That guy in Thailand had issues with his gatf. I believe the alpha took out one or two of the smaller ones.Congrats on the successful keeping. You only lost 3 ATF out of 13, which is far better than my record of ~27 out of ~40, also a mix of GATF and VATF but not all same age and not all in the same tank.
Your tank being bigger has most definitely worked in your favor. Almost all the ATF I lost, I lost in 240 gal, while they did better in 4500 gal. And the vast majority of those I lost were GATF - 10 GATF for every VATF. I am glad to see you andRed Aimara have managed to preserve GATF versus VATF.
It's hard to say how many ATF and which species you should retain. I personally would be afraid to upset the apple cart. I think it's a fragile balance. It seems like a mighty rare accomplishment that have achieved already ... so you must have been doing most things right, including the community size and the gender and species ratio, etc. Once you change that, there is no telling what will happen IMHO.
For sure the aggression has been diluted between your ATF. If you reduce their number, the aggression will likely rise for the weakest fish and they likely won't survive, my guess would be. Unless you transfer them into a 30,000 gal pond like that FB guy from Thailand (?) with 5-6 three foot GATF.
Three is a risky number. When my current biggest VATF (2' now) had been about 1'+, there were 3 of them in 4500 gal. The alpha and beta harassed and eventually killed the gamma. They barely commune now, having divided the 4500 gal into two quite distinct territories and fights are not rare.
8 Goliath 5 Vittatus update log
- Thread starter ekkhoo
- Start date
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- Tags
- atf goliath tiger fish vittatus
Thank you so much for your wonderful insight. For now I will keep ten of them and see how is it.. I got the same advice too from the fish store.Congrats on the successful keeping. You only lost 3 ATF out of 13, which is far better than my record of ~27 out of ~40, also a mix of GATF and VATF but not all same age and not all in the same tank.
Your tank being bigger has most definitely worked in your favor. Almost all the ATF I lost, I lost in 240 gal, while they did better in 4500 gal. And the vast majority of those I lost were GATF - 10 GATF for every VATF. I am glad to see you and
It's hard to say how many ATF and which species you should retain. I personally would be afraid to upset the apple cart. I think it's a fragile balance. It seems like a mighty rare accomplishment that have achieved already ... so you must have been doing most things right, including the community size and the gender and species ratio, etc. Once you change that, there is no telling what will happen IMHO.
For sure the aggression has been diluted between your ATF. If you reduce their number, the aggression will likely rise for the weakest fish and they likely won't survive, my guess would be. Unless you transfer them into a 30,000 gal pond like that FB guy from Thailand (?) with 5-6 three foot GATF.
Three is a risky number. When my current biggest VATF (2' now) had been about 1'+, there were 3 of them in 4500 gal. The alpha and beta harassed and eventually killed the gamma. They barely commune now, having divided the 4500 gal into two quite distinct territories and fights are not rare.
I’ve lost 3 VATF so far. Probably because that time I’m out of feeder fish for two weeks. But somehow I couldn’t locate their corpse.
Currently two largest GATF each taking one side of the tank. The rest swimming in the middle. Aggression is very very little. But when water condition is bad, more aggression will show.
Speaking of bad water condition, I didn’t realise with well established bacteria colony, an increase of feeding could make the ammonia level from 0 to 1 and it will lasts for around a week.
Still I don’t think my GATF could go up to 3 feet... cause I’ve starved them for two weeks a few times. And with some times ammonia spike and left uncheck.. I hope it won’t affect their full potential growth by too much.
I will keep updating. Thanks again
Finger crossed mine just remain peaceful..
... I’ve lost 3 VATF so far. Probably because that time I’m out of feeder fish for two weeks. But somehow I couldn’t locate their corpse.
*Were they the smallest VATF out of the group? The other ATF must have consumed them but usually they'd leave at least the head, also the backbone. What else is in the tank? Could someone else have eaten the whole VATF or the remnants?
Currently two largest GATF each taking one side of the tank. The rest swimming in the middle. Aggression is very very little. But when water condition is bad, more aggression will show.
*Interesting and unexpected. Do you mean they attack each other more?
Speaking of bad water condition, I didn’t realise with well established bacteria colony, an increase of feeding could make the ammonia level from 0 to 1 and it will lasts for around a week.
*This doesn't happen in properly filtered tanks. I reckon you don't have enough biofiltration. The filtration is usually either oversized for safety and to allow for fish / stock growth or is periodically upgraded to accomplish the same. It is not a matter of how well your bacterial colonies are established but how many of them you have. You have to have enough to keep the ammonia firmly at zero ppm by a liquid test tube test at all times. Three main factors in having enough bacteria are the filter size / biomedia amount, aeration of water in your biofilter, and even flow with no dead zones.
Still I don’t think my GATF could go up to 3 feet... cause I’ve starved them for two weeks a few times. And with some times ammonia spike and left uncheck.. I hope it won’t affect their full potential growth by too much.
*I don't think it would affect their potential. Having non-zero ammonia will most definitely affect their lifespan sooner or later. ATF are said to require pristine water and belong to a group of more sensitive, less hardy fishes in terms of tolerance of poor quality water.
*Were they the smallest VATF out of the group? The other ATF must have consumed them but usually they'd leave at least the head, also the backbone. What else is in the tank? Could someone else have eaten the whole VATF or the remnants?
Currently two largest GATF each taking one side of the tank. The rest swimming in the middle. Aggression is very very little. But when water condition is bad, more aggression will show.
*Interesting and unexpected. Do you mean they attack each other more?
Speaking of bad water condition, I didn’t realise with well established bacteria colony, an increase of feeding could make the ammonia level from 0 to 1 and it will lasts for around a week.
*This doesn't happen in properly filtered tanks. I reckon you don't have enough biofiltration. The filtration is usually either oversized for safety and to allow for fish / stock growth or is periodically upgraded to accomplish the same. It is not a matter of how well your bacterial colonies are established but how many of them you have. You have to have enough to keep the ammonia firmly at zero ppm by a liquid test tube test at all times. Three main factors in having enough bacteria are the filter size / biomedia amount, aeration of water in your biofilter, and even flow with no dead zones.
Still I don’t think my GATF could go up to 3 feet... cause I’ve starved them for two weeks a few times. And with some times ammonia spike and left uncheck.. I hope it won’t affect their full potential growth by too much.
*I don't think it would affect their potential. Having non-zero ammonia will most definitely affect their lifespan sooner or later. ATF are said to require pristine water and belong to a group of more sensitive, less hardy fishes in terms of tolerance of poor quality water.
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Still I’m having trouble with ammonia. Tomorrow I will take a video of my filter. My LFS said it’s more than enough but somehow it doesn’t. Yesterday ammonia measured at 0 ppm. And today 0.5ppm.
Just worry about them. When the water isn’t that optimal, they don’t really eat much.
And no, both the largest GATF never attack nor chase each other before. Aggression is mostly amongst the smaller one.
Here’s a short video of them. There’s still algae inside so it’s not that clear.
Very good video - the fish look healthy, alert, and I like how they swim in a circle. All mine swim in one spot most of the time.
The ammonia issue worries me a lot. ATF are said to require pristine water and are sensitive to toxins. Not only won't they eat, they might just straight die from stress.
What do you use for a reference in your tests? I'd recommend a test tube of your source water to make sure you are getting no false positives.
Remind me again, do you use the API liquid tests?
The ammonia issue worries me a lot. ATF are said to require pristine water and are sensitive to toxins. Not only won't they eat, they might just straight die from stress.
What do you use for a reference in your tests? I'd recommend a test tube of your source water to make sure you are getting no false positives.
Remind me again, do you use the API liquid tests?
Keeping a group is definitely something special but after several failed attempts i decided to stick with one solo atf of which the gatf is my favorite of the species. The more space you can offer the better the chances but one must remember these fish become solo hunters especially the goliath. I believe that had something to do with the guy is Thailand, Pipa, deaths as well as those fish were raised in murky darker waters not in clear water so they most likely didn't see each other well. Idk how everyone else feels but as far as i am concerned...one fish is plenty!
If you don’t mind me chipping in.
Biomedia aside, despite how much you are using needs:
1. Top up of bacteria water on regular intervals.
2. Strict and regular water change schedules. As the fishes grow bigger, it has to be more regular and bigger percentage of water changes.
It’s either that or you gotta move some fishes out. Hope this helps with your ammonia woes.
I wad reading your post again and i realizes u had mentioned something about ammonia issues. I have built 2 massive wet dry style filters that are gravity fed. Basically a bio tower one would use in a wholesaler or public aquaria. Water flows in and is met with a sheet of filter floss then goes thru a drip plate that spreads the water across bio balls and i have lava rock in the middle area of the tower and once it flows over all of that it is returned back into the tank. The filters are placed above the tanks top edge on wood stands. I run a 15K liter dc pump on both filters. When i first started this system i was battling ammonia gor almost a month but once the bacteria settled in it disappeared quickly and has been gone ever since. I also run a drip system at 5 gals per hour with an overflow that draws the water into the garden area. Regardless i still do an occasional water swap of 200 gals once every month or so or when i believe one would do them justice but the setup is very low maintenance. I do swap out the filter floss weekly religiously.
