater all working fine. No mechanical failures.
Thursday night Chewy looks good no ich. No more tetra deaths but they are still covered with ich.

Losses so far. 2 of 5 wild Bleeding Hearts. 5 of 8 rummy nose, 5 of 8 black neon tetras. 1 of 4 black skirts.

Black neons were quarantined a month and added two weeks ago. All other tetras had a year or more in the tank.

No idea how this happened. When I came home tonight Erica had a shoe box on the counter assuming I would need it for Chewy.

Has anyone else had an ich outbreak like this?

-Shane

[naturalart]

Maybe its not ich? As you know there are a number of things that look like ich. And I've never heard of ich happening that fast !

[Shovelnose]

Maybe Epistylis? Although not directly comparable, I have faced this issue with the mahseer I keep currently, and I have noticed that it typically occurs if I delay filter maintenance for longer periods. Fish will be perfectly fine in the morning but will be completely covered with ich like matter and struggling to breathe by evening. A massive water change, rock salt and a thorough cleaning of the filters clears this up rather quickly, the mahseer (including ones affected real bad) recover in a matter of 1-2 hours. I suspect smaller fish might take a bit longer to recover.

[Jools]

Good shout on Epistylis, it happens more often than ich. It can be triggered in various ways (I've read) but in the sort of tank Chewy has, if there is a chunk or build up of food that is not spotted and left to rot, then disturbed, perhaps by the influx of water then it'd do this. Ich round spots, same size, Epistylis not round, not same size.

Decades ago I lost 20+ clown loaches in a very similar situation only due to not using the plate I used to deflect water when I poured it in. While prepping the WC, I dropped the plate and broke it. So I just poured in water thinking it'd give the gravel a good shake up. Next day I cleaned the filters of the clag, everything was fine. The next again day was most unpleasant - haven't kept a clown loach since.

HTH and hope Chewy is OK,

Jools