Clarias gariepinus aggressivity

[SLS_23]

Greetings to all. I bought 3 of these catfish about 50cm in size from a local fish farm. I put them in my largest aquarium (about 1500 liters). The problem is that these fish are constantly attacking each other. Even if they have enough and enough hidden places in the aquarium, do they still attack each other? Does anyone know what to do? How to alleviate their aggressiveness?

 

[Rocksor]

thebiggerthebetter

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

My bet is you will need 10x-100x larger tank/pond or separate them physically. They will not stop in this small tank until there is one left.

dazzapolypterusweeksii

 

[SLS_23]

My bet is you will need 10x-100x larger tank/pond or separate them physically. They will not stop in this small tank until there is one left.

dazzapolypterusweeksii

Thanks for the reply. I used to have 7 C. batrachus in a similar size in the same aquarium and they never attacked each other. I also had 3 RTCs and it was never a problem either. Is high aggression a problem only for C. gariepinus? Thousands are bred in large meat farms. In addition, I saw 5 pieces at the aquarium exhibition in the 500l aquarium and they did not attack each other at all.

 

[Rocksor]

Thanks for the reply. I used to have 7 C. batrachus in a similar size in the same aquarium and they never attacked each other. I also had 3 RTCs and it was never a problem either. Is high aggression a problem only for C. gariepinus? Thousands are bred in large meat farms. In addition, I saw 5 pieces at the aquarium exhibition in the 500l aquarium and they did not attack each other at all.

Sounds like you need to buy at least 2 more, and then get more after that if they are still aggressive. That's how you deal with conspecific aggression. Get a large enough tank, overcrowd them so it's not worth the effort, or physically separate them. In your small tank example, it took 5 for a tank 1/3 the size of yours to seemingly get along, so if you were to look at the number of fish ratio to tank volume, you probably need 15 in your tank. Meat farms have thousands so being so overcrowded is not worth the effort for the catfish to pick on others.

How long were the catfish in that aquarium exhibition and are they still in that small tank?

 

[SLS_23]

Sounds like you need to buy at least 2 more, and then get more after that if they are still aggressive. That's how you deal with conspecific aggression. Get a large enough tank, overcrowd them so it's not worth the effort, or physically separate them. In your small tank example, it took 5 for a tank 1/3 the size of yours to seemingly get along, so if you were to look at the number of fish ratio to tank volume, you probably need 15 in your tank. Meat farms have thousands so being so overcrowded is not worth the effort for the catfish to pick on others.

How long were the catfish in that aquarium exhibition and are they still in that small tank?

They were there for about 2 weeks and didn't have a single scratch. I have them, I have about 3 in the aquarium and they already have holes biting into the flesh.

 

[FuriousFish]

They were there for about 2 weeks and didn't have a single scratch. I have them, I have about 3 in the aquarium and they already have holes biting into the flesh.

Not to sidetrack, but do you have any pics of them? that's a really cool species!

 

[Rocksor]

They were there for about 2 weeks and didn't have a single scratch. I have them, I have about 3 in the aquarium and they already have holes biting into the flesh.

yeah you don't have enough of that species in a tank as large as yours to stop it.

 

[SLS_23]

They were there for about 2 weeks and didn't have a single scratch. I have them, I have about 3 in the aquarium and they already have holes biting into the flesh.

For me this is the best looking species of catfish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

This might be the initial figuring out of the pecking order but I'd not count on it.

We kept common walking catfish as well, had 6 juvies in a 55 gal and two of them were killing the other 4 but were nice with each other, perhaps a couple, even though they were only 6"-8". We picked them up from a dried up seasonal pond.

We had 11 adults 1.5ft-2ft in a 4500 gal just fine, no problem. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/walking-catfish-at-fish-story.704473/#post-7941426