It's been a while since I posted anything about my pair of 'Pacman' Catfish on here and also on PlanetCatfish. For more of the back story on these fish, use the search function on both websites to see several posts by me and others under this species. The basic story begins 2 years ago when I received the fish @ 4 1/2 and 5" TL.
At first had to learn how and what to feed them and much experimentation with foods and methods. Fast forward to a year ago when they were close to 12" and their behavior changes went from reclusive and staying buried in the gravel with only their lips exposed to becoming more active and creating trenches in the gravel substrate. A few weeks later the behaviors changed to digging out bowl shaped nests in one end of the tank, then the other end later on, making me think it could be a clue to possible spawning behavior?!
At that point they shared the tank with my male12" 'Volta' Giraffe catfish and I then decided to remove the G-cat to a much smaller 60G tank in with my Batrochoglanis Villosus, neither were happy about it of course but they do get along well enough to this day, the G-cat has since grown another inch or two since. Considered selling him but haven't yet as I like him so much. Anyway all my questions about the L. Alexandri spawning have since become a moot point as perhaps they just like moving gravel around for whatever reason and I still don't really know the gender of these fish, just assumed the larger one could be a fem and the smaller one a boy fish so impossible to say what role was played in their attempts? In the last 12 months their behavior has gone back and forth from their 'cuddling/stacking' behavior to just random places to bury-up as they choose at the time. As far as the feeding regimen goes, since they have become more emergent and active, aggressive enough feeding response enough to make me buy feeding tongs so they won't suck in my hand attached to a strip of tilapia with their amazing surface attacks, gulping in great volumes of air with their aggressive bites! They also like frozen silverside minnows and large nightcrawlers too with great zeal, during their every other night (or day, they don't care) feeding session they sometimes get so aggressive that I could toss in a cheeseburger and likely see it devoured too! Over the last year there have been times of fasting for weeks at a time, barely or not interested in food at all at one point, a worrying stretch for me. Not knowing the cause, I started with the obvious possibility of PH and temperature parameters which I experimented with minor changes with each. This tank with a 3 inch deep gravel substrate is inclined to show a drop in PH every week or two that tells me it's time to vacuum the gravel to reduce the bio buildup therein, also creating a bit of water change like 30G or so as a result. With very hard water here, the result of my infrequent water changes makes it hard to bring down the PH to something like 6.5 that I try for all my tanks in general. These fish are seemingly very sensitive to PH changes in any direction which will put them off their feed for days. I have recently figured out that since their scary fasting behavior that I never understood the cause of, they now seem to thrive in a much lower PH than originally thought, continued aggressive feeding at PH 6.0! I have had many other species stop feeding or die at that PH level so what do I know, eh? In any case these seem to do quite well in acidic conditions, counterintuitive to my long term beliefs anyway. They have grown very large in these last 2 years, the smaller one is now @ 16" TL and the big 'un is almost 18", as wide as my 130G tank. These have become some of the most interesting, frustrating at times and challenging catfish I've ever had the pleasure to keep and I've kept many dozens of catfish species for decades. They are the most unique as far as looks and behaviors and the most scary and fun to feed by hand, gotta love 'em!!
The only regret is that I know they can probably grow another foot in length and the time will come to need to sell them to a proper keeper with the right size tank, experience and perceived enthusiasm to care for these very special fish, very rare and now deemed Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. I'm so glad I got 2 of them, their behavior as individuals is unique enough but the interactions between both are quite special. At one point during the weeks long fasting phase I observed the larger one digging under the other one and purposely flipping it over and like a bulldozer, pushing it all around the tank, so strange but not really mean, biting, territorial or other motives I could discern, just unexplainable, lasting for an hour to two then, never again since. When they will be available, when I choose to sell them, as a pair, it will be SoCal, pick-up, no shipping, + $$$ Here's some recent pictures...
At first had to learn how and what to feed them and much experimentation with foods and methods. Fast forward to a year ago when they were close to 12" and their behavior changes went from reclusive and staying buried in the gravel with only their lips exposed to becoming more active and creating trenches in the gravel substrate. A few weeks later the behaviors changed to digging out bowl shaped nests in one end of the tank, then the other end later on, making me think it could be a clue to possible spawning behavior?!
At that point they shared the tank with my male12" 'Volta' Giraffe catfish and I then decided to remove the G-cat to a much smaller 60G tank in with my Batrochoglanis Villosus, neither were happy about it of course but they do get along well enough to this day, the G-cat has since grown another inch or two since. Considered selling him but haven't yet as I like him so much. Anyway all my questions about the L. Alexandri spawning have since become a moot point as perhaps they just like moving gravel around for whatever reason and I still don't really know the gender of these fish, just assumed the larger one could be a fem and the smaller one a boy fish so impossible to say what role was played in their attempts? In the last 12 months their behavior has gone back and forth from their 'cuddling/stacking' behavior to just random places to bury-up as they choose at the time. As far as the feeding regimen goes, since they have become more emergent and active, aggressive enough feeding response enough to make me buy feeding tongs so they won't suck in my hand attached to a strip of tilapia with their amazing surface attacks, gulping in great volumes of air with their aggressive bites! They also like frozen silverside minnows and large nightcrawlers too with great zeal, during their every other night (or day, they don't care) feeding session they sometimes get so aggressive that I could toss in a cheeseburger and likely see it devoured too! Over the last year there have been times of fasting for weeks at a time, barely or not interested in food at all at one point, a worrying stretch for me. Not knowing the cause, I started with the obvious possibility of PH and temperature parameters which I experimented with minor changes with each. This tank with a 3 inch deep gravel substrate is inclined to show a drop in PH every week or two that tells me it's time to vacuum the gravel to reduce the bio buildup therein, also creating a bit of water change like 30G or so as a result. With very hard water here, the result of my infrequent water changes makes it hard to bring down the PH to something like 6.5 that I try for all my tanks in general. These fish are seemingly very sensitive to PH changes in any direction which will put them off their feed for days. I have recently figured out that since their scary fasting behavior that I never understood the cause of, they now seem to thrive in a much lower PH than originally thought, continued aggressive feeding at PH 6.0! I have had many other species stop feeding or die at that PH level so what do I know, eh? In any case these seem to do quite well in acidic conditions, counterintuitive to my long term beliefs anyway. They have grown very large in these last 2 years, the smaller one is now @ 16" TL and the big 'un is almost 18", as wide as my 130G tank. These have become some of the most interesting, frustrating at times and challenging catfish I've ever had the pleasure to keep and I've kept many dozens of catfish species for decades. They are the most unique as far as looks and behaviors and the most scary and fun to feed by hand, gotta love 'em!!
The only regret is that I know they can probably grow another foot in length and the time will come to need to sell them to a proper keeper with the right size tank, experience and perceived enthusiasm to care for these very special fish, very rare and now deemed Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. I'm so glad I got 2 of them, their behavior as individuals is unique enough but the interactions between both are quite special. At one point during the weeks long fasting phase I observed the larger one digging under the other one and purposely flipping it over and like a bulldozer, pushing it all around the tank, so strange but not really mean, biting, territorial or other motives I could discern, just unexplainable, lasting for an hour to two then, never again since. When they will be available, when I choose to sell them, as a pair, it will be SoCal, pick-up, no shipping, + $$$ Here's some recent pictures...
