An unusual present.....

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 08 Oct 2006, 16:41

Today was the big day of the NVC (translates as Dutch Society of Cichlidkeepers) of wich I am a member.

quite a nice day, big auction with loads of hobbyists and traders and two presentations; one by Werner Stawikowski and one by Ad Konings. I checked out Ad's because I'm a Rift-fish enthousiast. despite the subject being the feeding habits of diverse Malawian fish (I'm into Tanganyikan fish) I liked it; loads of nice video's including Aristochromis christyi hunting fish and the highly eccentric habits of the famous Electric Blue (Sciaenochromis freyeri; formerly known as 'ahli'). a nice bonus was a brand new series of underwater pictures of Bagrus meridionalis with fry and the diverse interactions of this huge catfish with all kinds of cichlidspecies, but I digress

a trader who I'm friends with had something....eely... wriggly....a customer sold it to him, just before I wandered past his stand.
it immediately caught my eye! on the bag was written "apus catfish" but a closer look revealed tiny pectoral and ventral fins. once I said I was interested in this weird fish i got it for a present!

so now I'm the proud owner of an adult Gymnallabes typus

it's a new species for me, I never kept it before.
let's hope it's not too piscivore -doesn't say so in the catelog- because it's not going into the large Tanganyikan tank (pH way too high), but the bogwood riddled riverine biotope tank in with the Doras, the Mochokiella's etc.

toddnbecka · Post by **toddnbecka** » 10 Oct 2006, 07:01

Long barbels, big mouth, generally ugly critter, (sounds like my sister-in-law

) I'd expect it to eat anything small, but looks more like an opportunistic scavenger than a predator. Members of that family are escape artists, and don't depend entirely on their gills for breathing. I'd put a brick on the tank lid to make sure it doesn't go wandering.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 10 Oct 2006, 07:32

already found out about that; found him near the kitchen yesterday

the hood's well closed but Mr Eely managed to squeeze himself between the filterhoses and got out that way.
fortunately he still lives! he's got a really rough day, lying on his side and all, but he's still kicking and seems to get better, slowly.

should have known that a hole barely enough to stick a finger through is big enough for him.

yeah, he breathes air; I know Clariids. but this one has a small mouth compared to any Clarias species.

I expected it to bury itself in the sand like Channallabes, but it doesn't. so maybe it's the crowded floorspace -it's a catfishtank after all- that made him crawl out.
fortunately it's gonna be less crowded in a week or so; there's 10 Callichthyds ready to leave (Hoplo's, Cory's).

toddnbecka · Post by **toddnbecka** » 10 Oct 2006, 08:44

Good to hear the refugee survived. Found near the kitchen, maybe he/she was on the way to check out the leftovers in the fridge?

Actually, it may prefer a less crowded environment, and some sort of plants for cover, if it isn't a substrate-burrowing fish. They aren't aggressive, so it's likely they prefer to hide by day. I stuffed some scraps of sponge into the gaps around the filter intake/outflow lines in my tank cover to keep the fish wet.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 10 Oct 2006, 22:53

This is one tough fish.

it rests peacefully on the sand now, surrounded by my crowd of Dorads (Doras punctatus or something), breathing slow and easy.
apart from a bend whisker not a scratch, skin and finnage look OK to me.

but I sure clogged all the holes in the hood now; and if it tries to lift it.....can't see a 8" eely fish lift a hood that weighs at least 6 kilo's with all the rubbish on it.

I'm off to nightfeed it, it'll probably like mosquitolarvae or something.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 17 Oct 2006, 10:37

unfortunately it hasn't proven as tough as I expected.....

I think it's the pH (and perhaps the other spiny fishes; there's dorads in there, lots) that's going to do it in.

it refuses to eat, the whiskers are detoriating and I just spotted a whole piece of skin missing from the belly. I can see the fibers of muscles....like cooked eel or something.
the fins are red-edged, the slime on the skin looks bad despite the fact that I've been using a good medication for bacterial infections for 3-4 days now, but with no effects whatsoever.

yesterday I checked on nitrites and all; no such stuff. water's fine. I didn't see him yesterday and the day before that; assumed all was getting better, catfish are supposed to hide after all.

but the pH is about 7,7 or so and there's no way I can lower this; tapwater is 8.....there's already lots of wood in that tank and peat (but old) buried in the substrate; once I do a waterchange it's only going to get worse for him.

now I just spotted the other fishes showing signs of stress, faster breathing and all; to save the others in that tank from certain disaster I have to euthanize it. if a fish that size starts rotting in there, the water will go bust.

bummer.

snowball · Post by **snowball** » 17 Oct 2006, 11:51

Sorry to hear about that, it looked like a really interesting fish.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 17 Oct 2006, 11:59

yeah, to me too.

perhaps it carried some bad disease with him? It's been really long ago that I managed to waste a catfish in such a short time. during the 6 week heatwave last juli even all my Amphilius and Akysis survived with tanktemperatures ranging up to 36-37'C for weeks (no way to cool that tank).

and apart from 5 Doras added to my other Doras spp I haven't bought any new fishes for over a 18 months.

but I'm sure going to do a few big waterchanges, add some meds and keep a close watch on that tank. the Bluegreens algae have returned as well after being absent for a long time and that's a sure sign there's something going wrong.

Stab · Post by **Stab** » 10 Dec 2006, 00:46

Sucks that he didn't make it

I have 3 of these guys, and have had them for about 2 years now. Not sure if its a Appus or Typus though -- both species look the same to me. My specimens I believe are fully grown and at 20 inches of lenght are super tough customers. I keep them in an african oddball tank (polypterides, brown knife, butterflyfish, etc.) and they all get along fine. IMO eel cats are not aggressive, and when fully grown their mouths are surprisingly small comparing to their overall body size. They have a geaneral disposition of cory cats, just a bit more nocturnal and can be quite skittish. Provided with enough hide outs however, they can become very active during the day.

BTW, I think I am the only person in the US who is currently keeping these. If there is anyone else out there, I would love to hear about your experiences

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 10 Dec 2006, 10:49

the difference of apus and typus is easy to see:
"a pus" means "no feet" or "no limbs"; this species has no paired fins, not even tiny ones! it's like the Moray Eel.

the typus has pectoral and ventral fins. tiny, but they're there.

in general the typus is fatter too, a wider head and much longer barbels too.

Stab · Post by **Stab** » 11 Dec 2006, 01:51

sidguppy wrote:the difference of apus and typus is easy to see:
"a pus" means "no feet" or "no limbs"; this species has no paired fins, not even tiny ones! it's like the Moray Eel.
the typus has pectoral and ventral fins. tiny, but they're there.
in general the typus is fatter too, a wider head and much longer barbels too.

Thanks for clarification! After all this time keeping these fish I finally know that they are indeed Apus