Jaguar Cats!

[jim barry]

Going off topic and getting hung up on water people, lets not forget why the op posted.
Love jag cats, one of the best when big and yours show excellent colouration!
I have heard they hide a lot though so has put me off getting one. How do you find keeping more than one in the same tank and what else do you keep with them?
Just to add though (sorry) but zero nitrates with only one water change a week is very weird?!!
Just be careful, your tank is still relatively newly established and you could potentially run into problems if you really are not producing any nitrates.
Maybe you are getting away with it if the tank is massive and you only have the 2 cats in there?

 

[Fishman Dave]

Really, you point out that we are off topic talking too much about water, mention the jags and then talk about water! ?
Just wanted to make sure the op was not using pure RO water to make changes due to the readings, as this would have been real bad for the health of the fish long term.
No doubt though, great looking fish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I think it's okay to discuss nitrates and the fish we all admire.

It is unusual to have a zero ppm reading for the nitrates in a tank that's only lightly planted it seems, can't be sure what the full tank looks like or whether the OP is using plants / algae scrubber in the filter.

Overall, nitrate measuring by our API liquid test is very approximate because many other anions interfere and compete with the nitrate anion, e.g., the ubiquitous chloride anion. So, in the absence of any changes, we can measure nitrate at home in a relative manner at best. We can easily be 2x, 3x, even 10x off in the measurement.

If I was curious about this anomaly (if it is indeed an anomaly), I'd start investigating by testing stock solutions of nitrate, if I could source them, perhaps make them up from plant fertilizer solution of say ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate or calcium nitrate. It may or may not lead anywhere.

* * * * *

The jags of this threads are indeed some of the best looking ones I've ever seen with the light, bright yellow base.

 

[tetroid]

An actual jaguar would envy the yellow on that jaguar catfish.

For what it's worth, my blackwater tanks with emergent plants typically sit at zero nitrates, or just a hair above zero sometimes. I'm defining blackwater here as TDS < 20 and ph < 6.0 . My understanding is that it's because nitrogen waste takes the form of ammonium (NH4) under those conditions, and swamp plants can take up ammonium very efficiently and preferentially. They suck it up before the denitrifying bacteria can get to it, so nitrite and nitrate never appear. It only works with emergent plants, though. Without them, the ammonium goes up and up. I'm guessing the plants must be off screen, perhaps in a sump?

 

[dr exum]

aside from water quality...

those guys are fire!

definitely putting these guys on my catfish wish list!

thanks for sharing!

 

[JoshuaLow]

I realize they sure love fish meat.... Feeding once every other day

 

[kno4te]

Great color. Much more gold than mine.