Congrats chicx, hopefully they all get to monster size! Best of luck bud, fatten that Brevis up!
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Another ATF riddle solved. Brevis & Forskahlii; same tank, same time. How to ID.
- Thread starter Chicxulub
- Start date
I'm on it!
He's pellet training right now. I'm optimistic about his potential to start eating, he seems like he'll be an easy one to break.
Now all I need to do is find another VATF and TATF. Why oh WHY did I sell the ones that I had?!
Lol I felt the same way. That's why I grabbed the goliath as soon as I was in a position to get another ATF.Why oh WHY did I sell the ones that I had?!
Man I've wanted to have all five species since I figured out how to tell them apart. Now that I've actually HAD all five, it irritates me to no end to know that! I'm so close too pulling it off right now its not even funny, I jsut can't put the last piece in place to make it happen!
His tank mates will be 2 bichirs (7 inch ornate, 5-6 inch beuttokoferri) and a 12 in rope fish for now, all of which are pretty chill. I plan on having my build done by spring, early summer at the latest so he should be fine till then. I will be gathering materials week by week till then, it'll get done. I'm about to start working w/ a custom aquarium shop so I'll know the routine for a build by then. Hot damn, max is a fierce looking fish for 12 inch. Can't wait for my fatf to be around that size, that'll take a while though. I do plan on adding one more bichir, a retropinnis IF one comes up. Or a juvie teugelsi. Either or IF they happen to pop up.
My filtration is an AC110 and the power head, I made a little bag of carbon/sponge/bio pellet in the intake of the power head. If needed I can add more filters, I've always wanted to try a Penguin, maybe add a 500 and that should be good? Or is that over doing it? My 110 does work really well, haven't calculated the exact gph yet but I'm pretty sure w/ power head the tank gets turned at least 4 times an hour. Which is plenty for the stock right now, ATF noob here so I have to ask haha
I have read the stickies, Ive setup my tank so the poly chill area is in the slack, and the fatf should be staying on the other side in the current. Should work out quite well, oh Rob what do you think about yellowtail cuda as a characin tank mate? I think you posted a pic of a large one before, was that w/ ATF? I'd like to add a school after my build is done. Should be at least 200 ga long as there's enough room. This won't be a for life tank as I still live with my parents due to surgery making it nigh impossible to make it on my own. So he will probably end up in at least a 500 ga showpiece tank in my own home in a few years.
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I think your planned stock should work fine. What I would do is have violent current at the top of the tank for the FATF and 'cuda. I'd arrange it like so-
You'd have the strong flow that the tiger would like and a reasonable slack area that the bichirs would like. You can moderate the flow on the bottom of the tank with rocks and wood and whatnot as well.
Thanks for the kind words. Max is a beast! He's got the real wild type look to him. He's my pride! haha
The filtration should be fine, but you'll need to do water tests to be sure. If your perimeters get out of control, just ad more filtration. There's no real fault in adding your FX5 or whatever you're going to use on the big tank to the 70 imo. I have a 3' tall filter that flows 3000 gph and is designed for a 1000 gallon tank on my 150 lol. Power heads are important just to give the violent flow that tigerfish like. It will help them eat pellets quicker. As a matter of fact, when you get your little tiger I'd pellet train him in a 20 gallon. I just did my fatf in the 20 where he couldn't get away from me and it made him the most personable ATF I've ever dealt with. At 4-5" a 20 is fine for a few weeks while pellet training him.
The yellowtail 'cuda will be fine as a tank mate, but he'll probably be worthless as a teacher fish. You'll still need to get something that feeds aggressively to teach them, I still favor tinfoil barbs. I like how the barbs harass the tigers while they're eating, it teaches the tigers to eat very aggressively as well.
Hmm very interesting about the 20 ga, I'd imagine it would have banged itself up pretty good in that small of an area but if you being the expert here says it'll be fine I'll try it. I could put my grow outs in my 70 (divided of course from my ravenous ornate) then keep the FATF in my 30 ga until pellet trained then? Maybe throw in a couple tinfoil barbs to help w/ the pellet training? I've never been a fan of barbs but my buddy has a school of barbs I'm sure he wouldn't mind lending me a couple for a bit, he knows I keep my water and tanks clean. So, I'll throw the power head in the 30 for a while so the tiger is more comfortable (I currently don't run a power head for that one the AC 70 on it keeps the flow good for the gorwouts)
I'm always keeping track of my params, I've had it down to a science w/ this stock, most of my guesses being correct after keeping it for a while and regularly testing (like how fast nitrate builds etc). I would imagine a 6 inch fatf won't make as much of a mess as a 7 inch red hi fin wolf (it is basically replacing it). I'll still be testing and testing to get the routine down for at least a couple months. Man I'm gonna miss Bloody Face though. At least he's going to a father of a friend and I'll be able to make sure he's well looked after. Bloddy Face is the red hi fin, named after american horror story! (Because he jumps and bloddys his face when he is moved from tank to tank, and has bit me a couple times).
Also Rob, do you hand feed your atf? I have to say, I hand feed my red wolf and its gotten me a couple times in the process, its too fun to stop though haha. I even play a bit of tug o war like a dog if I'm feeding worms, he holds on until I let go, more stubborn then my golden retriever x border collie mix!
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I set up my 20L so that it had a buttload of current too. I kept it bare. This kept him from having any issues with hurting himself. The FATF is the first one I tried to train in a 20L and it has had the best results for me. Traditionally I used a 55 or just tried to train them in my 150. It seems that the smaller the tank is (within reason) the easier it is for them to figure out that their food is on the surface. The AC70 by itself on a 30 gallon likely won't have sufficient flow for the tigers. I have a 500gph canister, an AC 50 and a 900 gph powerhead in my 20L.
And I DO NOT attempt to hand feed my tigers. I don't hand feed the tank at all after I had an incident with Max.
I was one time trying to feed Drogo (my black aro) some skin-on salmon chunks that were left over from preparing dinner. Drogo had eaten a couple fillets and I was having a hard time getting him to take the last one, so I was jigging and splashing the fillet on the surface and watching Drogo to try to get him to come take it. I wasn't payign attention to anyone else because I didn't expect Max or a catfish to come up to the top to take it. I was wrong. All of a sudden, there was a shockingly quick, violent tug on the salmon and I got splashed pretty good. I pulled my hand back to find I had a nub of salmon left in my hand with a slightly curved, perfectly clean cut on it. Max cut the salmon with the skin on cleaner and quicker than I could have done with sharp scissors.
I will NEVER give a larger tigerfish the chance to bite me like that. At one point, my sick, nearly dead 4" brevis (the one before the one in this thread) bit me defensively. That tiny fish was able to draw blood and give me a good pinch.
Don't take chances with these fish!
Here is my FATF at 8" and chomping on pellets 😁
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