Gulper catfish in 20 long?

[Campbell_wat]

Hi all, I have a 20 long with some cheap tetras that has been cycling for several weeks. I am really interested in getting a gulper catfish. I know they will need an upgrade fast, but in the meantime would it pose a problem to use this tank as a growout/quarantine before I get my 55 gallon set up?

Also gulper cat owners, what is the best way to get them off live feeders? The local store feeds them quarantined high quality goldfish (yay right) and I would rather not continue to do that...

Thanks for the opinions

Note- this pic was taken after I added the sand substrate, it's totally clear now and all parameters are perfect

 

[fishhead0103666]

Wow, two gulper catfish threads back to back, never seen this happen lol.
Anyway you’ll want to talk to thebiggerthebetter since he knows about gulper catfish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Welcome to the MFK!

Gulper catfish is on average not an easy fish to keep. Have you done enough reading on it to know what to expect?

I imagine that a 3"-4" gulper should be alright in a 20 gal for some time. They like to swim but are poor swimmers, rather wobblers, circlers, and one-spot swimmers.

I'd suggest doing a search in the Catfish section and reading hits. This topic comes up from time to time over years. There is no one easy answer, it seems.

Once in your hands, I'd not offer them anything but a staple that you want to them to be on, preferably frozen-thawed whole fish. It may turn out a battle of wills and might take time, patience, and work and you might need to resort to tricks, such as garlic source, VitaChem, soaking in bloodworm juice, using blackworms interim, faking a live fish, or getting them used to tongs.

 

[Campbell_wat]

Welcome to the MFK!

Gulper catfish is on average not an easy fish to keep. Have you done enough reading on it to know what to expect?

I imagine that a 3"-4" gulper should be alright in a 20 gal for some time. They like to swim but are poor swimmers, rather wobblers, circlers, and one-spot swimmers.

I'd suggest doing a search in the Catfish section and reading hits. This topic comes up from time to time over years. There is no one easy answer, it seems.

Once in your hands, I'd not offer them anything but a staple that you want to them to be on, preferably frozen-thawed whole fish. It may turn out a battle of wills and might take time, patience, and work and you might need to resort to tricks, such as garlic source, VitaChem, soaking in bloodworm juice, using blackworms interim, faking a live fish, or getting them used to tongs.

Yes! I've looked through probably thousands of posts about gulpers for now and I'm up for the task! Feeding was my only worry, thanks for the tips- Any good grocery store fish you would recommend? Or frozen silversides from my LFS?

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Yes! I've looked through probably thousands of posts about gulpers for now and I'm up for the task! Feeding was my only worry, thanks for the tips- Any good grocery store fish you would recommend? Or frozen silversides from my LFS?

Tilapia and trout are my go to, try to avoid a high salt diet (stick to mostly freshwater fish)

 

[Campbell_wat]

Welcome to the MFK!

Gulper catfish is on average not an easy fish to keep. Have you done enough reading on it to know what to expect?

I imagine that a 3"-4" gulper should be alright in a 20 gal for some time. They like to swim but are poor swimmers, rather wobblers, circlers, and one-spot swimmers.

I'd suggest doing a search in the Catfish section and reading hits. This topic comes up from time to time over years. There is no one easy answer, it seems.

Once in your hands, I'd not offer them anything but a staple that you want to them to be on, preferably frozen-thawed whole fish. It may turn out a battle of wills and might take time, patience, and work and you might need to resort to tricks, such as garlic source, VitaChem, soaking in bloodworm juice, using blackworms interim, faking a live fish, or getting them used to tongs.

Just got my fella last night, in the morning I noticed two lice on him, I pulled them off as I know how to do, and he seems to be doing fine. Looks a little worse for wear though. His behavior is normal but appearance is unsettling- anything y’all see that is cause for concern?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Yes! I've looked through probably thousands of posts about gulpers for now and I'm up for the task! Feeding was my only worry, thanks for the tips- Any good grocery store fish you would recommend? Or frozen silversides from my LFS?

Excellent. I feed whole marine bait fish (whole silversides indeed would be an example) because I value the wholesomeness - a total nutritional package in a natural form. But see below.

Tilapia and trout are my go to, try to avoid a high salt diet (stick to mostly freshwater fish)

If this advice is based on the loss of my two gulpers out of three, then this is just one ill-grounded hypothesis out of several I proposed in my thread. They are all ill-grounded, as I can't prove or refute any of them. Nor do I recall anyone else ever reporting this as one of the possible causes of their gulper demises. Perhaps you know / read more?

My gut feeling is that my two gulpers have fallen a victim to an introduced, unknown bacterial infection, possibly columnaris, that has been plaguing my tanks for half a year now.

Just got my fella last night, in the morning I noticed two lice on him, I pulled them off as I know how to do, and he seems to be doing fine. Looks a little worse for wear though. His behavior is normal but appearance is unsettling- anything y’all see that is cause for concern?

Lice? That is unsettling. Can't see the snout. What's the concern? Seems more or less the usual, especially having been just shipped / rehomed.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Excellent. I feed whole marine bait fish (whole silversides indeed would be an example) because I value the wholesomeness - a total nutritional package in a natural form. But see below.



If this advice is based on the loss of my two gulpers out of three, then this is just one ill-grounded hypothesis out of several I proposed in my thread. They are all ill-grounded, as I can't prove or refute any of them. Nor do I recall anyone else ever reporting this as one of the possible causes of their gulper demises. Perhaps you know / read more?

My gut feeling is that my two gulpers have fallen a victim to an introduced, unknown bacterial infection, possibly columnaris, that has been plaguing my tanks for half a year now.



Lice? That is unsettling. Can't see the snout. What's the concern? Seems more or less the usual, especially having been just shipped / rehomed.

I think yours died of some pathogen/illness, but cannot prove it.

 

[Campbell_wat]

Excellent. I feed whole marine bait fish (whole silversides indeed would be an example) because I value the wholesomeness - a total nutritional package in a natural form. But see below.



If this advice is based on the loss of my two gulpers out of three, then this is just one ill-grounded hypothesis out of several I proposed in my thread. They are all ill-grounded, as I can't prove or refute any of them. Nor do I recall anyone else ever reporting this as one of the possible causes of their gulper demises. Perhaps you know / read more?

My gut feeling is that my two gulpers have fallen a victim to an introduced, unknown bacterial infection, possibly columnaris, that has been plaguing my tanks for half a year now.



Lice? That is unsettling. Can't see the snout. What's the concern? Seems more or less the usual, especially having been just shipped / rehomed.

ASAP what the eff is this? Within 12 hours of taking off the lice (I treated with stresscoat to make sure he was all slimed up) he got fungus. No big deal, I treated with malachite green and it all fell off. Now he’s rolling around and looks on deaths door. The other tetras in the tank are fine and water quality is nitrates and nitrites and ammonia all at 0ppm or close. Bottom pic is the fungus. Top two are just now.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The redness of the ventral side tells me it is either an irritation from the meds or the bacterial infection. Either it came in already sick or it hasn't reacted to the meds well.

Lice on fish are a bad sign for the vendor. A horrible sign, actually.