I never knew such monster catfish could be so friggin adorable!! I want to have baby gulpers now...
Unboxing Gulper Catfish
- Thread starter HarleyK
- Start date
Howdy
Here’s my 1 year update:
In a nutshell, they’re cool fish but I wouldn’t recommend them for a decorated 75 gal tank and I wouldn’t get them again had I known what I know now.
a) they are nitrate machines. They need more water than that to dilute pollution. Or a drip system, which is what I am building right now.
b) the tank is too small to add fish that are big enough to not get eaten
c) I never see them because I decorate my tank with driftwood and plants.
The only gulper I lost (as far as I know) was the little sick guy early on. So, that’s a success. Few people on here report about gulper they’ve had for a while.
But then, I have no clue how many I actually have left because I rarely see them. They’re housed in this 75 gal and failed to control the Endler colony. The only observation I have is that there are few full grown Endler females…so, the gulper eat some. But not enough for population control.
Their appetite has markedly decreased since summer, the most I’ve seen eat at the same time is three. Plus the tiny fingerling with a deformed jaw that still occupies a 40 gal with an Endler colony. He’s still too small to eat whole silversides. I cut them in half and offer them in front of its nose.
So, I can’t add larger tetras to the 75 gal to eat Endler fry because the Gulpers would eat those. I ought to move the tiny gulper from the 40 gal into the 75 gal to free up a tank but I’m afraid I won’t find him to offer half silversides.
In summary, Gulper are fun to watch when they eat, but that’s also the only time you see them in a decorated tank. Different story in a bare tank, I guess.
Here’s my 1 year update:
In a nutshell, they’re cool fish but I wouldn’t recommend them for a decorated 75 gal tank and I wouldn’t get them again had I known what I know now.
a) they are nitrate machines. They need more water than that to dilute pollution. Or a drip system, which is what I am building right now.
b) the tank is too small to add fish that are big enough to not get eaten
c) I never see them because I decorate my tank with driftwood and plants.
The only gulper I lost (as far as I know) was the little sick guy early on. So, that’s a success. Few people on here report about gulper they’ve had for a while.
But then, I have no clue how many I actually have left because I rarely see them. They’re housed in this 75 gal and failed to control the Endler colony. The only observation I have is that there are few full grown Endler females…so, the gulper eat some. But not enough for population control.
Their appetite has markedly decreased since summer, the most I’ve seen eat at the same time is three. Plus the tiny fingerling with a deformed jaw that still occupies a 40 gal with an Endler colony. He’s still too small to eat whole silversides. I cut them in half and offer them in front of its nose.
So, I can’t add larger tetras to the 75 gal to eat Endler fry because the Gulpers would eat those. I ought to move the tiny gulper from the 40 gal into the 75 gal to free up a tank but I’m afraid I won’t find him to offer half silversides.
In summary, Gulper are fun to watch when they eat, but that’s also the only time you see them in a decorated tank. Different story in a bare tank, I guess.
Howdy,
it turns out all five gulpers are still around, and the sixth with the malformation of the mouth has grown as well. I moved them all together into the same tank today. That metal ruler is 5 inches long for size comparison.
They dramatically reduced feeding in August and have not picked back up again. The little guy ate a dead feeder a couple of nights ago, and regurgitated it when I just now caught him
. Two of the others ate earlier this month, but they really haven’t been eating well. Having said that, they live with an endless Ender colony, and that is obviously what they eat. Even though gulpers are built to eat large fish, they seem to be doing just fine helping themselves on the snack bar of little ones.
it turns out all five gulpers are still around, and the sixth with the malformation of the mouth has grown as well. I moved them all together into the same tank today. That metal ruler is 5 inches long for size comparison.
They dramatically reduced feeding in August and have not picked back up again. The little guy ate a dead feeder a couple of nights ago, and regurgitated it when I just now caught him
. Two of the others ate earlier this month, but they really haven’t been eating well. Having said that, they live with an endless Ender colony, and that is obviously what they eat. Even though gulpers are built to eat large fish, they seem to be doing just fine helping themselves on the snack bar of little ones.
I really love the way you decorated that tank. It's the ideal habitat for all the fish in there: plenty of space for the gulpers to hide and for the livebearers to spawn and hide. It's just amazing, all of it!
