False piraiba, Brachyplatystoma capapretum, ~10", in 4500 gal

[thebiggerthebetter]

I use cast net to catch fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Half of it are baitfish of 2"-5" size, mostly several herring and anchovy species, some whiting, pompano, jack, pinfish, etc., half are larger ~1'-2' - mullet, snapper, sheepshead, pompano, angel fish, pinfish, lady fish, sea catfish, sea trout, mackerel, etc. I stock up about 20-30 cu ft per year in my freezers.

So for your purpose, what I give would be very similar to fresh and whole frozen-thawed silversides, which is a kind of marine anchovy sp. or glass minnow, IIRC.

I am a bit surprised you are having difficulties. Both of mine were easy. I didn't have to do anything special. Perhaps you are afraid to fast them longer. Or they hold out for live foods.

Just a beware: 100% Crustacean diet is very dangerous for non-crustacean-specialist fish. Their bodies can't cope with such high amounts of thiaminase present in crustaceans, dead and alive. After some time, it will result in thiaminase-induced vitamin B1 deficiency, poor health, illness, and then death. IDK much about this but this is something I've read about and met with secondhand, I believe.

 

[herman moorr]

I use cast net to catch fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Half of it are baitfish of 2"-5" size, mostly several herring and anchovy species, some whiting, pompano, jack, pinfish, etc., half are larger ~1'-2' - mullet, snapper, sheepshead, pompano, angel fish, pinfish, lady fish, sea catfish, sea trout, mackerel, etc. I stock up about 20-30 cu ft per year in my freezers.

So for your purpose, what I give would be very similar to fresh and whole frozen-thawed silversides, which is a kind of marine anchovy sp. or glass minnow, IIRC.

I am a bit surprised you are having difficulties. Both of mine were easy. I didn't have to do anything special. Perhaps you are afraid to fast them longer. Or they hold out for live foods.

Just a beware: 100% Crustacean diet is very dangerous for non-crustacean-specialist fish. Their bodies can't cope with such high amounts of thiaminase present in crustaceans, dead and alive. After some time, it will result in thiaminase-induced vitamin B1 deficiency, poor health, illness, and then death. IDK much about this but this is something I've read about and met with secondhand, I believe.

I believe this was more so me afraid of starving. All 3 of my guys took silver sides cut up tonight. So they are on the right track now. Will post a update soon

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

June 14, 2017 update. The capa has been doing quite well in the 240 gal. Eating very well. I think the prior history of poor eating and poor growth was from stress by tank mates and regular harassment, tail and fin biting and the ensuing freak out injuries. In other words, my fault.

This 240 gal was relatively peaceful (until wels grew up and started bothering everyone) and the fish has been eating a LOT and put on ~8" to reach ~1.5' and substantial body mass.

Because of the wels, I had to separate the capa into a tank of its own. Solo. The tattered fins are the work of wels but have been healing quickly. Some damage is from rehoming too - capa was hard to catch and very feisty.

About 4-5 months ago, I also bought another capa from snookn21 at ~3". It's been growing in a different 240 gal with a bunch of tank mates. Jur bothered it a lot so was removed. Currently ~6".

 

[bigshowtank]

What is that white catfish in the picture? Top Left?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

What is that white catfish in the picture? Top Left?

Both of them are piraibas. Brachyplatystoma filamentosum. The closest relative and the closest-looking species to Brachyplatystoma capapretum.

One's turned this lighter color soon after arrival and stayed that color. The other has not changed its coloration.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

An update on one B. capapretum (and two dourada).

I'll start with dourada though... I've been having horrible luck with the dourada catfish. Probably over the last year or two I tried about 10 of them, at some point having 6 all at one time. Two were lost to predatory attacks by a gulper (missed the size disparity that creeped up on me because of different growth rate) and, totally unexpectedly, by a piraiba. The rest succumbed to some unknown to me disease, wherein they start spinning and swimming funny and never recover, some within weeks, others after many months. Currently have two in this tank section - one from Mark Chen of Discus Origins at ~5" and one from snookn21 at ~3.5".

As a result of these troubles, I became convinced that I must grow out dourada separately or with the meekest of tank mates to have any shot at raising them to size. Sad to report that after all these attempts, my biggest fish didn't exceed 7"-8".

The story with false piraiba, aka B. capapretum, is pretty similar except that I have not lost any yet - only ever worked with two and, miraculously, still have them, one 2-year old at ~2' and the other that I got this spring, featured in this video, at ~7". But they are very skittish and very touchy and too meek with other tank mates and stress way easily, just like dourada are.

So with capa too, I decided I must by all means try to raise them solo or with most gentle tank mates. In any case, IME and IMO dourada and capa catfish require a LOT more vigilance and observation than others to catch problems in time.

 

[Just Toby]

The tank in the first pic is huge but looks massively stocked and I imagine very unnatural to normal stocking levels in the wild, even with prefect parameters I imagine is is quite stressful for these fish to live in peace and eat normally...I don't mean to offend and I know very little so please take lightly of my comments. I would only keep a few monsters in one body of water.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The tank in the first pic is huge but looks massively stocked and I imagine very unnatural to normal stocking levels in the wild, even with prefect parameters I imagine is is quite stressful for these fish to live in peace and eat normally...I don't mean to offend and I know very little so please take lightly of my comments. I would only keep a few monsters in one body of water.

You probably meant the first video in the OP.

TBH, I do share in your concern. It's not an exact science it seems but it is always better for the animals if one stays understocked than overstocked.

Then there are other factors to consider for each situation. Lots of them. Each one taken separately may be of lesser importance but taken together they may outweigh the argument above.

Of course, my stocking level has nothing on aquaculture stocking levels, if we forget about filtration for a moment.

I proactively search out new (to me) knowledge to understand better how exactly dangerous or benign my stocking level in this 4500 gal is. Most certainly, I can use all help I can get on the topic.

Do you want to start with the rule of thumb of 1 gallon of water per 1 cubic inch of fish body volume, to just start analyzing my situation?

 

[moe214]

Can't be worse than some of the jdm styled Asian tanks

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The tank in the first pic is huge but looks massively stocked and I imagine very unnatural to normal stocking levels in the wild, even with prefect parameters I imagine is is quite stressful for these fish to live in peace and eat normally...I don't mean to offend and I know very little so please take lightly of my comments. I would only keep a few monsters in one body of water.

I take it I lost your interest?