Two vittatus African tigerfish, ~16", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016.
These two are from an original quintet I got from Wesley Wong at ~3" in Summer of 2015, which were my first ever ATFs. I gave them a bare 240 gal of their own. They were skittish throughout most of their time in that 240 gal and I remember being very afraid to spook them, walking by as far as I could from the tank, making sure no light was turned on near them, approaching the tank like a sloth when I had to feed them, etc... Wes scared me that they may slam into a wall and kill themselves.
Little by little they took to cut thawed fish as a staple. Then they started taking Hikari floating sticks too.
At about 6"-7" they went into a 4500 gal, which was ~1 year and a few months ago. They relaxed greatly in there. Despite having left a nightlight on, there were only 4 the next morning. The smallest one was eaten by a tank mate in their first night in 4500 gal. In several months after that, one evening I haven't turned the tank light on in time after it got dark and the tank was in darkness for ~30-60 min, and sure enough, as I feared there were only 3 now. Another one was eaten. Albeit I still don't know by which tank mate.
After that, the three survivors did very well for a long while, reaching ~12". They never schooled anymore and there was a clear pecking order - alpha, beta, and gamma. I relaxed and stopped watching them closely, only to find out several months later that somehow there were only 2 left. I've no clue what happened to the gamma VATF but I suppose the other two might have been too harsh on it for too long. Their chasing is lightning fast but not prolonged, not relentless; it is rather occasional, so I thought the beta and gamma were relatively safe.
Anyhow, this is how I ended up with just these two.
Aug-Sept 2016, I bought two more VATF from Wes, which have been growing in a 240 gal community. The $$ was tight. I really needed to buy 6 or more. They came in at ~3" and are ~6" now, eating the same diet of catfish farm pellet and thawed fish. They weren't nearly as skittish as the first 5, perhaps because there were plenty of calm tank mates in with them producing dither effect.
IDK how or when I might be able to try and place these two with the original two, if ever. I too got six ~3"-4" GATF from Wes a couple of weeks ago. It'd be ideal if I could house all ATF together at some point.
But IDK how or when it'd be doable. Could anyone with relevant experience chime in?
These two are from an original quintet I got from Wesley Wong at ~3" in Summer of 2015, which were my first ever ATFs. I gave them a bare 240 gal of their own. They were skittish throughout most of their time in that 240 gal and I remember being very afraid to spook them, walking by as far as I could from the tank, making sure no light was turned on near them, approaching the tank like a sloth when I had to feed them, etc... Wes scared me that they may slam into a wall and kill themselves.
Little by little they took to cut thawed fish as a staple. Then they started taking Hikari floating sticks too.
At about 6"-7" they went into a 4500 gal, which was ~1 year and a few months ago. They relaxed greatly in there. Despite having left a nightlight on, there were only 4 the next morning. The smallest one was eaten by a tank mate in their first night in 4500 gal. In several months after that, one evening I haven't turned the tank light on in time after it got dark and the tank was in darkness for ~30-60 min, and sure enough, as I feared there were only 3 now. Another one was eaten. Albeit I still don't know by which tank mate.
After that, the three survivors did very well for a long while, reaching ~12". They never schooled anymore and there was a clear pecking order - alpha, beta, and gamma. I relaxed and stopped watching them closely, only to find out several months later that somehow there were only 2 left. I've no clue what happened to the gamma VATF but I suppose the other two might have been too harsh on it for too long. Their chasing is lightning fast but not prolonged, not relentless; it is rather occasional, so I thought the beta and gamma were relatively safe.
Anyhow, this is how I ended up with just these two.
Aug-Sept 2016, I bought two more VATF from Wes, which have been growing in a 240 gal community. The $$ was tight. I really needed to buy 6 or more. They came in at ~3" and are ~6" now, eating the same diet of catfish farm pellet and thawed fish. They weren't nearly as skittish as the first 5, perhaps because there were plenty of calm tank mates in with them producing dither effect.
IDK how or when I might be able to try and place these two with the original two, if ever. I too got six ~3"-4" GATF from Wes a couple of weeks ago. It'd be ideal if I could house all ATF together at some point.
But IDK how or when it'd be doable. Could anyone with relevant experience chime in?
