My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

[bekateen]

The synos look ginormous !

[Viktor Jarikov]

I've dipped my toes in with tigs, aka Brachyplatystoma tigrinum, 3 times. This is my second tig ever that I got from George Fear of Shark Aquarium back in the Summer 2015. Came at ~3"-4". It's not easy to say what size it is today but looks about 15".

It's been easy to feed - it likes its pellets and fish, actually preferring pellets, which are nothing fancy - Zeigler Bros. catfish farm pellet (that RD. would not even feed to his fish for free, he says) at ~$30 for 44 lbs before shipping.

When it was in 240 gal, it was pretty aggressive to ~any other Brachie. In 4500 gal it appears to have been better behaved, not bothering other Brachies and no one appears to bother it. Currently there are two more Brachies in the tank - another tig at ~12" (in the opposite corner) and a vaillantii at ~15" (this guy swims all over like a boss, still has both long extensions on both caudal lobes). I had to pull out my troublesome capapretum last week as some tank mates (not sure who, never caught) were bothering it too much. I'd not be surprised if they were the three mentioned above but it'd have to be at night.

[Annabellam]

Wow! Simply amazing!

[bekateen]

Very nice.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Thanks, guys and gals!

I got two bolt catfish at 3"-4" from Ted's Fishroom the Summer of 2015 ($90 each), which makes them now about 2 years old. Now they are about a foot already. I fail to discern any external differences between the two. Very lively assertive catfish, easy to feed, not vicious with tank mates, graceful yet robust with beautiful markings, but they have zero tolerance for each other. It became evident from the start. Ted shipped them to me separately, of course, but I combined them for acclimation. When I returned in a few minutes after I had just let them out of their bags into an acclimation cooler, I found the bigger one had already dug into the smaller one. Yikes.

Luckily they heal well. So they grew up to about 6"-7" in separate 240 gal tanks in about 6 months. Then I combined them in one of our 4500 gal. They haven't fought too badly at first but then it gradually changed. They do keep away from each other but every time they bump into each other, it turns into a cartoonish ball of two bending and flying bodies (if there was dust, they'd be in a cloud of dust) where each simultaneously tries to bite the other and avoid being bitten by the other or pull a fin out of the other's mouth... Time has not helped it. Their fins are usually ripped and barbels are half bitten off, as you will see in the video below. Lately I started noticing that the dominant one has started giving an occasional chase to our much larger 16"-22" vulture catfish.

I am thinking I will need to separate them again next time I pump down the tank. Here is a short video compilation. The dominant one occupies the coveted bottom section right in the middle of the strongest current. The indomitable challenger scours the walls all around the tank and the viewing window:

[Viktor Jarikov]

The cigar sharks have been growing very well. I think they are now ~22", having tacked on a couple of inches.

The following video though is from the same day as their first video, that is from Dec 2016 when they were ~20", just a different angle and some pellets in the water:

[Viktor Jarikov]

Here is my first flowerhorn. Got it as a rescue from Tampa about 4 years ago. The prior owner said it's low grade or some such. It doesn't have much red but IDK much about them. I got it at about 8" and it is now about 14", maybe more, hard to say. It lived in various ponds and tanks and has been in one of our 4500 gal for about the last 1.5-2 years.

It'd give problems to almost any other fish in a 240 gal but in 4500 gal it's been a complete opposite, very mellow. Our 10"-12" umbee used to dominate it a bit but now it appears that it does.

Here is a video of the fish:

[Viktor Jarikov]

Another video now showing the 5 giant gourami, 3 red tail ~12"-14", tattooed pink ~22", & common~16", in 4500 gal. The red tails show up for a brief moment though, I need to film them better in the future.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Another video compilation of the bigger of the two unknown mahseer from Ivan @Aw3s0m3 sold as golden thai mahseer. (Shot the same day as the first video)

[Viktor Jarikov]

Here is whatever little footage I scraped up of our two Distichodus lusosso, ~15", ~2 years old, in 4500 gal. They often chase each other and engage in what appears as fighting but never show any bodily damage. Easy fish, like thawed fish but are quite fine with pellets too. Appear to play well with tank mates in 4500 gal. In smaller tanks they can be unpredictable and crabby as apparently all Distichodus.

They do engage in the same behavior with their equally-sized cousin D. sexfasciatum while leaving another one, that's roughly 2 feet, alone.

I got them from Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics.

[Viktor Jarikov]

We currently house 3 rescued adult Marbled Pim catfish aka Leiarius marmoratus and two of them are featured in the following video. A lot is known about them so I'll try to only mention anything noteworthy about ours.

The male (from Ft. Myers, FL) is thinner and is about 24" and is by far, like 1000x more active than the two females (I only go by their girth to sex them, having not tried anything else). He is first in the video.

Second at the end of the short footage is an ~28" female that we got about 4 years ago. She is an example that... well... things happen. I got her from a prior owner (in Sarasota, FL) out of a 4'x4'x2' rubber liner pond where it grew to ~2' along side a bunch of clown loaches and other small fish. She looked good though.

She's done well in our ponds too for a couple of years and for a year she's been fine in one of our 4500 gal. Then one day I noticed she's losing one eye, probably having got poked in it. Well, unfortunate but it is fathomable. Then some months later she broke her snout and not just at the end but the bone plate broke right about in between her eyes. I've no idea how or why it happened. She healed up apparently ok but the snout now... well, you can see for yourself, it's like a snow plow.

You try your best but sometimes things completely unpredictable happen. I still am clueless as to what happened. During that period of several months she was relatively active or might be even restless. She's been sedentary, calm before and after that period.

A third one is also ~30" (also from Ft. Myers), is sedentary, and came from a tank that was fed feeder fish sometimes, so I didn't risk placing it in the "peaceful" community. It went into the other 4500 gal with all the "street toughs" where it's been faring ok. In general, these catfish are utterly non-predatory, preferring very strongly pellets to thawed fish. Mine lived for many years along side 3" koi and other easy would-be snacks but never touched them.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Two Siamese giant carp, ~12", ~2 years old, in 4500 gal. I obtained them from Raymond Chan of Amazing Fish in the Summer-Fall of 2015 at ~5"-6". This is my second try. The first try was with two 4"-ers from Wes Wong several months earlier. They have done well but I transferred them too soon into the 4500 gal and in several days they got stuck head first in the drain screen that's a pipe with 1" drilled holes. That was devastating and I was so happy when I saw them again on Ray's list.

Ray's fish have done well so far adapting to the tank, tank mates, and my ways of feeding. They still try to get most food from the water column by incessant and stubborn filter feeding but now have learned to go down to the bottom too to get the pellets off the bottom. I try to feed as often as I can.

One of them has a sort of double tail, if you look closely, you will see there is a small remnant of another tail sticking out of the upper portion of the caudal peduncle

Their fins are often tattered a bit, especially the caudal tips and I used to think it was my two banded leporinus or Catla catla or maybe other barbs or silver dollars but recently saw one of the 16" VATF go after the upper caudal lobe tip. Still, they appear to be happy, outgoing fish:

[Viktor Jarikov]

Smaller pima. Shot same day as its first video. Just another example of Master beggar extraordinare: What are you looking at? Can't you see I am hungry and wanting?

(As a side note, I am starting to think this one is a male and the 2x bigger one in the other 4500 gal is a female based on their growth and behavior.)

[Viktor Jarikov]

Slightly better short video of Tor progenious, ~2', in 4500 gal, filmed as the above video of the same fish on Dec 2016:

[Viktor Jarikov]

Blue mahseer, aka Neolissochilus stracheyi, ~15" in 4500 gal. Got it from Ivan @Aw3s0m3 on MFK now it seems like a year ago but this was filmed in Dec 2016. Like all mahseer, it is an incessant eating and prowling machine. Loves current, harassing new tank mates initially, and thawed fish, in the absence of which it is happy to try and get all the pellets it possibly can... and even some that it can't...

[Viktor Jarikov]

Two Indo-Pacific tarpon, ~15", ~3 years old, in 4500 gal. I got 5 of them at 2"-3" from John at Aquarium and Reef Center in Cape Coral, FL. When they were small, they displayed a kind of flexibility that I think I have never seen in any other fish. It was as if they had no backbone, extremely agile and flexible and graceful they were in a 1500 gal pond for the first year of their life with me.

Two of them failed to convert to the non-live foods I was offering, despite having tried about 20 different kinds literally. One, by far the biggest, was rehomed into a 4500 gal very early on but then I had problems in there and miscalculated a medication dose. Thus, I am left with just two.

They grow slowly. At this rate, I'll have to live to over 100 years old to see them hit 3' Amazingly they prefer my cheap catfish farm pellets (and other pellets that are offered less frequently like NLS and Hikari) to any kind of thawed fish, etc. In the 3 years I've had them, it was only this week that I saw one briefly chase the other. Until then I only saw them in total harmony with each other and their tank mates.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Some photos from one of the 240 gal:

[Viktor Jarikov]

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[Viktor Jarikov]

... Luciobarbus brachycephalus aka Aral barbel or Caspian barbel:

[Viktor Jarikov]

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[Viktor Jarikov]

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[Viktor Jarikov]

Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics transferred this umbee cichlid to us ~1.5 years ago. It was about 7" and grew to about 9" in a few of our 240 gal tanks. It was a bit challenging to find compatible tank mates for it in 240 gal. Either it would harass them, even some as aggressive as purple Labeo, or they would as was the case with Asian red tail catfish.

It's done much better in a 4500 gal, where it has been for about 8-10 months now and reached ~14". It became ~completely relaxed. Every now and then it may get into a tiny argument with a ~14" flowerhorn. It appears to prefer high quality pellets to cheaper pellets, which it still takes, and to thawed fish.

[Viktor Jarikov]

True Brachyplatystoma vaillantii catfish, ~12", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016. Great many thanks to Wesley Wong for bringing it in from Suriname. Got it Summer 2016 at ~7"-8". After it had added on a couple more inches in 240 gal, it went into a 4500 gal. In every tank it was, it was always intact and lacked even any slight damage to its fins, while other Brachyplatystoma, such as capapretum, platynemum, rosseauxii, in the same 240 gal with it bore some damage to the fins. I tentatively blame the vaillantii. In 4500 gal it appears to have relaxed a lot. It is still damage-free and still has two nice extensions on both caudal lobes, despite having a bunch of nipping tank mates. It really likes its cheap catfish farm pellets and was ~12" in Dec 2016. Now, in Mar 2017 it looks to have added another ~2".

[Viktor Jarikov]

Two vittatus African tigerfish, ~16", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016.

These two are from an original quintet I got from Wesley Wong at ~3" in Summer of 2015, which were my first ever ATFs. I gave them a bare 240 gal of their own. They were skittish throughout most of their time in that 240 gal and I remember being very afraid to spook them, walking by as far as I could from the tank, making sure no light was turned on near them, approaching the tank like a sloth when I had to feed them, etc... Wes scared me that they may slam into a wall and kill themselves.

Little by little they took to cut thawed fish as a staple. Then they started taking Hikari floating sticks too.

At about 6"-7" they went into a 4500 gal, which was ~1 year and a few months ago. They relaxed greatly in there. Despite having left a nightlight on, there were only 4 the next morning. The smallest one was eaten by a tank mate in their first night in 4500 gal. In several months after that, one evening I haven't turned the tank light on in time after it got dark and the tank was in darkness for ~30-60 min, and sure enough, as I feared there were only 3 now. Another one was eaten. Albeit I still don't know by which tank mate.

After that, the three survivors did very well for a long while, reaching ~12". They never schooled anymore and there was a clear pecking order - alpha, beta, and gamma. I relaxed and stopped watching them closely, only to find out several months later that somehow there were only 2 left. I've no clue what happened to the gamma VATF but I suppose the other two might have been too harsh on it for too long. Their chasing is lightning fast but not prolonged, not relentless; it is rather occasional, so I thought the beta and gamma were relatively safe.

Anyhow, this is how I ended up with just these two.

Aug-Sept 2016, I bought two more VATF from Wes, which have been growing in a 240 gal community. The $$ was tight. I really needed to buy 6 or more. They came in at ~3" and are ~6" now, eating the same diet of catfish farm pellet and thawed fish. They weren't nearly as skittish as the first 5, perhaps because there were plenty of calm tank mates in with them producing dither effect.

IDK how or when I might be able to try and place these two with the original two, if ever. I too got six ~3"-4" GATF from Wes a couple of weeks ago. It'd be ideal if I could house all ATF together at some point. But IDK how or when it'd be doable.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Here is a video of the surviving Vieja melanura cichlid, ~14", in 4500 gal, filmed in Dec 2016, playing hide and seek with me. It pales up when I turn on a bunch of light for filming. Usually it is more colorful, as here https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... ie.677065/ ... but alive...

[Viktor Jarikov]

Wels catfish, ~14"-16", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Tank 22, 4500 gal, update filmed Apr 20, 2017:

10 RTC, 3 TSN, 7 pacu, 4 paroon shark catfish, 2 jau catfish, barramundi perch, arapaima, Distichodus sexfasciatum, 2 TSNxRTC hybrid catfish, Marbled Pim catfish, TSNxMarbled Pim hybrid catfish, Wallago leerii

[Viktor Jarikov]

A 40-minute long in-tank video update of tank 21, 4500 gal, "relatively peaceful" community. Complete catfish list is below. Others include silver aros, cichlids, wolves, bowfin, yellowcheek, bala sharks, tinfoil barbs, Phoenix barbs, mahseer, pima, VATF, Catla catla, Siamese giant carp, red hook SDs, tarpon, giant gourami, gar, and pbass.

Niger catfish 5x (30"-36"; only one male/skinny; vacuum cleaners)

Marbled pim 3x (skinnier male and 2 fuller-bodied females 2’ each)

Marbled sailfin pim 3x (2’ each, indecisive, can never figure out the pecking order)

Iridescent shark catfish 4x (all ~2')

Black ear shark (~1'; calmed down a LOT with age and size)

Sun catfish 8x (7”-10”; gluttons lacking any self control)

Giraffe catfish 6x (two ~1'+ occidentalis cf Bouche; ~1' tanganicanus or tchadiensis or else (sold as from Volta river); ~1' one from Niger river,;~1' one sold as from Congo river, probably wittei; ~15" wittei named Happy from @Beetlebug515 )

Bolt catfish (~10"; character)

Albino Hemibagrus nemurus (~10”)

Pterodoras granulosus 3x (15”, 10”, 10”; gluttons)

Irwini catfish (~18”)

Vulture catfish 6x (~14"-20"; characters)

Aluminum catfish, Chrysichthys ornatus, 2x (~1’)

Tig catfish (~15”, 2 year old)

Asian RTC (~16”, from @rmkblades finicky even after many months in 240 gal but blossomed into an all out eating machine and model citizen so far in 4500 gal)

Brachyplatystoma vaillantii (~15" from Wes)

Piraiba (~22" from Wes; Suriname)

Sperata aor Indian shovelnose catfish 3x (~12"-15" from Raymond Chan)

[Viktor Jarikov]

I got 5 little yellowcheeks aka Elopichthys bambusa from Wesley Wong of Rare Fish in California back in Aug 2015 at ~1"-1.5". Tiniest wigglers.

Because they have a simple, straight gut and similar to perch and bass their metabolism is very quick, they require frequent feedings when small, which lessens with age but remains a factor to keep in mind. They have been easy to feed for me from the start. I give them catfish farm pellet (Zeigler Bros) and thawed marine baitfish. When they are relaxed, their appetite is superb but they stress way too easy.

Although they ate well and grew well, I still lost 3 over many months to unknown reasons, eating one day, dead the next. Perhaps I am guessing I lost them to too soft water or unstable pH (my water was largely RO water with a little hardness picked up here and there, KH and GH of a couple degrees). Fixed my water since then.

The two survivors did well in 240 gal and I tried three (!) times to introduce them into 4500 gal.

The first try in 4500 gal was about Nov-Dec 2016, when they were ~16"-17" and they lasted a week in there. They've not eaten while in there and apparently have been harassed around. Eventually I think my two ~14"-16" VATF started biting them badly and I fished them out half-alive with ~all fins damaged, lots of scales missing, and a few deep fleshy wounds near the tail. So I placed them back into their 240 gal. They are shy fish that never answer back, only try to swim away. They stress way too easy. They are exceedingly timid with other fish. They have no teeth, their jaws are aggressively shaped but very smooth.

They healed up well and thickened up a lot in a 240 gal for a few months and added on a few inches, reaching 18"-20", so I gave them a second try in 4500 gal this Feb 2017. The first day my smaller ~1'-1.5' mahseer were giving them hard time (they do it to all new comers by biting their fins, not that they can bite them off, so I am not sure what they are trying to accomplish) joined by a 10" dorado, so I stuck a large fish net in the tank overnight. They all respect the net (or are afraid of the newness it introduces) and stop their aggressive behavior, giving new fish a chance to adjust at the expense of the old population being a tiny bit stressed.

Still for 4-5 days the yellowcheeks have not eaten. The bodily damage was a lot less than the first time, actually tolerable except the tails were getting more tattered bit by bit. Even saw my lonely koi lunge at them. What??

240 Gal was a bit too tight for them already. When they beg for food they do it exceedingly energetically, often hitting the glass lids and splashing water out even with weights on the lids. They are great swimmers and need space. Regrettably, I've got nothing between 240 and 4500 gal for now.

I kept hoping that maybe once they get accustomed and comfortable in 4500 gal, or when they get bigger, they would turn. There still was no big damage to the pair, just the tails were getting more tattered. Then one started feeding and rather well! The other got a good size bite on its flank, and kept showing zero interest in feed. In a few days, despite having at least a 50% success, more or less, I removed both into their 240 gal.

The third attempt has been ongoing for the last couple of weeks, that's May 2017, when they both reached roughly 2' in 240 gal. The scenario has been playing out about the same as the second try - slightly bigger and thicker one was doing much better than the other. In the first week, I missed the point of no return when the weaker one's been harassed too much. Removed it to 240 gal tank but about half a day too late. In one day it died.

Thus, down to my last cheek, which is still swimming in the 4500 gal, coping with aggression ok, eating well. It's a challenge to feed though because it darts from all other more aggressively feeding and snappy tank mates - pima, aros, and pbass.

[USER=121902]@sunnysjourney[/USER] reported about the same observations, with which I concur ~ entirely. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... st-7680476 I was surprised that Sunnys' did well with the GATF for a tank mate. I did note the tail tips of his cheek have been always (?) bitten off. I suppose it's the GATF. My VATF do it to many fish. But if so, it didn't bother Sunnys' yellowcheek enough that it stopped feeding.

Be that as it may, some photos of my cheeks and the post mortum too:

[Viktor Jarikov]

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