CrazyPhishMan's giraffe catfish species ID

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you Kirk! Let me be a pest for a moment. You haven't said anything on the baby Bouche - can they be told from occidentalis and Co at 2", 3", 6"? I've never seen small Bouche.

For the record, you lucked out and had female Bouche, Kirk, hence the immense size of 2.5 ft +. I got two males, I am pretty sure, and they haven't broken 2 ft and looks like they never will. I'd say they remained a few inches short of 2 ft for the last 3+ years, totally stuck despite vigorous feeding. This is the only explanation I can come up with to account for size disparity between yours and mine. Mine too are aggressive to each other, one's dominant, the other's a never-giving-up enthusiastic challenger, and they battle it out daily and try to boss around other g-cats.

I wonder if I large growing synodontis might behave the same?

Behave the same as who? As a giraffe catfish? They have different biologies in the wild. In a fish tank, they can be similar in terms of feed and temperament.

 

[PhishMon84]

Thank you Kirk! Let me be a pest for a moment. You haven't said anything on the baby Bouche - can they be told from occidentalis and Co at 2", 3", 6"? I've never seen small Bouche.

For the record, you lucked out and had female Bouche, Kirk, hence the immense size of 2.5 ft +. I got two males, I am pretty sure, and they haven't broken 2 ft and looks like they never will. I'd say they remained a few inches short of 2 ft for the last 3+ years, totally stuck despite vigorous feeding. This is the only explanation I can come up with to account for size disparity between yours and mine. Mine too are aggressive to each other, one's dominant, the other's a never-giving-up enthusiastic challenger, and they battle it out daily and try to boss around other g-cats.



Behave the same as who? As a giraffe catfish?
Yes, as in a good pet. I belief the s. batensoda gets large

They have different biologies in the wild. In a fish tank, they can be similar in terms of feed and temperament.
just wishful thinking based on loose visual similarities

 

[Yellowcat]

Viktor, I got my bouche @ at around 3-4" TL if I recall and their patterns were quite distinctive. I never sexed them but both grew at the same rate. I raised them to 14" and sold them then. The next owner, an ichthyologist, expert on South American stingrays kept them for about 3 years until they outgrew his confines when he passed them on to colleague who grew them out to around 3' I was told. Of course they may indeed have both been females.In my time with them they never showed any aggression toward each other or the other cat fish species in the tank at the time. As with many catfish species that will coexist with their conspecifics as juveniles, things change as they grow, hierarchy develops and territorial instincts take over, etc, etc. In my archives I found a photo of a bag of juvenile Bouche from reputable importer at the time, Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics. I believe they may have come from Cameroon in 2010.
Here's the photos, Toyin's juveniles and my pair at around 12-14"...


Hope this helps...

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you so much, Kirk. So I was double wrong, as in, the Bouche babies look different from the generic occidentalis looks, they can be ID'ed correctly very early on. Great to learn! (Love your exchange with Eric on Planet Catfish about Iquitos, btw.)

I appreciate the other learning that occidentalis, wittei, can get that mottled, Bouche-like appearance on the top when stressed. My existence this week has been justified Thank you!

Behave the same as who? As a giraffe catfish?
Yes, as in a good pet. I belief the s. batensoda gets large

They have different biologies in the wild. In a fish tank, they can be similar in terms of feed and temperament.
just wishful thinking based on loose visual similarities

Smaller fish rarely get to be the wet pets people look for. The much bigger growing Auchenoglanis g-cats are known for great personality and interaction with a keeper. I don't think this can be said of any synodontis people usually keep. Size and feed training help overcome the innate fear of humans / large and scary looking organisms and self-preservation instinct.

CPM, I'd encourage you to get the fish, if you can upgrade in the future, even if to a pond, not tank. It's a rewarding fish. You can't wade in and sit / float / snorkel in a pond and play with a synodontis but you could with an Auchenoglanis. But of course Kirk and I are partial to it.