5+1 Irwini catfish

[thebiggerthebetter]

Not much change to report on our 6-pack. The one in 4500 gal is around 2' and doing seemingly well but takes part only in 1 feeding out of 2 or 3 or 4. When it does come out to feed, it inhales any and all, pellets and fish, large and small. Other times, just sits by the wall, I never see it just take a swim, almost never moves unless chooses to come out for a feeding, it's pectoral fins are sometimes torn away from the leading spines, so something bothers it, don't know who yet.

All in all, I am displeased very much with how I've been caring for this fish. It sucks. In the 6 years we have had it, I probably had it comfortable for a year or less, cumulatively. And given how much and how incredibly long they sulk after a rehoming or any other big change (for weeks... but easily for months!), they are hard to make comfortable in my situation with so many diverse fish and so few tanks.

The rest 5, as had been reported, couldn't cope in 4500 gal (always piled up, rarely feeding, fins usually torn; spent in that 4500 gal about 1.5 years in two trials) and have been in a 240 gal for 2 years now. They appear around 14"-16" still. That's about 2" in 2 years!!!! Yack.

It seems the supposed columnaris outbreak we had in 2018 had gotten to some of them as I see some have bulging eyes and much reduced appetite (if that is even possible!!) but still hanging on.

Overall, I am displeased with my care of them and their growth and behavior. Several times through the years I managed to have them comfortable and healthy and they would come out for each feeding and feed with vigor. It seems I haven't observed this in 3-4 years now with them, except the big one.

All of them about 6+ years with us since 3".

 

[Peckoltia]

Thanks for the information - was an interesting read and some cool pics and videos.

I picked one of these up last week (super rare in aus) - first time in the last 20 years I've seen them available. My guy is about 3" living with 6x L600 a couple small spotted gars and 6x Uaru (mixed grow out) in a 100gal.

First couple days didn't see much of it. Last day or two seen a bit just before lights out. Still haven't seen it feed yet.Been less than a week. Tank is filled with driftwood and hiding places. I have been dropping in some chopped fish and pellets when the lights go out.

If I haven't seen it eat in the next week or so should I try some live worms?

Being so hard to come by and sickeningly expensive. I'd rather not take any chances. Thanks for any input.

 

[krichardson]

Thanks for the information - was an interesting read and some cool pics and videos.

I picked one of these up last week (super rare in aus) - first time in the last 20 years I've seen them available. My guy is about 3" living with 6x L600 a couple small spotted gars and 6x Uaru (mixed grow out) in a 100gal.

First couple days didn't see much of it. Last day or two seen a bit just before lights out. Still haven't seen it feed yet.Been less than a week. Tank is filled with driftwood and hiding places. I have been dropping in some chopped fish and pellets when the lights go out.

If I haven't seen it eat in the next week or so should I try some live worms?

Being so hard to come by and sickeningly expensive. I'd rather not take any chances. Thanks for any input.

Do you still see the food that you've previously dropped in in the morning? Some time may pass before you actually see your mega eat unless you get a flashlight and observe it in near darkness as I used to do.I would drop a handful of sinking pellets in right before shutting the lights off,then I would come back after about a half hour to watch it patrol around and suck up the pellets.

 

[Peckoltia]

I did similar - dropped in food near where he was sitting, came back later and some of the food was gone and he was patrolling the tank in the dark. It is hard to know if it was the mega or the 600's that ate the food though, those 600's are ravenous eaters. Would eat the skin off your arm if you gave em the chance. My gut feel says he hasn't eaten yet, or if he has, only a small amount.

When the lights are on and i drop food near its hiding spot it will kind of shuffle in its hiding place - so their is some reaction to food.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Welcome to the joys of keeping irwinies. Your tanks sounds great and the cat's behavior sounds reasonable even given the recent move. I understand and share in your jitters but if the cat is not bothered by anyone in the tank, chances are it will start feeding well soon of not already. If it was a bigger size, you could expect a month or two fast easily, not always but wouldn't be surprising, but since it is a small guy at 3", I think their instinct tells them to eat as much as possible and grow as fast as possible to outgrow a common predation size and get to some safer zone in terms of the size.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Not much to report on our 6-pack except they grew some. The 5-pack in their 240 gal concrete castle in Nov 2019:

The big guy looks over 24" now and the smaller ones added an inch or two and are now about 16"-19". All 6 got transferred to a new 1800 gal a week ago. The smaller guys have already started feeding, which is a pleasant surprise as I expected them to sulk as usual for weeks or months after a rehome.

The big guy hasn't started feeding yet but has been swimming a lot against the pump output, which is unusual and unexpected for me. In the 4500 gal I never saw it swim around at all unless it's feeding time. I think it was because of the tank mates aggression as the irwini always had some damage to its finnage, never intact throughout all these 5 years in 4500 gal.

20:20 minutes and 37:20 minutes, where you'd see the big guy in the back, transferred from its 4500 gal.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The 6 irwinies have been doing well in the new 1800 gal, especially 4-5 of the smaller ones as they started feeding so much better and coming out more and be aggressive at feeding, which makes me happy to see. I expected a month or a few of sulking time at least.

Finally the big guy ~28" can be seen too:




One of the smaller ones, ~16"-18":

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

All 6 are now in 1800 gal, reunited.

Can be seen mostly in the beginning of the video, the first 5-10 min, less so in the remaining 15 min:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

1.5 year update. One of the smallest irwinis was adopted out. So 4+1 remain. The 4 smaller ones feed well and grow, a couple of them notably but still a far cry from the biggest supposed female at 28".

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Two rescue irwini ~12" and ~14" from Matthew. So we now have 7 irwini in the 1800 gal.