Tank Size

[thebiggerthebetter]

Never seen him panic or get shocked when I went near the tank. His snout still straight hahaha. He was always calm ...

*****I think this is because it is either alone or has tank mates that don't stress it one bit. Or it could be an exceptional specimen (if the ID is correct).



... and not active.

*****Mine are the same.


Never actually get to see him eat. Only see all his food gone and a huge belly XD... One thing thats a concern for me is that he's still on live food, if he's in such a big space it might be harder to catch his live food, yet its also kind of a more natural environment where he has to hunt for food. Maybe I should plan the move once he can go on frozen food?

******They do their hunting by night when they have the advantage of not needing light to prey. If you raise your own feeder fish and assure their health, that's better but if you buy them, you are gambling and it's not a question of if but when the LFS feeder fish will sicken it or kill it via pathogen transfer. If it's goldfish, there is another drawback - they are poor nutrition for tropical predators.

Mine take thawed fish and pellets. I didn't have to do anything special but I never offered them any live since bringing them home. To me, this is the time to wean them off live, if they were on it.

 

[aes1687]

Never seen him panic or get shocked when I went near the tank. His snout still straight hahaha. He was always calm ...

*****I think this is because it is either alone or has tank mates that don't stress it one bit. Or it could be an exceptional specimen (if the ID is correct).



... and not active.

*****Mine are the same.


Never actually get to see him eat. Only see all his food gone and a huge belly XD... One thing thats a concern for me is that he's still on live food, if he's in such a big space it might be harder to catch his live food, yet its also kind of a more natural environment where he has to hunt for food. Maybe I should plan the move once he can go on frozen food?

******They do their hunting by night when they have the advantage of not needing light to prey. If you raise your own feeder fish and assure their health, that's better but if you buy them, you are gambling and it's not a question of if but when the LFS feeder fish will sicken it or kill it via pathogen transfer. If it's goldfish, there is another drawback - they are poor nutrition for tropical predators.

Mine take thawed fish and pellets. I didn't have to do anything special but I never offered them any live since bringing them home. To me, this is the time to wean them off live, if they were on it.

ID definitely correct, tank mates are pretty much all calm fish ( juruense, granulosus, albino clown knife etc) except for the thin bars that move around. Definitely keep him away from goldfish. Feed him minnows and mollies. I buy feeders from the LFS but don't add the lfs water when I feed, only add the feeders to the tank. Maybe I should consider raising feeders.

 

[aes1687]

Here's a pic of the future beast from some time ago )

 

[aes1687]

I think you're overthinking it. Fish constantly scavenge anyway. Even if they didn't learn your feeding routine to come to the front of the tank when you feed, which they will, they'll find any food that they miss eventually. They'll probably grow better too with so much room and the likely better water quality.

I get what you mean but if I put him in a community tank with other fish he might not get a share of the food

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

ID definitely correct, tank mates are pretty much all calm fish ( juruense, granulosus, albino clown knife etc) except for the thin bars that move around. Definitely keep him away from goldfish. Feed him minnows and mollies. I buy feeders from the LFS but don't add the lfs water when I feed, only add the feeders to the tank. Maybe I should consider raising feeders.

Yup. ID is correct.

Juruense are zealous and your jur alone is enough to bite and stress the capa. Perhaps the way your tank is laid out helps or your juruense is an exception, or much smaller than the capa. Most usually jurs do not tolerate other Brachyplatystoma in their vicinity or the entire tank and the timid ones like capa get it the worst.

I think you got lucky somehow, not to belittle your rare accomplishment, but more data would help the analysis. EDIT: Looking at the photos, I don't think your capa's snout is virgin. Its bent down or the top bone of the head slopes down just like that of mine was at that size and the very tip is blunted. That fish ran into a wall plenty of times. Perhaps not in your care but it did. I think.

Not adding the LFS water to your tank is a standard practice and is not what I meant above. These feeder fish are raised the cheapest way often times in outdoor ponds feeding on who knows what and carry a full list of bacteria, virus, and parasites on them and inside of them.

It's only a matter of time you will have a bad illness or deaths from feeding them to your fish. Been proven zillion times. There are stickie threads in the general aquaria discussion forum and the health and disease forum on pros and cons of live feeding.

**************************************

This is what a virgin, uninjured snout should look like. These are my two capas when I just got them: