That is crazy. Mine never get the chance for something like that because everything I feed has to be smaller for my other fish to be able to eat it.
Vulture catfish
- Thread starter jaws7777
- Start date
Man i got nervous for ththe congi. We've all seen
thebiggerthebetter
pics of what vulture are capable of. But not mine ! Mine is a civilized model citizen. Gotta admit it was a little unsettling thinking what he is capable of doing
That is crazy. Mine never get the chance for something like that because everything I feed has to be smaller for my other fish to be able to eat it.
I’ve heard about a guy that hand fed his, then he reached his hand in to the tans to clean it and the vulture cat went for his arm and drew blood on a hard bite.Man i got nervous for ththe congi. We've all seen
I thought i heard that story too. I would think it was more from the learned behavior than a frenzied attack hand = food lol
Id rather him bite me than one of the polys
I think your fish are quite safe.Man i got nervous for ththe congi. We've all seen
At present, I think vultures only attack fish in some kind of distress or dead. Moreover, they need something to hook onto and usually an anus is it. To bite through intact skin they apparently cannot. I have witnessed them going for the anus of sick fish and starting to rip out pieces. I think most or maybe all the fish I posted the photos of where their stomach and ventral side was removed have been attacked by vultures, either dead or alive but in distress.
ATF too can take clean bites out of any part but tentatively I think they favor the dorsal side, particularly by the tail to remove / damage the tail and immobilize their prey.
Thankfully they have smaller mouths relative to there size and not those gaping maws other cats have.
Ive noticed he has gotten a little territorial and will nip at other fish from time to time but only under his little branch.
Polys are a lot harder than that tilapia with their ganoid scales, they're probably safe since as you pointed out his mouth isn't very large
Firstly, please don't underestimate the size of their mouths. That has nothing to do with the damage these cats can inflict. A well fed vulture will generally not touch healthy fish, but in my experience a very small abrasion on an otherwise healthy fish can be a great incentive for a fish who is on day six of a weekly feeding pattern.
I had my vulture take some nice bites out of my 2.5 ft pengassius when he had a small abrasion and they were not all in the same place , and then he went on to remove a 2" by 8" strip of flesh off him under his dorsal fin, "just because he could". And leave it for other fish to eat!
I love the fish, but I don't trust him or leave him more than three-day without good anymore.
As for the question of other alternatives if an 18" to 24" vulture is too big, yes there is a perfect other option for a 6 ft by 2ft tank or bigger. A bolt catfish, aguarunichthys torosus. All being well i will be setting up a thread on this fish shortly, but is great similar in many respects but the bolt only grows to 14" max.
Note however, that I would also suggest that a bigger tank is always preferable.
I had my vulture take some nice bites out of my 2.5 ft pengassius when he had a small abrasion and they were not all in the same place , and then he went on to remove a 2" by 8" strip of flesh off him under his dorsal fin, "just because he could". And leave it for other fish to eat!
I love the fish, but I don't trust him or leave him more than three-day without good anymore.
As for the question of other alternatives if an 18" to 24" vulture is too big, yes there is a perfect other option for a 6 ft by 2ft tank or bigger. A bolt catfish, aguarunichthys torosus. All being well i will be setting up a thread on this fish shortly, but is great similar in many respects but the bolt only grows to 14" max.
Note however, that I would also suggest that a bigger tank is always preferable.
Oddly enough i wanted a bolt but at the time only one was available to me and it did not pass the vendors qt. I do regret not waiting on the bolt to be honest the tank is 96x30, still probably not big enough for an adult so we'll see how this goes
