Black ear shark catfish, ~1', in 4500 gal, lone survivor, 1 for 5

[thebiggerthebetter]

The black ear lived to see an upgrade! Not to 6000 gal but at least to 1800 gal. I took it out from the 240 gal, cut off the black sack on its snout, which I thought was a blister it rubbed when it was pacing in the 240 gal for the first several months before calming down but that thing turned out to be now like a bone, or is a bone, or very hard cartilage. It was very hard to cut off. I did it anyway.

Here is the release into the 1800 gal, 16:25 - 17:00 minutes:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The black ear has adjusted alright in the 1800 gal, hasn't done any of its signature nervous pacing and rubbing on the glass.

It doesn't appear to have grown any since years ago, still around 18"-20". It's dorsal and upper caudal fins (bitten off 1 to 2 years ago) have failed to grow back to their former size and beauty:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Good footage from 18 to 24 minutes

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

2 new black ears from Rod of Predatory Fins, ~4":

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Road trip to Predatory Fins, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. Swapping large fish - tropical gar, niger catfish, and oscars - for smaller fish - Lithodoras dorsalis, gulper catfish, black ear shark catfish, Aral barbel, Indo-Pacific tarpon, and Chinese hi fin loaches:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Feeding the two larnaudii / black ears. They grew from 4" in Nov 2021 to 10" in Feb 2022, 6" in 3 months. Awesome growth.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The two black ears have been doing exceedingly well, feeding like maniacs as usual and growing. The size of the tails to their body is striking.

Shown here just in passing:

 

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The half a year old black ear shark catfish duo: closing in on 1 foot, high strung and nervous rockets with amazing tails. Comparison to a 7 year old kin and to paroon shark catfish:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The bigger one of the two young black ears is moved to 1800 gal and so far, in a week, successfully, especially in view of their extreme nervousness and in view of the failure of the same move by three 1ft soldier catfish, who were tattered up by mahseer.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The other one of the youngsters that stayed behind in the 240 gal: