Sorry if I was not clear. My first sentence is trying to say that the OP fish and your fish are in my current opinion what is called the Volta river g-cat.
Volta:
Bouche
One of two Kirk's Yellowcat Bouche:
One of my two Bouche:
Giraffe cat question?
- Thread starter freak78
- Start date
Volta:
Bouche
One of two Kirk's Yellowcat Bouche:
One of my two Bouche:
Revised my opinion from my last post on Freak78 and FuriousFish's I.D. after doing more research and comparisons. I now think in both cases the fishes in question are likely to be a. occidentalis Volta River specimens from Ghana. The a. biscutatus/senegalis species exist in 5 river basins from east to west Africa but not in the Volta basin in Ghana, in answer to Viktor's question. Both the a. biscutatus and Volta River specimens share similar round spot patterns as opposed to the more common reticulated giraffe-like patterns of some of the a. occidentalis varieties. Another set of reasons is due to the head shape and adipose fin shape, height and size found in a. biscutatus/senegali among other differences such as barbel length and coloration, not to mention a multitude of other biometric measurements gleaned from scientific revisions. I just took the first pictures this year of my largest a. biscutatus now at around 5" or so. Noticeable is the shortened head and snout length as well as the large adipose fin and it's close proximity to the dorsal fin, compared to the photos of the fishes in question with longer head length and more space between the dorsal and adipose fin. There must be other characteristics I haven't noticed yet but what I've mentioned seem obvious, however unscientific that may be..
Also the spot patterns are obviously more different with my fish but the original fishes in question seem quite similar to Viktor's Volta cat..
Hope this may clarify some things...
Also the spot patterns are obviously more different with my fish but the original fishes in question seem quite similar to Viktor's Volta cat..
Hope this may clarify some things...
My little library of g-cat photos, mostly of mine and a few others:
Photo from WetSpot: Congo (wittei)
Photo from WetSpot: Niger
Photo from WetSpot: Volta
My 1st Volta 5 years ago:
My 1st Volta now at 18":
Photo from WetSpot: Volta
My biscutatus 10 years ago:
My nominally occidentalis 10 years ago:
Photo from WetSpot: Congo (wittei)
Photo from WetSpot: Niger
Photo from WetSpot: Volta
My 1st Volta 5 years ago:
My 1st Volta now at 18":
Photo from WetSpot: Volta
My biscutatus 10 years ago:
My nominally occidentalis 10 years ago:
If it is indeed a Volta specimen I would defer to Viktor's experience as he stated his grew from a juvenile to 18" in five years. It should be mentioned that female fish can sometimes grow to larger sizes than males, not knowing which you may have. Interesting after looking at Viktor's photos of how similar his Nigerian fish is to mine. Having recently looked at online images of Giraffe catfish, it's amazing to see the variations among the species, some are easy to I.D., several not so much, especially due to their coloration and patterns that change so much from juvenile to adult. Just for fun and a tease here's a photo I found of a giraffe cat variety I've never seen nor would I attempt to identify, but I'd buy one in a heartbeat and a tank for it too..
My first Volta has been stuck at 18" for a couple of years. My second Volta has been stuck at 12" too for years.
The Niger specimen above is photographed by the shop. I don't recall having photos of mine when it was small and I only have videos of mine when large. It is similar looking to the Volta in terms of pattern but obviously different skeleton proportions and it has too been stuck at around 20" or so.
The Niger specimen above is photographed by the shop. I don't recall having photos of mine when it was small and I only have videos of mine when large. It is similar looking to the Volta in terms of pattern but obviously different skeleton proportions and it has too been stuck at around 20" or so.
I have a Bouche I picked up from wetspot 4 months ago. I got him at about 4" and he's probably doubled in size and eating like crazy now so hopefully he's going to start growing since I was a little worried he was dwarfed. Byfar the most active of any of my cats, and often rushes to the surface when I walk into the room since I often hand feed him pellets before the lights turn off.
Hopefully someone can give me some advice on this as well since I'm having little luck finding information . I recently had a clown loach in the same tank that got ich extreamly bad and died and the bouche had a few spots so I increased the temp to 85 for 10 days and added one tablespoon per 5 gal( its a 75 gallon growout tank). I thought I solved the issue, tonight I noticed 2 ich spots on another fish so I wanted to ask what is the max temp and salinity these guys can handle for treatment? I usually keep the tank around 78 degrees but I thought that was on the higher end of their comfort level. I'd like to avoid chemicals if possible but will resort to that if its best for the catfish.
Hopefully someone can give me some advice on this as well since I'm having little luck finding information . I recently had a clown loach in the same tank that got ich extreamly bad and died and the bouche had a few spots so I increased the temp to 85 for 10 days and added one tablespoon per 5 gal( its a 75 gallon growout tank). I thought I solved the issue, tonight I noticed 2 ich spots on another fish so I wanted to ask what is the max temp and salinity these guys can handle for treatment? I usually keep the tank around 78 degrees but I thought that was on the higher end of their comfort level. I'd like to avoid chemicals if possible but will resort to that if its best for the catfish.
Ich doesn't spring out of nowhere. It lives on all fish but is kept in check by a healthy immune system, just like the streptococcus in our throats. If it appears, it means your fish are stressed and the immune system is weakened. You need to find the source of stress, which statistically is most usually tied to the water quality, and eliminate it... and the ich in 90%-99% cases will go away on its own. Otherwise, the outcome will be illnesses and death, sooner or later.
As Kirk said the Volta "occidentalis" does. Other "occidentalis" don't. The genus taxonomy is a limbo.
Ick treatment is a whole conversation in itself and is worth the investigation into the life cycle of the protozoa and variety of possible treatments, none of which am I an expert on. I have lost few catfish to ick except when they are shy and rarely seen and I couldn't respond until the disease had progressed too far to respond to treatment after I found the problem. One medication I've had some success with is Mardel Quick Cure, which contains Malachite Green (old school cure) and Formalin. I fully understand the reluctance to use chemicals if hopefully, the salt and higher temp's work. I've never kept giraffe cats at temperatures much over 80 degrees so if they can tolerate 85 with perhaps additional oxygen supplied, should be o.k.. Of course water changes will be helpful perhaps during and after any treatment whether using chemicals or not. Again I would defer to the experts and related forums on this site about treating ick or any other disease issue.
Off topic a bit but related to a. occidentalis size, I found this photo among others where you can go to N/E Thailand and go fishing to catch giraffe cats..
Off topic a bit but related to a. occidentalis size, I found this photo among others where you can go to N/E Thailand and go fishing to catch giraffe cats..
