Wow, look at that mouth!!! All mouth and stomach, lol. At first I thought it was a Granulosus (my favorite that I've owned)... very nice cat!!!
I LOVE this GLUTTON of a Catfish!
- Thread starter TheeEmotionalPayara
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Great catfish, one of my fave species as well. It's good that you have it eating something other than live feeders as some are hard to convert to other foods. You are also fortunate to have one that that is friendly and interactive with you as some are very shy and avoid contact. I've found that with c. fowleri that you can keep them with other fish of roughly the same or larger size BUT only if kept well fed however c. apurensis have a worse reputation with playing well with others and will likely not be so friendly with tankmates as they grow larger. Mine grew to 20" in around 2 1/2 years and outgrew her tank and I had to sell her as a result. She continued to grow in a huge tank with her new owner but rather slowly, more in girth than length..
Mine were the same as described behavior-wise. They are hard to ID to the species IMHO. Two guys I trust with the ID are Yellowcat and Wolfgang Ros and from memory they disagree on the ID of mine three. Very sadly, I did not copy Wolfgang's posts about my fish from the "H2O-wolves" and they are gone now.
I want to say apurensis grow much larger than the 12" SL according to the PCF. Mine are gone now. All it needs is someone with a large apurensis to take a photo with a ruler in or out of the water and send it to the PCF. If the ID is confirmed, they will update the Cat-eLog and use your photo, with your permission, for the sake of all of us hobbyists.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1525
Wolfgang's article: http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=220
I want to say apurensis grow much larger than the 12" SL according to the PCF. Mine are gone now. All it needs is someone with a large apurensis to take a photo with a ruler in or out of the water and send it to the PCF. If the ID is confirmed, they will update the Cat-eLog and use your photo, with your permission, for the sake of all of us hobbyists.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1525
Wolfgang's article: http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=220
To my knowledge the only problem id'ing them is between Apurensis and Nigricaudus as from what I've read Fowleri has a much more elongate body after the pelvic fins when compared to the two latter species, it has flatter head and almost completely lacks the spots on the belly underside according to PCF. As such the fish in the video is in my opinion definitely not a fowleri which PCF has listed as the largest of the trio.
And I only mention it to clarify that the Op's fish pictured and in the video are almost assuredly not Fowleri but instead either Apurensis or Nigricaudus. I personally lean toward Apurensis for the OP's fish and Nigricaudus in the video due to coloration and that from what I've read Nigricaudus is the stockiest of the trio, though I know the only definitive id method is the gill rakers presently. Again just my opinion.
The more important thing to take note of I think is that the Cepha in the vid(even without a ruler) seems to be quite a substantial specimen dwarfing PCF's max sizes of any of the Cepha's.
And I only mention it to clarify that the Op's fish pictured and in the video are almost assuredly not Fowleri but instead either Apurensis or Nigricaudus. I personally lean toward Apurensis for the OP's fish and Nigricaudus in the video due to coloration and that from what I've read Nigricaudus is the stockiest of the trio, though I know the only definitive id method is the gill rakers presently. Again just my opinion.
The more important thing to take note of I think is that the Cepha in the vid(even without a ruler) seems to be quite a substantial specimen dwarfing PCF's max sizes of any of the Cepha's.
Hey V.J. (thebiggerthebetter), don't recall commenting on the i.d. of your former cephalosilirus but from the photo's shown it looks like either two c. apurensis or the dark one could be c. nigricaudus, that is if it came from Suriname, of course. C. fowleri from Brazil are easy to i.d based on their flatter profile and lack of belly markings compared to c. apurensis but c. nigricaudus (latin for black tail) closely resemble apurensis, just usually darker. Can't generally go by color/markings in these fish as they can change regularly according to individuals plus mood and environmental lighting are factors as well. Gluttons they are, the first day home, my baby apurensis ate 20 live goldfish! Still looking for a c. nigricaudus or the fourth species from Guyana...
By the way anyone whose interested in picking up one of these guys Bluegrass has them in at 2 different sizes 3-4 inches for $120(which if accurate is the smallest I've ever seen them offered since Riverwonders) and an unspecified XLG bigger then 6 inches at least for $260.
Thanks for all the great identification info, knowledge, and pics! Def cant wait to grow this bad boy out to as big as I can get him/her. Feeders are def this guys favorite and for as sluggish and cumbersome as they look their strike is WICKED fast. Faster than any shovelnose or other cat that I have owned in my opinion. Ive only given him feeders three times as a treat just to watch him hunt. Nightcrawlers were my key to breaking him into tilapia and shrimp. Once he started coming to the top of the tank to pluck away at crawlers he pretty much started gulping down whatever else I dropped in, except any type of pellet food. He spits out massivore and NLS and gives me this look like "get real" lol. Like I said before I love his begging and interactive nature and I've noticed a lot of the typical Apu behavior (flipping upside down in his tunnel, giant sized mouth yawning). I have noticed something else and was wondering if anyone else had encountered this which is his tendency to like to do headstands in the corners of the tank completely vertical? I think having him with other large rough and tumble fish keeps his temperament in check to a degree right now, plus hes kept nice and fat lol
The dealer I got mine from is in Chicago and has one more left at about 6-7 inches for only 80 which is a steal of a deal!
