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:
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: