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True piraiba aka Brachyplatystoma filamentosum

Chronologically speaking:

- we got both Peru piraibas in 2017 at 5in.
- As soon as they were placed together in a growout 240 gal, one of them turned much lighter color and stayed that way.
- The darker one dominated the lighter one but it was tolerable.
- After a year or two, both went into 4500 gal, where the darker a-piraiba dominated the lighter b-piraiba too viciously at times that I feared for the beta,
- so took it out and kept in a 240 gal for a couple of years.
- Then about a year ago reintroduced it to the 4500 gal and the a-piraiba dominated the beta but tolerably. By this time the a-piraiba had a few inches and 50% more body mass on the beta.
- Now starting from 2 weeks ago, b-piraiba has been turning tables on a-piraiba and attacking it, damaging especially the dorsal and top caudal fins. I don't know why.

 
Now I know why tables had switched: the alpha Peru piraiba unexpectedly got sick with the spinning death disease, just like a number of other catfish of ours through the years. It usually takes a while to manifest fully. I tried to save it from further attacks in the 4500 gal but it only made things much worse (in retrospect) because it struggled for its life when netted and it was a lot of stress for it, and it received much skin abrasion against the net when it was thrashing vehemently and repeatedly.

7yo 3ft

 
Suriname piraiba B. filamentosum 6 year time lapse from 1.5ft/45cm in 2016 to 5ft/150cm in 2022

 
thebiggerthebetter said:
The 5ft / 1.5m piraiba got attacked by two 3.5ft / 1m paroon shark catfish, who were not supposed to be hungry but maybe it is the breeding season that drives them to doing things like this. Paroons do have a bad reputation from some peers of being outright killers and predators, which is coming more and more true with years in our own experience. They will need to be separated from tank mates and maybe even from each other at some point, if it continues like so.

Click to expand...
how old are the paroons ? 3 years old means they had reach sexual maturity and now it is the monsoon season, I had experience heavy rains recently in Malaysia
 
Suriname piraiba 7yo 5ft / 150cm. Thiaminase. Explained in the first three slides:

 
So sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine losing such a beautiful fish. Fish that size aren't just fish anymore, in my opinion and correct me if I am wrong, they are like dogs/cats, maybe even that doesn't describe how some of us feel about our fish. One thing is for certain, you loved that fish, and that fish lived a healthy 7 years. My baby filamentosum died a day after due to near similar circumstances. I came home and it had a large cut in its head. Within in 30 minutes of doing a water change, he was dead. Once again I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Stay strong, and hopefully both of us can grow some monsters out sooner than later.
 
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