Diligently reporting on my experiment.
It failed 100%.
I had 5 GATF remaining in that GATF/VATF 240 gal tank more or less successfully for some stretch of time and then one day there was a nuclear meltdown in the tank when I was merely throwing the feed in as usual. As a result 4 of the 5 GATF died, some sooner, some later, and one the smallest one remained.
The matting on the end sides of the tank didn't save them.
Note that none of the VATF have ever died in that tank, only GATF because they are significantly more skittish and the VATF are more dominant over GATF.
The last surviving GATF (out of a few dozen of them I got from Wes) was the smallest, around 8"-9", of them all. After that loss of 4, I transferred it into a different 240 gal, where there were no other ATF... and it blossomed. Started feeding delightfully, didn't mind me at all, no freak outs, no any problems actually. (5 VATF remained back in that original 240 gal.)
Then I had to kill it myself... as a consequence of our venture applying for licenses to exhibit prohibited and conditional fish species and the ensuing inspections by the Florida Wildlife Commission. (Will be covered in a separate thread. Please, don't ask any questions in this thread.)
The last little poor GATF is at the bottom of the first column:
No more GATF here.
moe214 Could the explanation be more trivial? In that when you start a water change, the fish, of course, freaks out, just like it does at any change inside or outside of its tank, then bumps its head against the wall, and then swims around "leisurely" because it is half out of its mind / somewhat discombobulated?
