I’ve recently gotten myself a small, 2 inch dorado catfish, and have read tons of information and am trying to see if I can raise one without brain trauma or injury, and try to grow mine to 2 ft without have a fish that has had its appearance altered. Anyone who knows about these cats know that what I am trying to do is almost impossible, and I am well aware that with as much planning and preparation I still might end up with a crushed face.
I have found that there is a few different color morphs of dorado catfish available at very small sizes, but due to the fact that they rarely live to >5 in it is hard to tell if this has any effect on the adult coloration. There are three different color variations in baby dorados. There is the traditional chrome shine, a matte gray, and a rare “white dorado” catfish, that has a more silvery shine. The one I ended up with seems to be a gray one, which seems to be the most common, probably because the shinier variants are easier prey for large Amazonian predators. We will see how this little guys color changes as he grows, maybe it is just a phase, sort of like a Tigrinus catfish?
One thing I have noticed in the time I have had it (about 2-3 weeks) is that he likes to stay on the surface under my floating plants. I find this very strange but he is eating extremely well so I don’t mind it. He is eating earthworms, bloodworms, and freeze dried shrimp. He eats every time I go near his tank and will clear up food pretty quick, but will only touch floating food, and ignores bloodworms and earthworms that get past the surface. So far he has gone from about 2-3 inches.
Now comes the MOST IMPORTANT part of this thread. If you do not take anything else away from this thread, listen to this. Do NOT keep them with tank mates! For the first week he looked very skinny so I threw in some feeders, but since the feeders stayed on the bottom he did not touch them. I didn’t take them out as they were doing a very good job cleaning up excess food, but had to about a week ago because every time one went even close to him, he would dart into the wall. Eventually his only remaining tank ate was a baby electric blue jd cichlid, which is going to come out any day. I have decided no more tank mates until he hits 7-10 inches. Once it gets warm, I am going to put home in a 6x3 in ground pond alone to grow out for the summer, hopefully he will do well in there. I will keep this thread updates as he grows.
One thing I want to add is thebiggerthebetter and his experience with dorado catfish, he has lost 5+ of these baby’s to spinning and losing control. In my experience, this is probably cause by a severe concussion, which causes them to eventually die. This is just one of many unknown cause of death in these little guys, if anyone has any questions on why theirs died, please ask! I will do my best to answer.
I will keep this post updated and I guess only time will tell if he can become a true monster fish!
I have found that there is a few different color morphs of dorado catfish available at very small sizes, but due to the fact that they rarely live to >5 in it is hard to tell if this has any effect on the adult coloration. There are three different color variations in baby dorados. There is the traditional chrome shine, a matte gray, and a rare “white dorado” catfish, that has a more silvery shine. The one I ended up with seems to be a gray one, which seems to be the most common, probably because the shinier variants are easier prey for large Amazonian predators. We will see how this little guys color changes as he grows, maybe it is just a phase, sort of like a Tigrinus catfish?
One thing I have noticed in the time I have had it (about 2-3 weeks) is that he likes to stay on the surface under my floating plants. I find this very strange but he is eating extremely well so I don’t mind it. He is eating earthworms, bloodworms, and freeze dried shrimp. He eats every time I go near his tank and will clear up food pretty quick, but will only touch floating food, and ignores bloodworms and earthworms that get past the surface. So far he has gone from about 2-3 inches.
Now comes the MOST IMPORTANT part of this thread. If you do not take anything else away from this thread, listen to this. Do NOT keep them with tank mates! For the first week he looked very skinny so I threw in some feeders, but since the feeders stayed on the bottom he did not touch them. I didn’t take them out as they were doing a very good job cleaning up excess food, but had to about a week ago because every time one went even close to him, he would dart into the wall. Eventually his only remaining tank ate was a baby electric blue jd cichlid, which is going to come out any day. I have decided no more tank mates until he hits 7-10 inches. Once it gets warm, I am going to put home in a 6x3 in ground pond alone to grow out for the summer, hopefully he will do well in there. I will keep this thread updates as he grows.
One thing I want to add is thebiggerthebetter and his experience with dorado catfish, he has lost 5+ of these baby’s to spinning and losing control. In my experience, this is probably cause by a severe concussion, which causes them to eventually die. This is just one of many unknown cause of death in these little guys, if anyone has any questions on why theirs died, please ask! I will do my best to answer.
I will keep this post updated and I guess only time will tell if he can become a true monster fish!
thank you!