Finally have SA bumblebees at last!

[DrownedFishonFire]

Recently purchased 10 bumblebee catfish from a new LFS. Loved the pricetag $6 apiece. Other LFS were charging more money regardless I finally bit and was going to put in a group order for 10 of them as was told via conversation the day before was only 3 left. Guess they were looking at the wrong cat fish species lol

I let the guy net them in while I looked around the other tanks its a very nice shop more interesting species i do not usually see in other shops. Was on my way to work and was intending on putting money in for the preordering but they were willing to bag it well to last my full 2 shifts so wasnt going to complain

When things settled down at work i got the chance to peek in the bag and immediately zeroed on the intruder ?

yep

anyone who works with fish long enough can immediately look at the fish that shows a slight difference this was a day and night thing the color pattern and shape of its jaw still a cute interloper

the LFS said to bring him in anytime and they would switch him out. Been mulling it over. Its the Asian bumblebee another species i wanted to work with eventually. Dont think i have ever worked with a cat from bagrid family yet.

anyhow this has been an odd assortment of the bumblebees as usually theyre same size/colors I did ask where they got it from an asian market overseas so no collection point is given

they are in QT with the zebra loaches for the time being.

cant wait for them to be out of QT and work on this species once again (never got my old group to breed)

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

FINWIN

heres the colored sand I got thanks to your inspiration! Its pink crayola sand being used in the QT grain is too fine for the Other filters so its being run by sponge filter I love the color

 

[kno4te]

Nice pick up!

 

[Fishman Dave]

Over time you may wish you had changed the Asian one out. If it’s a Male it will reach 6-7” and if its female it could reach 8-9”.
Now your making me want to try breeding my group of Asians again, the tank they are in is just too busy.

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

Fishman Dave absolutely correct ?

oh yeah im still debating with myself when they hit that semi adult size im in trouble with current barb/tetras/loaches stocklist for community tank wise as already have the jaguar cats im focusing on and thats the biggest cats for now and they were chonks at 4”-5” for last measurement few months back. They are not preying on the tetras so it is working out great. But im not actively trying to breed anything right now just growing out species.

on other hand I had the asian bumblebee on my to work with wishlist but that was way down the list knowing they have been bred before in tanks making them easier for my experience taking notes from breeding success reports when it comes to the asian bumblebee. Like you said the size is a bit daunting when already have few breeding projects going on. I have 2 fire eel growouts one is already hitting 14” and it kind of a nice cat species sizewise to put in with them eventually but again you are correct im crammed until I get that monster sized tank going for the fire eels ? and cant even do smaller clown loaches with those cats

The microglanis themselves are the ultimate catfish challenge for me and do not take up alot of space and is very flexible clean up crew and i like focusing on micro cats, smaller cats species and the ability to have different smaller tanks set up for different groups when the time comes to finding another group with a specific collection point. Its more fun for me creating their biotope compared to a bigger tank.

so far it is possible Ill keep this one for now and grow him out out of curiosity sake to see how clean his markings are seeing how beautiful some specimens turned out when full grown but hes going into the 112g clown loach/L24 tank as no cat species in there currently if i decide on keeping it as not risking my jaguar group thinking hes food if he swims up to their mouths nor the SA lil guys. I can keep an eye on this one at the size it is right now in the clown loach setup right but how much of a time do I have as right now the fire eels new home should be on my budgeting goals not more cat species that was not high on my to work with list. I have at least 20 other cats i wanted to work with first. Yeah i dont want to be that crazy catfish lady

cheers

 

[Fishman Dave]

You have some time cos they are not that fast growers. I would call them steady, reaching full adult size in around four to five years.