Jaguar vs gulper catfish

[thebiggerthebetter]

I caution you on gulpers. I was super excited to get mine and now if someone offered me $20 he would be gone. Boring. They sit in one spot. Hes super picky to feed. Ive had him week and half and he hasnt eaten.

It'd be nice for this guy to hook up with you https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/want-this-gulper-catfish-so-bad.680908/

The tank water is perfect. Ive had numerous fish that thrived in that tank before...

So that's another way of saying you don't measure your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Which is fine. Many experienced fish keepers do not.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

The tank water is perfect. Ive had numerous fish that thrived in that tank before...

lol I'm not bashing you but countless time we see the term "perfect water" and their fish having problems if your fish having problems then it's not "perfect" Also, your previous fish thrived in that tank doesn't mean different species will happy in there, That's why all species had a water condition in their specs sheet.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I too wanted to add that I am not bashing you either or digging under you. No way. Just pitching in to help in my clumsy ways and wish you only success. Still, feel free to ignore my posts altogether

 

[koltsixx]

Skyeboy's gulper's-not-eating thread: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/gulper-wont-eat.680703/

That must have been funny indeed seeing gulpers hunting tiny brine shrimp! If asked a priori, I'd guess they wouldn't care, kind of like big predators don't notice the smallest of prey. It's unlike arowana hunting live daphnia because arowana are bent on eating insects. Gulpers are bent on eating fish 2x-3x bigger than they are.

I just spent some time yesterday seeing two of my trio play around. It was really like a play of two kids without exaggeration.

I also forgot to mention that my guys despite appearing happier in the larger quarters nevertheless don't eat as much as they did in smaller quarters, rather they show less interest and eat almost 2x-3x less. Maybe it's seasonal. IDK. My experience is short too.

Thanks for the Viktor, I'll head over there and see; maybe he posted more info and hopefully water parameters in his thread.

As for the less interest in feeding I think it's seasonal but don't know what the trigger is. With my own Gulpers, Trachycorystes, Common Woodcats and Jaguars I've noticed less interest in feeding to no feeding at all. It didn't happen every year so there must have been something that set them off because I've seen it happen several times over a couple year periods. I must have done something different that I didn't notice that influenced their behavior.

It was easy to see the difference because I watch the Jaguars and Common Woods like a hawk to make sure they're feeding and getting enough. More so of course with the Jags. The Trachy and Gulpers used to have periods of showing little interest and then just stop eating all together. The Trachys being the worst because they went 7 months maybe more without eating. Now these are fish that go full on the minute food hits the water, eat at the surface and from my hand. To suddenly not leaving their hide for months. Afterwards unfortunately the Trachys once peaceful behavior turned very predatory once their fast was over. They ate six Silver Datnoids on me, the male and female in a joint effort tore a much larger Albino Knife in half and the male just recently killed my Tapajos I female pike. I found the male carrying the pike in his mouth length wise like a dog with a bone. Seemingly looking for something to use to fold the pike in half so he could eat her. A real Jekyll and Hyde act. Always fine even with mouth sized fish till after these fasts. During these fast they didn't really seem to lose any weight. Staying fairly well rounded even in the abdomen region. Coming out of the fast did seem to induce what I believe was spawning behavior but nothing ever came of it.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The depth of your observations always pleases me. I hope one day you will write a nice account of your Trachy trachy endeavors. (If you didn't know / remember I got four ~9"-12" from Ray Chan summer of 2016.)

Man. It must hurt loosing so many rare and special fish. Yea, Jekyll and Hide lulled your vigilance first.

I guess in a sick way that's a part of what makes our hobby interesting. Despite all the predictive power we got, we still fail miserably often enough, especially when we commune fish. And when we don't, we still get a fair share of unwanted surprises V victor448

Thanks for the schooling on the gulpers. Albeit I still don't know why, it worries me a lot less now that I know the appetite waxing and waning happens to others.

 

[Royally Digital]

Had Gulpers... loved them... friendly like a puppy but will eat everything in the tank... even the decorations... "if it's fits I don't spits" is their motto LOL ... Never had the chance to get a jag but was always on the list, they are not as "friendly" but beautiful to look at