Just Received my First GATF!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Yep, no losses and the water seemed to carry enough bacteria by itself for the filter to pick it up quicker than I thought it would.

It's more the crazy nature of the young fish that worries me. It's the same reason I traded in the Arowana I had... I just don't want to walk in the room one morning and find him missing, then see a dried up fish later on. The young guys are just SO jumpy...

How big was yours when it seemed to realize it was the biggest fish in the tank??
 
Good deal I did the change last night and added 2nd dose of stability.

Yea each individual fish has its own personality obviously but all 3 of the tigerfish species I have are very skittish especially when they dont have a ton of room to swim.

My 13" goliath (Hannibal) calmed down a bit a few months after I got him at around 5-6" with constant feeding and once he fully adjusted to his tank.

One goliath and two vittatus I have together at the moment in a tank and they get along well. A few weeks ago I had to remove a very dominant goliath (about 4" long) from that tank because he was attacking the vitattus (each about 3" long) and the other goliath (about 5" long) all the time.

I have since moved the 4" aggressive goliath into my 90 gallon and he has somehow taken command of the tank. There is a 9" ornate bichir, 8" delhezi bichir, 2 x 8" lima shovelnose catfish in the tank. Its incredible how they all stay as far away from the tiny 4" goliath as possible. At night the bichirs swim around and dont pay him too much attention simply because they are so big but they make sure to not swim directly in his area (the whole middle portion of the tank haha).

Its really amazing the wide range of personalities but the only surefire way to reduce (not eliminate) the skittish behavior is having a very large volume of water for them to swim in. Even then there are still no guarantees as they can spaz out anytime they are startled or feel cornered/threatened.
 
It sounds like I would need more than one to have helped the fish, so I traded him back in for store credit. I really don't want to risk it's life at this time.

Interestingly as I was in there trading in my 4-inch fish, another customer was saying how his 15 inch one jumped out of his tank a few months back and he found it dead. As you said, it might be possible they all have different personalities and I am quite happy to have not been the one to find him on the floor... lol

If it ever helps anybody with IDs, I took some photos of him:
http://timwheatley.org/www/fish/goliath-african-tiger-fish-hydrocynus-goliath
I keep a personal log of every type of fish I keep, growth rates, etc, this is just the page I made for this fish.
 
That sounds like the right decision. Seems like you have a pretty well run Local Fish Store there near you as well, that's awesome.

Very nice website. Ive considered setting up one similar to yours as an information resource for people but have not had the time. With the tigers (goliath especially) you can do everything in your power to replicate and maintain a suitable environment for them, but luck has proven to be a difficult variable to account for lol.
 
Nice thread. I always wanted one too. No $$ and space right now but one day, I'm getting one for sure.
Yours grew very fast and very nicely, I always though they grow very...very...slow.
This is even better than I expected.
Having a specimen that is well over a foot and constantly swimming in a large tank is fascination to see.

When it comes to freshwater mega rivers, gatf are the most extreme predatory fish on the planet!
 
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