Lophiosilurus fowleri...?

[jjohnwm]

...not so personable and not one that particularly suits your fancy, but I think I enjoyed mine...Would hide a fair bit and didn't really do much. A tad skittish but not so bad, if you could find it in the tank to begin with- the few I had were good hiders...actually, now that I think of it, they were a bit dull and I was mildly disappointed about having to set aside a tank solely for them...Can't actually remember why I bought a few to begin with. Never gave them much attention, nor were they worth much attention...I'm sure they have redeeming qualities, B. raninus.

Well, I certainly feel better now after that ringing endorsement. I even owned Microglanis back in the day, and at that point in my hobby involvement it was a cool little fish that I enjoyed.

Honestly, a 6 - 8 inch fish that hides a bunch and occasionally pops out to eat is the sort of thing that would have appealed to me for most of my fishkeeping career...I had a lot more tanks and many were devoted to oddballs like that. But now I am limiting my involvement and the number of tanks I want to maintain, and I want each one to be something I truly enjoy. I wanted another "wet pet" type of fish, and a Lophiosilurus was right up my alley. Instead, it sounds more like I got a "wet-raccoon-at-the-trash-can" fish; hard to see, no interaction, no excitement, mostly nothing going on.

Oh, well...my fault, I had my doubts immediately upon seeing the fish, should have been more careful. I wanted what I wanted, and had my Jelly Cat goggles on after driving 100km to the shop with my fish-transport cooler on the seat beside me. I convinced myself it was what I wanted...

DANG!!!!


But thanks for your input, C Conchonius ...I realize now that my situation could be far, far worse...

 

[jjohnwm]

The B.raninus has proven to much more interesting than most of the warnings I have heard and read. Why, just this afternoon I actually saw him for a tiny split second, and he's only been in the tank

 

[jjohnwm]

Oops! He's only been in the tank for about three weeks, and I've already had a split second close-up view.

Exciting!

 

[Conchonius]

You know the stereotype of the dad who says "absolutely not!" when the rest of the family wants to get a dog, yet is found with the pooch sleeping on his face three months later?

That is John to a tee. First it was the goldfish that received his ire turned indifference turned admiration, until at last he declared war with Nature herself to avenge them after a bird took off with some, and now it's this wee successor to the late and legendary Lumpy.

You've got big shoes to fill, little fishling, but don't worry. He won't be returning you to the store. Once his grandkids find out about you and give you a name, it'll be all over for him!

 

[jjohnwm]

You know the stereotype of the dad who says "absolutely not!" when the rest of the family wants to get a dog, yet is found with the pooch sleeping on his face three months later?

That is John to a tee. First it was the goldfish that received his ire turned indifference turned admiration, until at last he declared war with Nature herself to avenge them after a bird took off with some, and now it's this wee successor to the late and legendary Lumpy.

You've got big shoes to fill, little fishling, but don't worry. He wonM't be returning you to the store. Once his grandkids find out about you and give you a name, it'll be all over for him!

Well, as much as I hate being predictable, I can't deny any of this ^.

My "war with Nature herself" intensified quite a bit for the past several days, while I was in the process of bringing the Goldies indoors. Herons...bears...gunfire...pepper spray...motion-sensor lights and loud music...profanity...hip waders...nets, buckets, more nets, more buckets...suffice to say that the first few Goldies were trouble-free, but the last few...weren't...

Yes, I have developed a lot of admiration for those fish and am putting a lot more effort into them than I ever expected.

The faux-fowleri has been here for three weeks, and I won't be getting rid of it anytime soon. I'll give it at least a couple years before I even consider re-homing. Based upon its performance so far, I've extrapolated that at the end of that time, it will have been visible for a combined grand total of less than 15 seconds, and will have prompted the exchange of roughly 6000 gallons of water and the utilization of approximately 3000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. At the end of those 2 years I will, if I'm lucky, have a fat 6-inch fish that never comes out of hiding and has exactly the wrong requirements for temperature, housing, feeding and compatibility to keep with anything else I own.

It's taught me a valuable lesson: never do the math on one individual fish if you want to retain your sanity.

But, on a positive note, it has prompted me to once again have a heated tank, which of course opens the door to perhaps another fish or two that I would otherwise not be in a position to keep. Hmmm...maybe I should start asking about the absolute minimum size tank I need for some of the likely candidates, and exactly how big they will grow...