What’s everyone keeping for cats

[thebiggerthebetter]

I have two blochii too and the only thing (other than Neil suggesting they were maculatus) is that from the front they have a narrower head and mouth than the blochii do. If that's right or not - I don't know - I can only go by what I have and what they were supposed to be.

I just looked through more of your posts, man your living the dream, you keep, have kept and no doubt will keep fish I have only dreamt of keeping for over thirty years AND ( most importantly) in the right way!!!
Although, ive been doing this long enough to know that one days dream is another days nightmare and that it all goes wrong fast.
In 2010 I built my current setup and moved my existing stock into an insulated, heated outbuilding.
Pond built up from the ground on concrete garage base(oh so cold!!!!) out of timber, double lined(arnt pacu great with liners) 15mm acrylic viewing pane , sealed and bolted and equipped with waterfall and houseplants( all sounds much more grand than the real thing at the time). Only to find that after a week, the building was that well insulated it was air tight! Filter crash and I lost almost the exact stock I have now in under 7 days even with mature filters, no overstocking, etc. That was 7 days of fighting to save every fish individually and failing. Took me 7 more days to prove just how airtight and how little oxygen there was in there on a nighttime!.
Taken me since then to build up the stock and the courage to stock the same pond with the same fish, and almost the same layout. Although now with air circulation and no fancy waterfall and houseplants!
Although some of this crew certainly have different characters.

Glad to be up and running again, even in a small way compared to you!

Wow. What a great story of perseverance in the hobby. It should not be burried here in this thread but it'd be nice if you copied this into its own thread. Throw in some photos what not and come back with updates and voila, you have a really, really nice thread.

I am aiming to go professional and make a living with this. So, it's not a fair juxtaposition.

If your alleged maculatus have a dark blotch at the base of their dorsal fin, in the front, then they are not maculatus by any means but belong to the bloichii group along with tetramerus, albofasciatum, and Co. They all have the diagnostic black spot.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Wow. What a great story of perseverance in the hobby. It should not be burried here in this thread but it'd be nice if you copied this into its own thread. Throw in some photos what not and come back with updates and voila, you have a really, really nice thread.

I am aiming to go professional and make a living with this. So, it's not a fair juxtaposition.

If your alleged maculatus have a dark blotch at the base of their dorsal fin, in the front, then they are not maculatus by any means but belong to the bloichii group along with tetramerus, albofasciatum, and Co. They all have the diagnostic black spot.

Just checked out your post on Blochii and type.

Yes, can see the similarities and how folks get confused, however the fish I have are certainly different. No spot at the base of the dorsal fin and much more finer, delicate patterning. If I had to suggest I would also say the tails are more curved too, remind me a little of a lyretail molly with that slightly curved top and bottom section.

Trying to get photos, but one piece of advice to folks, get a decent camera or never put a viewing window 12" up from the bottom of the pond - catfish love nothing more than swimming past just out of view.

 

[jaws7777]

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Lively and lovely. Sometimes he messes with you just for his own giggles. "You think I'm gonna go left? Your left or my left? Haha gotcha! Now let's try the right..."

Just checked out your post on Blochii and type.

Yes, can see the similarities and how folks get confused, however the fish I have are certainly different. No spot at the base of the dorsal fin and much more finer, delicate patterning. If I had to suggest I would also say the tails are more curved too, remind me a little of a lyretail molly with that slightly curved top and bottom section.

Trying to get photos, but one piece of advice to folks, get a decent camera or never put a viewing window 12" up from the bottom of the pond - catfish love nothing more than swimming past just out of view.

You certainly got my interest piqued with these fish. Good luck with the photos but better yet get a sport camera and shoot under water. The money you saved on the window should be enough to buy several cameras!

 

[jaws7777]

Lively and lovely. Sometimes he messes with you just for his own giggles. "You think I'm gonna go left? Your left or my left? Haha gotcha! Now let's try the right..."


You certainly got my interest piqued with these fish. Good luck with the photos but better yet get a sport camera and shoot under water. The money you saved on the window should be enough to buy several cameras!

Lmaooo you that right lol looks like he's messing with me haha

 

[Fishman Dave]

Don't like catching fish if I can help it but they had been in there a couple of years with no photos.
As youngsters they were brown with large round spots but colouring certainly has changed.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Took the opportunity to check up on one of the ARTC whilst I had the nets out. Still a baby but around a foot mark now.
Now I know where my 5" tinfoils kept going! His brothers were bigger when they went in so assume they still could be.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Jaws, am loving watching your vulture cat whizzing round like a teenager. Make the most of it, they slow down a lot as they get older, loose that fantastic contrast in pattern too but sure looks well now. Of course, slowing down takes all the mystery out of the camera work and makes the job easier!

Although your doing a great job in anticipating his moves.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

...Don't like catching fish if I can help it but they had been in there a couple of years with no photos.
As youngsters they were brown with large round spots but colouring certainly has changed.

Thank you so much for these. Can't say I know this species for sure, but Neil might be right - for one, this photo of Pimelodus maculatus in PCF Cat-eLog looks close https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/image.php?species=pimelodus_maculatus&image_id=3405 .

But it's a large genus with many species that are not known well or at all to us hobbyists https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/genus.php?genus_id=101#1957

Foir instance, P. pantaneiro is another guess: https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1957

May I suggest posting the photos on Planet Catfish for an ID? If you aren't a member and don't want to join, I'd be happy to post them for you.

... Took the opportunity to check up on one of the ARTC whilst I had the nets out. Still a baby but around a foot mark now.
Now I know where my 5" tinfoils kept going! His brothers were bigger when they went in so assume they still could be.

Do you keep multiple ARTC in that pond? I'd not think this is possible. How big is the pond?

 

[moe214]

Jaws, am loving watching your vulture cat whizzing round like a teenager. Make the most of it, they slow down a lot as they get older, loose that fantastic contrast in pattern too but sure looks well now. Of course, slowing down takes all the mystery out of the camera work and makes the job easier!

Although your doing a great job in anticipating his moves.

Don't want to hijack jawz thread, but if you ever get around to making a post on your experience with both wyckioides and wyckii, I'd be one intrigued reader