Dorado or tigrinus

[thebiggerthebetter]

I have seen people grow them to monster sizes.
Why do you say they are difficult to keep alive

Hey Jib, what Dloks and others has said had been our communal knowledge and experience for a while now. Mine included.

We'd be more than happy to learn of new data and correct our view. Please tell us more if you will.

Bottom line, we know of a hundred or more of 2'-3' tigs firsthand from MFKers, and perhaps only of 1 or 2 douradas grown to 1'-1.5'.

That says a lot.

I am not counting Enrico Richter's superb two doradas or douradas of other keepers of Enrico's caliber, of which there appear many in SE Asia, Japan, as we don't know how they grew theirs, how long they had them, etc., neither can we ask them questions.

My own dourada experience is horrible and the reason behind it may or may not have anything to do with why we as a community fail to grow and keep dourada catfish. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...toma-rousseauxii-aka-dorado-catfish-4.678571/

 

[headbanger_jib]

Hey Jib, what Dloks and others has said had been our communal knowledge and experience for a while now. Mine included.

We'd be more than happy to learn of new data and correct our view. Please tell us more if you will.

Bottom line, we know of a hundred or more of 2'-3' tigs firsthand from MFKers, and perhaps only of 1 or 2 douradas grown to 1'-1.5'.

That says a lot.

I am not counting Enrico Richter's superb two doradas or douradas of other keepers of Enrico's caliber, of which there appear many in SE Asia, Japan, as we don't know how they grew theirs, how long they had them, etc., neither can we ask them questions.

My own dourada experience is horrible and the reason behind it may or may not have anything to do with why we as a community fail to grow and keep dourada catfish. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...toma-rousseauxii-aka-dorado-catfish-4.678571/

OK to be honest this is my first experience, I picked up two of them, both of them even though would wait for complete darkness to eat, they would be swimming around in the tank, they don't prefer tankmates that would compete with them.

And yes I have not seen many keep to large size, but I thought that was because they aren't sought after much, like many catfish.

The tigrinus I kept was a lot more shy and was a much picky eater, and also too damn skittish to break its spine, I lost my previous Tig, I sent it to an ichthiologyst who did confirm the above.

I did get a new Tig again this one's too damn small atm, and too damn shy, I am again forced to feed it live shrimp, as it wouldn't go for anything else, and I don't like to give market prawn(seafood).

 

[headbanger_jib]

Viktor, you kinda hit the matter on the nail, when you mentioned not to consider Enrico's brachys

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

OK to be honest this is my first experience, I picked up two of them, both of them even though would wait for complete darkness to eat, they would be swimming around in the tank, they don't prefer tankmates that would compete with them.

It's interesting. Some things match between your and my fish while others don't at all. Mine don't wait too long to feed, nor do they hurry up to feed. They feed with dignity. I don't turn tank lights on, so they are used to dim light 24/7. During the day mine almost never swim around, most usually hover only in one spot. If they leave it, it is because a tank mate bothered them or pushed them out. Due to their dignified feeding, the feed must be available for some time for them to find it and partake, hence, tank mates that would inhale everything wouldn't work with them. But the worst tank mates are the ones that would bother them, nip, bite, harass, etc., as this usually ends in a refusal to feed and/or a suicide by running into a wall sooner or later.

BTW, whenever I had two, sooner or later one will start biting and bullying the other. Never worked for me unless in a large tank.

And yes I have not seen many keep to large size, but I thought that was because they aren't sought after much, like many catfish.

There is this factor too - they are offered less frequently than tigs, they grow MUCH bigger in the wild, but cost less. IDK why their availability is rarer than that of tigs. It could that they are harder to collect and deliver to consumer... in part because of their skittishness... or may be not. But they are stunning-looking in their own right, IMO on par with tigs. Their highly-polished-metal appearance with strong colorful iridescence is astounding - IDS catfish has nothing on them.

The tigrinus I kept was a lot more shy and was a much picky eater, and also too damn skittish to break its spine, I lost my previous Tig, I sent it to an ichthiologyst who did confirm the above.

I did get a new Tig again this one's too damn small atm, and too damn shy, I am again forced to feed it live shrimp, as it wouldn't go for anything else, and I don't like to give market prawn(seafood).

That is most intriguing. None of a dozen of tigs I kept were skittish. Nor have I read of it from other keepers except when maybe bullied. Feeding them can be a challenge, true, but even that IME I had no problems with. Mine sooner or later started taking whatever the whole tank was offered - cut fish and pellets. None resisted to long to starve or die. Not even a week, certainly never two weeks as I would get them pretty small and vulnerable. It'd be nice to understand why we observe such a difference.

 

[Dloks]

I agree with thebiggerthebetter . I’ve never had a skittish Tig but dorados on the other hand would bash his/her face in any opportunity it gets (look at some of the members here most of their dorado have smashed faces)

 

[headbanger_jib]

My first Tig, I got was a lovely specimen, growing well, I had given it a lot of hiding spaces, it used hide most of the time, at lights out would come out in search of food. It was a lovely specimen and doing great, until one day I noticed it was out in a corner more often, and upon closer observation the bent snout.

I recently got a 3" tigrinus to replace the older one. This one is too damn small and hides all the time, haven't seen him come out and eat anything yet, hence adding live shrimp.

Any suggestions might help.

I didn't face this problem with the brachys, they started accepting Tilapia fillet right from the first day.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Smaller bare tank or section off an area of a larger tank to keep the tig alone there, offer feed, observe... No tank light. Can lean a slate against front glass if the fish is really distressed but I'd not expect that.

The first tig... yeah, IDK, this is the first time I hear of a fish breaking its spine. It doesn't sound skittish though but one freak overnight accident, right?

 

[headbanger_jib]

Smaller bare tank or section off an area of a larger tank to keep the tig alone there, offer feed, observe... No tank light. Can lean a slate against front glass if the fish is really distressed but I'd not expect that.

The first tig... yeah, IDK, this is the first time I hear of a fish breaking its spine. It doesn't sound skittish though but one freak overnight accident, right?

Will give the new Tig its own tank this weekend, and observe how it does.

My previous Tig was always in hiding, never used to see more than the ends of its tail, unless the light in the room were switched off, although there could be the possibility of the motoro bullying it, but the Tig was a bit bigger than the motoro

 

[oshp132]

Well. If I could house it responsibly, I'd take a Dorado! Don't see myself ever having an aquarium large enough, though. A boy can dream, though!