Giant ATF in Captivity

[Red Aimara]

About 2 months ago at 10-11 inch range. The previous owner fed him with sliced fish (selar kuning).

Had in with me in a 300 gal with few other fishes. Current diet is mostly live feeders. Can see it's built is noticeably smaller than my other ATFs but he is no slouch when it comes to feeding.

Edit add: he is getting lots of current in the new tank and very regular water changes - 40 percent every 4-5 days.

 

[greenerinks]

G Goban wow that is some serious damage. I believe either my VATF or GATF did that to one of my blackberry silver dollars but I was abLe to save the blackberry after months of healing. I know I'm going to get flamed but I have my fish in a 220g 180x65x75. They are pretty much maxed out on size, just growing thicker and thicker. My VATF is around 15-16" just a tad bit smaller than the Gatf.
Here in Asia, I've seen the meter long GATFs, 2ft plus vatf's (they are much brutish and thicker looking than mine at that size) I will attach more photos when I have time.

 

[greenerinks]

Side note on growth rate, my gatf has pretty much doubled in size in less than 8 months. From 9" to 18", absolutely astounding as I have kept many Gatfs with growth rates like a fraction of the speed as this one.

 

[Goban]

greenerinks what a beautiful VATF i really love the color of his tail. My VATF has got less coloration because of the white sand i put in my tank. I think there could be a possibility that GATF grow faster after they get bigger as they could eat more and bigger size food, and they are also much more aggressive when they get big. Just like your 9 incher. What do you feed your ATFs? live feeder? If u dont mind to tell me, may i know where u saw the one meter GATF in Asia? Here in Indonesia it is very convenient to feed live feeders as the availability is really high here.

I'm gonna move my small GATF (8") in a 230x100x60 tank made by myself, hope that he can grow fast in there .

Red Aimara selar kuning is indeed very cheap in the fish market, it's like 0.8 USD/kg in my place. It would be really interesting if your FATF can achieve 20" in size, may take time but still worth it!

 

[greenerinks]

I'm in shanghai, china. I see the these monster fish in private hobbyist swimming pool sized setups, there are also suppliers with huge warehouses that have loads of monster fish too. I have some images I'll post later as I'm out at Disneyland with my girl right now. Just replying while waiting in line for rides lmao.

 

[greenerinks]

Forgot to answer your question, yes I feed live 2-4" feeders that are quarantined for a week and fed flowerhorn/koi pellets. Also to DB junkie, I've seen 1.2-1.5m tarpon, snow gars, piraiba. Over a meter aimara and goonch. I've also seen a school of doradoes that were about 3 feet and golden.

 

[Red Aimara]

Greenerinks,

I believe there is still more room for growth for your VATF.

Perhaps more feeding and more water changes? Possibly might hit 2 feet mark in couple of months.

Goban,

I echoed what was mentioned before. GATFs are genetically supposed to be the biggest ATF - mine is just a tad bigger than the FATF but smaller than 3 other VATFs in the tank.

Nonetheless, I noticed the end of the tail bone is much wider and thicker than other ATFs, just like bone structure of pedigree dogs. The Rottweiler puppy I am having has thicker bones though it is still much smaller than the mutt companion.

I am thinking like humans; once the fish reached puberty stage - we can maximised its growth by giving higher feeding frequency and more water changes.

That's what I am doing at the moment. LOL!

 

[greenerinks]

I've had my Vatf for pretty much two years. It grew fast to a foot and then slowed down quite a bit and now just getting thicker. I'm sure it will hit two feet after I upgrade to a much bigger footprint.

 

[DB junkie]

Ok, so 2' is the goal on Vatf. Greenerinks, I recon your Vatf has mine by a few inches. Sounds liken they are roughly the same age. Mine is on white sand, so I'm hoping that's the explanation as to why mine looks like crap compared to yours..... lol

I have heard no mention of Tatf. I'm assuming they are some of the newest species to the tiger world so really hoping there's no huge ones over there.

I have been waiting till the divider comes out of my bug tank but I will be introducing my big Tatf in there once it does. Hoping he'll hit a growth spurt and hit the 2' mark by the end of the year.

I have NOT seen ANY big ATF in the flesh. From what I have seen I prefer the looks of the Tatfs over the other species. Mine currently resides in a 6x2x2 and actually handles it very well. I can't even walk by the tank, I try and find myself just staring at that fish in awe, before I know it several minutes pass by. I have NEVER been as lost for words to describe a fish. I've never been more intimidated my a fish. I respect that fish more then the similar sized Aimara I had. On the same note I really fear for the well being of my other fish - especially the Lince.

 

[SandNukka15]

Ok, so 2' is the goal on Vatf. Greenerinks, I recon your Vatf has mine by a few inches. Sounds liken they are roughly the same age. Mine is on white sand, so I'm hoping that's the explanation as to why mine looks like crap compared to yours..... lol

I have heard no mention of Tatf. I'm assuming they are some of the newest species to the tiger world so really hoping there's no huge ones over there.

I have been waiting till the divider comes out of my bug tank but I will be introducing my big Tatf in there once it does. Hoping he'll hit a growth spurt and hit the 2' mark by the end of the year.

I have NOT seen ANY big ATF in the flesh. From what I have seen I prefer the looks of the Tatfs over the other species. Mine currently resides in a 6x2x2 and actually handles it very well. I can't even walk by the tank, I try and find myself just staring at that fish in awe, before I know it several minutes pass by. I have NEVER been as lost for words to describe a fish. I've never been more intimidated my a fish. I respect that fish more then the similar sized Aimara I had. On the same note I really fear for the well being of my other fish - especially the Lince.

I agree with the vatf loosing color on white sand......i had mine on black and the red yellow poped really well....now when upgrading tanks my vatf was put on torpedo beach and the yellow is barely visible while the red has faded in half.