The ever enigmatic and appealing Hemibagrus wyckii.
Planet Catfish Cat-eLog states wyckiis can be combined with other large fish in public-size aquaria. Does not explicitly say if with each other. Don't know how big a tank should be to attempt the latter, but I've had two ~16” wyckiis in a 25'x6'x3' pond section. That was a basement pond in my prior life in Rochester, NY.
Elegant black fish with coquettish white bands on the upper caudal lobe. These were easy to handle, and they let me lift them up and even out of the water with one bare hand for a moment and lower them back, all without a wiggle or a fight. They could easily defend themselves from 4-5 times bigger (by weight) hungry predators like our 2.5' TSN Terroristo and 2.5' TSNxRTC hybrid Evans. The wyckiis attacked them back, if those tried to test-taste them, and sent the food critics flying across the whole 25’ long pond to the other end (in a separate case, a 1’ wyckii did the same too). Needless to say, no one went into their clay pots and if they did, they darted out of there as if on fire.
For several months the wyckii pair did nothing but hid only ~5’ away from each other in two clay pots. I suppose they still respected the large predators and weren’t leaving the pots even at night and as a result never knew of each other’s existence and proximity because I've never seen them fight each other, nor any physical damage on them. Then, one day, when I was vacuuming (as I had done before many times) and lifted their pots, they, eventually, found each other. There was some serious dislike between those two. They would not stop fighting and even after I separated them by chasing one away into his farthest clay haven, I found them fighting 15 min later. Hence, one of them had to go behind a divider into a different pond section to join 1.5' wallago leerii, two 2' alligator gars and Co. The fish let me lift it out of water and throw behind the divider. Thus, peace was gained back...
Here are the two stooges:
...
Fast forward about 8-9 years…
I find it strange that 5-10 years ago wyckiis had been ~$5 for a 3"-er here in the USA. In the last few years, all I have seen was $100+ and mostly larger ones. I don’t know what happened, but I can’t bring myself to pay that much for a fish that used to be so cheap...
Lucky for me, our peer and a good friend Jeff aka V victor448 donated his ~2’, 5-year old wyckii, who is featured in the below video. I don’t think this guy would let me handle it as freely as I had done with the ones above. I am not sure of the reason behind such a drastic difference. I suppose it reflects the difference of being alone in a smallish tank, where everything is your territory, versus being in a formidable company in a large enclosure outside of the comfort zone and own territory.
So far, the new wyckii has only been confined to a 240 gal 8’x2’x2’, solo of course, and has been awaiting a 480 gal 8’x4’x2’ to be plumbed and set up. I can’t try it out in the “less aggressive” 4500 gal because it houses our 2.5’ ARTC. Perhaps if it wasn’t for the ARTC presence, it could work. ARTC is said to exhibit a nearly identical behavior and temperament to those of wyckii. Anyhow, if our wyckioides were of any indication… it's pretty mellow in 4500 gal, while it had been a nightmare to tank mates in 240 gal.
A collection of helpful links: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32376&hilit=+wykii
justarn 's classic wyckii story https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-cat-in-a-300g-community.549472/#post-6561912
Fishman Dave’s https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...boys-living-with-wyckioides-and-wykii.701091/
Rpul’s and Moe’s: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/the-wykii.687043/
Moe’s plus collection of Arapaimag’s links on PCF: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/need-to-be-told-no.659854/
Tank size: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/hemibagrus-wyckii-tank-size.524980/
Cambo01 and input from Necrocanis, me, and others https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...rus-wyckii-black-devil-cat-info.522480/page-2
Shane’s https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/my-wyckii-grow-out-thread.547971/
Planet Catfish Cat-eLog states wyckiis can be combined with other large fish in public-size aquaria. Does not explicitly say if with each other. Don't know how big a tank should be to attempt the latter, but I've had two ~16” wyckiis in a 25'x6'x3' pond section. That was a basement pond in my prior life in Rochester, NY.
Elegant black fish with coquettish white bands on the upper caudal lobe. These were easy to handle, and they let me lift them up and even out of the water with one bare hand for a moment and lower them back, all without a wiggle or a fight. They could easily defend themselves from 4-5 times bigger (by weight) hungry predators like our 2.5' TSN Terroristo and 2.5' TSNxRTC hybrid Evans. The wyckiis attacked them back, if those tried to test-taste them, and sent the food critics flying across the whole 25’ long pond to the other end (in a separate case, a 1’ wyckii did the same too). Needless to say, no one went into their clay pots and if they did, they darted out of there as if on fire.
For several months the wyckii pair did nothing but hid only ~5’ away from each other in two clay pots. I suppose they still respected the large predators and weren’t leaving the pots even at night and as a result never knew of each other’s existence and proximity because I've never seen them fight each other, nor any physical damage on them. Then, one day, when I was vacuuming (as I had done before many times) and lifted their pots, they, eventually, found each other. There was some serious dislike between those two. They would not stop fighting and even after I separated them by chasing one away into his farthest clay haven, I found them fighting 15 min later. Hence, one of them had to go behind a divider into a different pond section to join 1.5' wallago leerii, two 2' alligator gars and Co. The fish let me lift it out of water and throw behind the divider. Thus, peace was gained back...
Here are the two stooges:
...
Fast forward about 8-9 years…
I find it strange that 5-10 years ago wyckiis had been ~$5 for a 3"-er here in the USA. In the last few years, all I have seen was $100+ and mostly larger ones. I don’t know what happened, but I can’t bring myself to pay that much for a fish that used to be so cheap...
Lucky for me, our peer and a good friend Jeff aka V victor448 donated his ~2’, 5-year old wyckii, who is featured in the below video. I don’t think this guy would let me handle it as freely as I had done with the ones above. I am not sure of the reason behind such a drastic difference. I suppose it reflects the difference of being alone in a smallish tank, where everything is your territory, versus being in a formidable company in a large enclosure outside of the comfort zone and own territory.
So far, the new wyckii has only been confined to a 240 gal 8’x2’x2’, solo of course, and has been awaiting a 480 gal 8’x4’x2’ to be plumbed and set up. I can’t try it out in the “less aggressive” 4500 gal because it houses our 2.5’ ARTC. Perhaps if it wasn’t for the ARTC presence, it could work. ARTC is said to exhibit a nearly identical behavior and temperament to those of wyckii. Anyhow, if our wyckioides were of any indication… it's pretty mellow in 4500 gal, while it had been a nightmare to tank mates in 240 gal.
A collection of helpful links: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32376&hilit=+wykii
justarn 's classic wyckii story https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-cat-in-a-300g-community.549472/#post-6561912
Fishman Dave’s https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...boys-living-with-wyckioides-and-wykii.701091/
Rpul’s and Moe’s: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/the-wykii.687043/
Moe’s plus collection of Arapaimag’s links on PCF: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/need-to-be-told-no.659854/
Tank size: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/hemibagrus-wyckii-tank-size.524980/
Cambo01 and input from Necrocanis, me, and others https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...rus-wyckii-black-devil-cat-info.522480/page-2
Shane’s https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/my-wyckii-grow-out-thread.547971/
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