Catfish for the pacu vat

[Flutter]

It would be really neat to have a tank like the one pictured there!

[RTR]

Escape should not be an issue if they are reasonably housed and the water quality is decent. If the water is poor quality, they are more likely to go for a stroll in search of better accommodations. Ditto if the tank is undersized.

Given the size of these fish, this does call for a large tank and a clay pipe refuge. Live plants are acceptable- I used jungle val, established well before the fish was moved in. If the pipe refuge is unaesthetic, Anubias nana planted alongside will cover it with time - keep it trimmed away from the openings. The fish does not like a lot of light, so the floating Val leaves will shade the surface nicely, but keep the runner from limiting the free swimming space.

[soggydrysuit]

That planted tank looks to be at least 5 by 2 by 2 foot byt the size of the fish.

On that planet catfish site the owner states that they need to be six to eight inches to be able to sex them.

I'm expecting the one I have to be at least a foot long in a year and a minimum of sixteen inches as an adult size. I'm pretty sure it's C. bartrachis if I've spelled it right. Some of the other Clarias species get to four feet! Some are smaller.

I think I'll be ok with filtration - I'm getting practice at building them. Water changes - I should be ok with hoses and pond pumps. Could do two a week if needed. Takes me an hour.

It's a question of if I go for a pair, they need their own tank and if I just had one, I wonder if it would be ok in the stock vat with the pacu?

I'm not using lights, just lots of rocks. It seems that they live in swamps and paddy fields so vegitation and bogwood would be more natural.

Clay pipes would fit right in with the pacu's dustbin!

Thanks for you input and sharing your enthusiasm in these 'swamp beasts'

They're like mini wells catfish. On acid

I do realise that if I do get a pair, they will need a vat or tank to themselfs due to aggression. And I don't know what I'd do with the fry. Pairs spend most of the time doing everything together which is cute.

[soggydrysuit]

Substrate is playpit sand btw, any uneaten food sits on top and it's just wiggled it out of the way to make a nest under the power filter

Good thing the rocks are sitting on the tank base or there will be a rock slide. I'll start collecting driftwood from the beach again. Should be fine after a soak. There's some Anubias in the pacu vat that has survived. How much to coat a dustbin?!

The angelfish in there have just spawned on the end of the dustbin...

They can have the tank the catfish is in just now. Or it will eat them.

[soggydrysuit]

I'm not 100% sure, not taking pics next to a ruler but I suspect that the 'swamp beast' has increased in length by nearly an inch in a week and two days. That's 20 - 30% and never mind the mass increase. I'd say 1/3 mass increase in a week or so

Poor thing must only be a couple of months old. I'm pretty sure it came from Singapore, talking to the shop owner.

It's had three nearly 100% water changes in that time, never mind the extra filtration it needed. Must be the frozen mysis that I vitamin enriched before feeding, the earthworms and 50% protein sterlet pellets.

It was an experiment in what it would eat and how much in terms of water changes might be needed. It still is. Just because an animal can survive poor conditions does not mean that it should.

I'm monitoring Amm, ni, na and pH (oddly, mainly because I have mineral poor soft water here, pH gives me a back up indication of the general level of biological activity in the tank in that if it stays stable things may be ok but if it drops to look further - but that's just my opinion and I would not encourage anyone else to look further than ammonia readings etc).

Any comments would be appreciated

[soggydrysuit]

BTW: This is one baby fish that certainly would swim up any external power filter uptakes or power heads for that matter. I've lost one marine clown and a blenny to that

I've only a very mature internal Fluval 4 power filter in there just now. Probably needs more like a guarded intake to an overtank trickle filter - tricky to do for these in terms of escape routes. I've a close fitting hood on with a two foot long shard of granite rock sitting on top!

Oh, and there is a dedicated airpump and airstones to get some more O2 in there. I understand that these will gulp air even if the water is saturated with oxygen and must not be prevented fro easily reaching the surface.

[soggydrysuit]

The Clarias has out grown its 25g holding/QT and is now in the 1300l stock vat with the pacu and a few other non bite sized fish. This catfsh has grown from about 2" to about 7" in six weeks!

I think it's growth is accelerating

Should give it a name - like 'Hungry Horace'...

Or 'the beast' becuase it simply is one

[Flutter]

Wow. That's almost an inch a week. Crazy.

Pictures?

[soggydrysuit]

If I can catch briefly it for a pic, I will

It's vanished behind the vat filter and I have not yet seen it out and about in the vat during the day. Infra-red camera, anyone?!

Probably on the next water change when I really should de gunk the alphagrog in the vat filter anyway. I'll have to use a couple of koi nets for a fast capture and hope the pacu doesn't launch itself out of the vat

I had to drain it's old tank to catch it for the transfer to the vat. It's a very fast and extremely manouverable fish!

I don't think the pacu - or at least my specimen of pacu is much of a fish eater - he likes to gently wallow over or up to the surface to accept pellets or nuts or the occacional prawn. Seemingly quite gente but he can move like lightning if spooked. This has lessened since I put him in the vat and he has his dustbin to retire to if needed (still aware I may need a bigger one!).

The old Clarius tank is now brackish and full of baby mollies

[soggydrysuit]

BTW, the vat's spider plant now looks like Einstein on a bad hair day

Some vat water trickles onto the filter lid, providing a source of water laced with a small quantity of nitrate.

I now have fish ranging in weight from a fraction of a gram to several kilograms

[soggydrysuit]

I like this animal so much, I think I'll ask the LFS where I got it from to give me a ring when the others need rehoming. Not if; when

I'd need another vat AND I understand that breeding pairs of Clarias are territorial - I bet that's when they bite other fish.

Well, maybe one more if I can sex them as adults...

[soggydrysuit]

Pics of the beastie at last.

I did a filter flush yesterday so was in a position to catch the Clarius cat for a pic. I have to remove all of the decor and catch it between a couple of koi nets, taking care of its pectoral spines with didn't get caught.

The vat needed a good hoover of all nooks and crannies.

Anyway - it's 20cm now and still growing as expected

clarius 1.jpg

clarius 2.jpg

clarius 3.jpg

[Ohyouknow]

I don't think it's ugly at all Soggy Quite a lovely fish if you ask me. Kind of sad it's illegal here to have one... AH well, though. I don't need another monster fish LOL