Oh Viktor... This thread...
Two vittatus African tigerfish, ~16", in 4500 gal
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
I must presume you are overcome with warm fuzzy feelings by the depicted PG-13 savageness and explicit naturalism of the thread...
A couple videos of the whole tank and inhabitants, not featuring the VATF in particular. All the surviving VATF we have left from the latest batches (apart from the two initial batches, of which a pair of 2'ers and one 14"-er survive and reside in other tanks) are in this 240 gal, which is about 5 specimen, 6"-12":
THE END of our first VATF experience.
Overall our 11 VATF have done far, far better than our 17 GATF in my hands apparently because GATF are significantly more skittish and the VATF are more dominant over GATF if housed together.
The first batch was of 5 VATF obtained 4 years ago. Raised in a 240 gal to about 10" and then transferred into a 4500 gal. Two fell to tank mate predation in the big tank at 10" and 12". One was killed off by the pair of alpha and beta at around 16" a year later. The alpha and beta reached about 2 feet until the beta unexpectedly died a month or two ago. The beta would challenge the alpha constantly. They had the 4500 gal divided in half at a diagonal and the beta had the front half, alpha the back half. Usually the beta would sneak into the alpha's half and get a whooping.
IDK why the beta passed. It was feeding very well all the time even immediately before the demise as you can see by its full and firm tummy. No snout damage at all. Perfect teeth. Good eyes. It was missing some scales thanks to the alpha but most of the missing scales seen in the photos below are not the alpha's work but tank mates post mortem I suppose as the fish passed overnight.
Final size 23". At about 4.5 years old.
The second batch had only 2 VATF obtained about 3 years ago. These grew up together in a 240 gal but at around 6" started fighting and each took out the other's left eye, so they were separated into two 240 gal. Then one of them at around 14" killed an Amur catfish in its tank and I decided to try it in the 4500 gal. It was killed over the first night, as described above.
The third batch contained 4 VATF and also had 11 GATF, all same size around 3". The 4 VATF survived all the GATF (11 and then 6) but they fought bad and only one of the 4 at the end had two intact eyes, the rest were all one-eyed. One of them grew most clearly bigger than the other 3, which were all about the same size.
__________________________
Then a bitter time came for me to purposefully kill all of the surviving VATF myself:
- the 2 foot alpha from the 4500 gal,
- the 18" survivor of the second batch of 2, and
- all the 4 smaller VATF, 3x ~10" and 1x ~16", from the last batch...
... as a consequence of our venture applying for licenses to exhibit prohibited and conditional fish species and the ensuing inspections by the Florida Wildlife Commission. (Will be covered in a separate thread. Please, don't ask any questions in this thread.)
All these 6 VATF are in the first column (the bottom is our last GATF I had to kill too):
Overall our 11 VATF have done far, far better than our 17 GATF in my hands apparently because GATF are significantly more skittish and the VATF are more dominant over GATF if housed together.
The first batch was of 5 VATF obtained 4 years ago. Raised in a 240 gal to about 10" and then transferred into a 4500 gal. Two fell to tank mate predation in the big tank at 10" and 12". One was killed off by the pair of alpha and beta at around 16" a year later. The alpha and beta reached about 2 feet until the beta unexpectedly died a month or two ago. The beta would challenge the alpha constantly. They had the 4500 gal divided in half at a diagonal and the beta had the front half, alpha the back half. Usually the beta would sneak into the alpha's half and get a whooping.
IDK why the beta passed. It was feeding very well all the time even immediately before the demise as you can see by its full and firm tummy. No snout damage at all. Perfect teeth. Good eyes. It was missing some scales thanks to the alpha but most of the missing scales seen in the photos below are not the alpha's work but tank mates post mortem I suppose as the fish passed overnight.
Final size 23". At about 4.5 years old.
The second batch had only 2 VATF obtained about 3 years ago. These grew up together in a 240 gal but at around 6" started fighting and each took out the other's left eye, so they were separated into two 240 gal. Then one of them at around 14" killed an Amur catfish in its tank and I decided to try it in the 4500 gal. It was killed over the first night, as described above.
The third batch contained 4 VATF and also had 11 GATF, all same size around 3". The 4 VATF survived all the GATF (11 and then 6) but they fought bad and only one of the 4 at the end had two intact eyes, the rest were all one-eyed. One of them grew most clearly bigger than the other 3, which were all about the same size.
__________________________
Then a bitter time came for me to purposefully kill all of the surviving VATF myself:
- the 2 foot alpha from the 4500 gal,
- the 18" survivor of the second batch of 2, and
- all the 4 smaller VATF, 3x ~10" and 1x ~16", from the last batch...
... as a consequence of our venture applying for licenses to exhibit prohibited and conditional fish species and the ensuing inspections by the Florida Wildlife Commission. (Will be covered in a separate thread. Please, don't ask any questions in this thread.)
All these 6 VATF are in the first column (the bottom is our last GATF I had to kill too):
So what have I learned?
What Wes, Fishtankphil, and others have been saying long ago. Keep ATF one per tank (VATF or GATF)... unless the tank is enormous and by enormous I personally mean a fairy tale "for life" tank, like 30,000 gal or larger, better 50,000 gal.
Be patient. They will have a varying growth rate even within a factor of 2x, but it is not what limits their final size. The poor husbandry like mine and the ensuing accidents will determine their final size.
What Wes, Fishtankphil, and others have been saying long ago. Keep ATF one per tank (VATF or GATF)... unless the tank is enormous and by enormous I personally mean a fairy tale "for life" tank, like 30,000 gal or larger, better 50,000 gal.
Be patient. They will have a varying growth rate even within a factor of 2x, but it is not what limits their final size. The poor husbandry like mine and the ensuing accidents will determine their final size.
