He is really banged up. The lfs had him in a tank with a bunch of good sized lungfish, cow fish, and a humongous common wolf. Hopefully I can get him on market shrimp asap.
New Pickup (trachycorystes trachycorystes)
- Thread starter tvbbnumber41
- Start date
Nice pick up! A truly under appreciated species. Mine took MP shrimp straight out of the bag, so i don't think you should have too much issue. And mine where around 3-4 icnhes at the time and similarly beat up on arrival. I've had my pair around 10 years now. They're no where near as aggressive as described by Planetcatfish IME though they can eat sizeable stock all of sudden and without warning for no apparent reason. Mine have left even small fish grow outs around 3-4 inches alone while they where around 10 inches or so for years and then suddenly one day just started gobbling any of my stock they could. Well my female did, the male has always been good. Here's an old pic of one of them when they where kept with some fairly small(less then half the Trachy's size) Geos. By the way I moved your thread to the catfish section. Good luck with your Trachy. I hope to see updates.
I had thought it might be due to the variation in coloring(the white belly) and observed temperament. However upon confirming things on planetcatfish such as ray count etc. It turns out they're merely color variations of Trachy Trachy sourced from a different local then the original specimens where.
I did however at a later date pick up a "Gold Trachy" from Jeff Rapps. The coloration was a blonde/gold and uniform throughout the body but it eventually darkened to a light brown with darker brown splotching. Similar in many ways to certain regional color var. of the common woodcat Galeatus. The "Gold Trachy" however was different from both species. As was the aggression level which was to a murderous, intolerant degree toward any species of similar appearance. When no other similar species was in her(the "Gold Trachy" happens to be a she) tank she was content to remain in her hide. A common thing for woodcats to do. They set up shop in a hide and aren't seen except for occasional patrols at night or at feeding time. However when a similar species was in the tank, whether they where already established and hidden; she some how knew of their presence without seeing them as well as knew where they where hiding. She'd immediately seek them out and was vicious in her attack. She would bite and lock her jaws and start twisting and flailing her body like a gator would in order to maximize the damage of her bite. Whether this aggression would subside after she became established I do not know. For the damage she caused in mere seconds was enough that I feared for the other Trachy's lives. She shows no aggression toward anything else even other cats, just like species. Currently she's housed with a Mammon and JD with no issue. And unfortunately no one on planetcatfish or here was able to help me ID her so her Genus and Species remain unknown.
Bet your sorry you asked. lol
Thanks Kolt. Always a treat to read your accounts. Lots of meat.
Good luck to the OP.
I underestimated my Cephalosilurus apurensis size and vigor. My trachy's rear half spent some time in the apu's tummy. Never recovered. It was all black and very stylish. ~6"-7". $70 from Ray Chan, Amazing Fish, CA, before shipping. My first one.
I want to try again for sure. Even though they are just like jaguar catfish - their beauty is matched only by their maniacal dislike of light.
Good luck to the OP.
I underestimated my Cephalosilurus apurensis size and vigor. My trachy's rear half spent some time in the apu's tummy. Never recovered. It was all black and very stylish. ~6"-7". $70 from Ray Chan, Amazing Fish, CA, before shipping. My first one.
I want to try again for sure. Even though they are just like jaguar catfish - their beauty is matched only by their maniacal dislike of light.
Their hiding and love of food. Some are really nice though but im steering clear of cats for now