New growout, a fish absent from the hobby... Ictalurus furcatus the Blue Catfish
- Thread starter Chicxulub
- Start date
Well I am now entertaining the possibility of taking Marilyn back to the farm. She has effectively destabilized my tank's previously comfortable hierarchy.
She's not aggressive by any means however. She is simply unbelievably predatory. Anything that us made of edible material that is placed in front of her will be tasted. This includes GATF, black arowanas, juruense catfish and something new and rare (stay tuned).
If this behavior doesn't shape up, I'm going to take her back and try to get another, smaller fish.
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She's not aggressive by any means however. She is simply unbelievably predatory. Anything that us made of edible material that is placed in front of her will be tasted. This includes GATF, black arowanas, juruense catfish and something new and rare (stay tuned).
If this behavior doesn't shape up, I'm going to take her back and try to get another, smaller fish.
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Sorry to hear man, but boy do I know the feeling .... maybe with a little luck you can swap for a smaller one ....
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O.O ... I starting to think one of these might be fun to have for the gar pool.... but.. think 'mna keep thinking! Hope everything works out well!
U can send her my way ill keep er solo 
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Do u have any larger cats that can put her in her place? That usually does the trick. I had a reg. Channel someone brought me for free around that size that was a total ahole. I threw him in with my 24-30" cats expecting him to be eaten and hes been thriving ever since and around 20" now after a month. Funny how things work out some times.
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Well Marilyn is gone. She was growing in confidence by the day. She had the hyperactivity of an iridescent shark, the situational awareness of a glassknocker cichlid, the appetite of a redtail catfish and the aggression of a spawning managuense. She's now happily back in a pond on the farm from which she came.
I am 98% certain I know what caused this behavior that I wasn't expecting. Marilyn is the fourth furcatus I've kept. The first one spazzed and killed itself running into the glass and the next two I lost after seven months with me in a power outage in which I lost my entire setup. I've never seen behavior like that in any of those previous fish. All of those fish were also kept in room temperature tanks, tanks whose temperature hoovered between 68 and 74 degrees. I currently have the tank in which I kept Marilyn at 84*. I suspect the warmer temperatures resulted in a faster metabolism and an increased level of activity to boot.
Don't misunderstand me, folks. I adore this fish. I adore her personality and I adore her spunk. I can't, however, afford to have her beating up the multi-hundred dollar fish with whom she lived. If I had the means to house her long term I would happily do so. It is my goal to revisit this species in a year or two when I'm out of the Army and settled in the form of a pond after she outgrows my 150 gallon growout tank. I'd love to see how big I could get one with sufficient time in very warm water.
Actually I did. My juruense was a bit bigger than her and she has a pretty good attitude. She tried her best to put Marilyn in her place, but she just didn't quite have what it took to do so. I don't have any cats that are significantly larger though. I'm considering trying another in my community in a few years when the main community fish are about two feet long.
I am 98% certain I know what caused this behavior that I wasn't expecting. Marilyn is the fourth furcatus I've kept. The first one spazzed and killed itself running into the glass and the next two I lost after seven months with me in a power outage in which I lost my entire setup. I've never seen behavior like that in any of those previous fish. All of those fish were also kept in room temperature tanks, tanks whose temperature hoovered between 68 and 74 degrees. I currently have the tank in which I kept Marilyn at 84*. I suspect the warmer temperatures resulted in a faster metabolism and an increased level of activity to boot.
Don't misunderstand me, folks. I adore this fish. I adore her personality and I adore her spunk. I can't, however, afford to have her beating up the multi-hundred dollar fish with whom she lived. If I had the means to house her long term I would happily do so. It is my goal to revisit this species in a year or two when I'm out of the Army and settled in the form of a pond after she outgrows my 150 gallon growout tank. I'd love to see how big I could get one with sufficient time in very warm water.
Actually I did. My juruense was a bit bigger than her and she has a pretty good attitude. She tried her best to put Marilyn in her place, but she just didn't quite have what it took to do so. I don't have any cats that are significantly larger though. I'm considering trying another in my community in a few years when the main community fish are about two feet long.
