Goonch Death Discussion Thread

[Chicxulub]

Hello all.

I am coming back out of the void from whence I was lost in order to facilitate a discussion on the subject of the large number of recently dead goonch catfish. Thus far, there have been MANY experienced, long term keepers who have had goonch cats for an extended period of time who have lost their fish. Myself included. This thread is for us to use our collective experience and knowledge to attempt to discover the cause of the deaths and potentially a way to mitigate it.

Please share your stories, details, and, most importantly,

DISCUSS.​

The Story of My Loss.

I lost my goonch, a Bagarius rutilus, about a month ago. At the time of the loss, she was 10" long, eating extremely well, in a three year old tank. Parameters 0-0-10 (thank you pothos), 78-80*. High DO thanks to two powerheads pointed at the surface and a bubbler. She was sharing the tank with a six inch ATF at the time. The odd part is that the catfish died and the ATF showed absolutely no signs of stress what so ever. They're normally the first fish in my tank to stress if something's wrong. They're quite sensitive.

What I DID notice just before she died was that she became extremely restless. Her normal behavior is to park herself in front of a powerhead on some flat river rocks and wait for food to come by. I had her for well over a year and that pretty much summed up her behavior. She was fat, happy, tame and stable. About a week before she died, that changed. As previously mentioned, she became incredibly restless.​

The Hypothesis.

Goonch catfish are thought to be migratory. I don't have the time to read the papers at this moment, I hope that someone could be so kind as to provide the citation for that for me. I suspect that our fish detected something that triggered their instinct to migrate. When they were not able to achieve their goal, this caused them to perish.

• Point of consideration 1- Why didn't ALL of the goonch cats in captivity die?
• Point of consideration 2- Why doesn't this happen every year?
• Point of consideration 3- Why is this happening to several different species, not just one?
• Point of consideration 4- What is the factor that prevented some fish from having their instinct triggered?​

Hopefully, with our collective experience, knowledge and dedication, we can beat this problem into submission.

Discuss!

 

[big_tank_boy]

Here is what I think its a mix of stress from the dirthers mixed with high temps.... everyone says high temps are fine but it seems like small goonch cant handle the high temps and the stress of the fish in the tank with them.... I also think the more natural u make the tank the better ive never had them but from what im seeing people keep in warm tanks and bare tanks.... I need to get one and try it my way to see if it works or not just don't have money to spend on proper tank right now.... Im always sad when a goonch dies I hope we can figure out how to keep them till the get 3 foot plus.... how long do u think that a goonch will last in a 40 gallon breeder?

 

[MyGiants]

I didn't know a lot of people recently lost there Goonches. Coincidence to this topic mine had died a few months ago. I don't tell everyone when my fish die, fish die its part of fish keeping. But I contribute it to couple specific things that happen. Temp got colder its kept in an out side tank and it ate one of my bichirs. Not sure if it was the bichir it ate that killed it it was still very fat from that last meal. Or the temperature getting colder cause I lost some other fishes at the same time from the cold temperature.

Who are all the other people who's Goonch has died recently.

 

[FLESHY]

B. rutilus, from my limited knowledge of these fish should be okay in warmer temps.

They hail from Vietnam - and Red River temps it seem fluctuate from 24-30C over the course of the year. No cause for concern.

Is the migration documented in all species throughout Bagarius?

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

Everyone should contribute the measurements and even weight if you could of the goonch at the time of death, if they are all similar sizes maybe its that when small they NEED that difference going from wet to dry season, how long anyone had them would help too, even better if you know how long and from what size it was in captivity, could be a ph balance thing, maybe even a mineral content thing.

I have a suspicion the longer lasting ones are caught at larger size, tougher more developed. Anyone try feeding any algae pellets? They may need veg matter since theyd be getting fish fat w/ veg in the wet season when theres all that flooding.

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[Aw3s0m3]

Mine acted the same as yours Rob. About 2 weeks before death, both HLG's and the rutilus were extremely active even during the day. Every 20-30 min, they would swim a lap around the tank then park right in front of the powerheads again then once there, would constantly shift around to different spots for a while then swim another lap and pretty much restless at night, swimming all over the tank. Params were 0-0-~20 and temp was at 75. The only change I made to the tank, and what I thought was the cause of death, was the addition of 3 masheer's. I think the powerheads were too strong for them and everytime they swam in front of 1, they would get blown right into the goonches and I believed this stressed them out too much so I moved them into another tank and the next day, goonches were dead. Since then, I bought 1 HLG, he's in the tank all by himself with no heater. I just bought some sand that I'm going to clean extremely well along with some river stones to replicate their natural environment. I hope this 1 works out better. Have had him only 5 days so far.


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[Estarego8]

Well we all know what happened to mine! Which reminds me I have to call Mars API today.... Next tank though I am doing a solo goonch. I also am thinking of maybe just getting an intex pond to house it. Thoughts? Rob I think your migration theory may be correct. Accept my little rutilus has been calm and just as lazy as ever! Will have more info on my deaths BTW once necro disects my fish.

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[Estarego8]

Also as it so happens I am traveling Tod Thailand within the next 4 months and India in the next 6. When I am in Thailand I will ask some local fisherman about where to catch them and take my test kit with me to get some water info as well as average temperature. I will do the same in India if I am going to Corbett National park (essentially a goonch sanctuary)

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[thebiggerthebetter]

Can't say much.

One more recent rutilus case to the unexpected death collection:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=39233

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=39522&p=273708#p273708

 

[-DC-]

I dont keep Goonch, but my understanding is that they were are subtropical and Most people i see keeping them are in tropical tanks.

Subtropical fish die in tropical tanks easy as that. Maybe my failure to keep trout in an aquarium as a child helped me grasp this concept better then others, but i find many people seem to ignore this fact. (not directed at anyone in particular just hobbiests in general.)

In my experience most people seem to think that if they experience warmer temperatures in the natural ranges at some point during the year it means they are fine year round and this is wrong, most would do better in the lower temperatures year round and simply tolerate summer temperatures for short periods.

I keep subtropical snakeheads like Channa Aurantimaculata from those same areas and it's very similar. For years i've been watching people by them, keep them tropical temps stating "everything's fine" and then say its a mystery when it died a year later. There is no mystery if it was kept too warm too long.

My bet is the goonch failures are similar, these fish likely sink into a deep/cool hole to ride out the the warmer months in there natural range and simply need cooler temperatures.


Out of curiosity does anyone here keep Goonch in subtropical environment, ideally with summer/winter seasons ?