Silurus Merdionalis thread

[surfermike915]

Here he is… reaching 14” about. Absolutely stunning…. I removed most plants and the large piece of driftwood that laid in there. Hopefully this is the measure that was needed to help him to stop injuring himself. Fed him a clam on the half shell. His appetite never goes away.

 

[surfermike915]

Did water change yesterday and tested Ph. Ph out of hose read 8.9, which is crazy. I’m in a tourist heavy town for the summer months and it’s widely suspected throughout my area that they treat the water differently when we are in the months of day May-September. I’m gonna test this theory out but regardless I’m just trying to have a consistent Ph. Has anyone used sphagnum moss in their filter socks or sumps??? He’s getting a major upgrade soon. I’ve noticed he doesn’t use a lot of his tank, but he has also grown a lot since I added him to his new tank so he probably can’t stretch out. I’ll be trying out either a 75, 90, 125 gallon. So I’ll let you guys know what I do. I added a sponge filter to the tank one day, and he was much more skittish which is odd. I’ll post pics later!

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

8.9 is pretty high for fish loving acidic to neutral water, may be ok though for fish from hard water. I'd test water out of other inhouse sources, especially the ones constantly used like bathroom and kitchen faucets, and also maybe (near or far) neighbors tap water too just to be sure.

It is usually not recommended to play with pH and maintain it artificially at some number other that the pH of the source water because it is not easy (a lot of testing and vigilance) and miscalculations and other kinds of errors will occur sooner or later, which threaten to wipe out all fish.

Aging ta water for water changes or collecting rain water is sometimes done by peers, which is, again, much more work and a possibility of costly errors on the other side of the coin.

 

[surfermike915]

Unrelated: Turns out I am presenting at my aquarium club. I choose to obviously present on large predatory fish/monster fish. I’m currently making my slideshow but am having trouble getting points and giving a message I’m trying to send to the audience. The way it is right now sounds just like a autobiography any advice would help(mostly on what information I should talk about)

 

[Fishman Dave]

Unrelated?
It doesn’t have to be, you could present on misunderstood giants - wels catfish of differing types.
Or
You could use it as an opportunity to highlight the bad buys - pengasius, shark catfish, black sharks, the stuff that unsuspecting aquarists pick up from wall mart.
Or
you could explain how to keep those monsters happy when they do pick them up
Or
You could do a presentation about you, who you are, why you keep monsters, what’s involved, the people you get to talk to, the costs involved, etc. and why they might like to do the same or to some, why they might not!

Best to choose what message you want to get across first and then build the presentation around that. The slides will all fit in somewhere.

Eg.
On monsters, put across how cute they are, how readily available, how newbies and old timers alike get duped into buying them , Then show them as adults.
Then go on to the commitment to keep them, the warnings, then go on to the joy they bring. Ending with the pleasure you get from keeping them correctly and the years of them as part of the family

This way those that want to commit can and will, those that don’t want that commitment can avoid them and you are doing good for the hobby both ways too.

 

[surfermike915]

Thank you so much man! U went above and beyond

 

[surfermike915]

Question, I am moving tanks and selling tanks to expand to bigger tanks like 40’s n 75’s, but I wanna add support under my first fish room for qt racks and stuff. I wanna add jacks under the house. And make a rack. Any advice?

 

[surfermike915]

Here it is now, just one half of room. Just grow out tanks and some qt. All on HOB and sponge filters, but I am thinking of doing a rack. *****Please excuse the mess and rigged lighting I was working on tanks so Ph testers and lights/lids are scattered, usually doesn’t look like this.*******

 

[Fishman Dave]

All depends on a few things.
How easy it is to get under your floor
And what gap there is to the dirt below (assuming it’s dirt)
I did the same in my living room and my dining room for 180s. I can only get under before I laid the laminate flooring or by taking it all back up but basically I placed the odd 2’x1’ flag dotted around on the dirt under the floor joists, measured the remaining gap and cut 4”x4” fence posts just slightly bigger with a slight angle cut at the top. Then wedged them in place between the joist and the flags. Takes a bit of hammering which the fish wouldn’t have liked but all sorted.
Easier of course if you have screw jacks but as I just have the one big tank in each and they are not changing places (and I am diy old school cheapskate) I figured simple option was my best.

 

[surfermike915]

update as of 9/17:
The wels was doing very well or shall I say wel. But in all seriousness he’s been eating and water has been cooling. But funny enough he went from a fish tank to a temporary residence in a trash can. (Yes he is still alive)
tonight I was working rearranging some tanks, pretty routine for me as I usually move 75’s and heavier with not much issue. But tonight I wanted to put flooring under his tank, and styrofoam directly under his tank as winter is coming and I need the tanks I have to retain as much heat as possible. Wellll… I dropped the tank! Immediately l threw him into the trash can that his water had been siphoned into. So now I am gonna upgrade. Hopefully he is fine and i won’t see him till tmr night due to other circumstances.. so hopefully we can all hope he will be a okay. Tomorrow I’m gonna run and grab a new tank.