Luciobarbus brachycephalus, aka Aral barbel or Caspian barbel
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
Update. Doing well. Growing slow. About 12"-13" now:
Verbal update, no visuals.
The fish are currently at 1.5' or so and had been doing as well as always until I added a few dozen of African cichlid rescues to their 240 gal for the lack of any other available tank. In a month or so I noticed they stopped feeding as vigorously as before and their fin tips were getting shorter. In another month it only got worse. Perhaps I only caught one or two times when the cichlids approached the barbels and the barbels pulled away or darted, which says the Africans were to blame. Off they, the barbels, went into another 240 gal.
There the story was a variation of the prior scene. For a few weeks they appeared fine but not feeding or not feeding well. Then came the hiding. Long story short, it was the 5 Maskoheros argentea that were bothering them, knocked out half of their scales while leaving the fins, to which I was paying particular attention, intact. Four Heterotilapia buttikoferi didn't bother them.
Off they went into a third 240 gal. So far ok. Been there a few weeks. Started feeding but still are afraid of me / skittish. I hope it is just the recent turmoil and they will get calm.
The fish are currently at 1.5' or so and had been doing as well as always until I added a few dozen of African cichlid rescues to their 240 gal for the lack of any other available tank. In a month or so I noticed they stopped feeding as vigorously as before and their fin tips were getting shorter. In another month it only got worse. Perhaps I only caught one or two times when the cichlids approached the barbels and the barbels pulled away or darted, which says the Africans were to blame. Off they, the barbels, went into another 240 gal.
There the story was a variation of the prior scene. For a few weeks they appeared fine but not feeding or not feeding well. Then came the hiding. Long story short, it was the 5 Maskoheros argentea that were bothering them, knocked out half of their scales while leaving the fins, to which I was paying particular attention, intact. Four Heterotilapia buttikoferi didn't bother them.
Off they went into a third 240 gal. So far ok. Been there a few weeks. Started feeding but still are afraid of me / skittish. I hope it is just the recent turmoil and they will get calm.
Another video update one year later. When the fish are comfortable, they feed very well on cut fish and pellets and grow somewhat too.
Currently at ~1.5'. Got an upgrade to a 25,000 gal:
Currently at ~1.5'. Got an upgrade to a 25,000 gal:
The bigger is about 2 feet now, the smaller is some inches behind. Footage at 12:45-13:30 min (the rest is unrelated):
Man those guys are THICK! You certainly aren’t shy come feeding time. Impressive as always Viktor!
Thank you, bro. If I feed less than generously, the mahseer start biting tank mates, especially the koi. The mahseer must be assuredly full to prevent problems.
Plus I am trying to get as much feed as possible to one of the beluga sturgeon, which is withering away.
And finally, the wels must be always full but it hand feeds so this is easier.
Tough community tank you got there. Certain mahseers are more jerks than other mahseers.
I warned of keeping mahseers with koi on some kid's thread. My experience is that mahseers just hate the carp family.
