PlanetCatfish.com

Sup guys! I just joined not long ago but I haven't posted until now. I've heard a lot of good info from another forum and, catfish wise, everyone loves you guys there so I thought I'd join, give you a brief info and show you what I got.

Along with many others, I have acquired a few goonches this year, both Thai and Indian. From January until a few weeks ago, I lost 5 goonches 4 to unknown causes and 1 to an infection that was transferred from another fish. Last week, I got ahold of 2 rutilus! Right now, they are temporarily in a 20 to make the transition to pellets easier and then they will be going into a 50. They will be by themselves, I am using only RO water and the temp is at 78F. Hopefully this time it works out because, as you guys probably have heard, there has been an extremely high death rate with these guys with even the most experienced experts and still, the cause is unknown. I have a feeling it is the water which is why I am only using RO. Wish me luck guys!


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Welcome to Planet catfish

Hello and welcome to PCF.

Is the pattern of distribution of the substrate in your tank just down to the activity of the goonches?
The reason why I am asking (and I know that this tank is just a holding tank until your 50 is ready for them) is that I can not tell from your photographs if you are using more filtration than the sponge one shown in your photographs; if you are not, by simply adding a power head or better still an good internal filter, the increase in flow and movement of the water would be beneficial to your catfishes general well being.

Won't 100% RO cause severe PH spikes/crashes?

medaka wrote:Hello and welcome to PCF.

Is the pattern of distribution of the substrate in your tank just down to the activity of the goonches?
The reason why I am asking (and I know that this tank is just a holding tank until your 50 is ready for them) is that I can not tell from your photographs if you are using more filtration than the sponge one shown in your photographs; if you are not, by simply adding a power head or better still an good internal filter, the increase in flow and movement of the water would be beneficial to your catfishes general well being.

The substrate was like that cuz of their activity and the koralia I had in there. The filtration was mainly an AC20 and a koralia evo750. The sponge was mainly for BB and added aeration.

jimoo wrote:Won't 100% RO cause severe PH spikes/crashes?

I'm not quite sure. The RO was just an experiment cuz a lot of my fish stopped eating as much or at all for some reason. I think something may have been affecting my tap but 1 tank is doing fine. I also know that these are extremely sensitive fish that come from softer water, my water here is extremely hard, so I figured I might as well try RO since I already have the filter for my reef tank. I'd love to learn more about it affecting pH. I haven't heard about this mainly because I don't know anyone who uses RO for their fw tanks.

Unfortunately though, this past week was extremely hot, high 90's-100F, and our power went out for half the day while I was at school and they both died I may try again but this time with a 150g, unheated, for just a single HLG and possibly 3 blue masheer's. I just need to sell off the last remaining fish then reapply silicone cuz there's a small leak in a corner.


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Hey Aw3s0m3! Good to see you here. Sorry to hear about all these problems. I had not realized how many losses you suffered.

Having no firsthand experience with any goonches and having paid little attention to threads about goonches, I will be mostly useless.

Just to clarify and qualify your statement about wide-spread goonch losses, I thought I'd link one of the informative threads... http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... onch+death

Thanks Viktor. I am aware of that thread, I am also a member of MFK, and i remember discussing the topic with Rob through pm and so far, we still don't have a clue what happened. Just hypothesis. I personally believe that it is something in the water that is causing it. This is why I went the RO route instead of tap bc my water is extremely hard and these fish come from extremely soft water. I spoke to another member from MFK who kept his HLG for close to 3 years. He grew it from 6" to close to 3' and he told me that he used just tap and his water is pretty much liquid rock. His goonch also died during the time all the others did. So this is why I believe there is something else that we have or don't have in our water that is causing this.


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Right. We know each other from MFK I am "Thebiggerthebetter". The link I provided was meant for the readers of your thread to understand a bit better about the wide-spread goonch death problem. I know you are one of the MFK's prominent and most active goonch enthusiasts The link was not meant for you. Sorry.

Ohh. Haha I totally recognize that name! You helped me out a lot when I was neglecting my tank back in the day and my rtc broke out with some crazy bacteria that no one knew. The 1 that appeared to be some type of flesh eating bacteria. For your records, it healed completely with 30 min daily baths in prazipro, salt and melafix. It now lives happily in 1 of the other members large aquariums.

It is true. I freaking LOVE goonches and it breaks my heart that through all my experiments, I keep losing them. I just can't wait till Matt (estarego8) comes back from his 3 month trip with his results of how their water is in their natural habitats. That'll definitely help immensely.


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To give you a rough idea of flow, the Ramganga River in Uttarkhand (although the Bagarius from here don't enter the trade). I will upload a video sometime as well.

Thank you shovelnose. I am aware of how turbulent the water is but how deep is that river in the picks? What I'm mostly curious about is the water hardness/softness, pH, temps throughout the year, conductivity, any elements, etc.


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Im starting to think, after watching some episodes of river monsters, monster fish and other random youtube clips of goonch fishing that many of these goonches are being caught in extremely calm pools with little to no flow. It's obvious to me and other goonch owners that these fish love current because they always park themselves right in front of the powerhead or filter output but I am starting to think, how necessary is strong current for these fish? It definitely varies from species to species because not all rivers have the strong rapids that we usually picture these catfish living in such as the Thai variants compared to the Indians, but do they actually NEED the current that many of us thought was essential for their survival? Any and all input is greatly appreciated


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I dont believe current, per se, is neccessary - what is though, is massive aeration.

Some people increase their aeration using current so often they are linked but not neccessarily so

Richard B wrote:I dont believe current, per se, is neccessary - what is though, is massive aeration.

Some people increase their aeration using current so often they are linked but not neccessarily so

I have no evidence to prove this, just speculation but I feel even the amount of aeration needed is species dependent. It is obvious that the HLG's found in the Himalayas will need the greatest amount of O2 becuz they live in the coldest water out of the bunch but what about, let's say, a rutilus? They live in warmer waters in Thailand and even they have been found in the calm waters of small pools where there isn't high amounts of O2 formed by rapids.


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I believe in replicating the habitat (as closely as possible) where my fish come from. This is why I recommend taking current into account as well.

I feel the same way. That's why I'm trying to figure this out. Even though they're known to be found in the heavy rapids, from the clips I've seen on YouTube, majority of them are actually being caught in extremely calm pools with little to no current. I'm pretty much trying to figure out if they hang out in these pools and go to the rapids primarily to feed on fish that get caught in the current or do they actually spend majority of their time in these pools. Also, when they are in the rapids, are they in the open with the full force of the currents hitting them, or are they hiding behind large rocks and in caves?


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The depth was over a metre (rough estimate) with extreme current. A few locals did have a gill net out in the deepest part. Though nothing was caught in my presence, they kept talking about catching Bagarius and Tor in excess of thirty kilos from the same spot.

Damn! Those are some pretty beefy fish to catch in that shallow of water!


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