Just a short clip of my Heteropneustes fossilis!

[Xeno]

Hey there!
I´ve got three H.fossilis (5cm) in 2014.
One died during the time I moved out (end of 2014).. I think it´s been too much stress for those little guys.
I´m keeping them in 300 litres (120x50x50cm) with Corydoras and Pterophyllum.

The female with about 20cm length!

Three "worms"

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Cute stuff!

The tank must look gorgeous. Post a few full tank shots if you will.

IIRC all of Claridae are banned in the US, so we can't have these guys here. Hence, update this thread every once in awhile, please.

I didn't know they were rather slow growing. I'd expect a 1.5-2 year old to be over a foot for sure.

 

[Xeno]

Hey,
thanks for the positive feeback!
Oh I didn´t know they banned Claridae!
That´s actually sad but it´s because of people who released them into the wild, right?
In Germany those little fellas would freeze to death in winter so they are not a big threat to the native species!
But Ameiurus and Lepomis are..

To be honest I don´t thing H.fossilis will grow much larger than 25-30cm.
And here´s a picture of the tank.
I´m using it as a growout-tank for those 12 Pterophyllum.

 

[Xeno]

Hey,
here´s a brief update.
The two adult Heteropneustes are fine (as always).
Friday I´ve got five juveniles (about 5cm in length).
Insane if you think about that those little guys will reach about 20cm in less than 2 years from now.

 

[Renegade Aquatics]

I think they are banned, but I have seen them for sale once at an LFS. Ever since then I never saw them again

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Nice! I figured that tank's an eye candy Beautiful!

http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=134 Stinging catfish reaches close to 2' in total length maximum, so I agree, most of them may not grow much past 1'.

AFAIK, the entire family of Clariidae is banned federally. I vaguely recall them offered for sale if my memory serves I think in California, which, I remember, surprised me.

Yes, they are banned because people keep them ignorantly and irresponsibly.

You'd be surprised at their ability to survive. They are champions in this field. They are able to find a patch of warmer water and survive the winter, even hibernate, which in fish means aestivate - rotting vegetation, warm pipe, electric power station cooling water dump, warm spring, warmer sewer water, very deep water, etc.

Common pleco - another "armageddon" fish - have been found to overwinter in Poland in 7 degree Celsius water near power station water dump.

 

[Renegade Aquatics]

When I saw them it was at my lfs. Then just disappeared off the face of the Earth.

 

[Xeno]

Hey,
here in Germany and Austria we´ve got the famous "Guppybach".
A little stream which is heated by the water used for cooling a powerplant.
You´ll find Poecilia reticulata, P.wingei, P.sphenops, Amatitlania ,Hemichromis and so on in there.
If you´re interested:

Here in Germany species like Procambarus clarkii, Pseudorasboras parva, all Pomacea (and more) are banned.
You are allowed to keep them but you may not give them to another person.
Releasing fish to the wild is illegal anyways even if it´s a native fish.

I´ve never seen such big Heteropneustes the information of H.fossilis reaching more than 30cm might be traced back to a mix-up with Clarias (which will reach about 50cm).

I´ll add a new picture of the tank housing the two adult fish.
The five juveniles are in a outgrow-tank (300 litres as well).

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Interesting. Thanks!

Out of my four staple websites, Planet Catfish appears to be an oddball in siting max size of ~2' TL. FishBase, ScotCat, and SeriouslyFish are consistent with the 12" number.

So I think you are right.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=4885&AT=stinging+catfish

http://www.scotcat.com/clariidae/heteropneustes_fossilis.htm

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/heteropneustes-fossilis/

Thank you for bringing this up. I've created a corresponding thread on PCF: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44247

 

[Acidbyt]

hi im late but i have a h.fossilis thats probably over 12 inches....... i may even have a world record one im not really sure

i rescued it as a 10incher from a fish market (food fish in my area)