Malapterurus electricus

[venwu225]

Hi everyone: :)

Just wanted to share my new Malapterurus electricus. These animals are incredible, this tiny fish jumped out of the container during purchase, and I had to gently retrieve him from a flat surface. The more my skin made contact with the fish, the better the conduction and shock I experienced. I had electric cats before, but never one this small, and its EOD was strong enough to send my fingers in to stinging convulsions. Thankfully the animal was not too stressed and is now currently in a 5 gallon tank (over filtered with a vengence) with a equally tiny large mouth bass. The fishes will eventually go into a 20 gallon, proceeded to a 250 gallon for life. Although I will most likely have to separate the large mouth soon.

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat.JPG

sorry about the bad photo, the fish is under a tiny plate and lighting was diffcult to
control.

[sohfatfish]

Cute fish....some people might find it ugly tho... heard it was used by the Egyptians for its eletric shocks as healing properties?

[necrocanis]

That fish will definitely be a monster one day. Up to 36" or 40" I believe, and about 50 lbs. or more. You might get away with the 250 with how lethargic they are, probably more so when fully grown. Keep us updated on his growth. I am interested in how fast it grows. Never know might end up getting one myself.

[rumblesushi]

no offense, but the electric catfish I had was the most boring fish I've owned. It never moved and never killed anything. It sucked.

[venwu225]

Members of the same species vary in personality; an obvious point in this hobby. This fish
has a pretty active personality. It moves around in search of food quite frequently for
a electric cat, despite how heavy the feeding regimen is. And already at this young age, it
actively feeds from my hand, and the word gluttony certainly comes to mind.

I am a Neurobiology major, I think one of the reason why I decided to buy this fish is that these amazing animals share a interesting feature in terms of innervation
to their electromotor units. THE ENTIRE electric organ is innervated by a single giant
electromotorneuron. Really neat stuff.

Thanks for the comment everyone

Necrocanis: 36'' is correct, any idea what is the length of time that it would reach sexual
maturity and adult size?

And no offense taken, killing things and moving alot is what makes a fish cool?
I think they are pretty cool the way they are in terms of behavior and physiology.

what particularly nice was that it was a $6 buy. Practically Free :)

[rumblesushi]

Yep, I like predators. Why i love snakeheads so much is they are quintessential predators. They are hungry and they are born to kill. There;s no messing about with channas, no waiting until you turn the lights off to eat. They are receptive and aggressive.

If a fish is active and pretty but not a killer, then cool, like my jardini. he has no killer instinct, but he's a beautiful fish and very active.

If it aint pretty and aint active, at least it's gotta be a vicious killer :D

I just found my electric cat incredibly boring. I never saw it eat and barely saw it move. It also never electrocuted me.

[venwu225]

yea I definetly see where you are coming from, I had 4 different species of channas myself
in the past. And watching them shredding through anything that moves truely is nothing
short of a spectcle.

I have been getting a lot of contrary opinions on electricus, some say they are personable
while others say they are incredibly boring. The ones I had in the past for short term
were bigger and not that exciting. But this little guy is pretty different I think. He now respond to my shadows and eats eagerly off of the feeding stick. Maybe its the age difference, but I sure hope he keeps his vigor.

[TaratronVaeVictus]

At work we have an electric eel, and to 99% of the public, he is a very dull fish. He swims a good deal, but otherwise rests on his driftwood or around it, and is rather active at feeding time; he devours NLS wafers with relish, and has refused live feeder fish of any sort ever since we bought him. So he's not aggressive when I put my hands in the tank, another disappointment to the public, who would love nothing more than a free show of me being shocked, and overall, is what most people would deem a lazy fish.

I don't know about handfeeding though...he is over a foot long, and it may be too late to start THAT training!

[venwu225]

New picture:

He now responds to my presence afront of the tank: :grinyes:

"Feed me!"
http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat2.JPG

[shoefreak03]

It never moved and never killed anything. It sucked.

spoken by a true predatory fish lover... :thumbsup:

[DiXoN]

when i traded my midas into a lfs they put it in with some smaller fish which it bullied so moved it in with a small e cat.
the midas went for it and it shocked the midas and the midas was sensless for days.
the lfs owner had to turn the midas over from side to side as it was getting a sdore on one side.
it made a full recovery and now the lfs owner keeps it at home although it does have a bit of a scar.
dixon

[rumblesushi]

spoken by a true predatory fish lover... :thumbsup:

damn right, always and forever ;)

[rumblesushi]

so um, how about a video of it moving around or eating or something? :D

[venwu225]

so um, how about a video of it moving around or eating or something? :D

I am glad I could get you to show so much interest!

I actually have several videos, thought you never ask :naughty:

I just need to edit the sound portion out, as my girl friend is whining in the background
and she wouldn't be happy if I posted them with.

Any suggestions on quality video editing programs?

[venwu225]

sofatfish: The ancient eyptians did use the ecats as forms of healing, with of course
not very much scientific foundation supporting it. But electro-therapy is sometimes
used even now days, except that is called:

"Auriculotherapy is a non-invasive form of electrical stimulation to external ear for the relief of pain and addictive behaviors. "

Also other sources claim:
"The exact mechanism of electrical stimulation’s beneficial effect remains controversial. Electrical stimulation may directly block transmission of pain signals along nerves. In addition, electrical stimulation has been shown to promote the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers produced by the body."

The EOD of the ecat could have had similar effects on the ancients. :)

[venwu225]

Simple feeding video, enjoy everyone:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat.MPG

[Leicharti188]

Nice!

I never seen one of those things before....Do they use there shock for prey or is it just a defence mechanism? Sorry, maybe stupid questions but I've never seen anything like it -

[venwu225]

the shock or EOD can be used for defence or offense, and no need to be sorry :)

Sources claim that the ecat uses its EOD not for navigation and only predator and protection. But from the photos we can clearly see the little symmetrical white dots on his
face, supposedly ampullary organs, or current/voltage detecting organs! So who knows?

[venwu225]

Picture update of the ecat:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat3.JPG

Put on about one cm of growth, still very vigorous and now that he is in the tank alone, activity level of the fish has increased dramatically.

I put in 4 white mountain clouded minows from my friend's breeding cull, he took out 3 of them over night. I am going to try to digitally record the predatory behavior.

[acidburn470]

That is a truly awesome fish.

[SmileyZx3]

could those kill larger fish or just merely stun them?

[venwu225]

acid: Thanks for kind words

smiley: the animal shocked me several times during aquistion, and the sensation with direct skin to skin contact felt like numerous sharp needles poking inside my finger from the inside out, and it was enough to make me loose conscious control of the motor movements of my fingers that are in direct electrical contact with the fish.

I speculate that at a size of 2.5 inches, the ecat could stun and disable fish of equal or slightly greater size with ease, but perhaps not kill (unless skin to skin contact was made?)Still, I have no contextual evidence to back up this claim.

[amazonfishman]

Nice pickup, unfortunately I just recently lost my 9" Electric Catfish, but they are amazing fish. I kept mine with 2 specie of Synodontis catfish in a 55. Where did you find a baby for $6 I've been desperately looking to get a few babies and start over, sweet fish! ~Trent

[amazonfishman]

Here's a few pics, hopefully this will work...

[venwu225]

Sorry for your loss, thats a really nice specimen. Did you get the fish at a young age? It seems like a different species than M.electricus? Did it look similar to my when the animal was young? The dark coloration is striking.
FISH BASE Species List:
http://www.fishbase.org/identification/specieslist.cfm?famcode=143&areacode=

Also, whats your pH and feeding regimen like? I keep the pH at about 7.8 and feed small meals sparringly with earth worms, frozen fish, and the occasional flake.

I actually got the fish from a LFS, but I am no where near texas. And I the store does not ship, but I think these guys are in season now, so keep trying.

And could you be so kind as to post some photos of your microstoma? I would love to get my hands on some of those!

[amazonfishman]

Actually I picked my E cat up when it was around 7" it was growing fairly slowly about an 1" every 2 months or so and I had kept him for about 5 months. The lfs where I got him from has had babies in the past they were darker colored like mine however I've seen several pics of other baby E cats that were light brown or the same color as yours.

As far as feeding goes, I fed nightcrawlers every 2-3 days and usually about 3-4 at each feeding, my e cat also ate peeled shrimp on occasion, and tubiflex worms once that were meant for the synodontis, it ate the whole block!

Unfortunately I don't have a microstoma at this time, those are future tank plans and so when I get the 180 which is a little ways away probably 6 months or so I am going to try to get one. Amiidae on arofanatics.com had a beautiful specimen and thats what led me to want a Dwarf E Cat as well as the normal E cat. Just search the gallery for some other pics but I'll post a pic of his and some of the other color varients I've seen in baby E cats. Its good to finally see a few more people keeping E cats, I think they are one of the most amazing species of catfish and are personally my favorite catfish. Amiidae told me he got his Dwarf E Cat at a lfs in Singapore where he lives for about $15 US so I might look into ordering one that way through him or that lfs if possible.

The pics are in order, a baby Dwarf Electric Cat, baby E Cat, Peck's baby E Cat, and Amiidae's Dwarf Electric Catfish ~Trent

[venwu225]

Here are some tank photos of the ECat's tank

Abundent plant life as bio-filtration:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/tank.JPG

These guys are great at nutrient to biomass conversion, rapid growth and reasonable lighting requirements:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/surface.JPG
http://students.washington.edu/venwu/surface2.JPG

[benzjamin13]

I'd be afraid of water changes when it gets bigger :grinno:

[amazonfishman]

These are some pics of the setup I had for my E cat, sorry it was mid water change, the second pic is one of his tank mates a Synodontis Multipunctatus. I never got shocked by my E cat, I would put my hand in the tank to move the driftwood and feed them all and my E cat was very tame and would swim up really really close like within an inch and stay just out of reach of touching me. He was also kinda crazy and would play with the bubbles the aerator gave off all the time and swam back and forth through them. They are a very people friendly and very responsive to feeding and their owners. ~Trent

[Stone Like Fish]

such an awesome fish

[lil_punisher]

my lfs has some tiny ones, about 2'', for $7 bucks. I just feed mine a giant slug i found while racking leaves. He attacked it ferociously and then spit it out along with a wad of slime but he ended up eating it anyway in the end.

[LAMBDACHI]

Nice, interesting fish. Wish I had one. :thumbsup:

[venwu225]

Thanks;

They tend to get over zealous when food is present in the tank, my ecat goes berserk after its first bite and swims around in search of more food for over 30 minutes.

Yesterday I hand fed my for the first time, it made contact with my hands and at the localized area the fish delivered a sharp and pronounced shock! It felt like a giant needle went into my finger and made me grimace quite a bit. Maybe is the small area of electrical contact I made with the animal that caused such a interesting sensation; it was invariabley different from the usual shocks, which consists main of tingles.

Also when the ecat is seeking food, it will power dive into the fine gravel till its neck region and maintain that position for 2-3 secs, and then move off and continue its search. Just a unique observation.

Does anyone else have the same experiences?

[venwu225]

Amazonfishman: You never had any problems mixing Synodontis Multipunctatus with the ecat? Did you notice any interspecies interactions or behavioral changes when you introduced the animals to each other? The only tank mate that stood its ground with my ecat was a 3 inche large mouth bass so far.

[freshwaterstingrays]

cool fish

[Xite]

Damn thats a cute fish :)

[venwu225]

New photos showing mouth parts and growth: :)

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat4.JPG

Really clear shots of the electroreceptors on the face and lateral line:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/ecat5.JPG

[amazonfishman]

Sorry it took me so long to respond again, I didn't notice any negative changes in the behavior of the e cat with the synodontis multipunctatus the e cat seemed to enjoy some company in the tank, they were around 3" at the time I added them to his tank. However the other synodontus were a little more territorial but overall little difference in the e cats behavior with their addition. I would recommend the multipunctatus to anyone with a e cat, they add some nice color to the tank and are pretty good at cleaning up the rest of the bottom of the tank ~Trent

I will be adding some other synodontis species to the next e cat setup in a 180 probably not the flavitaenatus like before but definately the multi's and possibly an upside down catfish or two and some other syno's as well

[arapaimag]

Nice fish

I've never raised one very large yet!

Mine is only 12" and 4yrs

[Moth Powder]

Very nice fish. I bought a little one just like yours from petland discounts. He's about 3 inches or so now and he eats alot. Very cool fish. I'm growing him out in a 15 gallon tank now until i can make a 4ft by 3ft by 18 inch tank for him. I may change the dimentions around though. But im pretty sure your 250 gal tank would be fine for him because these fish rarely grow to be 3ft in captivity. Both the dwarf electric catfish and this species stay around a foot or 2. Since they really dont move too much they dont need a very big tank.

[ChickenTeeth]

Members of the same species vary in personality; an obvious point in this hobby. This fish
has a pretty active personality. It moves around in search of food quite frequently for
a electric cat, despite how heavy the feeding regimen is. And already at this young age, it
actively feeds from my hand, and the word gluttony certainly comes to mind.

I am a Neurobiology major, I think one of the reason why I decided to buy this fish is that these amazing animals share a interesting feature in terms of innervation
to their electromotor units. THE ENTIRE electric organ is innervated by a single giant
electromotorneuron. Really neat stuff.

Thanks for the comment everyone

Necrocanis: 36'' is correct, any idea what is the length of time that it would reach sexual
maturity and adult size?

And no offense taken, killing things and moving alot is what makes a fish cool?
I think they are pretty cool the way they are in terms of behavior and physiology.

what particularly nice was that it was a $6 buy. Practically Free :)
Purdy and vicious appeals to me as a fish keeper, but, collecting is my passion. i love having fish that are rare and hard to find!!! At $6 i would have bought every last Electric cat the store had. DuLL or Not!!!

[venwu225]

I would have grabed all three at that LFS if it wasn't for the issue of available space...

[Valyrian]

Here are some tank photos of the ECat's tank

Abundent plant life as bio-filtration:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/tank.JPG

These guys are great at nutrient to biomass conversion, rapid growth and reasonable lighting requirements:

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/surface.JPG
http://students.washington.edu/venwu/surface2.JPG

What are the floating plants called?

[ChickenTeeth]

nice

[amazonfishman]

Arapaimag do you have any pics of the 12" e cat? ~Trent

[arapaimag]

Arapaimag do you have any pics of the 12" e cat? ~Trent


I don't have any pics of him. I never even thought to take any pics because at 12" he is not a monster fish (yet).

As you probably know I don't feed like crazy any of my fish. I try to get max size over time. I probably will take photos when he gets over 20". I know they get bigger but that's a level that I consider good.

What size is your pema? how old is it?

I like your selection of fish in your big tank. :thumbsup: You have 3 of my favorites (Rt,Pema,Tig)

Good luck and start building a bigger tank :grinyes:

[amazonfishman]

The arapaima isn't in there yet I just got the tank running 2 weeks ago and am waiting to track down most of those fish which are hard to come by unless its the right time of the year, the pima should be comming in though in a couple weeks at 4". A friend is ordering a bunch and I told him I wanted 1, right now I've just got a sun cat, marble pim catfish, and a severum. I will be upgrading tanks later on to something ridiculous huge. I would love to see some pics of the e-cat though still even at 12" and definately at 20" should you decide to take some :) ~Trent

[Tucc185]

Nice e cat, gotta love that ugly face! I work at an LFS, and every once in a while we get those guys in. Once, I was unpacking the fish shipment, and there was a bag full of murky brown water and a couple of nondescript cats inside, so I did what I always did when the water in the bag is bad and I'm concerned the fish might die: after I let the temperatrure adjust, I cut open the bag over a net, and grab the net with the fish in it to prevent it from wriggling out or jumping. Of course, when I grabbed this particular fish, I got the shock of my life (literally). They were, of course, 6" or so e cats, and the shock was excruciating. My left hand was twitching all day after that. So, moral of the story, don't mess with any fish until you know what it is! And dam can those guys pack a punch!

[shaunman]

I've been thinking about getting the electric catfish for years. The only drawbacks are that it requires a large tank, no other tankmates, and when they reach about a half-foot, they can produce up to a 400 volt shock. The electric eel can produce a 1000 volt shock and can kill people, but 400 volts should only produce a lot of pain and maybe some pants wetting.

Remember your "Rubber"...gloves that is.

[amazonfishman]

At 6" its not even close to a 400 volt shock, I'm fairly certain a full grown adult e cat can't manage that many volts, electric eels however can. I personally never got shocked by my e cat and would say they are extremely easy to take care of and as long as your carefull you shouldn't have any problems with shocking. It can have tank mates also, I kept mine with 2 different species of synodontis catfish, the multipunctatus and the flavitaeniatus with no problems what so ever. I believe the synodontis species are all immune to the e cat shock. I would recommend one, they grow about .5"-1" a month so not that fast for a catfish and would be comfortable in a 100 gallon tank for a while probably until around 14" ~Trent