It’s odd as his tail is messed up like he ripped it up. His pectorals are also a little discolored as well. Maybe it’d natural coloration?!! I’ll post pics later
Silurus Merdionalis thread
- Thread starter surfermike915
- Start date
Nice I wish we still could get well in the U.S
you can get this species! They’re becoming more and more readily available. Very happy to see this taking place. I absolutely love these fish. It’s weird though recently his tail has been getting ripped up. He’s obviously the only inhabitant, but I wonder if he just shoots around at night and messes his tail up. It’s healing but was red a lil while ago. He’s eating like a champ.
Powerhead / pump impeller damage?
No, I have witnessed him getting these spurts of speed and hitting the driftwood and rocks in his tank. Looks to be healing. But I wanna reduce this as much as possible. Never heard of this species or seen him being skittish until now.
Sounds extremely strange to me. When fish harm themselves, there is usually a more or less obvious reason, like itching parasites, or too small a tank, or to escape bad water, bullying, etc. They don't do it for no reason.
Unless you are saying the catfish only does it when it reacts to you, than this may be simply skittishness, but then it usually leads to blunt trauma, not damage finnage.
Might you have a cat or another pet or a person, who scares the fish?
Unless you are saying the catfish only does it when it reacts to you, than this may be simply skittishness, but then it usually leads to blunt trauma, not damage finnage.
Might you have a cat or another pet or a person, who scares the fish?
I see alot of pics of these guys with split tails/partial tails. My specimen had/has it as well and hes the sole inhabitant of a 650g. It was worse when he was in a smaller 230g. Ive yet to try meds tho. Its taken a cple yrs to almost be back to normal. Ive thought the same if its just from thrashing around or moving deco. Mine tosses around a 18-20” piece of wood as he wishes. Its in a different spot of the tank almost daily.
That’s what I believe mine does.
Thank you for this info Wed. If the fish tries to move large objects around the tank and thrashes its tail vehemently against the bottom, substrate, etc., then this could indeed explain the fin damage.
Interesting to hear about other peoples' experiences with meridionalis. Oddly enough, mine's pretty chill and outgoing, even within a community setting (quickly got evicted after somehow shoving ~$75 worth of fish down its fat gullet overnight), and I often see it wandering about during the day, especially if food is given. Haven't noticed any fin damage whatsoever on mine; perhaps it hasn't yet gotten an inclination to redecorate?
When placed in an orange bucket during relocation, it turned a solid, pale-brown (almost translucent) colour, with slight goldish tinges on the pectoral rays; wonder if anyone's noticed that with their fish as well.
Mine will grudgingly accept silversides from my hand or tongs, before quickly retreating.
To be honest, I don't know what the fish I have is; it was mislabeled as Schilbe intermedius at my LFS (got the 9" specimen for just $35 as a result!); after asking on PCF, Silurus (esteemed contributor of the site) suggested either asotus or meridionalis, and the common availability of meridionalis just led to me assuming that mine wasn't asotus.
When placed in an orange bucket during relocation, it turned a solid, pale-brown (almost translucent) colour, with slight goldish tinges on the pectoral rays; wonder if anyone's noticed that with their fish as well.
Mine will grudgingly accept silversides from my hand or tongs, before quickly retreating.
To be honest, I don't know what the fish I have is; it was mislabeled as Schilbe intermedius at my LFS (got the 9" specimen for just $35 as a result!); after asking on PCF, Silurus (esteemed contributor of the site) suggested either asotus or meridionalis, and the common availability of meridionalis just led to me assuming that mine wasn't asotus.