Mad Max the GATF and Chicxulub's other ATF

[user134679]

What of the second picture though? Where else have you seen a gatf with a grayish brown top third of its body and six thick, black stripes on its sides?

The marks are clearly visible in the wide angle shot, too, but since the shots not very clar you can't really see the markings. Honestly, I don't think its fair to judge the fish from the bad picture when there's a good picture right next to it.

My opinion is but a single opinion.

Let's hear from the others.

 

[exoticfishguy]

Thanks for taking the effort. Much appreciated.

IMHO, he looks like a regular GATF now doesn't he?

I agree...no different than any other gatf I've seen, and I've seen many.

 

[exoticfishguy]

Do you have any pictures of the dead black ones as in the pictures? The only dead black ones I've seen are old, wild caught ones. I still suspect that these fish were colored like that in life, too. Even Jeremy Wade's fish was fairly black. All of the tank raised dead fish I've seen have been silver in death, just like in life.

I can appreciate your skepticism and I certainly don't blame you. You get around in the hobby though, have you ever seen one of these kept in blackwater biotope for any extended period of time before?

I'll have to look around to see if I have any pictures of the bigger dead ones.

I don't know anyone who has kept a gatf long term in blackwater.

I don't think they would live long in soft, acidic water.

Whenever the ph went really low in my tanks, the gatf's always stopped eating and got really pale.

Then after the ph was raised everything was normal again.

That's why I started keeping bags of crushed coral in the sumps and the fish did a lot better.

 

[Chicxulub]

Fair enough, thank you for the input gentlemen. Great debate so far.

As I said before, and I wish to clarify, I retract the statement that he might be a black GATF.

I am, however, quite curious to know where you all have seen brown GATF with bold stripes before. I've seen quite a few of these, probably not as many as you EFG but still a lot, and I've never seen one that's brown with bold stripes before.

The closest I've seen is silver with at most some very light stripes.

Thoughts?

I'll have to look around to see if I have any pictures of the bigger dead ones.

I don't know anyone who has kept a gatf long term in blackwater.

I don't think they would live long in soft, acidic water.

Whenever the ph went really low in my tanks, the gatf's always stopped eating and got really pale.

Then after the ph was raised everything was normal again.

That's why I started keeping bags of crushed coral in the sumps and the fish did a lot better.

EDIT-

You posted while I was replying.

I am keeping my guy in blackwater. I've got 60 pounds of aragonite as buffer (the white sand), but my PH still stays right bout 6.0, I'm not sure what GH and KH is as the API kit I have doesn't test it. If it drops very far past that, he goes off his food and goes pale just like you said.

The water itself is normally about the color of sweet tea, I set the white balance on the camera to incandescent in order to correct for the yellowing of the water. It works fairly well. I also tend to do my pictures right after a water change when the water is relatively clear and the tannins haven't really soaked back into the water. I use peat moss to stain the water.

Just food for thought.

 

[predatorpassion]

Black, silver, purple, or polka dotted, these are still hands down some of the most amazing fish in the hobby, and in nature. I do agree the colors are definitely darker. I've seen progression throughout your thread. I'm interested how he will look after a fair amount of time in the black water set up. It is true that fish and other animals, such as reptiles, will match the color of the water and substrate to better their "camouflage" for ambush attacks, etc. I do hope to see more thorough research done on black Goliath's in the future to answer our many questions. Peat moss though? Interesting, didn't think of that, I was thinking you were using the black water extract that is used for piranhas and such. Anyways though, amazing gatf, love it.


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[DayumDanny]

What would be the ideal waters for gatf? I'm using 100% ro/distilled water. My ph is at 6.5, I will test gh and Kh today. My TDS is at 500.

If gatf do not like soft water then doing 100% water changes with water that has 0 TDS, GH, Kh is probably a bad idea?

 

[exoticfishguy]

I don't know what ph or hardness level is best but my ph was closer to 7.5 and the water is probably pretty hard because I keep 10-20lbs of crushed coral in my 80g sump.

I will tell you that I had used distilled water in my tanks before and that nearly killed them, so I stay away from that.

I've had problems in the past with low ph crashing my biological filter and wasting my fish so I'll never let that happen again.

 

[DB junkie]

What would be the ideal waters for gatf? I'm using 100% ro/distilled water. My ph is at 6.5, I will test gh and Kh today. My TDS is at 500.

Ro/distilled? Which is it? Aren't they wayyyy different? IS 500 a typo? How the heck is your TDS 500? My tap water here is crap and it's not even over 400. To take water that tests 0 (out of membrane) and turn it into 500 ppm by simply dumping it into your tank would lead this guy to a heart condition, or a padded room. Hell my mind is spinning just thinking about it.

 

[DayumDanny]

Ro/distilled? Which is it? Aren't they wayyyy different? IS 500 a typo? How the heck is your TDS 500? My tap water here is crap and it's not even over 400. To take water that tests 0 (out of membrane) and turn it into 500 ppm by simply dumping it into your tank would lead this guy to a heart condition, or a padded room. Hell my mind is spinning just thinking about it.

Yes that was a typo, it was supposed to be 50, but still I change my water a lot.

I use an RO machine, and distilled water as in the five gallon jugs of water you buy at the groceries in that case they are the same.

 

[DB junkie]

50 makes way more sense.....

I'd also like to know more about the Tigers' native water parameters..... Would guess them to be better suited for hard water conditions then South American Characins?