Tig catfish, Brachyplatystoma tigrinum, ~15", in 4500 gal

[thebiggerthebetter]

So try to get on frozen first and stuff some carnivore(would you suggest those or something else) in them? Do you pre-soak the prey item or the pellet you are stuffing? Where do you get a B1 solution? Sorry for all the questions, but these have been a nemesis fish for me and now that i have more knowledge i am hoping for success for this new guy.

NP. I'd stuff high quality pellet, Hikari or NLS and Co., yes, purposed for a predator, but even generic pellet of Hikari or NLS etc. would do fine.

It's either presoak or pellet stuffing. If presoaking, I presoak the thawed feed. The good pellets already have a lot of needed vitamins and minerals.

I make it a point to soak frozen feed with a B complex solution once a week. Earl (God rest his soul) has always been a proponent of the ill effects this caused our fishes for over the past decade. Glad to see that this is being recognized in earnest by a lot of the fine folks here.

Thank you brother in fish. Who is Earl? Sorry, seems like I should know but can't remember.

Wow, appreciate the amazing write up and exhaustive details. It’s very helpful and explains my long standing struggle with puffers. They are offered great conditions, eat like champs, and do well, sometimes for years, but inevitably end up with symptoms of thiamine deficiency as listed above. Your write up answered a lot…especially since they were primarily fed clams, scallops, mussels, and shrimp which are all listed as having thiaminase.

Problem with puffers are their picky nature…they often reject food soaked in vitamins or stuffed with pellets. They were given earthworms but ate them reluctantly off and on.

In the future, I’ll have to switch up their diet and add cockles, squid, more earthworms, and so on. I’ll also have to be persistent with dosing their food with vitamins or the least, dose their water until they eat soaked foods.

Your post should be a sticky.

Thank you for this. I always wondered how peers help puffers avoid the B1 deficit. Never kept them, didn't know they are picky. Yes, water soluble vitamins and minerals can be administered through tank water / bath. Vitachem recommends adding it to tank water as one way of using it. Because it is expensive and we have 60,000 gal of water currently, I prefer the less wasteful through-feed way.

 

[Jobu28]

What do you guys use for a B1 solution?

 

[phreeflow]

NP. I'd stuff high quality pellet, Hikari or NLS and Co., yes, purposed for a predator, but even generic pellet of Hikari or NLS etc. would do fine.

It's either presoak or pellet stuffing. If presoaking, I presoak the thawed feed. The good pellets already have a lot of needed vitamins and minerals.



Thank you brother in fish. Who is Earl? Sorry, seems like I should know but can't remember.



Thank you for this. I always wondered how peers help puffers avoid the B1 deficit. Never kept them, didn't know they are picky. Yes, water soluble vitamins and minerals can be administered through tank water / bath. Vitachem recommends adding it to tank water as one way of using it. Because it is expensive and we have 60,000 gal of water currently, I prefer the less wasteful through-feed way.

I just remembered that both of Big Rich’s and Cory’s (Aquarium Co-Op) large mbu also died of inexplicable reasons while seeming completely healthy, similar to mine. Perhaps from b1 deficiency as well…although any number of factors could have played a role. We may need to reconsider puffer diets based on your data

Jobu28…Vitachem by Chemi-pure

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

What do you guys use for a B1 solution?

I buy it in pure powder form in bulk 1kg at a time from this vendor: https://www.ebay.com/usr/tracyf9911 You can find it in smaller quantities easily. It dissolves in water very quickly and easy.

 

[Jobu28]

Thanks guys! My buddys have had allot of issues keeping tiger fish long term. Wonder if it's the same issues???

 

[phreeflow]

Thanks guys! My buddys have had allot of issues keeping tiger fish long term. Wonder if it's the same issues???

Almost everyone struggles with them long term. Besides diet, they’re notoriously difficult to house properly

 

[Jobu28]

Almost everyone struggles with them long term. Besides diet, they’re notoriously difficult to house properly

I agree. But these were 600-1100g tanks. But were pretty much only fed frozen silversides and such.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

But were pretty much only fed frozen silversides and such.

IMHumO, this is the smoking gun. IME no predator can survive long term on non-fortified frozen food, from 1 year to 5 years at most it seems.

 

[Yaponchik]

IMHumO, this is the smoking gun. IME no predator can survive long term on non-fortified frozen food, from 1 year to 5 years at most it seems.

I feel that this really depends on the fish at this point. Most likely that the Tigs that we get now are either bred captively, or are weak to adapt to begin with. We've seen fish kept in a cramp, nasty environment survive for 30+ yrs here, in particular a malaysian green arowana that has been in a iirc 90g display tank. Very big, as wide as a 10 - 15 yr old scleropages formosus is expected to get (which is a rare sight as these ages are not common)

We've also a common friend with a piraiba, pushing 4ft which if I'm not mistaken is already a decade old.

The difference is soaking foods and fortifying. Most of these fish are fed fortified, with Boyd's Vita-Chem always a staple. At some point of their lives, they were fed pellets. But the contrast with that Arowana which has been a shop display for so long and the husbandry of these cats is something entirely different, which is why the thought process of it may be because of the fish itself is more prevalent.

Earl Pigar - King-El

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Replacement tig