Bunocephalus Coracoideus Playing Ostrich

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 18 Sep 2006, 14:19

Okay. I've never posted in this part of the forum, but there's a first time for everything. I fell in love yesterday with the bicolored Banjo.And now, they're both burrowed in the substrate, head first like an ostrich, like this:

There are 2 in the tank. One is wider and deeper than the other. They seemed quite spooked when I put them in the tank. I thought they disappeared at first, until I saw the substrate moving. I've added a small piece of driftwood and some floating plants to break up the lighting(they're in a 10 gallon quarantine). I'd like to hear anybody's experiences with these fish. They seem fascinating.

Amanda

ZachPaul · Post by **ZachPaul** » 18 Sep 2006, 14:59

yeah dude, i have one too and it does the same thing. they will stay that way all day and only come out at the wee morning hours of the morning when you are asleep. ( like 3 am) if you really want to check em out, get a flashlight and look aroud then. they eat insects in nature im pretty sure and use that undergracel thing to ambush its prey. they also shed their skin like a snake... i really like mine too and have had it for about 2 years now, i actully went 2 or 3 months without seeing it and had to dig it out to make sure it was still ok. but dont be fooled man, they like to play dead too, so watch out.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 18 Sep 2006, 17:38

ZachPaul wrote:yeah dude

I think Amanda prefers to be called dudette

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 18 Sep 2006, 20:51

My banjo cats are so layed back that I can gently hold them from the base of their tail and move the around to food on the bottom like a like Hoover vacuuming the bottom. Weird is fun.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 18 Sep 2006, 22:31

Larry,
Be careful you don't get stung by the pectoral spines. I once tried to gently move my Platystacus in the way you describe, but it bent its body and stung me pretty hard in my finger.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 19 Sep 2006, 07:23

Banjos are gentle natured cats and lack the powerful musculature and bristling weaponery of the doradid cats which can both spine and cut you if you are'nt careful. I keep a small one in with discus pairs to clean up left over beefheart particles. The discus never even notice them. Banjos are one of the nicest of aquarium oddities especially for their low cost. I recommend them to all aquarists who have never kept one. It is too bad they are'nt as easy to breed as they are to keep. I think a tankful of baby banjo cats would be quite a sight.

grokefish · Post by **grokefish** » 19 Sep 2006, 14:57

I had one once back years ago when I was a wee boy, I squashed him by accident whilst cleaning the tank. He hid so much I forgot he was there. I was gutted.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 19 Sep 2006, 20:43

I was thinking that cleaning the tank is going to be quite the task. It's neat, the way they breath. You think they're dead. Then, they suddenly breath and move a bit. I noticed that I could touch the tail and nothing happened....yet. A friend from my local fish club wants to unload his. They're the same. So, I offered to take them. This should get interesting!

Amanda

grokefish · Post by **grokefish** » 21 Sep 2006, 08:45

I like the way they swim, mine used to leave tracks all over the sand.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 24 Sep 2006, 16:10

I had no problems with the water change. They actually came out to play(night photos):

I fed them at about 10 pm last night. They become so active. It was sort of a clumsy ballet. I didn't realise how long their barbels were. I think they curled them under when they were in the bag. These 2 are inseparable. They're always near one another. Are they considered social among themselves?
Amanda

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 24 Sep 2006, 16:47

they eat insects in nature im pretty sure and use that undergravel thing to ambush its prey

I'm not convinced of this ZachPaul. A true ambush predator will generally have a much larger mouth - e.g. Chaca sp.

My observation is that these fish hide in the substrate to avoid predation. They probably live in very shallow water in the wild.

Amanda, be really carefull when moving decor. As grokefish found out, they just don't move when you dump a rock on them!

I tended to remove then from the tank and put them in a bucket while i was rearranging.

Another cool thing with these fish is that they buzz when you lift them out of the water.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 25 Sep 2006, 22:11

Thanks, Racoll. I was almost tempted to clean off the one piece of driftwood in the tank, but something told me to hold off.

The first things I look for in the morning in that tank are the two tails. Are they in a different location? And how close are they? I'm also trying to figure out if they come out when the tank is dark, or if it's a certain number of hours they need before they come out. I have my tanks on timers. There's a "nap" time to cut down on the algae. They don't seem to come out as far as I can see with the nap time. It seems to be 10 pm, without fail, they stir from the substrate(about an hour after the lights go off). I guess I'm wondering what makes a fish nocturnal. It's fun to observe these things.

Amanda

ZachPaul · Post by **ZachPaul** » 26 Sep 2006, 05:57

yea, i wasnt 100% forsure, but thats what i heard about the ambush thing.

i know i have to set the food on top of mines head andfight off the diamond tetra while it slowly eats.

they are really neat.

do they 'shed'? i think i might have seen mine do that once.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 26 Sep 2006, 17:37

ZachPaul wrote:do they 'shed'? i think i might have seen mine do that once.

Yes, they do.

Dave Rinaldo · Post by **Dave Rinaldo** » 26 Sep 2006, 18:31

This is a pic of a shedding.

Pics 5-9 depict the same fish during shedding.

Post by **Shane** » 26 Sep 2006, 18:41

I have always cought them in various caÃ±os where there is little current and the water is relatively warm (78-83F). They are usually found in between 6" and 2 feet of depth and always among leaf litter. I assume they find their food scrounging under the leaf litter for small morsals.
-Shane

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 26 Sep 2006, 19:21

Shane,
I think scrounging pretty much sums up their life style. I would not characterize them as "ambush predators". They are too lazy for that. That's whyI use them as scavengers in my discus spawning tanks because they present such a low threat to the fry but do hunt down lost food at night mostly but they don't turn down any morsel that fall in front of there mouth.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 27 Sep 2006, 13:13

I meant to add that it is no problem using a gravel vac as long as you either locate the banjo or gently insert the tube into the sand. Banjo cats were my first catfish I kept except Corygoras some 45 years ago and the remain one of my favorites to this day.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 29 Sep 2006, 20:40

Is that what the bubbles are? The female is shedding. I'll take a few pictures. Thanks for the info, Shane&Dave. I've seen such a variety of water temps listed for them. The tank is 75 degrees F. at the moment and they're coming out more often, as if anticipating the lights going off and being fed. I put a bunch of plant cuttings on the other end of the tank a few days ago as substitute "leaf litter."
Amanda

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 30 Sep 2006, 16:19

There was some sloughed off skin in the tank. Is she looking rather "full" or "well fed?" This was during the day.

Amanda

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 30 Sep 2006, 16:27

looks like a healthy well fed Banjo to me.

not gorged to the brim; they can and do look like they swallow golfballs whole when you feed too much

my Platystacus are worse; I swaer they (a pair) eat as much as the other 30 something cats combined....if I tune down the feeding the other cats get thin, but the Platystacus will even go to the surface to suck up the food before anyone else can have a go.
they eat ANYTHING.......once I used to feed pleco-tabs and spirulina tabs to my Sturisoma pair (the algae are long gone; good cleaners), and the Platystacus nearly bit it due to massive overfeeding

they ate ALL the tabs -swallowed them whole- and now I use only flake when feeding spirulina.

a 20mm tab gets eaten in a single gulp.

what do you feed them, Amanda? IME they too accept almost anything, but they really get into it when fed with bloodworms, pieces of earthworm and the like.

and strange as it may seem -them being so slow- they can eat small fish as well IME.......

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 30 Sep 2006, 17:32

Bloodworms, earthworms, whiteworms, grindalworms and beefheart blend are all gorged on by banjos. I bought my six at the smallest size I've ever seen them (1-1/4") and have been keeping one in each discus pair tank but they are all about 2-1/2 inches now and as they make themselves available I've been gatheringing them together to grow up and possibly have one of those "reported to spawn occasionally in captivity" happenings. They will need to double their size before being large enough to have a chance of spawning but it would make a nice addition to pc's archives if it happens and gets documented.
As this thread has shown, quite a few of us are interested in banjo cats so why don't we try to breed them? There is a better chance for it to happen if enough of us are trying. I don't think they would need much space and a few small tetras, pencils and hatchets would keep the tank more interesting without interfering with the banjos reproductive biology, IMO.

Post by **Shane** » 30 Sep 2006, 18:44

As this thread has shown, quite a few of us are interested in banjo cats so why don't we try to breed them?

I could not agree more. They stay fairly small, do not need a lot of space, and are easy to keep. I have thought for a long time that they would be well worth dedicating a 15-20 gallon tank to for a couple of years to see what happens.
I would hazard to guess that they spawn with the onset of the rainy season. Give a group of 8-10 a couple of years to grow up then lower the water level for a few weeks before hitting them with a series of soft water (RO) changes that drop the temp.
-Shane

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 30 Sep 2006, 19:53

Hi Shane,
Great minds think alike. I hope a few per cent of pc'ers will join in on this project. Banjos have been in the hobby too long without a well documented spawning account. It's about time to change all that.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 01 Oct 2006, 17:39

sid,
I've been feeding them a variety of foods: bloodworms, mysis shrimp, glass worms and I also tried the Hikari sinking tablets. They are vaccuum cleaners! During the day, snails move faster than they do. But, at night, there seems to be this "negotiation" between the male and female over the food. It doesn't seem aggressive. They just nudge each other with their barbels. One or the other gets the food. Since I noticed this, I placed food in various areas of the tank. It ALL disappears. Every last bit. Nothing is left. Since their quarantine is over, I'm thinking of moving them up in tank size, but keeping it a species tank. I'm ready to rearrange my tanks. I already use RO water and they're getting a once-weekly change. I'll watch and wait, patiently. Life at the pace of a Banjo is really different.

Amanda

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 01 Oct 2006, 18:37

Amanda,
You can see why I use them as the "vacuum cleaner" in my discus breeding tanks. Just one takes care of anything remotely edible left over.
I am rounding them up to bring them all together but it is going slowly because they are still small and I have a small chunk of Malayan driftwood in their tanks and they can wedge deeply inside the cracks in the driftwood during the day. Otherwise the tanks are bare bottomed.
Larry

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 02 Oct 2006, 13:45

Larry,
Where do they "burrow" if there's no substrate? Do you use leaf litter? It's autumn in my area and the leaves are about to fall off of the trees. I'm wondering how I would go about taking oak leaves and safely making true leaf litter. Do I boil the leaves?
Amanda

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 02 Oct 2006, 14:28

Amanda,
Burrowing is just one of their ways. They are just as happy to wedge themselves in the nooks an crannies of the drifttwood. They are not obligate burrowers. Just obligate daytime reclusives. I know from experience that either or both methods together satisfy their basic needs. I use similar tank decor for my Tatia perugiae or Hypancistrus plecos. I add smooth fat pebbles and small rocks in catfish only tanks but the discus tanks are barebottom and a banjo cat in there hides in or under the small piece of Malation diftwood. As I'm gathering them up their new tank the decor will be more cozy with some soft sand , smooth gravel/pebble with more Maylay driftwoood and some potted swords and Crypts. I will provide leaf litter when banjos are full grown and conditioned for a spawning attempt so they can have a choice in nest building

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 12 Oct 2006, 17:49

I was out for most of the day yesterday. When I came home, I happened upon the female, was "standing" like this in a small thicket of plants:

Her breathing was normal and relaxed. She was rubbing her belly a bit on the leaves. I noticed some shedding around her dorsal area (not the fin). Even with me staring at her, she just turned around a little in this position. I watched her for another 20 minutes(I was still in my jacket, camera in hand!). She eventually made her way to the prone position, dug a small rut for herself in the substrate and sort of covered herself with the plants. The male, was buried in the substrate, as usual. I was facinated and so very confused. Is this typical?

Amanda

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 12 Oct 2006, 18:50

Pretty much everything banjo cats do is typical. They are just a weird fish.