True piraiba aka Brachyplatystoma filamentosum

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

The tale of our two Peru piraiba continues. The skittish one had spent 1 year in a 240 gal in timeout. We are trying it again back in the 4500 gal and arriving close to where we left off - a very different set of tank mates but the tank mates bother it (first it was the assertive piraiba, then it was the TSNxRTC hybrid, now IDK who yet, maybe same two maybe not); the fish is skittish and perhaps this even tempts some tank mates to bite it every now and then, especially at nights; it feeds some but not to our satisfaction because of the skittishness.

Both fish came from Mark Chen of Discus Origins in 2017 as "Peru piraiba" and are currently around 5 years old and have been stuck at 2.5ft for a year at least, in drastic difference from our 7 yo, 5ft Suriname piraiba that kept and keeps growing.

I became aware that many peers in the hobby think that the "Peru piraiba" is not a filamentosum but a capapretum aka false piraiba. Yet capapretum young look obviously different from the piraiba young, let them be from anywhere. If anyone can shed some more light on this, it'd be greatly appreciated. Mis-ID, or another species, or indeed such drastic geographic difference in filamentosum? Here is one thread on the topic of this confusion: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/capa-or-fila-true-or-false.744994/

Good luck. Sucks when you can't get good tankmates for a fish that don't bother it.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The two Peru piraiba in the 4500 gal. No significant changes to report. I have been tolerating the shyness of one of them.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

It took me 3 hours to put this collection of links and photos of fila vs capa. These links have a ton of photos to compare for anyone who wants to learn and do their homework. Hope this helps.

***

Please pay attention to the dates of the threads and posts – my personal and our understanding as a community evolves with time. You can also pay attention to the thread number (in the address) – the higher the number, the later the thread.



Our main thread on fila: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...iba-aka-brachyplatystoma-filamentosum.688117/



Our main thread on capa: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...yplatystoma-capapretum-10-in-4500-gal.680760/





These are in chronological order, from early to the late:



2013 - one of the earliest: Capa versus fila comparison on Fugupuff's blog http://fugupuff-fugupuff.blogspot.com/2013/07/capapretum-brachyplatystoma-lundberg-j.html



Jan 2013, Tyjo, looks like a capapretum to me (being offered as filamentosum)

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/piraiba-pictures.520869/



Apr 3013, Big cat, https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...achyplatystoma-capapretum-photos-talk.534713/



Feb 2014, Sir Catfish, also post #5 of ours has a lot of early links: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/capa-cant-be-fila-can-it.569554/



Jun 2015, Truviethug, https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...ussetts-01801-pickup-and-able-to-ship.644346/



May 2016, Greenerinks, from 2 page https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...chy-sticky-submit-pics-comments.645921/page-2



Aug 2015, Horopgedrik, Another great capa vs fila thread. Note Fugupuff's input (starts on page 2) with pictures of fila from Suriname and Brasil http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/need-id-for-my-catfish.648861/



Sept 2015, Fishnatics, another ID thread based around the key word "salton" with Wes / Fugupuff’s input on page 2 http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/brachyplatystoma-sp-salton.650369/



Oct 2015, Marcus H https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...tween-b-filamentosum-and-b-capapretum.651888/



Jan 2016, starting from this post down, possibly fila (Vincentwugwg) https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/catfish-id-help.658745/post-7423362



June 2016, 4th picture down looks like a true piraiba by Amazoniaaquaculture https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...ver-juruense-piraiba-tiger-shovelnose.669320/



June 2016, a real one, I think, by Greenerinks in Shanghai http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/tempted-by-this-piraiba-for-sale.669511/



Aug 2016, Vincent Wu https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/brachyplatystoma-i-d.673058/



Sept 2016, Texasrockwell https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/brachyplatystoma-id.673975/



Nov 2016, Jonathan G https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/my-brachyplatystoma-pics-and-info.677879/



Dec 2016, Herman Moorr, 2.5" little Brachie, capa IMHO https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/please-help-id.679369/



May 2017, Sunnyboy https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/brachyplatystoma-id.686768/



May 2017, Rpul https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/piriabia-id.688073/



Jun 2017, LukeMitchell https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/piraiba-price.689225/



Sept 2017, GiantFishKeeper101 https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/help-id-fish.693235/



Oct 2017, Herman Moorr https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/brachyplatystoma-fila-update.693838/



Dec 2017, GiantFishKeeper101 https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/filamentosum-difference.697444/



May 2018, IsaacHZJ https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/new-acquisition-capapretum.703995/



July 2018, IsaacHZJ https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/b-fila.705536/



July 2018, Blackwolf, including info on piraiba names… https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/pariba.706140/



July 2018, Kingrancher https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/b-filamentosum-info.706552/



Sept 2018, Rpul https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...atystoma-filamentosum-grow-out-thread.707819/



Dec 2018, Rpul https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/surinam-piriba-surinam-vallantii-grow-out.711389/



Apr 2019, Rpul https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/capa-pati-vallantii.717114/



Oct 2019, Jiyowel https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/id-this-catfish-pls.723305/



Mar 2020, tvbbnumber https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/new-brachyplatystoma-capapretum.727348/



Oct 2020, Tony Tropical https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/brachyplatystoma-capapretum-new-pick-up.734449/



Oct 2020, superman818 https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/id-help-piraiba.734670/



Nov 2020, TBTB https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...e-caparetum-80-price-if-anyone-wanted.735077/



May 2021, Cichla1981 https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/capa-or-fila.740149/



Dec 2021, EAC, I am a bit confused by Peru vs other fila, see also our main fila thread: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/peru-piraiba.744893/



Dec 2021, Dermifrost https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/capa-or-fila-true-or-false.744994/



Mar 2022, Ryang85 https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/capapretum-id.746816/

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

 

[celebrist]

That's some serious bio load

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Yeah, a few hundred pounds of living, breathing, feeding, and defecating organic matter

The turds are similar in size to those of 10-15 year olds. It'll be easier to just start netting them out soon than vacuuming the 15K gal sump, wallowing in filth up to your chin for a day... haha...

 

[celebrist]

vacuuming the 15K gal sump, wallowing in filth up to your chin for a day... haha...

I think a video of this is in order ?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Two Peru piraiba attack two marbled pim catfish. Despite good feeding, they must want more...

 

[koltsixx]

I'm sorry Viktor but I disagree, I think the attacks might actually be territorial or sexually driven. From what you said and what I can see the focus of the attack are on the Pims and Hybrid. Both of which are within the same Family as the Piraiba. The Piraiba being a big fish may have taken awhile to reach sexual maturity and maybe maturing now causing increased aggression to species that reside within the same Family as it.

Factor that in and the change of seasons and there maybe environmental cues such as changes in barometric pressure etc that maybe provoking a aggressive hormonal response from the Piraiba. Especially since you also describe the attacker as the dominant Piraiba who maybe doing just that asserting dominance. Open water species do come together for breeding and I imagine they do try to maintain some territory during that time to protect their mating area by driving off possible competition.

I could be wrong of course but I find it odd that the Piraiba is targeting only species within it's own Family as possible prey when there are other fish in the tank equally as vulnerable and inhabiting the same water strata as the Pims. If it's a predatory response why doesn't it attack the other soft skinned cats? Predatory responses I believe are usually opportunistic and I'd think they'd focus solely on the small Pim instead of the small Pim as well as the larger Hybrid and Pim as well. Which leads me to guess instead that the attacks are driven by sex. IE: The targets are males seen as competition or females seen as possible mates. Again apologies just throwing out where my mind went.