Monster Catfish!

[Nahndo]

This is an awesome thread necro.
I only hope it achieves what I feel you set out to do, stop people buying massive cats that realistically they cannot house for the duration of their lives.
I absolutely love RTC's but after doing a lot of research sadly realised that they are really a species I would not be able to house adequately anywhere in the near future.
But it has been very informative, and wonderful seeing everyone elses happy, healthy mega cats!

 

[necrocanis]

Tnx Nahndo. I have been trying to help people realize what they are getting themselves into. It doesn't bother me that people keep them, that would be hypocrytical of me, but I just hope they are up to the full responsibility of these cats. I know that I too am up to my knees in large catfish. I have most of the lfs under wraps here, and if they accidentally get in any catfish that get huge, they call me. I kinda have a catfish rescue going for montana and other people that wish to send them in to me, plus my own catfish that I get. I just got a jau from a girl who rescued it. I can only hope that I will do this gorgeous catfish justice in housing requirements. I don't know that I would have actually bought one if availible, but I couldn't just let this one go to a 200-500 gal aquarium, when I know I can do better by it. Tnx everyone again. I'll start on the new profiles soon.

 

[tonymarinara]

Enjoy Ryan!!!(the jau) You are doing as much good for him as me and much more. There could be no better permanent home that I can imagine. I'd have tried my hardest, but don't think I'd have been able to find a NEARLY suitable home. POST MANY PICS i cant wait to watch him grow. Im so hooked on mfk thanks to you necro. ......youll usually find me in the reptile or polypterus forums though, when not checking up on you. Sorry again he ate your lima!!!! chances we take, right? lol

 

[necrocanis]

Enjoy Ryan!!!(the jau) You are doing as much good for him as me and much more. There could be no better permanent home that I can imagine. I'd have tried my hardest, but don't think I'd have been able to find a NEARLY suitable home. POST MANY PICS i cant wait to watch him grow. Im so hooked on mfk thanks to you necro. ......youll usually find me in the reptile or polypterus forums though, when not checking up on you. Sorry again he ate your lima!!!! chances we take, right? lol

Ryan the Jau is doing good. I put some more plants and rocks, plus sand in the pond that he's in. He hangs out in the fake plants. He's much more suited for the big 1100 gal pond. He doesn't bother anyone, and he has his own territory. He's actually quite peacefull now that he's in there. He's eating shrimp, night crawlers, and chunks of tilapia. I'll try to get some more pics today to put in the catfish bonanza section. Happy 4th everyone!
Cliff

 

[Aromantis]

cool. I would like to see wat a jau looks like; couldnt get any good pictures on google. Also, anyone heard of a sultan cat. Seem to remember reading about it sumwhr.

 

[necrocanis]

look on page 7 the picture is on the fourth row down and the second picture on that row. That's a full grown jau. Their scientific name is Zungaro zungaro. Also look through my catfish bonanza thread for pics of mine.

 

[fishdance]

leopard cat aka P.perruno aka L. longibarbis ?
These are being captive bred in Asia and worthy of a mention?

 

[necrocanis]

If you have pics and possible articles about it then please feel free to post sorry took me so long to reply.

 

[newlove4fish]

I thought your reports on all fish were fantastic and informative. I just wanted to comment on your report regarding the "pangasius sanitwongsei". I read the same article as you (from 1929 or so)and the fish did not intentionally harm the man that was trying to save it but was thrashing in the net trying to get free and the man got impelled by accident with its boney fin. Yes as the animal gets larger the bone of the fin will too and cause damage or even death but it is not this fishes means of killing. It does not even have teeth. I have heard of these particular fish getting to be 5-6 feet in length max (however I have not ever seen pictures of such). The fish that you may be referring to more accurately is the pangasius gigas which is known to get to be 9 to 10 feet in length. Giving that the article you read was so old it may also be a case of mis-identification which happened alot whith pangasius sanitwongsei and pangasius gigas.
I do agree with all your concerns in homing such a large fish but just wanted to clear up their possible "man killing" reputation.
I do personally have two pangasius sanitwongsei and they are babies right now but I have big big plans for thier future so donot worry.
P.s... put a fish in thier tank and yes.. they are monsters!!

 

[necrocanis]

I thought your reports on all fish were fantastic and informative. I just wanted to comment on your report regarding the "pangasius sanitwongsei". I read the same article as you (from 1929 or so)and the fish did not intentionally harm the man that was trying to save it but was thrashing in the net trying to get free and the man got impelled by accident with its boney fin. Yes as the animal gets larger the bone of the fin will too and cause damage or even death but it is not this fishes means of killing. It does not even have teeth. I have heard of these particular fish getting to be 5-6 feet in length max (however I have not ever seen pictures of such). The fish that you may be referring to more accurately is the pangasius gigas which is known to get to be 9 to 10 feet in length. Giving that the article you read was so old it may also be a case of mis-identification which happened alot whith pangasius sanitwongsei and pangasius gigas.
I do agree with all your concerns in homing such a large fish but just wanted to clear up their possible "man killing" reputation.
I do personally have two pangasius sanitwongsei and they are babies right now but I have big big plans for thier future so donot worry.
P.s... put a fish in thier tank and yes.. they are monsters!!

My intention here is not to mislead or cause anyone to think that they are mankillers. Just warning of the potential. Not saying that anyone will ever grow one to this size in captivity, but there are many reputable sources of this fish getting well over 6' long, I can and will dig them all up for you, but I am at work for 5 days and it may take a while lol. True that 3m would be an absolute max, and was possibly a rougue fish, but you must also remember that these fish still have that potential and like P. gigas their numbers are on and downward slope and such giants are non existant nowdays. If you look at historical records kept by museums and universities, you will find all time records sizes recorded and reported for all fish species. Even fish from south america and north america are slowly decreasing in size. Big fish are old. Fish grow their entire lives, and if a fish lives for 100 or more years it might take it that long to get to those max sizes provided. That's why everyone asks why don't you see 5 or 6' rtc in captivity or caught in the wild? Same thing. I've read records on catfish from south america and there were reports of Jau (zungaro zungaro) over 1000 lbs. Filamentosum over a ton, rtc over 6' long and more than 300 lbs. Why do we not see them now? Simple over harvesting of adults! If you harvest the big ones it might take 50-100 years for a fish to get that size. Study of the rings in the pectorial spines of museum specimens shows the average life span of bluecatfish in north america to be shorter than it was 100 years ago when they would commonly catch them over 100 lbs, sometimes over 200 lbs, and a rare fish was spotted over 300 lbs in a fish market. To say that this fish could not reach that size when it's in the genetics that it can would be wrong. We are not advanced enough in fishkeeping to keep these massive fish to a ripe old age that would show their true size. Growth ring indicate that most giant catfish are in the 50 to 100 year age no matter the species. It's thought that gigas, and paroon sharks are some of the slowest growing catfish in the world for their size. Growth rings are only apparent in regions where there is a definite change of seasons from summer to winter. Catfish in these climates grow less in the winter and the growth of bone slows almost to a stop. Scientist can measure the quick growth of bone in the summer versus the slow growth of bone during the winter to differientiate between year to year. They can even determine how long under optimal conditions it would take certain catfish to reach adulthood or larger. Interesting to note that catfish kept in aquariums with a constant temp do not develope rings unless they are sick and fast for several months. You cannot tell the age of a tank raised catfish from growth rings. When the record 114 lbs blue catfish died they determined it was around 104 years old.