Love your collections
thebiggerthebetter
! The tig, gulpers, what looks like giant exotic synodontis! So cool
thebiggerthebetter
! The tig, gulpers, what looks like giant exotic synodontis! So coolGulper catfish trio, ~7"
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
Hey CJ, I hope we are good. I kinda feel bad about what happened too.
Anyhoo, thanks for clarifying. I assumed you were referring to the last video. The second video from the top at 1:10 contains footage of baby planiceps aka firewood catfish. Indeed looks like a catfish with butterfly wings. You can see everything that's in the fish house in the first and second links in my signature.
My own "I can't believe what my gulper has done" story came to pass after all.
After a year together 5 blochii and 3 gulpers, one of the gulpers swallowed the smallest blochii, which, of course (sarcasm), was the most interesting one to me as it looked different and I tentatively assigned it a Pimelodus tetramerus ID.
It was the sole survivor of 5 I bought in 2011 as tester fish for my new ponds, when we moved to Naples from upstate NY. Three of that batch looked like tetramerus, the rest looked like the usual blochii. All others have been picked off over the years by jau catfish and other predators because they were growing together and couldn't monitor what was happening in those ponds.
The gulper is ~9", the tetramerus was too 8"-9".
Out of the water part of the video is narrated:
After a year together 5 blochii and 3 gulpers, one of the gulpers swallowed the smallest blochii, which, of course (sarcasm), was the most interesting one to me as it looked different and I tentatively assigned it a Pimelodus tetramerus ID.
It was the sole survivor of 5 I bought in 2011 as tester fish for my new ponds, when we moved to Naples from upstate NY. Three of that batch looked like tetramerus, the rest looked like the usual blochii. All others have been picked off over the years by jau catfish and other predators because they were growing together and couldn't monitor what was happening in those ponds.
The gulper is ~9", the tetramerus was too 8"-9".
Out of the water part of the video is narrated:
It appears that vast majority of gulper catfish do not survive long in our hobbyist hands. There are so many threads on "Look, I got a gulper!". One in 10 or 20 threads then talks about problems that ensue sooner or later, mostly having to do with skin problems. And there are almost no reports of long-term gulper keeping, in excess of 2-3 years. The only one I can recall is from
koltsixx
Some of it must be because people do not have a habit of continuing or finishing the threads they start(the practice I'd dearly love to be changed - you gotta finish what you start). Some must be because their gulpers perish.
Anyhow, I am down to my last gulper and I've not seen this dude eat for many months (doesn't mean it has not eaten but before that they could be very easily observed during feeding time). So, not much hope for this last one.
The two that perished a few months apart were 9"-10" and exhibited the same symptoms - not eating, wasting away (while still swimming around), starting to swim without control, developing redness, then passing, all of this over several months.
IDK why my two became a part of this sad statistics. Perhaps largely marine baitfish diet is no good for them long term. Or my water wasn't soft enough long term. Or, as I hinted above, there is something else, something general to them that we don't appear to know yet. At least I don't.
At first I thought the first that died did so because it was the one that had eaten the 4-line pim catfish. But the passing of the second in the same manner demonstrated it wasn't the case.
Kolt said his gulper too could fast for up to 6 months but has rebounded after.
First gulper:
Second gulper a few months later:
koltsixx
Some of it must be because people do not have a habit of continuing or finishing the threads they start(the practice I'd dearly love to be changed - you gotta finish what you start). Some must be because their gulpers perish.
Anyhow, I am down to my last gulper and I've not seen this dude eat for many months (doesn't mean it has not eaten but before that they could be very easily observed during feeding time). So, not much hope for this last one.
The two that perished a few months apart were 9"-10" and exhibited the same symptoms - not eating, wasting away (while still swimming around), starting to swim without control, developing redness, then passing, all of this over several months.
IDK why my two became a part of this sad statistics. Perhaps largely marine baitfish diet is no good for them long term. Or my water wasn't soft enough long term. Or, as I hinted above, there is something else, something general to them that we don't appear to know yet. At least I don't.
At first I thought the first that died did so because it was the one that had eaten the 4-line pim catfish. But the passing of the second in the same manner demonstrated it wasn't the case.
Kolt said his gulper too could fast for up to 6 months but has rebounded after.
First gulper:
Second gulper a few months later:
I totally agree with you on the short lived threads.
I have learned a lot with your post of good and bad news. What I noticed is you do things your way (thinking out of the box) instead of following the masses. More power to you in pushing the limit and hobby! I'm sure this thread is not ending anytime soon.
I have learned a lot with your post of good and bad news. What I noticed is you do things your way (thinking out of the box) instead of following the masses. More power to you in pushing the limit and hobby! I'm sure this thread is not ending anytime soon.
Maybe it's us in the US lol. Armatus for instance. They seem to die at 2' over here but in Asia plenty pass that size apparently
Right. We must aim to clarify and understand that with gulpers, armatus, ATF, and others.
With our communal thread-mismanagement it appears impossible at this point. If only at least half of the posters follow through and post throughout the entirety of their pet life and report death, final measurements, etc.
We need statistical data to generalize like that. Without that, it'll be wondering in a dark room and hitting the chairs with our knees and feet.
I understand the spirit of the forum is freedom - anyone can post or not post anything.
I see the forum as a dual thing. One is quick and easy communication. The other is a learning tool. There is some grey area but at the core they are mutually exclusive. One can't learn much and well and efficiently from tons of unfinished threads that read like an SMS exchange and not an attempt to share something serious and learn together.
For years, I have been proposing to the Mods to make room for two kinds of threads - have what we have and add a capacity to start a special thread where only the OP makes contributions and refer any discussion to a satellite thread.
These special threads could be arranged and ordered by species name.
That way, anyone doing homework and learning would be able to quickly read or look through 10-20-30 threads on any particular fish and know the firsthand experience of many diverse people.
It'd not be ideal but it's a start to something greater than a chat room and photo/video exchange. That'd be a catalyst to making and taking your hobby more seriously.
Never heard back from the Mods yet. I don't blame them. It's not like they are getting paid.
I always thought they should be kept at cooler temps long term, I can't imagine them living in shallow water in the wildIt appears that vast majority of gulper catfish do not survive long in our hobbyist hands. There are so many threads on "Look, I got a gulper!". One in 10 or 20 threads then talks about problems that ensue sooner or later, mostly having to do with skin problems. And there are almost no reports of long-term gulper keeping, in excess of 2-3 years. The only one I can recall is from
Some of it must be because people do not have a habit of continuing or finishing the threads they start(the practice I'd dearly love to be changed - you gotta finish what you start). Some must be because their gulpers perish.
Anyhow, I am down to my last gulper and I've not seen this dude eat for many months (doesn't mean it has not eaten but before that they could be very easily observed during feeding time). So, not much hope for this last one.
The two that perished a few months apart were 9"-10" and exhibited the same symptoms - not eating, wasting away (while still swimming around), starting to swim without control, developing redness, then passing, all of this over several months.
IDK why my two became a part of this sad statistics. Perhaps largely marine baitfish diet is no good for them long term. Or my water wasn't soft enough long term. Or, as I hinted above, there is something else, something general to them that we don't appear to know yet. At least I don't.
At first I thought the first that died did so because it was the one that had eaten the 4-line pim catfish. But the passing of the second in the same manner demonstrated it wasn't the case.
Kolt said his gulper too could fast for up to 6 months but has rebounded after.
First gulper:
View attachment 1316439 View attachment 1316440 View attachment 1316441 View attachment 1316442 View attachment 1316443 View attachment 1316444 View attachment 1316445
Second gulper a few months later:
View attachment 1316446 View attachment 1316447 View attachment 1316448 View attachment 1316449
Thank you. There may be something in this thought. I need to keep it in mind. One con is these two haven't perished in the hottest times but rather in the coolest. In winter, my water temps are around 72-76 F. Summer highs are 86-90 F.
One other hypothesis which can't really be proven or disproven by me is a bacterial / viral infection that they couldn't develop an antibody to. A lot of very diverse fish come and go through their tank system.
