Amazing buddy. And I agree with Troy. I’ve replayed this video like 3 times already lol.
Two vittatus African tigerfish, ~16", in 4500 gal
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
The sizes are in the video title - the larger pair is ~1.5', the smaller are ~1'.
For all my fish it is about $100 a month in pellets and another $20-$30 in frozen bait fish that I have to buy (I can't catch enough by cast net anymore so must supplement by buying).
Skip two morning meals for the two 1.5' VATF (I hadn't offered fish for two breakfasts - VATF take pellets but evidently they don't fill the ATF up) and you get this. Minus one vulture. This vulture was 18". The ATF took plenty of flesh out of the hapless guy in several minutes - I didn't witness it but only stepped out for 10 minutes maybe. The remaining 5 vultures are ok.
Warning, graphic content. Parental and shrink care advised.
The reason I think it's VATF because no one else in the tank could or would do it just like that and because of the telltale bite looks. The bites are very clean. There is no evidence of tearing off, yanking or shredding or shaking side to side or death-rolling but with each bite a mouthful of flesh is removed cleanly. They just keep coming back to take new bites out of where they started because it is the easiest as the hide is the hardest to penetrate and partition. On the right side they kept doing that until the backbone stopped them. They bit all the way to uncover several inches of the backbone. The vulture was in deep shock but still alive when I pulled it out.
The VATF had done it before to other fish I believe (see above), which included sun catfish, bala shark, tinfoil barb, and wels.
What is generally believed about the ATF, viz., that they don't go after fish too large to be considered on their usual menu even in captivity, is not so true in my experience. If the bigger VATF get hungry even a little bit, they don't hesitate to attack fish of equal or a bit greater size. So far. If a tank mate is smaller and not armored like a pleco or as fast as a dorado or as aggressive as a large cichlid, I think it'll have no chance.
Warning, graphic content. Parental and shrink care advised.
The reason I think it's VATF because no one else in the tank could or would do it just like that and because of the telltale bite looks. The bites are very clean. There is no evidence of tearing off, yanking or shredding or shaking side to side or death-rolling but with each bite a mouthful of flesh is removed cleanly. They just keep coming back to take new bites out of where they started because it is the easiest as the hide is the hardest to penetrate and partition. On the right side they kept doing that until the backbone stopped them. They bit all the way to uncover several inches of the backbone. The vulture was in deep shock but still alive when I pulled it out.
The VATF had done it before to other fish I believe (see above), which included sun catfish, bala shark, tinfoil barb, and wels.
What is generally believed about the ATF, viz., that they don't go after fish too large to be considered on their usual menu even in captivity, is not so true in my experience. If the bigger VATF get hungry even a little bit, they don't hesitate to attack fish of equal or a bit greater size. So far. If a tank mate is smaller and not armored like a pleco or as fast as a dorado or as aggressive as a large cichlid, I think it'll have no chance.
Do any of your fish have a stab wound in the face? Judging by the location it may (it's a long shot), reveal the culprit
That's impossible for me to find out unless I'd get very lucky. Fish move fast, not all of them are at the viewing window, and a stab wound can be a tiny spot.
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Anyhow. The two biggest VATF have been doing ok in the 4500 gal. Nearing 2' mark, perhaps 2"-3" off yet. Ever since they took out the vulture, I started to meticulously feed them twice a day until full (with marine bait fish) and the killings and attacks / missing parts of fins, etc., that I usually associated with the VATF have stopped so far.
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The smallest VATF pack of 4-5 have been steadily growing, outpacing the 5-7 GATF in the same tank. Today the biggest are probably at 6"-7".
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About the medium sized VATF pair, both one-eyed. There was a drama to report.
The submissive one is ok in its 240 gal with 18 lima shovelnose, four 1' pbass, 22" tig, 16" jur, 12" black shark, two 1' snail bullhead, etc., and is around 13"-14".
The dominant one that was in another 240 gal and was 15"-16" is no more, here is how:
We had five amur catfish Silurus asotus who have grown up and been with that VATF as a tank mate for a long time, around 1.5-2 years and the VATF didn't bother them, nor they bothered it. Then the VATF, who reached 16" by then, suddenly turned on almost everything in that tank. Everyone was lying low on the bottom, in between the rocks and no one dared to swim in the water column anymore except 4 juvenile giant gourami and a Jack Dempsey.
All asotus and a W. leerii bore teeth marks of the VATF, especially near or on the tail, and one asotus was killed. Per ATF preferential strategy, they attack the tail first, damaging or removing it and largely immobilizing the victim, then proceed to bite chunks out of the victim's body.
The VATF was removed promptly and tried in a 4500 gal, only to get killed after the first night there. It was highly risky. I should have played it safe and placed it in another 240 gal but was hoping for a high reward and lost. I think the two big VATF in that 4500 gal waited until the night to take out half of the new comer's tail and batter it, while others, sensing the weakness of the new VATF, finished it off trying to swallow it and spitting it out.
Never mind the two GATF in the photos. These will be addressed in our GATF thread.
VATF's work on the asotus:
Sucks, atf are gorgeous fish. I would agree in the thinking of the vatf messing with it. Best bett is introducing a bunch at once but even then, you started with multiple
For two years our 4 green wolffish Hoplias lacerdae lived peacefully and grew together with the rulers of their 4500 gal tank - two VATF vitattus African tigerfish Hydrocynus vittatus (ironically Hydrocynus means, Greek, hydr = water + Greek, kyon = dog; vittatus means striped longitudinally). Currently the wolves are 1.5 foot, the VATF are close to 2 feet. Then, one day out of the blue one got attacked, despite the heavy feeding the tigers receive twice daily, that is until they can't feed anymore... Thence, I doubt a predatory attack. Something else set them off.
IDK. Seems unpredictable to me. I don't think that competition is the reason - half their tank mates are competitors... and there is no genetic component as the tigers and wolves are from different continents.
VATF used to kill to eat in that tank every now and then. Or partitioned a perished tank mate. Six to eight months ago I started religiously feeding the VATF 2x a day until they don't eat anymore. And the killings stopped too. So that made sense.
This attack I'd shelf for now as non-motivated, unexplained.
