Goes without saying but quarantine any additional fish for a very long time before introducing to the tank.
The BIG Reveal - Chitala lopis
- Thread starter SourAngelfish
- Start date
Yes definitely, especially with a fish like chitala that can’t be medicated.
The knife isn’t the main focus of this video but I suppose it would be appropriate to post here. As you can see, for both the biscutatus and knife’s sake, this upgrade is much needed
Yes the image you have used is one of my old Chitala. I always assumed it was C lopis - although I never put in real effort into identifying it.
This fish never showed any signs of typical spotting and it's general colour varied from completely silver (night colouration) to mostly a fairly deep purple colour.
The thing that sticks out to me is borneensis is said to be a 'dwarf' species of Chitala. My fish grew from a small juvenile to 24" in a little over 18 months, which does not match this description. I have lost more images of this fish locked in my old photobucket account, will have to get the account unlocked and post them.
Thanks,
Alex
Thank you, this is very interesting information. It’s strange yours was lacking the pectoral spotting but grew so quickly. If you are able to unlock the pictures and share them here, it would be much appreciated. Mine often shows the deep purple color as well, it’s likely we have a similar fish. Mine goes between gaining and losing the pectoral spot, it’s quite the strange transition.
As for the identification of my specific fish. I’ve narrowed it down to C. lopis and C. borneensis. I have excluded hypselonotus as it seems far too distinct to me, there’s also much more information surrounding it. The stark white coloring and large pectoral spot really turns me away from the idea that it could be hypselonotus. A paper I read noted that all three of these species change pattern throughout their lives, so I have yet to rule it out completely. It’s very strange. I haven’t had it long enough to experience growth rate, but am interested to see how much weight it puts on.
it’s been eating very well as of late, live earthworms and krill soaked in selcon/fatty acids. It loves to suck up massivore pellets but then immediately spits them up. Every so often I’ll quarantine a minnow or two and throw in some small crayfish to give it some entertainment. If anyone has some suggestions for diet, it would be much appreciated.
There is a paper on lopis collected and their stomach content percentages. Tried to get in contact with the author but no response. The paper noted they eat a lot of crustacean and worms when small and as they grow they shift their diets to fish. I’ve attempted to replicate this, of course it’s probably not the biggest deal.
it’s been eating very well as of late, live earthworms and krill soaked in selcon/fatty acids. It loves to suck up massivore pellets but then immediately spits them up. Every so often I’ll quarantine a minnow or two and throw in some small crayfish to give it some entertainment. If anyone has some suggestions for diet, it would be much appreciated.
There is a paper on lopis collected and their stomach content percentages. Tried to get in contact with the author but no response. The paper noted they eat a lot of crustacean and worms when small and as they grow they shift their diets to fish. I’ve attempted to replicate this, of course it’s probably not the biggest deal.
I will see what I can do regarding the remaining images.
In terms of feeding - I offered nothing special, just what I would feed any other large growing predators - quality pellet and a range of frozen (thawed seafood) - silversides, squid etc. It was generally unfussy.
In terms of feeding - I offered nothing special, just what I would feed any other large growing predators - quality pellet and a range of frozen (thawed seafood) - silversides, squid etc. It was generally unfussy.
Its a very interesting fish for sure. I have only a casual interest as a fishkeeper, I mainly research Clown Loaches.
If it were mine I'd want to know who is the world authority on these. I quickly found this https://www.gbif.org/species/154435210
There may not have been sufficient study of these fishes to describe them all i.e. as with L-number Catfish.
A shame they are not well known and yet are becoming extinct in the wild.
I've heard it said that species are becoming extinct before we have even discovered them.
If it were mine I'd want to know who is the world authority on these. I quickly found this https://www.gbif.org/species/154435210
There may not have been sufficient study of these fishes to describe them all i.e. as with L-number Catfish.
A shame they are not well known and yet are becoming extinct in the wild.
I've heard it said that species are becoming extinct before we have even discovered them.
