Gulper catfish in captivity

[Lotsoffishandthings]

Hi all,

Used to post on this forum a good 10+ years ago but have since forgotten login details and so made a new account.

I’ve been reading over various old threads regarding gulpers in captivity and how they frequently seem to fail to thrive. I’ve had one about 3 years, who touch wood is doing well. Thought it would be interesting to share my experience and get some input from others in terms of what’s good/ not so good for keeping them healthy.

Mine is in a 200L tank with cherry shrimp, guppies, neons and otocinculus. I learned the hard way early on that they can really fit a surprising amount in their mouth when he ate a green terror a good bit bigger than him within a week of them being together. After that point I was reluctant to house with other fish but added the guppies and cherry shrimp when breaking down another tank. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem interested and so I subsequently added the neons and ottos which he hasn’t touched. I suspect they’re only interested in prey items if it’s worthwhile catching them? Possibly helps if they are well fed.

That then leads onto feeding. I feed whitebait primarily but also prawns, muscles and tilapia occasionally. I feed daily and remove the next day if the food is uneaten, which is probably twice per week. I’d be interested to know what others feed and the frequency?

Water from the tap is reasonably soft here (TDS: ~80ppm). How does this compare to how others keep their gulpers?

Thanks for reading, hoping this generates some interesting discussion.

 

[AR1]

Welcome back!
Tagging a few catfish experts who would be interested in this thread
Fishman Dave thebiggerthebetter

 

[tlindsey]

Hi all,

Used to post on this forum a good 10+ years ago but have since forgotten login details and so made a new account.

I’ve been reading over various old threads regarding gulpers in captivity and how they frequently seem to fail to thrive. I’ve had one about 3 years, who touch wood is doing well. Thought it would be interesting to share my experience and get some input from others in terms of what’s good/ not so good for keeping them healthy.

Mine is in a 200L tank with cherry shrimp, guppies, neons and otocinculus. I learned the hard way early on that they can really fit a surprising amount in their mouth when he ate a green terror a good bit bigger than him within a week of them being together. After that point I was reluctant to house with other fish but added the guppies and cherry shrimp when breaking down another tank. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem interested and so I subsequently added the neons and ottos which he hasn’t touched. I suspect they’re only interested in prey items if it’s worthwhile catching them? Possibly helps if they are well fed.

That then leads onto feeding. I feed whitebait primarily but also prawns, muscles and tilapia occasionally. I feed daily and remove the next day if the food is uneaten, which is probably twice per week. I’d be interested to know what others feed and the frequency?

Water from the tap is reasonably soft here (TDS: ~80ppm). How does this compare to how others keep their gulpers?

Thanks for reading, hoping this generates some interesting discussion.

View attachment 1550522

Welcome back!

 

[Fishman Dave]

Welcome back!
Tagging a few catfish experts who would be interested in this thread
Fishman Dave thebiggerthebetter

Sorry, gulpers are one of the cats which in over 40 years I have never kept. I know Victor has (already tagged) in multiples so am sure if you look up some of his threads whilst he replies you should get a plethora of good info.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

It seems gulpers fail to thrive mostly for the water requirements reason. They are strongly averse to hard water.

Yes, it has been reported that gulpers usually ignore tiny fish tank mates.

If you supplement the diet properly with vitamins and minerals, e.g., via presoaking in VitaChem, or by stuffing quality pellets, then your gulper should be good. Otherwise, it sounds like it might be on the way to developing a vitamin or mineral deficit, especially vitamin B1.

We feed ours mostly whole, presoaked fish, like mullet. Our homemade water TDS is usually around 200-300 ppm, half of it is hardness.

Our sad gulper keeping details can be found in our thread: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/gulper-catfish-trio-7.678741/

 

[Lotsoffishandthings]

It seems gulpers fail to thrive mostly for the water requirements reason. They are strongly averse to hard water.

Yes, it has been reported that gulpers usually ignore tiny fish tank mates.

If you supplement the diet properly with vitamins and minerals, e.g., via presoaking in VitaChem, or by stuffing quality pellets, then your gulper should be good. Otherwise, it sounds like it might be on the way to developing a vitamin or mineral deficit, especially vitamin B1.

We feed ours mostly whole, presoaked fish, like mullet. Our homemade water TDS is usually around 200-300 ppm, half of it is hardness.

Our sad gulper keeping details can be found in our thread: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/gulper-catfish-trio-7.678741/

Thanks for the response. Yeah I’d seen your thread, that was one of the things that prompted me into making an account. Was interesting to read the developments regarding thiaminase since I was last active. Going back 10 or so years, the big fear was around shrimp and goldfish but anything else was considered fine. Seems that narrative has developed quite a bit, will be sure to monitor diet more closely.

Do you have any gulpers currently?