Giraffe cat "Volta"

shipmonkey

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Has anyone here kept one of these before? What size has it hit?

Most the online resources I have found are not very heplful on this matter. The Volta region has two known giraffe cat species, one being the largest and the other being the smallest. Kind of like playing Russian Roulette.
 

thebiggerthebetter

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Tough question, mate, as evidenced in part by lack of responses. I cannot help you either. I think you will have a far better luck posting your question on Planet Catfish - I know several Giraffe catfishes aficionados there and followed their discussions... by "far better" I hope for lots of good responses, although even one helpful response there versus zero here can be defined as "far better" :)

I looked briefly over my favorite, the Auchenoglanis genus http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus.php?genus_id=70 but have not seen Volta mentioned anywhere there. Volta lies entirely within Ghana. No Ghana mentioned there either.
 

DMD123

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Anyone? :popcorn:

Well I just purchased what could be my "dream fish" or "the worst mistake" of my life. My LFS had 'auchenoglanis sp. volta' for sale and I bought one. Another store had them recently and could not give me a clear answer on size and the stock was sick so I passed. But this time (different store) I got an answer of 24" max.... will wait and see.

I had seen info here: http://fishprofiles.com/profiles/fr...ders/Auchenoglanis_occidentalis_occidentalis/
"Specimens from the rift lakes,especially lake Tanganyika are truly massive, up to a whopping 70 cm or more in length and the increase in bulk is proportionate , thusly making them such a huge fish as to be only suitable for the most massive tanks or public aquaria. Those not wishing to own a fish that may approach a potential three feet in length should confine themselves to purchasing the smaller species from the river systems of the volta region, who typically average up to 17 inches and avoid the rift lake specimens."

I ended up basing my decision on the LFS answer and the above article. If it outgrows my 210g I guess I will be looking for a bigger tank. :D
 

thebiggerthebetter

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shipmonkey

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DMD123, my two are likely from the same batch as yours. I picked them up from the wholesaler who sells to that area.I have two in a 240 gallon. I would love for them to stay under a foot, but up to two feet should work ok. These new giraffe are such a crap shoot. It used to be so much easier when it was just giraffes out of Nigeria. They were pretty, but huge.
 

DMD123

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The original shop I was looking to purchase from was The Wet Spot in Portland Oregon. They apparently were having problems with the batch they had being sick so I was not able to get one from them. The info they gave me seemed like a typical 30"+ giraffe cat. I ended up getting the fish from A Place For Pets in Burien Washington. They were under the assumption that it was only about a 24" type and thought I would be fine with my tank. Guess we will see!
 

shipmonkey

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The two I got were the first two shipped from that batch. I just missed getting the last "bouche", which seems to be one of the smaller giraffes. A place for pets is a really good shop. I used to work for the owner back in the day.
 

DMD123

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When did you get your cats and how has the growth rate been so far?

Mine is only about 4". I choose the smallest due to the fact it just looked the best, it was the least beat up and not so thin/skinny. It is in my 56g growout with a 5" hopplo cat and a 4" rhino pleco. Very happy with how well it gets along with the others especially since the rhino pleco will constantly go at the hoplo and bite on him. Because it was so thin looking I have fed more frozen brine shrimp and chopped up earthworms than I normally would but it has been eating 3mm NLS pellets without a problem. Im really shooting for a pellet trained fish with a few 'treats' thrown in on occasion. I was looking at long term owning this fish and will probably use 5lb tubs of NLS and maybe some of the Ken's catfish sticks. Ive used Hikari sinking carnivore and massivore but the stuff just is too expensive as a regular diet (Just my opinion, settle down everyone).
 

shipmonkey

Candiru
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Jan 17, 2010
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When did you get your cats and how has the growth rate been so far?

Mine is only about 4". I choose the smallest due to the fact it just looked the best, it was the least beat up and not so thin/skinny. It is in my 56g growout with a 5" hopplo cat and a 4" rhino pleco. Very happy with how well it gets along with the others especially since the rhino pleco will constantly go at the hoplo and bite on him. Because it was so thin looking I have fed more frozen brine shrimp and chopped up earthworms than I normally would but it has been eating 3mm NLS pellets without a problem. Im really shooting for a pellet trained fish with a few 'treats' thrown in on occasion. I was looking at long term owning this fish and will probably use 5lb tubs of NLS and maybe some of the Ken's catfish sticks. Ive used Hikari sinking carnivore and massivore but the stuff just is too expensive as a regular diet (Just my opinion, settle down everyone).
I had mine delivered around mid-febuary. They were about 5" then and have put on an inch since. The fins on one of them were pretty tattered, but they have healed nicely since.

Mine have not been nice enough to start eating NLS pellets for me. They are on a diet of freshwater clams, earthworms, and a home made frozen blend. They are fat and happy, but do share the tank with enough fish that they are not likely getting enough food to get their optimum growth rate. The school of euptura they share the tank with are bigger then they are and a little bit pushy.
 

DMD123

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With mine being in the growout with a hopplo and rhino pleco there is no real issue with it getting food since it all sinks and and I put in enough for everyone. When the cat goes into the 210g it will have to deal with a hungry school of silver dollars (7 red hook + 2 spotted) and a few cichlids (Pearsei x1, midas x1, bifa x1). It will have to fight for food then.

I have also been feeding during daylight hours only so that the fish will get used to me doing the feeding and trying to get it to not be so shy.
 
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