Aluminum catfish, aka African big-eyed or Chrysichthys catfish, trio, ~1', in 4500 gal

thebiggerthebetter

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We currently have three remaining aluminum catfish, aka African big-eyed or Chrysichthys catfish. Two C. ornatus and one supposed C. nigrodigitatus (these are drab and hard to ID to the species level). They are about 8-10 years old and are about a foot long, despite the nigrodigitatus attaining 2'-2.5' in the wild, according to the literature https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=519 . Ornatus do not exceed 1' https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?task=&species_id=520 .

I bought three ornatus from George Fear of Shark Aquarium in 2010 already at about 6". They grew to ~10"-11" in a couple of years and stayed at that size. One passed about 3-4 years ago. Stopped eating and wasted away. Two others have done better but one started wasting away too about a year ago. It developed some upward curvature in its spine. I am unsure of what this means. It still feeds but less and keeps losing weight, got pretty thin. The third one is blind in one eye (got poked in the eye when it was 6") but retains a robust body. For some reason or other, I've always had problems with their maxillary barbel tips perpetually rotting no matter what https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=31955&hilit=ornatus+barbel .

We had two rescue nigrodigitatus at 1' (got them too at around 6"), of which one fell victim to my jau's displeasure about 3-4 years ago while the other is still alive and relatively well today. The surviving rescue was mangled pretty bad when I got him. Having been housed with bad cichlids, it came missing all fins (just knobs) and with a mangled up snout / mouth.

These catfish are easy to feed and are very peaceful IME. I've always wondered why ornatus have such an enormous mouth fit to wrap around say a 1' koi but never use it, not even on 3" koi and other easy snacks. They prefer pellets to marine baitfish.

They are the most modest fish in behavior, always keeping to themselves, rarely swimming around and even then just a tiny bit from spot to spot, usually just laying here and there. They just lay like logs day and night. They have zero interaction with tank mates and with a keeper / feeder. In fact, if I was not much into catfish, I'd say these fish (especially the ornatus) are the most boring catfish I've ever owned (out of non-hiders, which they are). Does your experience agree or not?

Here is the trio in 4500 gal:



And some assorted photos through the years:


Aluminum and others.jpg Aluminum and Valik.jpg Aluminum post mortum 1.JPG Aluminum post mortum 2.JPG Aluminum, Chrysichthys ornatus.JPG Aluminum and others 2.jpg Aluminum and others 3.jpg Aluminum and others 4.jpg Aluminum and others 5.jpg Aluminum and others 6.jpg Aluminum and others 7.jpg Aluminum and others 8.jpg Aluminum and others 9.jpg
 

moe214

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There is a catfish that looks similar to the one without a pattern. An interesting looking catfish.
 

thebiggerthebetter

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My second of Chrysichthys ornatus trio finally gave up. Final measure at 12". It's been getting thin and his backbone getting misshapen for a few years, which surprised me - it had been free from any defects all its prior life. I found it wrapped around the bottom drain, still breathing but too weak to even swim.

Just a few months ago it was still strong enough to pick an inconsequential fight with its brother, the one-eyed ornatus, the now-last remaining one, which is pretty beefy.

Thin fish... not much meat on it, perhaps this is why our vulture 6-pack didn't touch it. The tail tattered by pbass - I witnessed it.

The first one of the trio too wasted away like this one only quicker and didn't get misshapen.

Finally I was able to measure its mouth - it's 3" in diameter, may be a bit more. Humongous mouth for a 12" fish:

100_7874 (2).JPG 100_7875 (2).JPG 100_7879 (2).JPG 100_7882 (2).JPG 100_7883 (2).JPG 100_7884 (2).JPG
 

thebiggerthebetter

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Forgot to post this to this thread. The mangled up supposed nigrodigitatus actually perished a couple of months before the ornatus in the prior post. The vultures did get to this one.

~13" rescue Aluminum catfish. Had it for 6 years. Was mangled up badly by cichlids when I saved it in 2011. Tummy removed by vultures post mortum.

Sorry. The thread has been turning out pretty gruesome.

Aluminum catfish, mangled rescue dead.JPG

So I am indeed down to my last Chrysichthys out of five I used to keep - three ornatus and two supposed nigrodigitatus.
 

jaws7777

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I can watch vids of that tank all day
 

thebiggerthebetter

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The last ornatus, the one-eyed one, has passed on in 4500 gal. Based on all the tank mate interactions I witnessed, I assume all the damage is post mortum, likely both by vultures (the tummy removal specialists) and perhaps by VATF too (they tend to go for the back).

The fish has lived with us for 10 years.

Final size 12"-13", about the same as the other two.

I said it above but will repeat that in my hands these fish were some of the least active nor interactive fish I've ever had. I wonder if this is generally observed or if mine were an exception or maybe I was doing something wrong.

100_8192.JPG 100_8194.JPG 100_8195.JPG 100_8197.JPG
 
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moe214

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Sorry to hear, beats the common early loss we hear of about other fish though (not this species in particular just in general). Maybe it'd be more interactive in a smaller tank.
 

Deadliestviper7

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Do you think this fish would of benefitted from a sand bottom? The slight downturn of the mouth suggest a bottom feeder type catfish? Just throwing out theories here, one thing that surprises me about substrateless vs substrate tanks is the higher levels of growth you see in substrate tanks,still don't know why
 

thebiggerthebetter

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Sorry to hear, beats the common early loss we hear of about other fish though (not this species in particular just in general). Maybe it'd be more interactive in a smaller tank.
When they were smaller, they were in smaller tanks and more active and aware. Back then, I had not seen any indication of the utterly listless behavior that I have been observing for the past 7-8 years. I assume I haven't made them as happy and healthy as they could be.

Do you think this fish would of benefitted from a sand bottom? The slight downturn of the mouth suggest a bottom feeder type catfish? Just throwing out theories here, one thing that surprises me about substrateless vs substrate tanks is the higher levels of growth you see in substrate tanks,still don't know why
I don't think I see the downturn of the mouth you are referring to. It looks straight on to me.

But regardless, the substrate observation is novel to me. Thank you for the food for thought. I will try to pay attention to this aspect. For this thought to be taken seriously though, some solid and substantial statistical data would need to be collected and presented. Otherwise, I am afraid it will remain at the level of impression, which can be misleading and unreliable as we all know.

Of course, you are speaking of growth rates, which may have nothing to do with what I saw with my aluminum cats but I understand the point - there is so much we still don't know.
 
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moe214

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They could've been intimidated with no hide and bigger fish hovering above. That's the only thing I can see making them behave differently
 
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