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On sunday I bought a pair of king tiger plecs (L066) for £45 (good price?). They are both about 4 inches long but I can't tell sexes yet. They are in a 30" long with 5 Endler's livebearers. Tank contains lots of caves, rocks and bogwood. Filtration is one fluval 3 and one fluval 1. I am feeing them frozen bloodworm and algae wafers and they probably get the odd bit of flake to. One of them seems to be doing fine, very bold colours, moves about, seen eating, but the other one I am a little worried about. It is more pale than the first one and not as bold. It doesn't come out much (that I can see). I am not sure whether it is eating or not. Any help regarding the setlling of these fishes would be much appreciated.
Cheers, Nick

Hi!
What is the water T°?
How is your tank fournished?
Any caves, wood?
Colour of the sand?
You shall let them settle in a bit, it is normal that the first few days the fish does not exib a "normal" colour.
When do you usually feed them?
Try feeding them whe light are out...
THe colour of the second specimen can be explain by several reason:
not settled yet...each fish behave differently and with some thing can take longer than with others...
He also might be the submissive...
Cheers
Yann

Hey Hippy,

I too bought a pair of King Tiger Plecs on Monday, from my LFS for £25 each! They are about full size (4.5" sound about right)?

They settled into good old London Tap water PH 7.2, 0 Nitrite, Minimal Nitrate, DH 12,KH 10.
The tank is furnished with bogwood and branches of Oak and some leaf litter some Anubias and Java fern. The substrate is light river sand.

They have both taken bloodworm and algae wafers and seem to be acting 'normally'. I have put some floating plants to subdue the lighting and there happens to be a few dither fish too.

I know little of these fish at the mo but i hope this helps

Water temp. =74 (i'm about to put it up to 78-80 , i think its gone down due to the cold)
Ph. =7
Tank size= 30"x15"x12"
Tank is furnished with lots of rocks and caves. Two big bits of bogwood, 1 medium, 2 small.
Two filters, one fluval 3, one fluval 1.
Fish are fed one cube of bloodworm in morning, one in evening (enough/to much?)
Substrate is gravel with sandy patches, the sand is river sand, (not white).
Lights on at 6.30, off at 9.30 (is this too much light?)
There are about 10 crypts in the tank along with one anubias on a small bit of bogwood.
The 4inches is total length, they are about 3inches SL.
What floating plants have you used Matpreec?
Cheers

I have also now dimmed 1/3 of the tank with aluminium foil. Is this ok
Cheers

I too purchased one today, 35.99 US Dollars and would love to hear more about their preferences and care. Read Shane's article, fascinating stuff. I keep shrimp pellets for my corys - so I'll drop in a few tonight at feeding time, see if he comes out.

How to tell if its male or female? Any 1 particular tell-tale thing?

I have mine in a South American tank, 125 Gallons (6 feet long), ph 7.4, temp 76F, 0 amm, 0 nitrite, <5ppm nitrates. Beach sand (white), lots of wood, fake plants, a couple of caves. Shares with a L. Pardalis, 2 Angelfish, 1 Black Ghost Knife and assorted corydoras and the odd couple - a pair of kribs. Think he will enjoy his new home?

Cheers guys,
I have now seen both fish feeding, thankfully The one that I thought wasnt feeding just prefers to feed after dark, perhaps why I couldnt see him feeding, until, I watched..... and waited.....and waited for 20mins and all was revealed!!!!!! Cheers again for all help
Matpreec, just a thought..... my pair (if they can be called that) both SEEM to be male. I your fish both turn out to be female, or you have a female and would be willing to sell, please could you contact me? Oh yeah, where did you get your one's from?
Cheers, Hippyguy

I couldnt see him feeding, until, I watched..... and waited.....and waited for 20mins and all was revealed!!!!!!


Thats the best part about catfish keeping. I love that moment. When everything becomes alive after minutes or HOURS of waiting hahahaha