Bacu Catfish

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I’m not too worried about him in his temp home for about another week. I just hope he can compete when he is with all my fish. The stock list is going to include:
1 silver aero
1 orino pbass
2 mono pbass
1 kelberi pbass
2 endli bichir
1 delhezi bichir
1 palma bichir
1 lemon Oscar
All of the previous have been ordered plus I’m trying to get some form of tiger datanoid, I have a silver I can grab but I really want a tiger of some sor. I am debating a CK for something else unusual in there, I know they are common but I love the shape and movement.
 
I think if he is healthy and comfortable, he will get his share when hungry, depending on what and how you feed. You may have to put in a good amount of food at night for some time.

High pH and hardness is not great for this fish. Amazon has a soft, rather acidic water. They are rather adaptable, true, but this is also taking risks: fish become more vulnerable when their preferred water conditons are not met - for example, an "accident" (a wound, or exposure to infection, or air pump going off, or heater mulfunction, or water contamination, etc.) that may not be too detrimental to your fish in its more natural water, may lead to a desease or death in less suitable water.
 
It seems from research that this particular species of doradid is especially vulnerable to high PH. I need to get a test kit when I get paid and adjust if need be. I know my water has to be hard since Montana has nothing else and I am using ground water from a well. Seems he may be eating something, but his belly never looks full always flat. Also noted today that he has some aggression towards the flathead from time to time. Today was the second time I've seen him bit the pectoral fin of the flathead to get it out of his way. Saw it yesterday also. His caudal looks slightly tattered. Makes me feel like he and the flathead are probably dueling it out at night. Might have to move one of them into the pond. Probably the flathead, but wanted to observe him in the tank for a while longer. Maybe a temporary move of the gran, but again since I think he just started eating I don't want to stress him farther. Dilemas!!!!
 
Right. I forgot that Necro's water (he says) is quite hard and alkaline. So, his report may matter a lot to your case.
 
Well it has been about a month so I figured I would do an update. He seems to hide all day and there are times I would swear that he hasn’t moved in days staying in the exact same spot behind his favorite rock. At times he likes to hide behind the hob, and much to my surprise he took to floating hikiri pellets so I would feed him around 10 so he would be good and full. His stomach was never sunken which made me think he was eating a few baby mollies since I have only been able to find one. There has been very little growth if any which is most likely due to being so hard to feed. Does anyone else have any info on their growth rate, and diet so I can have a point of comparison? Last night I caught him to put into my 265 and it was surprisingly hard to catch. For such a laid back fish he is fast when need be. He is currently inside a piece of my drift wood with 4 kelberi pbass, one of which has a clubbed tail, and silver aero. The ph stays in the low 7’s which should be better for him from my understanding. I have a tiger dat I’m picking up on Saturday and a delhezi bichir growing out in their old 55 with the mollies. I stuck a small piece of tilapia right in front of him and he ate it after I walked away a bit. After I noticed I put another small piece of ocean perch in to see how he would react and so far nothing but I’m letting it stay overnight to see what happens.
 
I forgot to add do you think it would be good to add some MTS to the tank, I have plenty of them in other tanks and there is a sand substrate. I have heard several places say they eat snails, do you think they would eat these?
 
Nice. It is not uncommon for doradiidae to just learn where and what food comes from and then just follow it. Most adults freely hand feed and beg at the surface for more.

I'd be quite surprised if he got the mollies but it is not impossible.

Nice that he took a piece of tilapia. IME, they prefer pellets to anything else.

Growth rate is moderate. Perhaps 10"-14" in the first year, 16"-18" in the second year and even slower from there. Arapaimag's guy was 33" at 11 years old and 35" at 14.

Yes, I think they will eat them. Their close cousin Oxydoras niger is not called a "Mother of all snails" for nothing. When nigers were studied in the field, their stomachs were found to be filled with all kinds of snails. Hence, the unusual nickname.
 
That growth rate sound about what I am hoping for. I already have plans of moving and upgrading tanks in the next few years to something monster. I am hoping for 10+x4-5x2.5-3 but we will see. The mollies would have been newly born fry which is why I thought it may be possible but who knows. I would prefer to just feed him pellets but it is not easy with him hiding in the wood. My aero will only eat them and ignores anything else which seems strange but convenient for feeding him at least. My 3 new bass won’t touch them and the older one will mouth them and spit them out. I am hoping to convert them all to nls cichlid pellets which I plan on ordering from Amazon for about 10/lb in bulk with free shipping with fresh fish and shrimp to vary things up a bit. Maybe throw some odd bugs in as well in spring and summer like I do for the rest of them. When I had some bluegill they would always swim to the corner whenever I let the dog out hoping I would grab some moths or beetles to feed them.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
Nice. It is not uncommon for doradiidae to just learn where and what food comes from and then just follow it. Most adults freely hand feed and beg at the surface for more.

I'd be quite surprised if he got the mollies but it is not impossible.

Nice that he took a piece of tilapia. IME, they prefer pellets to anything else.

Growth rate is moderate. Perhaps 10"-14" in the first year, 16"-18" in the second year and even slower from there. Arapaimag's guy was 33" at 11 years old and 35" at 14.

Yes, I think they will eat them. Their close cousin Oxydoras niger is not called a "Mother of all snails" for nothing. When nigers were studied in the field, their stomachs were found to be filled with all kinds of snails. Hence, the unusual nickname.
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funny i was wondering about that
 
I have a large granulated catfish(pterdoras granulosus) at about 28 inches. My experience with my fish it that they do not like warm temperatures and mine would barely eat at a temp of 77 degrees. What I found out when one of my heaters gave out is that he thrives at 73- 74 degrees though. Something for those to try if they're having trouble getting them settled in. I didn't expect a few degrees to make difference but it is night and day for my fish. Be careful though, other big cats, especially rtc, prefer it a bit warmer imo.
 
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