Help me with an update on the monster catfish sticky!

**thebiggerthebetter** · 11-25-2012, 1:49 PM

Originally Posted by necrocanis

I have not heard of there being any argument of how many species. I was under the impression that the one that split it into 8 species was the accepted one. Look here also at a potential 9th, unsure weather or not it has been accepted. http://www.ibcperu.org/doc/isis/7162.pdf I think that pseudoplatystoma need DNA analysis to confirm species count. I'm sure Dr. Lundberg is probably all over that already lol. I'll go ask.

If you could put my doubts/misinfo to rest, I'd be very grateful.

**cgibby** · 12-01-2012, 3:30 PM

this is at my lfs right now came from jeff rapps also have one myself don't have pictures of it at the moment nor do I have any pictures of my other cats this is the thai goonch the one I have is the indian varient that I got from wes about a little over a year ago it's pushing 14" I think this one is about 9"

Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

**necrocanis** · 12-03-2012, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by cgibby

this is at my lfs right now came from jeff rapps also have one myself don't have pictures of it at the moment nor do I have any pictures of my other cats this is the thai goonch the one I have is the indian varient that I got from wes about a little over a year ago it's pushing 14" I think this one is about 9"

Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

Nice!!! I really want one, but the price tag!!!! ouch!!!

**greenbud** · 12-03-2012, 12:21 PM

Awsome pics. I love my catfish but would trade them all for a real goonch

**necrocanis** · 12-03-2012, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by greenbud

Awsome pics. I love my catfish but would trade them all for a real goonch

Sell them for a total of $250 plus shipping and you can have one!!!

They are available, but for the price of that one fish I am getting like 6 species.

tough choice, once goonch or 8 other species. lol Good thing I am a fan of all catfish species.

**doubledragon** · 12-08-2012, 3:26 PM

Awesome thread.
I'll have to get some better pics on my phone and update.

**necrocanis** · 12-08-2012, 6:56 PM

Originally Posted by doubledragon

Awesome thread.
I'll have to get some better pics on my phone and update.

Sounds great!

**ColeFishing** · 12-10-2012, 10:05 PM

This is the story and my observations about my WC Channel Catfish.

Chapter One: Introduction
ok so i have some pics of a wild caught channel catfish that i own. I caught her on september 15th 2012, the story of her capture is unique as i found her dried up on the bank of a creek stuck in a pvc pipe. i thought she was dead because of how dry and wrinkly her skin was but when I picked her up to throw back into the water for the guppies to eat to moved so i put her in my live well and took her home. she was 2.6" long when i first added her to the quarantine tank. Here are some pics of her when she was first introduced.

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Chapter Two: Terrible Beginning
After quarantine, she was put into my 75 gallon tank because I feed that tank lots of food with lots of verity plus i thought the competition for food would get her to eat more. Well, i thought she would be fine as she seemed to larger to fit in any other fishes mouth, well, my other fishes my have had a deferent perspective on that. My channel was in the mouth of almost every fish in my tank including, a 13" FL gar, 8" ornate bichir, 6" red tail payara and a 14" rope fish. She had puncture wounds, cuts, scratches, a completely torn off pectoral fin and a missing tail fin. This happened in a 36 hour span while i was away for rowing. I immediately acclimated her into a 30 gallon tank where she would spend her recovery time munching on NLS cichlid pellets. She made a full recovery within weeks. Here are pics towards the end of the recovery phase.

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Chapter Three: Eating
This gal can eat like no other. Which makes sense because she was wild caught so maybe she eats whenever she gets the chance, which happens to be twice a day. She loves NLS pellets and this makes up about 85% of her total diet. She is still pretty small so feeding stuff like tilapia isn't really an option. I have fed her small earth worms and small guppies before though. She eats significantly more than my captive bred channel cat when he was her size.

Chapter Four: General Personality
Being a wild caught fish, you might expect her to be more skittish. Wrong!. She is actually quite active, even when i have my face completely pushed against the glass. She swims around with my 4-5 inch male jack Dempsey. The Dempsey never minded her as she just likes to swim under or with him when she's not in her rock cave or under her drift wood. She isn't responsive to me yet but neither was my channel cat at that size, not to mention he never swam anywhere unless the lights in the tank were off. Over all, compared to my captive bred one, the WC one is significantly more outgoing and less skittish despite all she's been through. She's quite curios to see foreign fish and tends to annoy them more than the Largemouth bass she is currently housed with. Also, i'm currently taking name suggestion her, if any of you who have actually made it this far in my story, i would love to hear them.

Chapter Five: To Be Continued...
Since the fish is still alive and doing well I might keep her updated on her so y'all can get a sense about wild caught VS captive bred fish/channel catfish. here are some pics of her now at just shy of 5".