ARMORED CATS

[aes1687]

Anyone have experience with OXYDORAS NIGER, PTEDORAS GRANULOSUS and MEGADOLORAS IRWINI?

I've kept my granulosus for about 3 years starting from 4 inch and now he is 8inches, however he was 8inches for the past year and a half. He is in a community tank where I give live feeders weekly which he does not eat, sinking pellet which he ate in his first year, and frozen bloodworms which he does not eat.

My Irwini and Ripsaw are about a year old with me. They also have the same problem, but the niger grew 2 inches in a year, from 8inch to 10inch without me ever seeing it eat (kept with the granulosus) and the irwini which gets feeders and sinking pellets but has stayed at a length of 3 inches for a year.

So my question is if this is normal behaviour and growth rate for them, and how do i get them to start eating more?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post and answering if you do.

 

[krichardson]

Though I've taken a recent interest in them I haven't had the pleasure of keeping a granulosus.I have kept the other two species on different occasions and I must admit that the growth..or lack of growth that you have observed in yours seems a bit troubling.

 

[Rocksor]

Have you ever treated the fish for internal parasites?

 

[aes1687]

Have you ever treated the fish for internal parasites?

No I have not. How do you think I can do so?

 

[aes1687]

Though I've taken a recent interest in them I haven't had the pleasure of keeping a granulosus.I have kept the other two species on different occasions and I must admit that the growth..or lack of growth that you have observed in yours seems a bit troubling.

Do you think adding a wavemaker to the aquarium would help? I just bought some hikari predator pellets to see if that would do the trick.

 

[Rocksor]

Praziquental found in Hikari Prazipro would be my first try as a dewormer.

 

[aes1687]

Praziquental found in Hikari Prazipro would be my first try as a dewormer.

I just searched for it and I think it is unavailable in my country. Any other options? If they are internal parasites what do you think is keeping the fish alive? They do not look extremely skinny and starving but dont have full bellies either.

 

[krichardson]

Do you think adding a wavemaker to the aquarium would help? I just bought some hikari predator pellets to see if that would do the trick.

I wouldn't bother with that but I would keep up a regular water change schedule while feeding them the highest quality pellets that you can get.How big is the tank,what's your filtration system and what other fish do you have in there?

 

[Rocksor]

I just searched for it and I think it is unavailable in my country. Any other options? If they are internal parasites what do you think is keeping the fish alive? They do not look extremely skinny and starving but dont have full bellies either.

Lack of movement (don't add wavemaker) and it's slowly consuming its own muscle.

 

[Fishman Dave]

What is the tank decor like? Very strange imo to see both of them resting vertically if perfectly good floor cover is available and not someone else's territory. When you say a community tank, what are we talking? A community of mid water swimmers or a tougher community of territorial bottom dwellers?