Fish Story Aquarium and Rescue, Naples, FL; two 4500 gal 13'x13'x4.5'

[thebiggerthebetter]

Our true ARTC Hemibagrus wyckioides, currently at 16", came in March 2016 at about 14". In former owner's hands it presented no problem at feeding, even took down some tank mate cichlids.

In my hands, it's been a totally different story. I've been struggling greatly to feed it. It refuses the meals ~ half the time and only eats one small bait fish, ~3", at a time and even that most usually occurs out of sight some time in the night. Ignores pellets.

Many, Moe and Jibran included, report they have grown theirs without problem. There is one or two reports I came across of problems similar to mine.

At present I've given up trying to understand what a possible cause is of this behavior of my specimen. It's got its own 240 gal presently.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I bought 27 pictus a few months ago at about 2". A very cheerful and highly energetic gang, needless to say. They are roughly 3"-3.5" now living in one of the 240 gals. May be a bit nervous for the lack of better cover but eating very well and not hiding in available places anyway, except for one pictus, so I've not been compelled to add more cover.

IIRC from Gunpowder Aquatics, they have had the best priced pictus for a while now. I was told they mix together all arrivals at their site in South America, so this I assume must be a mix of both Peruvian and Colombian variety. The former has a better spot definition and grows a bit smaller than the latter.

 

[celebrist]

My eight behaved like that in my 90. As soon as I put them in the 450 (heavily scaped) they split up and claimed their own territory. Bummed me out since I bought them to be a squad cruising the bottom together

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I've lost my prior 7" rousseauxii to a stupid oversight - it's fore half spent a few minutes inside a gulper catfish tank mate's tummy / mouth (lost track when gulpers had outgrown the dorado). It was intact when gulper spit it out but dead.

So I've got two 1.5"ers from Raymond Chan several months ago, $75. Tiny guys. The only survivor is about 4" now. The reason for the passing of the other at 3" is unknown. It was bullied by the dominant one (the survivor) a bit, getting worse little by little, so I had to separate them.

So far the nose is ok. Will see how this holds up. Easy to feed. Pellets or cut fish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Wes sent me 4 Trachydoras paraguayensis (supposedly) in Aug 2015. I'm down to two today. One was harassed until it fell ill and died by a 2" Asian USD catfish. Another passed for unknown reason, could have been high nitrates ~100 ppm. Wasted away very slowly.

From my superficial observations, their biology is very much like that of corydoras in all regards.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I got 10 pbass from Wes a few months back, 5 kelberi and 5 orino, at 1"-1.5". One was DOA and one by one I've lost another 8 over 2 -3 weeks, could be due to high nitrates 50-100 ppm.

This is lone survivor but IDK which kind of the two. Currently about 2.5"-3".

It is also funny that its right hand side shows three black spots whilst the left side is missing the middle spot (it's faint).

 

[isde02]

I got 10 pbass from Wes a few months back, 5 kelberi and 5 orino, at 1"-1.5". One was DOA and one by one I've lost another 8 over 2 -3 weeks, could be due to high nitrates 50-100 ppm.

This is lone survivor but IDK which kind of the two. Currently about 2.5"-3".

It is also funny that its right hand side shows three black spots whilst the left side is missing the middle spot (it's faint).

Its an Orino, and a good looking one at that. Bass are extremely sensitive at that size, very easy to lose them.

 

[isde02]

I've lost my prior 7" rousseauxii to a stupid oversight - it's fore half spent a few minutes inside a gulper catfish tank mate's tummy / mouth (lost track when gulpers had outgrown the dorado). It was intact when gulper spit it out but dead.

So I've got two 1.5"ers from Raymond Chan several months ago, $75. Tiny guys. The only survivor is about 4" now. The reason for the passing of the other at 3" is unknown. It was bullied by the dominant one (the survivor) a bit, getting worse little by little, so I had to separate them.

So far the nose is ok. Will see how this holds up. Easy to feed. Pellets or cut fish.

I love these guys, what's the growth rate like on them?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Slow. IME less than 12" in one year. Probably slower from there. I wonder how long it takes wild record holders to get to 8'. Could be 50 years?

 

[headbanger_jib]

Whoa

Some are rescues, some are mine bought and raised, others are wild caught.

I am attaching a last summer's pic of the two tanks (Dolphin Fiberglass, Homestead, FL) with myself (6'3") for reference. The building story and scores of photos are here http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=33968

That's a nice video, just posted http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...close-with-the-canon-SL1-amp-2-8-pancake-lens! Compared to this, mine are terrible but I aim to improve.

Thanks all. Noted, Oddball. That was my next step - to throw some external lights through the viewing windows and mitigate the glare... unless you are talking internal lights, under or overwater? (EDIT: Oh, now I see the attachment. Thanks again!)

Hey, Dinh, who said volunteers get to perform the "delightfulest" part of the job? How about cleaning a stinking 6' tall 500 gal prefilter? Kidding. Thanks!

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Whoa bro, awesome!!!! Tanks